The condition in which the religious found the Indians in the province
This land was not only ruined by the continual wars which the
villages all waged with one another, but still more by the settled
peace which they all had made with the devil. They obeyed to the full
his diabolical will, though it was such that there never was a tyrant
who treated those whom he had conquered, and who were subject to him,
as the devil treated these wretched Indians. He had led their minds
into such a state of confusion that they could not refuse anything
which he commanded them--though his demands were so great and so
grievous that they could not put their hands on anything from which
he did not take tribute, and with which he had not commanded that
they should do him honor by means of some superstition, threatening
them with death if they failed therein. They were accustomed to call
whomsoever they adored anito; and they said that they had a good
anito, to whom they attributed all the good fortune that happened
to them, and a had anito, who caused all their hardships, poverty,
temporal evils, maladies, and deaths. They served the latter that
he might not do them harm, and the former that he might do them
good. They employed more priestesses, or aniteras, than priests,
though they had some of the latter--a wretched class of people, and
with reason despised on account of their foul manner of life. The
devil entered these aniteras or sorceresses, and through them, and by
their agency, he gave his answers. By these priestesses the Indians
performed their superstitious rites and sacrifices, when they wished
to placate their anitos or obtain anything from them. If anyone fell
sick, the aniteras immediately came, and with oils and a thousand
performances they persuaded him that, if he would believe in what
they did, they would cure him. Then in his sight they performed and
displayed a thousand fantastic things; and the devil so earnestly
strove to give them credit that at times he made the people believe
that the soul had left the body, and that the anitera had restored it
by the power of her prayers and her medicines. Whenever the sick man
recovered, they attributed the recovery to their own efforts; while,
if he died, they were plentifully supplied with excuses and reasons to
avoid the blame and to throw the responsibility upon someone else. This
is an old trick of the devil, with which he betrayed the heathens of
antiquity, and likewise betrays this deluded and foolish people. Before
sowing their fields they used to celebrate three solemn feast-days,
during which all the men gave themselves up to dancing, eating, and
drinking until they were unable to stand; and after this came that
which commonly follows--namely, giving loose rein to the flesh. The
women did not drink, for this was very contrary to their customs as
they are very laborious; but they made up for it as well as they could,
and in the dances and all the rest they did as well as the men. If the
Indians left their houses, and happened to meet anyone who sneezed,
they went back home again even though they had gone a day's journey,
as if the sneeze had been something in the road. Sometimes they went
on, and returned without delay from their destination. If the same
thing happened when they began to work, they immediately desisted from
their labor. If on any similar occasion they heard the singing of a
certain bird which they regarded as a bad omen, they did not go on
at all with what they had undertaken, even though they had traveled
for many days, and even in the case of an entire army in war. They
acted in the same manner if the bird came or flew toward their left
hand, or if it turned its bill in such or such a direction. It was
the same way with other signs which they regarded as evil omens. On
the contrary, they were very much encouraged and very joyful when
the augury was a good one; and although a thousand times the event
was opposite to what the augury, as it seemed, had threatened or
promised, they never lacked an excuse for remaining in their error,
and for continuing forever in this harmful ignorance. When they
began a voyage by sea or by the rivers, they threw into the water
a certain quantity of their food out of reverence for the devil,
in order to placate him so that he might give them success. If they
built a house, they had to perform their rites before entering it;
and if the bird of augury entered it they either tore it down, or
performed a thousand sacrifices and superstitious rites in order to
fit it for habitation. When they bought anything, they did the same
before they would put it in the house; and whenever they went out on
any little business, those who went and those who stayed at home did
nothing but perform superstitious acts that they might have good luck
in it. It was the same with everything they did or thought of doing,
in life and in death, in sickness and in health; and for this purpose
they had their houses full of devices and apparatus. As the devil never
turns back from the evil thought and purpose of being as God, which he
had in the beginning, he taught them a thousand superstitious rites to
adore and revere him, very like those which the church uses in honor
of our true God. Hence they had regular feast-days, and days assigned
for their worship, and three-day feasts, like our great ecclesiastical
feasts. [53] They carried on their wrists blessed beads, which the
sorceresses gave them with threats of death if they took them off. They
had their sort of holy water; and in one village named Masi, which
was much given to all sorts of superstition, they had a certain water
with which they washed the arms, the legs and the foreheads of all the
children, especially the children of the chiefs. As a result of this,
they promised them a long and fortunate life. They had receptacles like
charity-boxes, in which they put what they offered the anito. These
boxes were set out in dark places, hidden in ravines, or in thickets,
or in cane-brakes. Even when they were in plain and open places,
and even (as sometimes happened) when things of great value were
placed in them, no one dared to take anything out of them, even gold,
or stones regarded by them as precious. They also had some places of
devotion where the sick went to pray for health, and ate food. When
they went home again they were obliged to cast into these places the
jars and other utensils with which they prepared their food, as being
consecrated to their anito by being used at this meal, which was a kind
of sacrifice. There were different places for different infirmities,
while for the chiefs only there were separate places. They had so much
reverence for these things that even when they had become Christians
they did not dare to go and destroy the things in these places which
had been dedicated to the devil. The religious themselves had to go
there, and with their own hands break and demolish all these things,
and burn them before the eyes of the Indians, and cast the ashes into
the river. They kept back nothing, not even precious things which
might have been applied to holy works; for in this way only was it
possible to undeceive the Indians, and to avoid the impression of
avarice. There were dedicated to the devil certain trees, flowers,
and mountains, which no one dared to touch except in the service and
honor of their owner, the devil. In a word, they had not the right to
put their hands on anything without turning to him and consulting him
as their God. He often spoke to them in their own language, in such
a way that they heard and knew that he was present, although they did
not see him. Even at this day they tell what he said to them. One of
these aniteras, who afterward became a very good Christian, told how
the devil played a thousand tricks upon her. At one time she begged him
earnestly to give her gold, a thing which at other times she had often
asked of him. He promised it to her; and when she awoke in the night
she found her wrists covered with gold bracelets, and many strings
of stones highly valued among the Indians. She fell asleep again; and
when she awoke the second time she did not find even one ornament, for
everything had disappeared like fairy wealth. The sorrow in which the
trick had left her was greater than the satisfaction which she felt
when she believed that she was rich. In this manner he treated them
like children, promising them riches by these deceits, and assuring
them of other things of the same sort. He told them besides that he
knew their ancestors must come back to life again; for they believed
that their deceased fathers and ancestors must return to life in
this world. In this way he deceived them; and even when the religious
came the natives represented to them that they would incur ignominy
if their ancestors, when they came back to this world, should find
them professing a different religion and law from that which they
themselves had followed. They sometimes asked the devil that he
would permit them to see him; but he answered that his body was so
subtile that they could not see it. At one time, when some Indians
begged him very earnestly that he would come down on top of the house
where they dwelt and talk with them, he immediately came among them;
for they had there a stone, highly esteemed among them, which they
called maxin. He remained for some time moving about on the ground,
and from that stone spoke with a very small and fine voice. Finally
stone and devil disappeared, leaving them greatly pleased, and more
deceived than before. When Don Luis Perez das Marinas was at Tuy,
in Nueva Segovia, before the religious were there, he spent one night
near the sea on the shore, by the mouth of a river which passes the
village of Pata, at the foot of a little hill which was dedicated to
the devil, and where they offered sacrifices and celebrated festivals
in his honor. On this account no one dared to cut a stick or anything
else on it, except for the service of the devil; because the sea would
instantly grow wrathful, the winds would arise, and their houses would
be thrown down. When the soldiers reached there, the alcalde-mayor of
that province (who was Captain Mercado) directed the Indians to cut
some stakes, reeds, and branches to build huts for the soldiers. The
Indians refused, and offered to bring it all from other places, even
though that would require more labor of them. But the Spaniards would
not wait so long, and compelled them by force to cut what they needed
from this little hill. That very night a frightful wind arose, stirred
up the sea, drove the waves up on the shore, and carried them to the
camp--which, as it seemed, was very safe from such an accident. The
soldiers and Don Luis himself were obliged to flee from the danger,
losing many things (some of them of great value), which were carried
away by the sea, or by the devil in return for what they had cut
from that hill of his. Even after the religious had come there,
when they needed some wild palms which were on that little hill,
there was not an Indian that dared cut these, because they were
still heathen. The religious sent two Christian boys whom they had
brought from Pangasinan, and some others who were being instructed in
preparation for baptism. In course of time they cut everything off the
hill, without the devil's daring to do as he had been accustomed. The
Indians were all struck with wonder, not only those in this village,
but those in all the others. But what was the marvel? For when the
religious came to establish themselves in this village the devil
complained to its natives, saying that he was going away and that they
should never see him again--because, as he said, from that day forth
there was someone else who would deal with them. However, he did not
tell them who it was. "One thing only," he said, "I tell you; take
care not to believe what you hear from these men in long clothes who
have come here, for I am certain that the dead will rise again." He
said this to them with regard to their ancestors, as he wished them
to believe that the dead would be much grieved if they were to come
back to life and find their descendants far from that which they had
followed during their own lives. The devil had inculcated in them a
belief that, when a man died, his soul was obliged to pass a river
or lake where there was a boat rowed by an old boatman; and to pay
his passage they fastened some money on the arm of the dead man. They
believed that no woman could pass whose hands were not tattooed with
black in accordance with their custom. They were in the habit also
of burying with the dead food for the journey, oil with which he
might anoint himself, a robe for his clothing, and some gold for
the contingencies which might arise. If the dead man was a chief,
they used to bury with him one or two slaves to serve him there in
some very flowery and pleasant fields, where the devil had taught
them that they were to live a delightful life, eating, drinking,
and enjoying themselves until they should return a second time to
this world. There are still living many Indians who tell about all
these things, and there are even heathen who believe them, because
they have had no religious to whom they might go for teaching. They
also tell of some very mischievous tricks which the devil has played
upon them. It happened sometimes that when a man was alone in the
field he came upon some creatures resembling little women. They
would deceive him, and either by alluring words or by force would
place him within a thicket, and there toss him in the air as if he
had been a ball; they then left him there, half-dead. If he ventured
to go away from there and make his way to the village he remained for
many days beside himself, as it were, and half stupid; if he did not,
he died there miserably. At one time an Indian chief went to sea,
with many people in his vessel. They were drowned, and perished in
the sea without leaving anyone to carry the news. As they did not
return, their relatives consulted the devil to know where they were;
and he answered them that they were suffering no pain because they
had reached port in a very rich and fertile country known as Mexico,
where they were very happy. The others believed him, although they did
not know that there was any such land until afterward, when they heard
the religious speak of Mexico. They then asked many questions as to
their judgment with reference to this chief and those who accompanied
him. The fathers undeceived them, and corrected the falsehood which the
devil had told them--as if their tiny boats could have passed over so
great and so terrible an ocean, or carried sufficient provisions for
such a length of time as is necessary to go from there to Mexico! In
addition, the devil showed in his dealings with them how tyrannical
and cruel he is, and how addicted to the destruction of men, by
causing them to kill some in his service. This was not only made
evident by their law requiring the burial of the living with the
dead, as has been narrated, but also by other laws. For instance,
when the son, the wife, or the brother of any chief died, he mourned;
and during this mourning he fasted, not even eating rice, which is
the ordinary bread of that country, or drinking wine--a deprivation
which, for a race so fond of wine as this is, must have been a
great hardship. During all this time he did not touch flesh or fish,
but ate only roots and products of the soil, and drank water. This
mourning lasted sometimes for years, sometimes less, in proportion to
the love and esteem which was felt for the deceased. When it seemed
to the people of the village that the time of mourning had lasted
long enough, and that it would be well for their chieftain and head
to treat himself more kindly--perhaps because during this time they
drank less themselves, to show their sympathy with their lord--they
discussed it among themselves and afterward with him. If he agreed
with them, they all contributed to buy a slave, whom they handed over
to him; and before them all the chief cut off the slave's head. With
this the mourning came to an end, and he immediately began to drink
with them like a man dying from abstinence. There was an Indian who,
when the religious came to this country, confessed that he had killed
twelve slaves in this manner on various occasions when he had been in
mourning. This, however, was not the most honorable manner of bringing
the mourning to an end; for those who could slay any one belonging
to their enemies did so, even though it was a woman, a child, or
an old person whom they killed. This was the best way of concluding
the mourning, and was accordingly followed most by those who were in
mourning. They also had another cruel custom like this, which they
followed in their wars, which one village waged with another on the
slightest occasion. If at any time they came to an agreement instead
of a quarrel, it had to be done not without shedding human blood; and
the side which in their opinion was in the wrong, or was the weaker
party, bought a slave and delivered him to the other side. Then all
these others killed him, not one failing to give him a wound even
if he was already dead. They cut him in pieces; and with this they
rested satisfied, as if this vengeance had been taken against all
their opponents. Since their wars and outbreaks were so frequent,
deaths which occurred in this manner must have been very many, although
the number of those whom they slew in the wars was much greater. In
general they took their enemies by surprise, and killed them all,
not excepting women and children and old men. Such was their cruelty
and their madness in this region that to slay any one of these was a
great honor among them; and it sufficed to give the slayer the name
of a valiant man, and to grant him the privilege of using certain
marks of honor reserved for the valiant. These no one could assume
who had not slain a human being, no matter whom. They had received the
command to do thus from the devil, under penalty of death to whoever
should assume these marks of honor without having slain another. In
this way he incited them to that which he most desired, which is to
shed human blood, to slay the body, and to carry off the soul to
hell. In fine, their vices were such as may be inferred from what
has been said. They were a people abandoned by the hand of God and
governed by the devil in accordance with his laws--without judgment,
or reason, or sense, because their minds had been wholly taken away by
him who had governed them. In particular they were extremely vengeful,
proud, envious, extraordinarily avaricious, and given to shameless and
unbridled lewdness. Above all, they were drunkards from the greatest
to the least, and each of their drunken feasts surpassed all the
others. From this vice all the other vices followed in a troop, as
if they were leagued with it; and this drunkenness was continuous,
and excessive. They were a heathen race, with no supernatural light,
though it was at hand; and their natural light was so darkened and
falsified by the devil that they regarded that person as happiest
who could indulge the most in these vices. All of them took pleasure
therein, and were grieved when, as happened at times, they could not
commit them; they envied him who had gone furthest in them, for they
regarded him as the most powerful--as indeed it was generally true that
the man who had the greatest power was the most vicious. As for their
marriages, they came to an end as soon as the husband was vexed with
his wife, or the wife with her husband. This was all that was needed
on either side, to cause them to separate and to make a new marriage,
unless they had children; for they loved their children so much that
this tie was sufficient to keep them from separating, and to make
them bear with each other. The reason that influenced them was their
desire not to be parted from their children, or to grieve them. As
wives, the men were allowed to have those to whom they could give a
dowry, for it is the husband that gives the dowry. But if the first
wife belonged to a chief's family she would not consent to have her
husband marry anyone of a rank below her own; and if the first wife
was not of this rank the husband could not find any woman of high
birth who would afterward marry him--except in some very unusual case,
as when he was very powerful or very valiant. To their equals in rank
the husbands gave large dowries, which were practically in the power
of the fathers and kinsfolk of the woman. On the other hand, if they
married women below them in rank, they did not endow them. Further,
if, as has been said, equals separated from each other as a result
of any quarrel or dislike, and afterward the man wished the woman to
return to his house, they asked a new dowry from him, just as if it
were a new marriage. Hence, if once they separated they were seldom
reunited. So common was a separation that there was almost no man or
woman who had not been divorced from a legitimate wife or husband. This
was a thing which caused much trouble when they were to be baptized,
since they were living in improper relations of marriage, because of
having dismissed, men their first wives and women their first husbands,
and having married others while the first were still alive.