Note XIV‑19 — Chapter XIV · THREATENED DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIES. 1526-1543.

The version given in Prescott's Peru, ii. 260-1, is that the viceroy found a ship, laden with silver from the Peruvian mines, ready to sail for Spain, and that he laid an embargo on the vessel as containing the proceeds of slave labor. There is, however, no absolute prohibition in the new code against the employment of Indians in working the mines, although, as mentioned in Herrera, dec. vi. lib. v. cap. iv., a cédula issued in 1538, forbade that natives be so engaged, and authorized the substitution of negro slave labor for such purposes.