“And so at the rumor of the rich deposits of mercury . . . in the years 1570 and 1571, they started construction of the town of Huancavelica de Opresa in a pleasant valley at the foot of the range. It contains 400 Spanish residents, as well as many temporary shops of dealers in merchandise and groceries, heads of trading houses, and transients, for the town has a lively commerce . . . Up on the range there are 3,000 or 4,000 Indians working in the mine . . . The ore was very rich black flint . . . and when they have filled their little sacks, the poor fellows, loaded with ore, climb up those ladders or rigging, some like masts and others like cables, and so trying and distressing that a man empty-handed can hardly get up them.” Antonio Vasquez de Espinosa, Compendium and Description of the West Indies, 1622
10. The excerpt implies that Espinosa felt
a. Sympathy for those working in the mine
b. Loyalty to the Spanish government
c. Concern for the souls of the indigenous population
d. Interest primarily in making profit from the mine