Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/798

Like the subject of industries, information regarding society is meagre. It is chiefly based on scraps gathered during the researches called for by the general history, and woven with the threads of observation resulting therefrom, yet on several points the information has been more massed or more fully considered. Thus, in the different collections of laws, as Puga, Cedulario, Ordenes de la Corona, and other MS. sets, Recop. de Ind., Beleña, Solórzano, Dé Ind. Ivre, I have found decrees relating to different features of social life and institutions, supplemented in such books as Calle, Mem. y Not., with statistical data. Clavigero in his dissertations, Storia, Mess., iv., gives some admirable reflections on the origin of diseases and ancient condition of the Indians. Humboldt speaks at length on epidemics and on population statistics, the latter receiving some valuable comments from Navarro, Mem. sobre la Poblacion. Pimentel, Raza Indígena, considers the treatment to which the aborigines have been subjected, and shows a considerable study of his theme, although it does not cover the whole field or the whole period in question. More interesting and exhaustive is the Hist. Repartimientos, by Saco. Portilla takes up the same subject in España en Mexico, but as a defender of Spanish policy, and consequently with less freedom from bias; yet offering thereby some useful arguments for one side of the issue. The policy of the government in this and other social respects finds a commentator, rare for this period, in Villarroel, Enfermedades Politicas, who suggests some very useful reforms. The need for these can be readily understood by the glimpses of character and life to be found in the New Survey of that noted friar Thomas Gage, who peeped behind the scenes and failed not to relieve his burdened mind. Less committing are the sketches given by Estalla, Pike, Explor., in the introductories of Alaman, Hist. Mej., i., and Mora, Mej. y sus Rev., by Guerra, Hist. Rev., and others. More varied are the facts presented in Instrucciones de Vireyes, in the biographic sketches of Gallo, Hombres, Ilustres and Dicc. Univ., in the critical paragraphs of the learned Alzate, Gacetas Lit., and in the news items and articles of the Gaceta de Mexico and Diario de Mex.

 

For broader references on the preceding chapter the following authorities may be consulted: Providenctas Reales, MS., 7 et seq.; Cedularios, MS., i. 55-6, 73-4, 92, 199-203, 210; iii. 12-13, 45-9, 64-5, 98-104, 183-213; iv. 20, 242; Ordenes de la Corona, MS., i. 20-64, 139; ii. 159-69, 181, 190-7; iii. 65-7, 143; iv. 1, 10, 29-35, 67; v. 55, 110-17, 134-5; vi. 34; vii. 2-7; Puga, Cedulario, 10-11, 108, 118; Recop. de Ind., i. 22-8, 158, 100, 213; ii. 140-1, 190-1, 195-7, 219-22, 240-9, 289-97, 352-5, 359, 302, 304, 539-41; iii. 332-4; Beleña, Recop., i. 77, 182, 202-23, 205; ii. 188-209; Montemayor, Sumarios, 3, 10, 15-10, 24-6, 49, 114, 130-9, 107-8, 228-30; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 2-3, 70, 103, 181-3, 210; ii. 52-3, 58, 153, 107, 170, 188, 197, 208; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iii. 33-4, 529-30; vi. 173-8; Figueroa Vindicias, MS., 9-55; Leyes, Varias Anotaciones, MS., 43; Ordenanzas, Reales del Consejo, passim; New Mexico, Doc. Hist., MS., 423-4; Nueva España, Acuerdos, MS., 37; Tamaron, Visita, Dur., MS., 1-2; Papeles Franciscanos, MS., 201, 530; Pinart, Doc. Chich., MS.,i. 1-6; Ramirez, Doc., MS., 10-132, 220-1; Rescriptos Reales, Ecles., MS., 148-50; Monumenios Hist, y Polit., MS., 428; Revilla Gigedo, Bandos, nos. 11—40, 58, 67, 74, 87; Id., Instruc., MS., 33—40, 145—81, 100—100, 144—5, 174-80; ii. 480-8; Sigüenza y Góngora, Carta al Almirante, MS., 40-4, 54; Squier's MS., xviii. 1-20; Vireyes de Mex., Instruc., MS., nos. 4-6, 18, 20; Villarroel, Justa Repulsa, MS., 117-22; Id., Enfermedades Polit., 107-9;