Diego de Avendano, Thesaurus Indicus (Antwerp, 1668)

A Jesuit who had taught theology at Lima for decades printed a manual telling every officer of the Indies which of his acts were mortal sins. Tome one asks whether the Indians may be sent down the mines, and answers by recording that a Franciscan who had argued they could be went down the Huancavelica shaft himself, climbed out and recanted - and that the kings, who never lost a night's sleep over their title, could not quiet their consciences about the labour.