It is difficult at this distance of time to estimate correctly the value of the work done by Las Casas, and the consequences of the enactments in favour of the Indians, obtained by his appeals to the Spanish government. In this diocese of Chiapas his zeal led to the establishment of numerous churches and convents. Dominicans and brethren of other orders came over from Europe for the purpose of living amongst these Indians, converting them, educating them and forming centres of local civilization. To a certain extent the ceremonies of the church, and especially the worship of images, seemed to obtain a powerful hold upon the devotional nature of many of the tribes, and the monks obtained great influence over them. Thus far the work begun by Las Casas unquestionably did much good in this and the adjoining provinces. The exhortations of the principal authorities of the Church in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were also beneficial in moderating the hardships inflicted upon the natives by the Spanish landowners. But in advocating the cause of the Indians, Las Casas, in the fervour of his zeal, created evils the effect of which he could not have foreseen. It was in consequence of the measures adopted through the representations of this ardent reformer that negro slavery was introduced into America. It was also chiefly owing to his efforts that consecutive ordinances was decreed, which, although issued with the intention of putting a stop to the harsh treatment of the Indians, made it almost impossible to carry on successfully the government of New Spain. Thus, by the abolition of forced labour, it was found that there was an immediate danger of the lands granted to the Spaniards becoming thrown out of cultivation and their owners ruined. In no part of New Spain was this danger more to be apprehended than in the neighbourhood of La Antigua Guatemala, and in the country through which I passed on my way to Santa Cruz del Quiché. The lands there were fertile and the farms prosperous. The Indians performed labour upon them under fixed rules which, although strict and exacting, were not opposed to their previous habits. When these regulations were withdrawn the Indians ceased to work. Finally protests were made to the government, and it was pointed out that this usage of forced labour was not introduced by the Spaniards, but that it had previously been practically the base of the tribal administration.