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HISTORY OF THE INDIANS, OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.
By the Author of Peter Parley’S Tales.
Boston:
Bradbury, Soden & Co.
M DCCC XLIV.
[Illustration]
Entered according to Act of Congress,
in the year 1844,
by S. G. GOODRICH,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District
Court of Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by
Metcalf, Keith & Nichols,
Cambridge.
Wm. A. Hall & Co., Printers,
12 Water Street.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 5
ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES 10
CLASSIFICATION OF THE INDIANS 16
THE ABORIGINES OF THE WEST INDIES 22
THE CARIBS 34
EARLY MEXICAN HISTORY 41
MEXICO, FROM THE ARRIVAL OF CORTÉS 54
THE EMPIRE OF THE INCAS 80
THE ARAUCANIANS 98
SOUTHERN INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA 112
INDIANS OF BRAZIL 121
THE INDIANS OF FLORIDA 129
THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA 147
THE SOUTHERN INDIANS 160
INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND 170
THE FIVE NATIONS, &c. 192
THE SIX NATIONS 205
WESTERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 219
WESTERN AND SOUTHERN INDIANS 233
VARIOUS TRIBES OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN INDIANS 241
THE INDIANS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 256
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE WESTERN INDIANS IN THE
UNITED STATES 287
THE PROSPECTS OF THE WESTERN TRIBES 297
[Illustration]
HISTORY
OF THE
AMERICAN INDIANS.
INTRODUCTION.
When America was first discovered, it was found to be inhabited by a
race of men different from any already known. They were called INDIANS,
from the West Indies, where they were first seen, and which Columbus,
according to the common opinion of that age, supposed to be a part
of the East Indies. On exploring the coasts and the interior of the
vast continent, the same singular people, in different varieties,
were everywhere discovered. Their general conformation and features,
character, habits, and customs were too evidently alike not to render
it proper to class them under the same common name; and yet there were
sufficient diversities, in these respects, to allow of grouping them
in minor divisions, as families or tribes. These frequently took their
names from the parts of the country where they lived.
The differences just mentioned were, indeed, no greater than might have
been expected from the varieties of climate, modes of life, and degree
of improvement which existed among them. Sometimes the Indians were
found gathered in large numbers along the banks of rivers or lakes, or
in the dense forest, their hunting-grounds; and not unfrequently also,
scattered in little collections over the extended face of the country.
As they were often engaged in wars with each other, a powerful tribe
would occasionally subject to its sway numerous other lesser ones, whom
it held as its vassals.
No accurate account can be given of their numbers. Some have estimated
the whole amount in North and South America, at the time of the
discovery of the continent, even as high as one hundred or one hundred
and fifty millions. This estimate is unquestionably much too large.
A more probable one would be from fifteen or twenty to twenty-five
millions. But they have greatly diminished, and of all the ancient
race not more than four or five millions, if so many, now remain.
Pestilence, wars, hardships, and sufferings of various kinds have
been their lot for nearly four hundred years; and they have melted
away at the approach of the white man; so that even a lone Indian
is now scarcely found beside the grave of his fathers, where once
the war-whoop might have called a thousand or more valiant men to go
forth to engage in the deadly fray. With them have perished, in many
instances, their ancient traditions; and as they had no other means of
handing down the records of their deeds, their history is lost, except
here and there a fragment, which has been treasured up by some white
man more curious than his fellows, in studying their present or former
fates. Monuments, indeed, exist, widely scattered over the countries
they once occupied; some rude and inartificial, marked by no skill or
taste; and others evidently reared at not a little expense of time and
labor, and characterized by all the indications of a people far in
advance of their neighbours in the arts and in civilization.
By whom were these reared, when, and for what cause? How long have they
been thus reposing in their undisturbed quiet, and crumbling in silent
ruin? are questions that force themselves on the mind of the reflective
traveller, as he stands beside or amid their strange forms, and pores
over what seem the sepulchres of buried ages. But the tongue of history
is mute, and they who could have answered his inquiries have long since
passed away.
To give, therefore, a historical account of the American Indians is a
task beset with not a few difficulties. The sources of information must
be almost wholly derived from their conquerors and foes; and though the
incidents related may be in the main correct, and the causes that lie
on the surface be easily known, yet the more hidden ones, the secret
springs of action, are beyond our reach. We have not the Indian himself
recording for us the motives that have prompted his stern spirit,
carefully veiling his designs from all around, nourishing the dark
purpose, and maturing his plans. We are not admitted to the council
of the warriors or wise men, and allowed to listen to their relation
of the wrongs, real or fancied, they have suffered, or to see how one
after another of the chiefs or counsellors utters his opinions, and the
deep plot is laid which is to issue in wreaking a dire revenge, even to
extermination, on the hated intruders.
All these various incentives to action, are nearly or quite beyond our
inspection. Yet it is in the contemplation of such only, that Indian
history can be truly estimated; for all these particulars throw their
lights and shades across and into the portraiture of this most singular
people. It could hardly be expected, that they, who suffered from the
fearful revenge of the red man, who saw, as it were, the scalping-knife
gleaming around the head of a beloved wife, or child, or friend, or who
felt the arrow quivering in their own flesh, or who heard the war-whoop
ringing terrifically on the domestic quiet of their habitation,--it
could hardly, indeed, be expected, that such persons should be as
truthful or impartial as if they had been called to record scenes of a
more peaceful and grateful kind. Without, therefore, doing the early
writers the injustice of supposing that they mean to misrepresent
facts,--yet, in glancing over their descriptions of perfidy, plots,
murders, cruelties, and revenge, we must remember that the red man
had no one of his race to record for him his history, and be candid
and just in our judgments, where there may often be not a little to
extenuate, if not wholly to excuse from blame.
Let us also bear in mind one remarkable fact, that, in their first
intercourse, the reception extended to the Europeans by the Americans
was confiding and hospitable, and that this confidence and hospitality
were generally repaid with treachery, rapine, and murder. This was the
history of events for the first century, till at last the red men, over
the whole continent, learned to regard the Europeans as their enemies,
the plunderers of their wealth, the spoilers of their villages, the
greedy usurpers of their liberty and lands. We are told of tribes of
birds, in the interior of Africa, which at first permitted travellers
to approach them, not having yet learned the lesson of fear; but after
the fowler had scattered death among them, they discovered that man was
a being to be dreaded, and fled at his approach. The natives of America
had a similar lesson to learn; and though they did not always fly from
the approach of their European enemy, it was not because they expected
mercy at his hands.
[Illustration]
ORIGIN OF THE ABORIGINES.
The origin of the aborigines of America is involved in mystery. Many
have been the speculations indulged and the volumes written by learned
and able men to establish, each one, his favorite theory. Conjecture,
by a train of ingenious reasonings and comparisons, has grown into
probability, and finally almost settled down into certainty. For
a time, as in the case of the celebrated “Letters of Junius,” the
question has seemed decided; so plausible have appeared the proofs,
that it would have been deemed almost like incredulity to gainsay
them. But another supposition, more likely, has been started, and has
supplanted the former; each, in its turn, has passed away, and we are
perhaps no nearer the truth than before. We will notice a few of the
most prominent of these opinions.
1. The Indians have been supposed, by certain writers, to be of
_Jewish_ origin; either descended from a portion of the ten tribes,
or from the Jews of a later date. This view has been maintained
by Boudinot and many others; and Catlin, in his “Letters,” has
recently advocated it, especially with respect to the Indians west
of the Mississippi. In proof of this opinion, reference is made
to similarities, more or less striking, in many of their customs,
rites, and ceremonies, sacrifices, and traditions. Thus, he has
found many of their modes of worship exceedingly like those of the
Mosaic institutions. He mentions a variety of particulars respecting
separation, purification, feasts, and fastings, which seem to him very
decisive. “These,” he says, “carry in my mind conclusive proof, that
these people are tinctured with Jewish blood.” Efforts have also been
made, but with little success, to detect a resemblance of words in
their language to the Hebrew, and some very able writers have adopted
the opinion, that this fact is established. That there may be such
resemblances as are supposed is very probable, yet they are perhaps
accidental, or such only as are to be found among all languages.
Besides, allowance must be made for the state of the observer’s mind,
and his desire to find analogies, as also for his ignorance of the
Indian language in its roots, and his liability to confound their
traditions with his own fancies. Many of these similarities, moreover,
belong rather to the general characteristics of the Patriarchal age,
than to the peculiarities of the Jewish economy. Even admitting the
analogies in manners and customs mentioned by Catlin and others, they
are not so striking as are those of the Greeks, as depicted by Homer,
to those of the Jews, as portrayed in the Bible. There are striking
resemblances between the ideas and practices of our American Indians,
and those of many Eastern nations, which show them to be of Asiatic
origin, but yet they do not identify them more with the Jews than with
the Tartars, or Egyptians, or even the Persians.
2. Some have supposed that the ancient _Phœnicians_, or the
_Carthaginians_, in their navigation of the ocean, penetrated to this
Western Continent, and founded colonies. As this is mere conjecture,
and is sustained by no proof in history, though here also fancied
resemblances have been detected in language and some minor things, it
may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration.
3. Others again have imagined that the _Eastern and Western Continents
were once united_ by land occupying the space which is now filled
by the Atlantic Ocean; and that previous to the great disruption an
emigration took place. With respect to this view, it is embarrassed by
greater difficulties than the former. There is not the remotest trace
of such an event recorded in history. It is only, therefore, entitled
to be considered as a _possible_ mode by which the Western Continent
might have been peopled.
4. The pretensions of the _Welsh_ have been put forth with not a little
zeal, and have been considered by some as having more plausibility.
They assert, that, about the year 1170, on the death of Owen Gwyneth,
a strife for the succession arose among his sons; that one of them,
disgusted with the quarrel, embarked in ten ships with a number of
people, and sailed westward till he discovered an unknown land; that,
leaving part of his people as a colony, he returned to Wales, and
after a time again sailed with new recruits, and was never heard of
afterwards. Southey has built on this tradition his beautiful poem of
“Madoc,” the name of the fancied chieftain who was at the head of the
enterprise. The writer, by whom the story was first published, is
said, however, to have lived at least 400 years after the events, and
discredit is thus thrown over the whole. Mr. Catlin, in the appendix
to his second volume, forgetful, apparently, that he had already
attributed certain rites and ceremonies of the same people to Jewish
origin, seems to suppose that the Mandans are undoubted descendants of
Madoc and his Welshmen, who, he thinks, entered the Gulf of Mexico,
and sailed up the Mississippi even to the Ohio River, whence they
afterwards emigrated to the Far West. He furnishes some words of the
Mandan language, which he compares with the Welsh, and which must be
allowed to have considerable resemblance to each other, for the same
ideas. Still, the theory must be regarded as wholly fanciful.
5. A supposition more plausible than any other is, that America was
peopled from the _northeastern part of Asia_. This seems to correspond
with the general view of the Indians themselves, who represent their
ancestors as having been formerly residents in Northwestern America.
It corresponds also with history in another respect. By successive
emigrations, Asia furnished Europe and Africa with their population,
and why not America? If it could supply other quarters of the globe
with millions, and these of various physical and moral characteristics,
why not also supply America with its first inhabitants? The identity of
the aborigines with the nations of Northeastern Asia cannot, indeed,
be fully established; but, while many causes may have contributed to
destroy this resemblance, enough is shown, with other facts, to make
this theory preponderate over all others.
If this supposition be true, it is not to be imagined that the
emigration to this continent all took place at once. There were
doubtless successive arrivals of persons from various parts of Asia;
and thus the Indian traditions, which refer to the Northwest as the
country of their ancestors, and to periods and intervals separating
them, in which people of various character made their appearance,
one after another, and left some traces of their residence, may be
accounted for.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _North American Indians in Council._]
CLASSIFICATION OF THE INDIANS.
In respect to the general resemblance of the Indians, an able writer
of a recent date, treating of this question, says,--“The testimony of
all travellers goes to prove that the native Americans are possessed
of certain physical characteristics which serve to identify them
in places the most remote, while they assimilate not less in their
moral character. There are also, in their multitudinous languages,
some traces of a common origin; and it may be assumed as a fact,
that no other race of men maintains so striking an analogy through
all its subdivisions, and amidst all its varieties of physical
circumstances,--while, at the same time, it is distinguished from all
the other races by external peculiarities of form, but still more by
the internal qualities of mind and intellect.”
M. Bory de St. Vincent attempted to show that the American race
includes four species besides the Esquimaux; but he appears to have
failed in establishing his theory.
Dr. Morton has paid great attention to the subject. He conducted
his investigations by comparisons of the skulls of a vast number of
different tribes, the results of which he has given to the public in
his “_Crania Americana_.” He considers the most natural division to be
into the _Toltecan_ and _American_; the former being half-civilized,
and including the Peruvians and Mexicans; the latter embracing all the
barbarous nations except the Esquimaux, whom he regards as of Mongolian
origin.
He divides each of these into subordinate groups, those of the American
class being called the _Appalachian_, _Brazilian_, _Patagonian_, and
_Fuegian_.
The APPALACHIAN includes all those of North America except the
Mexicans, together with those of South America north of the Amazon and
east of the Andes. They are described thus. “The head is rounded, the
nose large, salient, and aquiline, the eyes dark-brown, with little
or no obliquity of position, the mouth large and straight, the teeth
nearly vertical, and the whole face triangular. The neck is long, the
chest broad, but rarely deep, the body and limbs muscular, seldom
disposed to fatness.” In character, they “are warlike cruel, and
unforgiving,” averse to the restraints of civilized life, and “have
made but little progress in mental culture or the mechanic arts.”
Of the BRAZILIAN it is said, that they are spread over a great part
of South America east of the Andes, including the whole of Brazil and
Paraguay between the River Amazon and 35 degrees of south latitude.
In physical characteristics, they resemble the Appalachian; their
nose is larger and more expanded, their mouth and lips also large.
Their eyes are small, more or less oblique, and farther apart, the
neck short and thick, body and limbs stout and full, to clumsiness. In
mental character, it is said, that none of the American race are less
susceptible of civilization, and what they are taught by compulsion
seldom exceeds the humblest elements of knowledge.
The PATAGONIAN branch comprises the nations south of the River La Plata
to the Straits of Magellan, and also the mountain tribes of Chili. They
are chiefly distinguished by their tall stature, handsome forms, and
unconquerable courage.
The FUEGIANS, who call themselves _Yacannacunnee_, rove over the
sterile wastes of Terra del Fuego. Their numbers are computed by
Forster to be only about 2,000. Their physical aspect is most
repulsive. They are of low stature, with large heads, broad faces, and
small eyes, full chests, clumsy bodies, large knees, and ill-shaped
legs. Their hair is lank, black, and coarse, and their complexion a
decided brown, like that of the more northern tribes. They have a
vacant expression of face, and are most stupid and slow in their mental
operations, destitute of curiosity, and caring for little that does not
minister to their present wants.
Long, black hair, indeed, is common to all the American tribes. Their
real color is not copper, but brown, most resembling cinnamon. Dr.
Morton and Dr. McCulloh agree, that no epithet is so proper as the
_brown_ race.
The diversity of complexion cannot be accounted for mainly by climate;
for many near the equator are not darker than those in the mountainous
parts of temperate regions. The Puelches, and other Magellanic tribes
beyond 35 degrees south latitude, are darker than others many degrees
nearer the equator; the Botecudos, but a little distance from the
tropics, are nearly white; the Guayacas, under the line, are fair,
while the Charruas, at 50 degrees south latitude, are almost black, and
the Californians, at 25 degrees north latitude, are almost white.
The color seems also not to depend on local situation, and in the same
individual the covered parts are not fairer than those exposed to the
heat and moisture. Where the differences are slight, the cause may
possibly be found in partial emigrations from other countries. The
characteristic brown tint is said to be occasioned by a pigment beneath
the lower skin, peculiar to them with the African family, but wanting
in the European.
Another division of the American race has been suggested, into three
great classes, according to the _pursuits_ on which they depend for
subsistence, namely, _hunting_, _fishing_, and _agriculture_. The
American race are further said to be intellectually inferior to the
Caucasian and Mongolian races. They seem incapable of a continued
process of reasoning on abstract subjects. They seize easily and
eagerly on simple truths, but reject those which require analysis or
investigation. Their inventive faculties are small, and they generally
have but little taste for the arts and sciences. A most remarkable
defect is the difficulty they have of comprehending the relations of
numbers. Mr. Schoolcraft assured Dr. Morton, that this was the cause
of most of the misunderstandings in respect to treaties between the
English and the native tribes.
The _Toltecan_ family are considered as embracing all the
semi-civilized nations of Mexico, Peru, and Bogota, reaching from the
Rio Gila, in 33 degrees of north latitude, along the western shore
of the continent, to the frontiers of Chili, and on the eastern coast
along the Gulf of Mexico. In South America, however, they chiefly
occupied a narrow strip of land between the Andes and the Pacific
Ocean. The Bogotese in New Grenada were, in civilization, between the
Peruvians and the Mexicans. The Toltecans were not the sole possessors
of these regions, but the dominant race, while the American race
composed the mass of the people.
The great difference between the Toltecan and the American races
consisted in the intellectual faculties, as shown in their arts
and sciences, architectural remains, pyramids, temples, grottos,
bass-reliefs, and arabesques; their roads, aqueducts, fortifications,
and mining operations.
With respect to the American languages, there is said to exist a
remarkable similarity among them. From Cape Horn to the Arctic Sea,
all the nations have languages which possess a distinctive character,
but still apparently differing from all those of the Old World. This
resemblance, too, is said not to be of an indefinite kind. It generally
consists in the peculiar modes of conjugating the verbs by inserting
syllables. Vater, a distinguished German writer on this subject, says,
that this wonderful uniformity favors, in a singular manner, the
supposition of a primitive people which formed the common stock of the
American indigenous nations. According to M. Balbi, there are more
than 438 different languages, embracing upwards of 2,000 dialects. He
estimates the Indians of the brown race at 10,000,000, and the races
produced by the intermixture of the pure races at 7,000,000.
We have thus given a general classification of the great American
family, and the main points respecting the question of their origin.
We must confess our inability wholly to lift the veil of obscurity in
which their early history is involved, or answer, conclusively, the
inquiry, whence they came, or when America was first peopled. We can
only offer what we have already stated as the most plausible theory,
that, ages ago, a great nation of Asia passed, at different times,
by way of Behring’s Straits, into the American Continent, and in the
course of centuries spread themselves over its surface. Here we suppose
them to have become divided by the slow influences of climate, and
other circumstances, into the several varieties which they display.
[Illustration]
THE ABORIGINES OF THE WEST INDIES.
The authentic history of this remarkable and peculiar race of men opens
with the morning of the 12th of October, 1492. Columbus, the discoverer
of the New World, at that memorable date, landed upon the American
soil, and, as if his first action was to be a type of the consequences
about to follow in respect to the wondering natives who beheld him
and his companions, _he landed with a drawn sword in his hand_. If
the philanthropic spirit of the great discoverer could have shaped
events, the fate of the aborigines of the new continent had been widely
different; but who, that reads their history, can fail to see that the
Christians of the Eastern Hemisphere have brought but the sword to the
American race?
Nor were the first actions of the natives, upon beholding this
advent of beings that seemed to them of heavenly birth, hardly less
significant of their character and doom. They were at first filled with
wonder and awe, and then, in conformity with their confiding nature,
came forward and timidly welcomed the strangers. The following is
Irving’s picturesque description of the scene.
“The natives of the island, when at the dawn of day they had beheld the
ships hovering on the coast, had supposed them some monsters, which
had issued from the deep during the night. When they beheld the boats
approach the shore, and a number of strange beings, clad in glittering
steel, or raiment of various colors, landing upon the beach, they fled
in affright to the woods.
“Finding, however, that there was no attempt to pursue or molest
them, they gradually recovered from their terror, and approached the
Spaniards with great awe, frequently prostrating themselves, and making
signs of adoration. During the ceremony of taking possession, they
remained gazing, in timid admiration, at the complexion, the beards,
the shining armor, and splendid dress of the Spaniards.
“The admiral particularly attracted their attention, from his
commanding height, his air of authority, his scarlet dress, and the
deference paid him by his companions; all which pointed him out to be
the commander.
“When they had still further recovered from their fears, they
approached the Spaniards, touched their beards, and examined their
hands and faces, admiring their whiteness. Columbus was pleased with
their simplicity, their gentleness, and the confidence they reposed
in beings who must have appeared so strange and formidable, and he
submitted to their scrutiny with perfect acquiescence.
“The wondering savages were won by this benignity. They now supposed
that the ships had sailed out of the crystal firmament which bounded
their horizon, or that they had descended from above on their ample
wings, and that these marvellous beings were inhabitants of the skies.
“The natives of the island were no less objects of curiosity to the
Spaniards, differing, as they did, from any race of men they had seen.
They were entirely naked, and painted with a variety of colors and
devices, so as to give them a wild and fantastic appearance. Their
natural complexion was of a tawny or copper hue, and they had no
beards. Their hair was straight and coarse; their features, though
disfigured by paint, were agreeable; they had lofty foreheads, and
remarkably fine eyes.
“They were of moderate stature, and well shaped. They appeared to be
a simple and artless people, and of gentle and friendly dispositions.
Their only arms were lances, hardened at the end by fire, or pointed
with a flint or the bone of a fish. There was no iron among them, nor
did they know its properties; for, when a drawn sword was presented to
them, they unguardedly took it by the edge.
“Columbus distributed among them colored caps, glass beads, hawk’s
bells, and other trifles, which they received as inestimable gifts,
and, decorating themselves with them, were wonderfully delighted with
their finery. In return, they brought cakes of a kind of bread called
cassava, made from the yuca root, which constituted a principal part of
their food.”
Thus kindly began the intercourse between the Old World and the New;
but the demon of avarice soon disturbed their peace. The Spaniards
perceived small ornaments of gold in the noses of some of the natives.
On being asked where this precious metal was procured, they answered by
signs, pointing to the south, and Columbus understood them to say, that
a king resided in that quarter, of such wealth that he was served in
great vessels of gold.
Columbus took seven of the Indians with him, to serve as interpreters
and guides, and set sail to find the country of gold. He cruised
among the beautiful islands, and stopped at three of them. These were
green, fertile, and abounding with species and odoriferous trees. The
inhabitants everywhere appeared the same,--simple, harmless, and happy,
and totally unacquainted with civilized man.
Columbus was disappointed in his hopes of finding gold or spices in
these islands; but the natives continued to point to the south, and
then spoke of an island in that direction called Cuba, which the
Spaniards understood them to say abounded in gold, pearls, and spices.
People often believe what they earnestly wish; and Columbus sailed in
search of Cuba, fully confident that he should find the land of riches.
He arrived in sight of it on the 28th of October, 1492.
Here he found a most lovely country, and the houses of the Indians,
neatly built of the branches of palm-trees, in the shape of pavilions,
were scattered under the trees, like tents in a camp. But hearing of
a province in the centre of the island, where, as he understood the
Indians to say, a great prince ruled, Columbus determined to send a
present to him, and one of his letters of recommendation from the king
and queen of Spain.
For this purpose he chose two Spaniards, one of whom was a converted
Jew, and knew Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic. Columbus thought the prince
must understand one or the other of these languages. Two Indians were
sent with them as guides. They were furnished with strings of beads,
and various trinkets, for their travelling expenses; and they were
enjoined to ascertain the situation of the provinces and rivers of
Asia,--for Columbus thought the West Indies were a part of the Eastern
Continent.
The Jew found his Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic of no avail, and the
Indian interpreter was obliged to be the orator. He made a regular
speech after the Indian manner, extolling the power, wealth, and
generosity of the white men. When he had finished, the Indians crowded
round the Spaniards, touched and examined their skin and raiment, and
kissed their hands and feet in token of adoration. But they had no gold
to give them.
It was here that _tobacco_ was first discovered. When the envoys were
on their return, they saw several of the natives going about with
firebrands in their hands, and certain dried herbs which they rolled up
in a leaf, and, lighting one end, put the other into their mouths, and
continued inhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they
called _tobacco_. The Spaniards were struck with astonishment at this
smoking.
When Columbus became convinced that there was no gold of consequence
to be found in Cuba, he sailed in quest of some richer lands, and soon
discovered the island of Hispaniola, or Hayti. It was a beautiful
island. The high mountains swept down into luxuriant plains and green
savannas, while the appearance of cultivated fields, with the numerous
fires at night, and the volumes of smoke which rose in various parts
by day, all showed it to be populous. Columbus immediately stood in
towards the land, to the great consternation of his Indian guides, who
assured him by signs that the inhabitants had but one eye, and were
fierce and cruel cannibals.
Columbus entered a harbour at the western end of the island of Hayti,
on the evening of the 6th of December. He gave to the harbour the name
of St. Nicholas, which it bears to this day. The inhabitants were
frightened at the approach of the ships, and they all fled to the
mountains. It was some time before any of the natives could be found.
At last three sailors succeeded in overtaking a young and beautiful
female, whom they carried to the ships.
She was treated with the greatest kindness, and dismissed finely
clothed, and loaded with presents of beads, hawk’s bells, and other
pretty bawbles. Columbus hoped by this conduct to conciliate the
Indians; and he succeeded. The next day, when the Spaniards landed,
the natives permitted them to enter their houses, and set before them
bread, fish, roots, and fruits of various kinds, in the most kind and
hospitable manner.
Columbus sailed along the coast, continuing his intercourse with
the natives, some of whom had ornaments of gold, which they readily
exchanged for the merest trifle of European manufacture. These poor,
simple people little thought that to obtain gold these _Christians_
would destroy all the Indians in the islands. No,--they believed the
Spaniards were more than mortal, and that the country from which they
came must exist somewhere in the skies.
The generous and kind feelings of the natives were shown to great
advantage when Columbus was distressed by the loss of his ship. He
was sailing to visit a grand cacique or chieftain named Guacanagari,
who resided on the coast to the eastward, when his ship ran aground,
and, the breakers beating against her, she was entirely wrecked. He
immediately sent messengers to inform Guacanagari of this misfortune.
When the cacique heard of the distress of his guest, he was so much
afflicted as to shed tears; and never in any civilized country were
the vaunted rites of hospitality more scrupulously observed than by
this uncultivated savage. He assembled his people and sent off all his
canoes to the assistance of Columbus, assuring him, at the same time,
that every thing he possessed was at his service. The effects were
landed from the wreck and deposited near the dwelling of the cacique,
and a guard set over them, until houses could be prepared, in which
they could be stored.
There seemed, however, no disposition among the natives to take
advantage of the misfortune of the strangers, or to plunder the
treasures thus cast upon their shores, though they must have been
inestimable in their eyes. On the contrary, they manifested as deep
a concern at the disaster of the Spaniards as if it had happened to
themselves, and their only study was, how they could administer relief
and consolation.
Columbus was greatly affected by this unexpected goodness. “These
people,” said he in his journal, “love their neighbours as themselves;
their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied by a smile.
There is not in the world a better nation or a better land.”
When the cacique first met Columbus, the latter appeared dejected;
and the good Indian, much moved, again offered Columbus every thing
he possessed that could be of service to him. He invited him on
shore, where a banquet was prepared for his entertainment, consisting
of various kinds of fish and fruit. After the feast, Columbus was
conducted to the beautiful groves which surrounded the dwelling of the
cacique, where upwards of a thousand of the natives were assembled,
all perfectly naked, who performed several of their national games and
dances.
Thus did this generous Indian try, by every means in his power, to
cheer the melancholy of his guest, showing a warmth of sympathy, a
delicacy of attention, and an innate dignity and refinement, which
could not have been expected from one in his savage state. He was
treated with great deference by his subjects, and conducted himself
towards them with a gracious and prince-like majesty.
Three houses were given to the shipwrecked crew for their residence.
Here, living on shore, and mingling freely with the natives, they
became fascinated by their easy and idle mode of life. They were
governed by the caciques with an absolute, but patriarchal and easy
rule, and existed in that state of primitive and savage simplicity
which some philosophers have fondly pictured as the most enviable on
earth.
The following is the opinion of old Peter Martyr: “It is certain that
the land among these people (the Indians) is as common as the sun and
water, and that ‘mine and thine,’ the seeds of all mischief, have no
place with them. They are content with so little, that, in so large a
country, they have rather superfluity than scarceness; so that they
seem to live in a golden world, without toil, in open gardens, neither
intrenched nor shut up by walls or hedges. They deal truly with one
another, without laws, or books, or judges.”
In fact, these Indians seemed to be perfectly contented; their
few fields, cultivated almost without labor, furnished roots and
vegetables; their groves were laden with delicious fruit; and the coast
and rivers abounded with fish. Softened by the indulgence of nature,
a great part of the day was passed by them in indolent repose. In the
evening they danced in their fragrant groves to their national songs,
or the rude sound of their silver drums.
Such was the character of the natives of many of the West India
islands, when first discovered. Simple and ignorant they were, and
indolent also, but then they were kind-hearted, generous, and happy.
And their sense of justice, and of the obligations of man to do right,
are beautifully set forth in the following story.
It was a custom with Columbus to erect crosses in all remarkable
places, to denote the discovery of the country, and its subjugation to
the Catholic faith. He once performed this ceremony on the banks of a
river in Cuba. It was on a Sunday morning. The cacique attended, and
also a favorite of his, a venerable Indian, fourscore years of age.
While mass was performed in a stately grove, the natives looked on
with awe and reverence. When it was ended, the old man made a speech
to Columbus in the Indian manner. “I am told,” said he, “that thou
hast lately come to these lands with a mighty force, and hast subdued
many countries, spreading great fear among the people; but be not
vainglorious.
“According to our belief, the souls of men have two journeys to
perform, after they have departed from the body: one to a place dismal,
foul, and covered with darkness, prepared for such men as have been
unjust and cruel to their fellow-men; the other full of delight, for
such as have promoted peace on earth. If, then, thou art mortal, and
dost expect to die, beware that thou hurt no man wrongfully, neither do
harm to those who have done no harm to thee.”
When this speech was explained to Columbus by his interpreter, he was
greatly moved, and rejoiced to hear this doctrine of the future state
of the soul, having supposed that no belief of the kind existed among
the inhabitants of these countries. He assured the old man that he
had been sent by his sovereigns, to teach them the true religion, to
protect them from harm, and to subdue their enemies, the Caribs.
Alas for the simple Indians who believed such professions! Columbus,
no doubt, was sincere; but the adventurers who accompanied him, and
the tyrants who followed him, cared only for riches for themselves.
They ground down the poor, harmless red men beneath a harsh system of
labor, obliging them to furnish, month by month, so much gold. This
gold was found in fine grains, and it was a severe task to search the
mountain-pebbles and the sands of the plains for the shining dust.
Then the islands, after they were seized upon by the Christians, were
parcelled out among the leaders, and the Indians were compelled to be
their slaves. No wonder deep despair fell upon the natives. Weak and
indolent by nature, and brought up in the untasked idleness of their
soft climate and their fruitful groves, death itself seemed preferable
to a life of toil and anxiety.
The pleasant life of the island was at an end: the dream in the shade
by day; the slumber during the noontide heat by the fountain, or under
the spreading palm; and the song, and the dance, and the game in the
mellow evening, when summoned to their simple amusements by the rude
Indian drum. They spoke of the times that were past, before the white
men had introduced sorrow, and slavery, and weary labor among them; and
their songs were mournful, and their dances slow.
They had flattered themselves, for a time, that the visit of the
strangers would be but temporary, and that, spreading their ample
sails, their ships would waft them back to their home in the sky. In
their simplicity, they had frequently inquired of the Spaniards when
they intended to return to Turey, or the heavens. But when all such
hope was at an end, they became desperate, and resorted to a forlorn
and terrible alternative.
They knew the Spaniards depended chiefly on the supplies raised in
the islands for a subsistence; and these poor Indians endeavoured to
produce a famine. For this purpose they destroyed their fields of
maize, stripped the trees of their fruit, pulled up the yuca and other
roots, and then fled to the mountains.
The Spaniards were reduced to much distress, but were partially
relieved by supplies from Spain. To revenge themselves on the Indians,
they pursued them to their mountain retreats, hunted them from one
dreary fastness to another, like wild beasts, until thousands perished
in dens and caverns, of famine and sickness, and the survivors,
yielding themselves up in despair, submitted to the yoke of slavery.
But they did not long bear the burden of life under their civilized
masters. In 1504, only twelve years after the discovery of Hayti,
when Columbus visited it, (under the administration of Ovando,) he
thus wrote to his sovereigns: “Since I left the island, six parts
out of seven of the natives are dead, all through ill-treatment and
inhumanity; some by the sword, others by blows and cruel usage, or by
hunger.”
No wonder these oppressed Indians considered the Christians the
incarnation of all evil. Their feelings were often expressed in a
manner that must have touched the heart of a real Christian, if there
was such a one among their oppressors.
When Velasquez set out to conquer Cuba, he had only three hundred
men; and these were thought sufficient to subdue an island above
seven hundred miles in length, and filled with inhabitants. From this
circumstance we may understand how naturally mild and unwarlike was
the character of the Indians. Indeed, they offered no opposition to
the Spaniards, except in one district. Hatuey, a cacique who had fled
from Hayti, had taken possession of the eastern extremity of Cuba. He
stood upon the defensive, and endeavoured to drive the Spaniards back
to their ships. He was soon defeated and taken prisoner.
Velasquez considered him as a slave who had taken arms against his
master, and condemned him to the flames. When Hatuey was tied to the
stake, a friar came forward, and told him that if he would embrace the
Christian faith, he should be immediately, on his death, admitted into
heaven.
“Are there any Spaniards,” says Hatuey, after some pause, “in that
region of bliss you describe?”
“Yes,” replied the monk, “but only such as are worthy and good.”
“The best of them,” returned the indignant Indian, “have neither worth
nor goodness; I will not go to a place where I may meet with one of
that cruel race.”
THE CARIBS.
Columbus discovered the islands of the Caribs or Charibs, now called
the Caribbees, during his second voyage to America, in 1493. The first
island he saw he named Dominica, because he discovered it on Sunday. As
the ships gently moved onward, other islands rose to sight, one after
another, covered with forests, and enlivened with flocks of parrots
and other tropical birds, while the whole air was sweetened by the
fragrance of the breezes which passed over them.
This beautiful cluster of islands is called the Antilles. They extend
from the eastern end of Porto Rico to the coast of Paria on the
southern continent, forming a kind of barrier between the main ocean
and the Caribbean Sea. Here was the country of the Caribs.
Columbus had heard of the Caribs during his stay at Hayti and Cuba, at
the time of his first voyage. The timid and indolent race of Indians in
those pleasant islands were afraid of the Caribs, and had repeatedly
besought Columbus to assist them in overcoming these their ferocious
enemies. The Caribs were represented as terrible warriors, and cruel
cannibals, who roasted and ate their captives. This the gentle
Haytians thought, truly enough, was a good pretext for warning the
Christians against such foes. Columbus did not at first imagine that
the beautiful paradise he saw, as he sailed onward among these green
and spicy islands, could be the residence of cruel men; but on landing
at Guadaloupe, he soon became convinced he was truly in a Golgotha, a
place of skulls. He there saw human limbs hanging in the houses, as if
curing for provisions, and some even roasting at the fire for food. He
knew then that he was in the country of the Caribs.
On touching at the island of Montserrat, Columbus was informed that
the Caribs had eaten up all the inhabitants. If that had been true, it
seems strange how he obtained his information.
It is probable many of these stories were exaggerations. The Caribs
were a warlike people, in many respects essentially differing in
character from the natives of the other West India islands. They
were enterprising as well as ferocious, and frequently made roving
expeditions in their canoes to the distance of one hundred and fifty
leagues, invading the islands, ravaging the villages, making slaves of
the youngest and handsomest females, and carrying off the men to be
killed and eaten.
These things were bad enough, and it is not strange report should make
them more terrible than the reality. The Caribs also gave the Spaniards
more trouble than did the effeminate natives of the other islands. They
fought their invaders desperately. In some cases the women showed as
much bravery as the men. At Santa Cruz the females plied their bows
with such vigor, that one of them sent an arrow through a Spanish
buckler, and wounded the soldier who bore it.
There have been many speculations respecting the origin of the
Caribs. That they were a different race from the inhabitants of the
other islands is generally acknowledged. They also differed from
the Indians of Mexico and Peru; though some writers think they were
culprits banished either from the continent or the large islands, and
thus a difference of situation might have produced a difference of
manners. Others think they were descended from some civilized people
of Europe or Africa, and imagine that there is no difficulty attending
the belief, that a Carthaginian or Phœnician vessel might have been
overtaken by a storm, and blown about by the gales, till it entered the
current of the trade-winds, when it would have been easily carried to
the West Indies.
The Caribs possessed as many of the arts as were necessary to live
at ease in that luxurious climate. Some of these have excited the
admiration of Europeans.[1] In their subsequent intercourse with
the Europeans, they have, in some instances, proved faithless and
treacherous. In 1708, the English entered into an agreement with the
Caribs in St. Vincent to attack the French colonies in Martinico.
The French governor heard of the treaty, and sent Major Coullet, who
was a great favorite with the savages, to persuade them to break the
treaty. Coullet took with him a number of officers and servants, and
a good store of provisions and liquors. He reached St. Vincent, gave
a grand entertainment to the principal Caribs, and, after circulating
the brandy freely, he got himself painted red, and made them a flaming
speech. He urged them to break their connection with the English.
How could they refuse a man who gave them brandy, and who was red as
themselves? They abandoned their English friends, and burned all the
timber the English had cut on the island, and butchered the first
Englishmen who arrived. But their crimes were no worse than those of
their Christian advisers, who, on both sides, were inciting these
savages to war.
But the Caribs are all gone, perished from the earth. Their race is
no more, and their name is only a remembrance. The English and the
French, chiefly the latter, have destroyed them. There is, however, one
pleasant reflection attending their fate. Though destroyed, they were
never enslaved. None of their conquerors could compel them to labor.
Even those who have attempted to hire Caribs for servants have found
it impossible to derive any benefit or profit from them; they would not
be commanded or reprimanded.