Butte record., 1856-02-16

plheS Oi tne SOiuler Deillllu tneIn.
The men are mad to let their ord
nance out of their hands,
oh, Sir, an Indian will pray to an
arquebus not to shoot him; be sure
their artillery IS safe enough said
Yco.
Look at the proud villains whis-
pered another, to make dumb beasts
Of human creatures like that'
Ten shot, counted the business-like
Amyas, and ten pixies; VIII can tack
le them up above
Last Of this troop came some infe-
rior officer, also in his chair, who, as
he went slowly up the hill, with his
face turned toward the gang which fol-
lowed, drew, every other second, the
cigar from his lips, to inspirit them
with those pious Calculations to the va
rious objects of his worship, divine
human, anatomie, wooden, and textile,
which earned for the pious Spaniards
Of the sixteenth century the uncharit-
able imputation of being at once the
most fetichc-ridden idolators, and the
most abominable swearers of all Eu-
pcans.
'I'he blasphemous! said Yeo, fumb-
ling at his bow string, as if he longed
to send an arrow through him. But
Amyas had hardly laid his finger on
the impatient veterans arm, when an
other procession followed, which made
them forget all else.
A sad and hideous sight it was ; yet
one too common even then in those re-
mote districts, where the humane edicts
were disregardtd, which the prayers
Of Dominican friars Ito their everlast
ing honor be it spoken) had wrung from
the Spanish sovereigns; and which the
legislation Of that most wise, virtuous
and heroic inquisitor (paradoxical as
the words may seem) Pedro de la Gas
ca, had carried into effect in Peru
futile and tardy alleyiations of cruel
ties and mlseries nexampled in the
history Of christendom, or perhaps on
earth, save in the conqests Of Senna-
chelib and Zinghis-Khan. Bat on the
frontiers where negroes were imported
to endure the toll which was found fa-
tai to the Indian, and all Indian tribes
convicted Tor suspecteO Of cannabal-
ism, were hunted down for the saliva
ton Of their souls and the enslavement
Of their bodies, such scenes as these
were still too common; and indeed, if
we are to judge from Humboldt's i'm
partial account, were not very much
amended even at the close Of the last
century, in those much-boasted Jesuit
missions in which (as many of them
as existed anywhere but on paper) mi
ltary tyranny was superadded to mo-
nastic, and the Gospel preached with
fire and sword, almost as shamolessly
as by the first Conquistadores.
A line Of Indians, Negroes, and
Zambos, naked, emaciated, scared
with whips and fetters, and chained
together by their left wrists, toiled up
wards, painting and perspiring under
the burden Of q basket held up by a
strap which passed across their fore
heads. Yeo's sneer was but too Just;
there were not only old men and youths
among them, but women; slender young
girls, mothers with children running
at their knee; and, at the sight of a
low murmur Of indignation rose from
the ambushed Englishman, worthy of
the free and righteous hearts of those
days, when Raleigh could appeal to
man and Cog, en- the giound Of com
mon humanity, in behalf Of the out
ragged heathens of the New world ;
when Englishmen still knew that man
was man, and that the instinct of free
dom was the righteous voice of God;
ere the hapless seventeenth century
had brutalised them also, by bestow-
ing on them, amid a hundred bad lega-
cies, the fatal gift of negro slaves.
But the first forty, SO Amyas count
ed, bore on their backs a burden which
made all, perhaps, but him and Yeo,
forget even the wretches who bore it.
Each basket contained a square pack
age of carefully corded hide; the look
whereof friend Amyas knew full well.
What's in they, Captain!"
"Goldl" And at the magic word
all eyes were strained greedily for
ward, and such rustic followed, that
Amyas, in the very face of detection,
had to whisper
''Be men, be men, or you viii spoil
all yet
The last twenty or so of the Indians
bore larger baskets, but more lightly
freighted, seemingly with manioc, and
maize bread, and other food for the par
ty; and after them came, with theiI
bearers and attendants, just twenty
soldiers more, followed by officer in
charge, who smiled away In his chair
twirled two huge mustachios; thinking