Thus the work of depopulation went on until, in 1622, many _encomiendas_ which originally contained a thousand adult male Indians, and yielded eight thousand dollars of tribute, were reduced to a hundred; yet these unfortunate survivors were forced to continue the payment of the original tribute, or to render personal service instead. There was an _encomienda_ in Huanuco where the Indians had paid more than one hundred thousand dollars over and above what was legally due, during fifty years.[178] It may well be asked of what use were the humane and beneficent laws enacted by the kings of Spain if this was the way in which they were universally evaded by corregidors, curas, and Spanish settlers of all ranks? The caciques sorrowfully watched the gradual extinction of their people, perhaps secretly hoped for an opportunity of revenge, but were without power to prevent the cruel oppression which they deplored, though they did not neglect, from time to time, to protest against the lawless exactions and cruelties of the Spaniards.[179] But the Indians did not endure their fate without occasional attempts at resistance. On one occasion the people on the western shore of lake Titicaca rose against the _mita_ of Potosi, and retreated amongst the beds of rushes on the shores of the lake, which, in some places, are nine leagues long and one broad. In the midst of these rushes there was an island, whence secret lanes were cut through the tangled mass, which the fugitives navigated in their balsas. Secure in their retreat, they continued to make inroads on the Spanish towns near the lake, until at last, in 1632, the viceroy Count of Chinchon ordered his nephew, Don Rodrigo de Castro, to chastise them. Five of their leaders were captured and hung at Zepita, and their heads were stuck on the bridge over the Desaguadero. This only exasperated the Indians, who elected a brave and enterprising leader named Pedro Laime, and, suddenly attacking the bridge over the Desaguadero, they carried off the heads of their former chiefs. The Spaniards marched along the shore and waded to some islets, while the Indians hovered round them in their balsas, and prevented them from advancing further. At length the Spanish troops were embarked in twenty balsas, and came in sight of the hostile squadron commanded by Laime. The Indians went in and out of the lanes of rushes only known to themselves, baffled their oppressors, and cut off several of the Spanish balsas. A party of cavalry advancing into the swampy ground was suddenly surrounded and cut to pieces, the Indians only losing three men.[180] Thus the fugitive Indians retained their liberty for many years in these inaccessible fastnesses of lake Titicaca, and the Augustine friar Calancha confesses that "the rebellion was caused by the injustice and tyranny of the Spaniards, who forced the Indians to work without pay, and seized on their goods."