Note 314 — Chapter XIII
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The same was once the case all over Peru, in the good old days of the Incas, as we know from the curious dying confession of the last of the conquerors, Marcio Serra de Lejesama, addressed to Philip II., A.D. 1589.
"Your Majesty must understand that my reason for making this statement is to relieve my conscience, for we have destroyed the government of this people by our bad example. Crimes were once so little known among them, that an Indian with 100,000 pieces of gold and silver in his house left it open, only placing a little stick across the door, as a sign that the master was out; and nobody went in. But when they saw that we placed locks in our doors, they understood that it was from fear of theft; and when they saw that we had thieves amongst us, they thought little of us; but now these natives, through our bad example, have come to such a pass that no crime is unknown to them."—Calancha, lib. i. cap. 15, p. 98.