Spanish entourage on the occupation of Cuba. In this venture he accompanied the expedition in the office of clerico. He stated thatone of the chief cares of this office was when they halted in any town or village, it was his job to assign separate quarters to the Spanish and the Indians. This was to prevent violence from erupting between the two peoples. His principle job; howeverwas to assemble the children in order to baptize them. This was a sad task for Las Casas because scarcely any of the children remained alive a few months afterward. This was due to violence or the disease that the Spanish brought with them. Las Casas onhis travels also saw the violence and horrors which the Indians were subject to. Las Casas describes this scene upon entering the Indian village of Caonao: "The Clerico was preparing for the division of the rations amongst the men, when suddenly aSpaniard, prompted, as was thought, by the Devil, drew his sword: the rest drew theirs; and immediately they all began to hack and hew the poor Indians, who were sitting quietly near them, and offering not more resistance than so many sheep".(Liburn 10 & 11)Las Casas then goes on to describe the scene as "heaps of bodies . . . strewn about, like sheaves of corn, waiting to be gathered up". (Liburn 10) The Spaniard's job was to convert the native population to Christianity, not use them to test the sharpness oftheir swords which they had done in this case.In Mexico, Hernan Cortez, the conqueror, recognized the need for religious instruction among Indians. His instructions he received from the Spanish monarchy and the Pope for his venture included the order to, "spread the knowledge of the true faith andthe Church of God among those people who dwell in darkness," (Ricard 14). Cortez followed these instructions very diligently.When he encountered the Indians on the mainland of Central America, he undertook their religious conversions. He explained the Christian religion to...
