Contemporary observers of the Spanish empire in America remarked on the favored status of the Florida Indians. Compiler Juan Diez de la Calle noted in 1646 that there were no encomiendas, workhouses, or mines in Florida, and he understood that the Indians there paid no tribute and did no service except a little paid labor in the soldiers’ gardens. Governor Rodriguez de Villegas, an on-the-scene observer, commented that the Indians of Florida were “the least worked and the best treated in the Indies.” [Note 104: Juan Diez de la Calle, Madrid, 1646] (Bushnell KC)