Never were a people more terribly treated than the natives of America
under the Spanish adventurers. The often told story that the Indians of
Hispaniola were annihilated in one generation after the settlement of that
island is sufficient evidence of the frightfully inhuman treatment to
which they were subjected. The laws of Spain provided for justice and
humanity in the dealings with the Indians, but the settlers, thousands of
miles away, paid no attention to these laws, and the red men were almost
everywhere reduced to slavery, or where free and given political rights,
were looked upon as far inferior to the whites. In every district Spain
placed an official called the "Protector of the Indians," but it does not
appear that they were much the better off for their "Protectors." It is
our purpose here to say something about the cruel treatment of the natives
in South America.
[Illustration: INDIANS OF THE PLATEAU.]