It is quite obvious that the Catholic faith desired to use
Don Luis de Velasco (Paquiquineo) to their advantage by his knowing the native
language and being “converted” would be able to translate his new faith into
words that could be understood by the natives without too much effort all those
that would be in the mood to listen to him speak.
I believe that along the way, he got “enlightened” by all of
the delays to return home and he realized that his companions were basically
out for gain no matter the cost. With
the nine year delay of returning home gave him a bad taste in his mouth that
caused him to revert back to his native instincts and eliminated his new enemies,
the priests. He found out that he had to
manipulate the system to his advantage in order to get home. He had to know that it would take years to
accomplish his task even with the danger of being caught in his scheme or even
the wondering of spies wherever his travels took him. He had been titled at court through the house
of trade as an influential individual.
During this time, there had to be many different nationalities of
slaves, gentry and nobles, so to the others, he was not a spectacle. (1)
The Spanish wanted his knowledge about the area so they
could exploit it for their advantage. By
not identifying the bay entrance, kept his people free from the European and
Spanish dominion for a while longer. (2)
Don Luis made the missionaries suffer by hunger and trying
to survive in a land they knew little or nothing about. They might have been learned individuals, but
they were totally dependent upon the locals for their very existence.
Having the order to kill on sight by the Governor, all
relatives of Paquiquineo had to stay out of sight. Fear of death makes one go to the basics of
survival (level 1).
It is very interesting that Alfonzo did not want to be with
his father and choose to be with the military instead. It might have been his instinct of safety.
I can fully understand the sense of urgency to obtain all
religious artifacts and garments by the Spanish citizens. Being instilled into their core being that
what they see individuals wearing religious garments and tokens would be
considered as sacrilegious. In Spain or
Rome, this type of actions would be punishable by death or worse. Whatever garments and tokens that were found
were taken back.
It is clear that Luis de Quiros was willing to take the
young native boy as “Plan B” to educating a native that hopefully would not
revert to same situation as Don Luis.
Obtaining a youth has better odds to teach than a teenager or
adult. At this time he realizes that any
religious conversions would be null. The
phrase here is “better enough to leave well enough alone” until things settle
down with everyone as stated “If there is any fruit here, it will have to be by
wearing them away like water on a rock”.
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