OF THE RELIGION OF THE ABIPONES.
_Hæc est summa delicti, nolle recognoscere quem ignorare non possit_,
are the words of Tertullian, in his Apology for the Christians.
Theologians agree in denying that any man in possession of his reason
can, without a crime, remain ignorant of God for any length of time.
This opinion I warmly defended in the University of Cordoba, where I
finished the four years' course of theology begun at Gratz in Styria.
But what was my astonishment, when on removing from thence to a colony
of Abipones, I found that the whole language of these savages does not
contain a single word which expresses God or a divinity. To instruct
them in religion, it was necessary to borrow the Spanish word for God,
and insert into the catechism _Dios ecnam caogarik_, God the creator of
things.
Penafiel, a Jesuit theologian, declared that there were many Indians
who, on being asked whether, during the whole course of their lives,
they ever thought of God, replied _no, never_. The Portugueze and
Spaniards, who first landed on the shores of America, affirmed that they
could discover scarcely any traces of the knowledge of God amongst the
Brazilians, and other savages. The Apostle Paul, in the first chapter of
his Epistle to the Romans, declares that this ignorance of God is by no
means devoid of blame, and indeed that it cannot be excused; _so that
they are without excuse, because from the very sight of the things
created, they might arrive at the knowledge of God the Creator_. But if
any one think the case admits of palliation, he will say that the
American savages are slow, dull, and stupid in the apprehension of
things not present to their outward senses. Reasoning is a process
troublesome and almost unknown to them. It is, therefore, no wonder that
the contemplation of terrestrial or celestial objects should inspire
them with no idea of the creative Deity, nor indeed of any thing
heavenly. Travelling with fourteen Abipones, I sat down by the fire in
the open air, as usual, on the high shore of the river Plata. The sky,
which was perfectly serene, delighted our eyes with its twinkling stars.
I began a conversation with the Cacique Ychoalay, the most intelligent
of all the Abipones I have been acquainted with, as well as the most
famous in war. "Do you behold," said I, "the splendour of Heaven, with
its magnificent arrangement of stars? Who can suppose that all this is
produced by chance? The waggon, as you yourself know, is overturned,
unless the oxen have some one to guide them. A boat will either sink, or
go out of the right course, if destitute of a pilot. Who then can be mad
enough to imagine that all these beauties of the Heavens are the effect
of chance, and that the revolutions and vicissitudes of the celestial
bodies are regulated without the direction of an omniscient mind? Whom
do you believe to be their creator and governour? What were the opinions
of your ancestors on the subject?" "My father," replied Ychoalay,
readily and frankly, "our grandfathers and great grandfathers were wont
to contemplate the earth alone, solicitous only to see whether the plain
afforded grass and water for their horses. They never troubled
themselves about what went on in the Heavens, and who was the creator
and governour of the stars."
I have observed the Abipones, when they are unable to comprehend any
thing at first sight, soon grow weary of examining it, and cry
_orqueenàm_? what is it after all? Sometimes the Guaranies, when
completely puzzled, knit their brows and cry _tupâ oiquaà_, God knows
what it is. Since they possess such small reasoning powers, and have so
little inclination to exert them, it is no wonder that they are neither
able nor willing to argue one thing from another.
You cannot imagine in what dark colours the Europeans, who first entered
these provinces, described the stupidity of the Americans. Brother
Thomas Ortiz, afterwards Bishop of Sta. Martha, intimates in his letters
to the Court of Madrid, that the Americans are foolish, dull, stupid,
and unreasoning like beasts, that they are incapable of understanding
the heads of religion, and devoid of human sense and judgement. Some of
the Spaniards thought the Americans so stupid, that they wished to
exclude them, even after they were grown up, from baptism, confession,
and other sacraments, as being in the condition of infants who are not
yet possessed of reason. Paul the Third was obliged to issue a bull, in
the year 1537, the second of June, by which he pronounced the Indians to
be really men, and capable of understanding the Catholic faith, and
receiving the sacraments, the cause of the Indians being pleaded by
Bartolomeo De las Casas, afterwards Bishop of Chiapa. The pontifical
decree begins _Vetitas ipsa_, and is extant in Harold. Notwithstanding
this, "the adult Indians in Peru, who have been baptized and properly
confessed, do not partake of the divine communion once every year, nor
indeed when on the point of death," as Acosta says in the eighth chapter
of his work: _De procuranda Indorum Salute_. Nor did the exhortations
and comminations of the famous councils at Lima procure the Indians
permission to partake of the eucharist, as appears from the complaints
and decrees of the synods held in the next century at Lima, Plata,
Arequipa, Paza, and Paraguay. For the priests, who denied the eucharist,
always alleged the stupidity, ignorance, and inveterate wickedness of
the Indians in their excuse. But the synod held at Paza in the year
1638, was of opinion that this ignorance of the Indians should be
ascribed to the negligence of their pastors, by whose sedulous
instruction these wretches might have emerged from the native darkness
of their minds, and from the slough of wickedness.
Taught by the experience of eighteen years spent amongst the Guaranies,
and Abipones, I profess to hold the same opinion, having myself seen
most barbarous savages born in the woods, accustomed from their earliest
age to superstition, slaughter, and rapine, and naturally dull and
stupid as brutes, who, after their removal to the colonies of the
Jesuits, by daily instruction and by the example of old converts, became
well acquainted with and attached to the divine law. Although the
Americans are but slow of understanding, yet when the good sense of the
teacher compensates for the stupidity of his pupils, they are
successfully converted to civilization and piety, and even instructed in
arts of all kinds. If you wish to see, with your own eyes, to what a
degree instruction sharpens the wits of the Indians, and enlarges their
comprehensions, go and visit the Guarany towns; in all of which you will
find Indians well skilled in the making and handling of musical
instruments, in painting, sculpture, cabinet-making, working metals of
every kind, weaving, architecture, and writing; and some who can
construct clocks, bells, gold clasps, &c. according to all the rules of
art. Moreover, there were many who printed books, even of a large size,
not only in their native tongue, but in the Latin language, with brass
types, which they made themselves. They also write books with a pen so
artfully, that the most discerning European would swear they were
printed. The Bishops, Governours, and other visitants, were astonished
at the workmanship of the Indians, which they saw or heard of in the
Guarany towns. The Guaranies were instructed in music, and other arts,
by the Jesuit Missionaries, Italians, Flemings, and Germans, who found
the Indians docile beyond their expectation. Of this, however, I am
perfectly certain, that the Indians comprehend what they see sooner and
more easily than what they hear, like the rest of mankind, who are all
more readily instructed by the eyes than by the ears. If you desire a
Guarany to paint or engrave any thing, place a copy before his eyes, and
he will imitate it and execute his task with accuracy and elegance. If a
pattern be wanting, and the Indian be left to his own devices, he will
produce nothing but stupid bungling work, though you may have
endeavoured to explain your wishes to him as fully as possible. Neither
should you imagine that the Americans are deficient in memory. It was an
old custom in the Guarany Reductions to make the chief Indian of the
town, or one of the magistrates, repeat the sermon just delivered from
the pulpit before the people in the street, or in the court-yard of our
house; and they almost all did it with the utmost fidelity, without
missing a sentence. Any piece of music which they have either sung or
played on the flute, or organ, two or three times from note, becomes so
infixed in their memory, that if the music paper were carried away by
the wind, they would have no further occasion for it. From these things
a theologian will infer that the thinking powers of the Abipones are not
circumscribed by such narrow limits as to render them incapable of
knowing, or at least suspecting the existence of a God, the creator and
governour of all things, from the sight of the things created. The
nation of the Guaranies, though formerly very ferocious, knew the
supreme Deity, whom they call _Tupâ_, a word composed of two particles,
_tû_, a word of admiration, and _pà_, of interrogation.
I said that the Abipones were commendable for their wit and strength of
mind; but, ashamed of my too hasty praise, I retract my words, and
pronounce them fools, idiots, and madmen. Lo! this is the proof of their
insanity! They are unacquainted with God, and with the very name of God,
yet affectionately salute the evil spirit, whom they call _Aharaigichi_,
or _Queevèt_, with the title of grandfather, _Groaperikie_. Him they
declare to be their grandfather, and that of the Spaniards, but with
this difference, that to the latter he gives gold and silver, and fine
clothes, but that to them he transmits valour; for they account
themselves more courageous and intrepid than any of the Spaniards.
Should you ask them what their grandfather formerly was, and of what
condition, they will confess themselves utterly ignorant on the subject.
If you persist in your interrogations, they will declare this
grandfather of theirs to have been an Indian—so barren and absurd is
their theology. The Abipones think the Pleiades to be the representation
of their grandfather; and as that constellation disappears at certain
periods from the sky of South America, upon such occasions, they suppose
that their grandfather is sick, and are under a yearly apprehension that
he is going to die: but as soon as those seven stars are again visible
in the month of May, they welcome their grandfather, as if returned and
restored from sickness, with joyful shouts, and the festive sound of
pipes and trumpets, congratulating him on the recovery of his health.
_Quemen naachic latenc! layàm nauichi enà? Ta yegàm! Layamini!_ What
thanks do we owe thee! and art thou returned at last? Ah! thou hast
happily recovered!—With such exclamations, expressive of their joy and
their folly, do they fill the air. Next day they all go out to seek
honey to make mead, and, as soon as that is prepared, they assemble in
one place, at the setting of the sun, to make public demonstration of
gladness. They pass the night, the married Abipones sitting on the
ground on skins, the by-standing women singing with a loud voice, and
the crowd of single persons laughing and applauding, by the light of
torches, which shine here and there about the market-place. Some female
juggler, who conducts the festive ceremonies, dances at intervals,
rattling a gourd full of hardish fruit-seeds to musical time, and,
whirling round to the right with one foot, and to the left with another,
without ever removing from one spot, or in the least varying her
motions. This foolish crazy dance is interrupted every now and then by
the horrid clangor of military trumpets, in which the spectators join,
making a loud noise by striking their lips with their hands. Yet in the
midst of all this you can never perceive the smallest deviation from
strict decorum. The men are decently separated from the women; the boys
from the girls. The female dancer, the priestess of these ridiculous
ceremonies, as a mark of particular favour, rubs the thighs of some of
the men with her gourds, and, in the name of their grandfather, promises
them swiftness in pursuing enemies and wild beasts. At the same time the
new male and female jugglers, who are thought equal to the office, are
initiated with many ceremonies. Of this most mischievous description of
men I am now going to treat more fully.