Читать книгу Savages and civilized - Héctor Palma - Страница 7

Many years later, an aged Darwin reflects on the voyage of the Beagle in his Autobiography:

The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career . . . I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed. . . . The glories of the vegetation of the Tropics rise before my mind at the present time more vividly than anything else; though the sense of sublimity, which the great deserts of Patagonia and the forest-clad mountains of Tierra del Fuego excited in me, has left an indelible impression on my mind. The sight of a naked savage in his native land is an event which can never be forgotten. (Darwin, 1892, p. 61)

Charles R. Darwin, son and grandson of doctors, was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury (England) and died of heart disease on April 19, 1882. He came from a wealthy family and at the age of sixteen, his father sent him to study medicine at Edinburgh University together with his brother Erasmus. After two years in Edinburgh, his father learned of Charles’ lack of concern about medicine and sent him to follow an ecclesiastical career in Cambridge, but his vocation was not there either. However, as it had happened in Edinburgh, Darwin established many contacts with geologists and botanists. As he was very keen on natural sciences, Professor John S. Henslow urged him to study geology with Adam Sedgwick.

In those days, it was customary to have a naturalist on board, someone in charge of collecting samples of plants, animals (bones included), and to develop geological surveys. The Royal Navy, as a tradition, used to assign that position to the surgeon on board, and Robert McCormick was on the Beagle ready for that job. But Captain Fitz Roy did not consider him the right person for that position, perhaps due to his reluctant nature to accept orders or because of his Irish origin. However, it is possible that the Captain’s tradition of no socialization with subordinates (except for ship and journey matters), plus the fear of being isolated for several years—after Stoke’s shocking experience during the previous expedition—would have led Fitz Roy to select, though a stranger, someone from his social class. Therefore, he asked Professor Henslow to refer someone³ to him, and Professor Henslow mentioned Darwin, who accepted but with certain conditions: the freedom to leave the expedition whenever he wanted (indeed he did it, many times and for quite long periods), and to take charge of his own food expenses. Fitz Roy accepted, and shortly before setting sail, Darwin wrote an enthusiastic letter from Devonport (November 17, 1831):

Everybody, who can judge, says it is one of the grandest voyages that has almost ever been sent out. Everything is on a grand scale. . . . In short, everything is as prosperous as human means can make it. (Darwin, 1892, p. 218)

Apart from Humboldt’s book (Personal Narrative), Darwin took the Bible and the recently-released first volume of Lyell’s Principles of Geology, which suggested a new vision of the Earth’s geological changes (uniformitarianism), and that strongly influenced him. Lyell stated that the geological characteristics of the Earth are the product of a slow and continuous process of causes in constant operation, contrary to what catastrophists stated (that they were out of large and sporadic cataclysms). In addition, Lyell believed, compared to most naturalists of his time, that the age of the Earth dated back several million years.

The Darwin who sets sail on the Beagle is merely a lucid and restless 22-year-old man, enthusiastic about outdoor life and horseback riding, and who had never imagined the central role he would play in the history of science and in the Western culture. However, in the Diary he completed to be published upon his return, he describes with great care those naturalist’s issues and also gives anthropological and sociological considerations on the inhabitants of the visited regions, as an experienced professional rather than a restless young man. This shows his vast analytical observation skills as well as great conceptual creativity to develop plausible hypotheses. But at that point, he was not the Darwin who published, almost three decades later, one of the most important books of the nineteenth century, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (hereon The Origin). It was still many years before Darwin could finally shape up his theory, though some findings in Punta Alta (south of Buenos Aires province), in the Andean Mountains, in Patagonia, and on the Galapagos Islands hold an outstanding place in the future puzzle of evolution. There is nothing in Narrative (Volume III) to conclude that the idea of evolution would have appeared during that voyage, except for trivial Argentinian, Chilean or Ecuadorian chauvinism about a privileged place and an exact moment that helped Darwin with his dangerous idea.

Our next protagonist is Captain Robert Fitz Roy. He was born in England (Suffolk), in 1805. Although a bit older than Darwin, he was only twenty-one at the beginning of the first expedition and twenty-six during the second. He belonged to the British aristocracy, and at the age of 13 he joined the Royal Navy. He was an expert in meteorological observations and for his hydrographic studies aboard the Beagle he was awarded a gold medal by the Royal Geographical Society. He was also governor of New Zealand from 1843 to 1845. He was a very religious man and held in very high esteem the role that missionaries could play in “civilizing” the natives of different areas of the planet, that is, to ascend from their state of savage to the degree of civilization (European).

It is worth a brief digression here since it is relevant to understand, to a large extent, what was one of Fitz Roy’s motivations behind the decision to take the Fuegians to England. In an 1836 forgotten article, written with Darwin⁴ , he attempts to confront an adverse observation on Christian missionaries stated by the Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue, who argued that those missionaries had destroyed native cultures under the excuse of the evolution of civilization and had even disguised European colonial expansion. The article also highlights the missionaries’ engagement that helped to improve “moral state” in Tahiti.

A more orderly, quiet, inoffensive community I have not seen in any other part of the world. Every one of the Tahitians appeared anxious to oblige, and naturally good tempered and cheerful. They showed great respect for, and a thorough good will towards, the missionaries (of the London Missionary Society); and most deserving of such a feeling did those persons appear to be, with whom I had the sincere pleasure of making acquaintance,—Messrs Pritchard, Nott, and Wilson. (Fitz Roy & Darwin, 1836, p. 224)

Considering that that condition was not attached to the Tahitians’ own culture that, before the arrival of the missionaries, used to have customs and habits “at odds with morality and civilization,” it is stated:

On the whole, it is my opinion that the state of morality and religion in Tahiti is highly creditable. . . . Credit due for what has been effected, is not allowed. It appears to be forgotten by those persons, that human sacrifices,—the bloodiest warfare,—parricide,—and infanticide,—the power of an idolatrous priesthood,—and a system of profligacy unparalleled in the annals of the world,—have been abolished,—and that dishonesty, licentiousness, and intemperance have been greatly reduced, by the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager it is base ingratitude to forget these things. (Fitz Roy & Darwin, 1836, p. 228)

It was a quite widespread idea since the mid-eighteenth century (we will go over it in Chapter 5) and would have the practical effect of easing trade relations and the settlement of Europeans in their lands.

That kind of apparently humanitarian attitude, unthinkable nowadays in any unprejudiced tone of mind, satisfied to some extent, the political and commercial interests of European colonialist governments that financed exploration voyages to various regions of the world. (García González & Puig Samper, 2018, p. 76)

This belief in the inferiority of some human groups and their certainty that Christian education would reverse it explains to a large extent Fitz Roy’s effort with the three Fuegians. However, von Kotzebue’s above-mentioned judgment about missions will also reappear time after time and will be highly relevant to the development of the tragic events we will consider.

Finally, the available information about Patagonian natives, the other protagonists of this story, was quite significant and detailed. Fitz Roy reproduces in the Appendix quotes from Antonio de Viedma’s Diary (published in 1783) which was sent to him by Don Pedro de Angelis through Sir Woodbine Parish⁵. Viedma thoroughly describes the customs, idiosyncrasies, and physical aspects, clothing, beliefs, and rituals of Patagonian natives. He also gathers descriptions written by Thomas Falkner⁶, and Fitz Roy generates his own descriptions of natives, geographic distribution, and ethnicities. He asserts the information “principally derived from the natives who went to England in the Beagle; and from Mr. Low, who has seen more of them in their own country than any other person” (Narrative, Volume II, p. 129). The available reports have some errors due to the lack of conceptual and scientific tools, the prevailing prejudices, and others probably as a result of idiomatic differences. But they are amazingly accurate.

Nowadays, it is assumed that at the time (before the epidemics and massacres that decimated them) there would be about ten thousand people in the present-day Tierra del Fuego region, nearby islands, and the Strait of Magalhaens coastlines, divided into four groups with different languages and customs. Two of those groups (the Yámanas⁷ and the Alacalufes⁸) were canoeists; the other two groups (the Selk’nam, also named Oens or Onas, and the Haust) were not navigators, but guanaco hunters.

1. He was an experienced explorer, who had made four survey expeditions to the Australian coastline, between 1817 and 1821.

2. Currently “vinchucas” in Argentina (Triatoma infestans).

3. See J. W. Gruber’s interesting article (1969) where the conflicting relationship between Darwin and McCormick is disclosed.

4. Curiously, according to Gould (1993), it is quite probable that the first article would have been written by Fitz Roy.

5. Woodbine Parish (1796–1882) was a diplomat in charge of business in Buenos Aires between 1825 and 1832. He signed the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation with Argentina in 1825. He combined his diplomatic work with geological and paleontological research. In 1839 he published Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. He corresponded with Darwin and both kept a strong friendship.

6. Thomas Falkner (1702–1784) was a Jesuit missionary priest also known as Tomas Falconer. He collected a lot of information about natives, flora and fauna, and geography of the Argentinian territory, where he resided for forty years.

7. Also called Yagán, Yaghan, Yahgan or Yamana.

8. Also called Kawésqar, Kawashkar, Alakaluf or Halakwulup.