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22 • Turning from the preceding pueblo to the west seven leagues, there is the Villa of Santa Fé, the capital of this kingdom, where the governor and about two hundred and fifty Spaniards reside. Only about fifty can go about armed due to lack of weapons, and although they are few and poorly provisioned, God has permitted them to constantly emerge victorious in their fights. God has also caused among the Indians a great fear of the Spaniards and their harquebuses. I have heard that they flee whenever they hear that a Spaniard is going to their pueblos. In order to promote this kind of fear, the Spaniards use their harquebuses with great vigor whenever they go out to punish a rebellious pueblo. If this were not the case, the Indians would often be inclined to murder the Spaniards, knowing that they are so far from New Spain, from which a bit of help might come. The soldiers are all well drilled and humble, and for the most part a good example to the Indians. YourMajestydoesnotsupportthispresidiowithpaymentsfromhis royal coffers, but rather by allowing the governor to appoint encomenderos1 for those pueblos. The tribute that each household of Indians gives them is a blanket, which is a vara2 of cotton cloth, and a fanega3 of corn each year, with which the poor Spaniards sustain themselves. They hold about seven hundred souls in service, so that with Spaniards, mestizos, 11. TheVilla of SantaFé The Villa of Santa Fé • 23 and Indians there are perhaps a thousand people. The Spaniards are so scrupulously obedient to their governors that they go forth with their arms and horses at their own expense in response to whatever group there may be rising in opposition and acquit themselves valiantly. The only thing they lack is the most important: a church. What they have is a wretched shack.4 This is because the priests have concentrated on establishing churches for the Indians they have been converting . They constantly tend to and live among these people. And so when I came into the area as its custodian, I began the construction of a church5 and rectory to the honor and glory of Our Lord God that would be outstanding anywhere. Our clerics now teach Spaniards and Indians there to read, write, play instruments, and sing, as well as all the arts of polite society. This place, although cold, is the most fertile in all of New Mexico. ...

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