Dripping blood from the stumps of their severed hands, Hispaniolans flee their tormentors, who let them live os examples to other Indians. Sometimes, said Las Cosos, the Spaniords hung the hands oround the victims' necks, saying, "Go now, carry the message." Bartolom矇 de las Casas (1484 - July 18, 1566) was a Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians". His extensive writings, the most famous being A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Historia de Las Indias, chronicle the first decades of colonization of the West Indies and focus particularly on the atrocities committed by the colonizers against the indigenous peoples. Illustration from a 16th Century French edition.