Читать книгу The Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America - William Bennet Stevenson - Страница 6

Table of Contents

Arrival at Mocha. … Some account of Mayo, one of the Cape de Verd Islands touched at on our passage. … Description of Mocha, its Productions, &c. … Leave Mocha, and land at Tucapel Viejo. … Description of the Indians, their Dress, &c. … Indians take me to their Home. … Description of the House, Family, Food, Diversions. … Appearance of the Country. … What Trade might be introduced.

On the 14th of February, 1804, I landed on the Island of Mocha, after a passage of upwards of five months from England, during which we passed between the Cape de Verd Islands, and touched at one of them called Mayo, for the purpose of procuring salt, which appears to be the only article of commerce. It is produced by admitting the sea water on flats, embanked next to the sea, during the spring tides, and allowing it to evaporate: the salt is then collected and carried off before the return of the high tides, when the water is again admitted, and the same process takes place. The sea water is here strongly impregnated with salt, owing probably to the great evaporation caused by the intense power of the heat, which also aids and hastens the process on shore. The inhabitants whom I saw were all blacks, with the solitary exception of a priest, and many of them in a state of nudity, even to an age at which decency if not modesty requires a covering. A small quantity of bananas, the only fruit we could procure, and some poultry, were brought from St. Jago's, another of the islands, visible from Mayo.

The Island of Mocha, situate in 38° 21´ S. and that called Santa Maria, lying about 80 miles to the northward of it, were the patrimony of a family, now residing at Conception, of the name of Santa Maria, who lived on the latter, and sent some people to reside at Mocha, but after the commencement of the war between England and Spain, in 1780, the family, as well as the whole of the inhabitants, were ordered by the government of Chile to quit the islands, under the pretence that these were a resort for smugglers: a pretence derived from the common error, that privacy is preventive of contraband.

During the time that Mocha was in the possession of the Santa Marias a number of the original indian inhabitants, belonging to the tribe found on it when first visited by the Spaniards in 1549, resided there, but they were also removed to Conception.

These two islands having been once inhabited, there are yet to be found some few remains of cattle, which have continued to procreate: on Mocha are horses and pigs, and some barn door fowls. Mocha is about fifteen miles in circumference, hilly in the centre, and sloping towards the coast, more so on the western side, where a tolerably good anchorage and a safe landing place, on a sandy beach, may be found. Fresh water flows from several springs; wild turnips, mint and other herbs grow in abundance; the trees on the hilly part are principally the white cinnamon, named by the Spaniards canelo, the magui, the luma, a tree called espino, and others. Here are also apple, peach and cherry trees, with a variety of wild strawberries, and myrtle-berries. Some solitary seals yet remain on the rocks on the south side of the island.

I left Mocha after remaining there alone thirty-two days, and landed from the brig Polly at Tucapel Viejo, the residence of one of the Caciques, or Ulmenes, of the Araucanian indians, by whom I was most hospitably treated.

The male indians who appeared on the beach were of a reddish brown or copper colour, few of them reaching to the height of six feet. They were finely shaped and very muscular, having a round face, well formed forehead, small black eyes, flattish nose, moderately thick lips and good teeth, but no beard. The whole of the countenance is expressive of a certain portion of vivacity, and not uninteresting; the hair is black and strong, all of it being drawn behind the head and platted. The women are lower in stature than the men, their features similar, and some of the girls, if I be not allowed to call them handsome, I cannot abstain from saying are very pretty. The females wear their hair long, and platted behind their heads: it is afterwards wrapped round with a tape about an inch and a half broad, to one edge of which are attached a number of small hawks' bells: the plait is allowed to hang down the back, and not unfrequently reaches below their knees.

The dress or costume of the indians at first appeared very singular to me. In the men it consisted of a flannel shirt, and a pair of loose drawers of the same material, generally white, reaching below the calves of the legs; a coarse species of rug about two yards wide and two and a half long, with a slit in the middle through which the head was passed: this garment, if so I may style it, hanging over the shoulders and reaching below the knees, is called a poncho. The common ones seemed to be made from a brownish sort of wool, but some were very fancifully woven in stripes of different colours and devices, such as animals, birds, flowers, &c. Of the poncho I shall have occasion to speak again, as it is universally worn in all the provinces of South America which I visited; but I must say here, that I considered it as an excellent riding dress; for hanging loosely and covering the whole body, it leaves the arms quite at liberty to manage the whip and reins. The hat commonly worn is in the form of a cone, without any skirts; for shoes they substitute a piece of raw bull's hide cut to the shape of the sole of the foot, and tied on with slender thongs of leather. The females wear a long white flannel tunic, without sleeves, and an upper garment of black flannel, extending below their knees, the sides closed up to the waist, and the corners from the back brought over the shoulders and fastened to the corners of the piece in front with two large thorns, procured from a species of cactus, or with large silver brooches: it is afterwards closed round the waist with a girdle about three inches broad, generally woven in devices of different colours; very often, however, nothing but the white tunic is worn, with the girdle, and a small mantle or cloak called ichella. The favourite colour among the indians appeared to be a bluish green, though I saw few of their garments of this colour at Tucapel, but remarked afterwards, at the town of Arauco, that all those who came to sell or barter their fruit, &c. wore it. The females generally have nothing on their heads or feet, but have a profusion of silver rings on their fingers, and on their arms and necks an abundance of glass bead bracelets and necklaces.

The occupation of the men, as in most unenlightened countries, appeared to be confined to riding out to see their cattle, their small portions of land, cultivated by the women, and to hunting. The females were employed spinning wool with a spindle about ten inches long, having a circular piece of burnt clay at the bottom, to assist and regulate the rotary motion given by twirling it with the finger and thumb at the upper end. They generally sit on the ground to spin, and draw a thread about a yard long, which they wind on the spindle, tie a knot on the upper end, and draw another thread: though this work is very tedious, compared to what may be done by our common spinning-wheels, yet their dexterity and constancy enable them to manufacture all their wearing apparel. Weaving is conducted on a plan fully as simple as spinning. The frame-work for the loom is composed of eight slender poles, cut in the woods when wanted, and afterwards burnt; four of these are stuck in the ground at right angles, the other four are lashed with thongs at the top, forming a square, and the frame is complete. The treadles are then placed about a foot from the front, having a roller at the back of the frame for the yarn and another in front for the cloth, both tied fast with thongs; the sleys, made of worsted, doubled, have two knots tied in the middle of each pair of threads, leaving a small space between the knots through which to pass the warp. After all the yarns are passed through the sleys the ends are tied in small bunches to the roller, which is turned round by two females, one at each end, whilst another attends to the balls in front; the other ends of the yarn are then tied to the roller in front. The thongs connected with the treadle are fastened one to each of the sleys, and a thong being made fast to the upper part of one of them is thrown over a loose slender pole, placed on the top of the frame and then made fast to the other sley, so that when one treadle is pressed by the foot it draws down one of the sleys, holding every alternate thread, and the other rises, carrying with it the other half of the warp. Instead of a shuttle the yarn is wound round a slender stick, of the necessary length, and passed through the opening formed by the rising of one of the sleys and the falling of the other; the contrary treadle is then pressed down, and a slender piece of hard heavy wood, longer than the breadth of the cloth, is passed across, and the weaver taking hold of both ends drags it towards her and compresses the thread. This piece of wood, shaped somewhat like a long sword, is called the macana, and has often been resorted to as a weapon in time of war. The same rude mode of weaving is common, though not universal, in South America. The manner of weaving ponchos I shall describe when treating of the town of Arauco, for what I saw here did not deserve attention.

Besides the laborious occupation of spinning and weaving, and the usual household labour, each wife (for polygamy is allowed, every man marrying as many wives as he choose, or rather, as many as he can maintain) has to present to her husband daily a dish of her own cooking, and annually a poncho of her own spinning and weaving, besides flannel for shirts and drawers. Thus an indian's house generally contains as many fire places and looms as he has wives, and Abbé Molina says, that instead of asking a man how many wives he has, it is more polite to ask him how many fires he keeps.

The females are cleanly in their houses and persons; dirt is never seen on their clothes, and they frequently bathe, or wash themselves three or four times a day. The men also pay great attention to the cleanliness of their persons. The females attend to the cultivation of their gardens, in which the men work but little, considering themselves absolute masters—the lords of the creation, born only to command, and the women, being the weaker, to obey: sentiments which polygamy supports; plurality of wives tending to destroy those tender feelings of attachment which we find in countries where the law allows only one wife. The principal part of the labour of their farms is performed by the women, who often plough, sow, reap and carry to the thrashing floor the wheat or barley, which, when trodden out by horses, is thrown into the air, that the wind may blow away the chaff. I saw no other grain at Tucapel or its vicinity but wheat and barley, in small patches; but I was told that they produced a hundred fold.

The care of the offspring is entirely committed to the women. A mother immediately on her delivery takes her child, and going down to the nearest stream of water, washes herself and it, and returns to the usual labours of her station. The children are never swaddled, nor their bodies confined by any tight clothing; they are wrapped in a piece of flannel, laid on a sheep skin, and put into a basket suspended from the roof, which occasionally receives a push from any one passing, and continues swinging for some minutes. They are allowed to crawl about nearly naked until they can walk; and afterwards, to the age of ten or twelve years, the boys wear a small poncho, and the girls a piece of flannel, wrapped round their waist, reaching down to the knees. The mother, after that age, abandons the boys to the care of the father, on whom they attend and wait as servants; and the daughters are instructed in the several works which it will ere long become their duty to fulfil. To the loose clothing which the children wear from their infancy may doubtless be attributed the total absence of deformity among the indians. Perhaps some travellers might suggest, that confinement in any shape would be considered disgraceful to the haughty Araucanians, who are pleased to call themselves, "the never vanquished, always victors."

The house to which I was conveyed by the indians was about five leagues from the coast, situated in a ravine, towards the farther extremity of which the range of hills on each side appeared to unite. A stream of excellent water ran at the bottom of the small valley, winding its way to the sea, and fordable at this time of the year, but visibly much deeper at other times, from the marks of the surface water on the banks and on several large pieces of rock lying in the stream.

The low part of the ravine (at first more than three miles wide, and gradually closing as we rode up towards the house) was cultivated in small patches; and among the brushwood were to be seen clusters of apple, pear and peach trees, some of them so laden with fruit that their branches were bent to the ground. The sides of the mountains displayed in gorgeous profusion the gifts of nature; the same kind of fruit trees, laden with their ripe produce, enlivened the view, and relieved the eye from the deep green of the woods which covered the landscape, save here and there the naked spire of a rock washed by the rains and whitened by the sunbeams. The situation of the house appeared to have been chosen not so much for its picturesque beauty, as for the facility of defending it: the only approach was the road which we took, it being impossible to descend the mountains on either side—an impossibility which appeared to increase as we drew nearer to the house.

Four or five of the young indians, or mosotones, rode forward to the house, and when it first opened to our view a crowd of women and children had ranged themselves in front, gaping in wild astonishment at my very unexpected appearance. We rode up to the house, which stood on a small plain, about thirty yards above the level of the stream, and alighted amid the din of questions and answers equally unintelligible to me. The wild stare of curiosity, sweetened with a compassionate expression of countenance, precluded all fear, and I could not avoid saying to myself, Great Author of Nature, I now for the first time behold thy animated works, unadorned with the luxuries, and free, may I hope, from the concomitant vices, of civilization!

The house was a thatched building, about sixty feet long, and twenty broad, with mud walls seven feet high, two doors in the front, opposite to two others at the back, and without windows. The back part on the inside was divided into births, the divisions being formed of canes thinly covered with clay, projecting about six feet from the wall, with a bed place three feet wide, raised two from the floor; the whole appearing somewhat like a range of stalls in a stable. Opposite to these births, and running from one end to the other, excepting the spaces at the two doors, the floor was elevated about ten inches, and was six feet wide: this elevation was partly covered with small carpets and rugs, which with five or six low tables composed the whole of the household furniture. The two doors on the back side led to the kitchen, a range of building as long as the house, but entirely detached from it: here were several hearths, or fire-places, surrounded with small earthen pots, pans and some baskets made of split cane; and over each fire-place was suspended a flat kind of basket holding meat and fish, and answering the purpose of a safe: it is called by the indians a chigua. The horses were unsaddled, and the saddles placed on the floor at one end of the house.

The family, or what I conceived to be the family, was composed of upwards of forty individuals. The father was between forty and fifty years old, and apparently enjoyed all the privileges of a patriarch. There were eight women, whom I considered to be his wives, though during my stay he appeared to associate with only one of them, if allowing her to wait upon him whilst eating and receiving from the others their respective dishes (which she placed successively on the small low table) can be called association. The young men eat the food brought to them at different tables, or in different parts of the house. The women and children adjourned to the kitchen, and there partook of what was left by the male part of the family. From the first day of my arrival to the last of my stay I always ate out of the same dish with the Cacique, or Ulmen, for his rank I did not exactly know. Our fingers supplied the place of forks, and large muscle shells that of spoons: knives I never saw used at table.

Our food chiefly consisted of fresh mutton, jirked beef, fish, or poultry, cut into small pieces and stewed with potatoes or pompions, seasoned with onions, garlic and cayenne pepper, or capsicum. Our breakfast, at about sunrise, was composed of some flour or toasted wheat, coarsely ground, or crushed, and mixed with water, either hot or cold, as it suited the palate of the eater. This flour is produced or manufactured by first roasting the wheat or barley in an earthen pan placed over a slow fire, until the grain takes a pale brown hue. When cold it is ground on a flat stone, about eight inches or a foot wide, and two feet or more in length, as they can best procure it. This is put on the ground, with the end next the female raised about four inches. She then takes another stone, which reaches nearly across the first, and weighs from six to ten pounds; this she presses with her hands, and bruises the grain, which is crushed to a state somewhat like coarsely ground coffee. At the lower end of the stone is generally placed a clean lamb skin, with the wool downwards, which receives the flour, called by the indians machica. Our dinner (made up of the stews or messes which I have mentioned) was generally served at noon in calabashes, or gourds cut in two, being three inches deep, and some of them from twelve to twenty inches in diameter. Our supper, which we took at eight o'clock, was milk, with machica, or potatoes.

I cannot refrain from describing a favourite preparation of milk, called by the natives milcow. Potatoes and a species of pompion, zapallo, were roasted, the insides of both taken out, and kneaded together with a small quantity of salt, and sometimes with eggs. This paste was made into little cakes, each about the size of a dollar, and a large quantity was put into a pot of milk, and allowed to boil for a quarter of an hour. I joined the Indians in considering it an excellent dish. Their poultry, fed on barley and potatoes, was fat and good; their fish, both from the sea and the river, capital; and their beef and mutton in fatness and flavour were far above mediocrity.

The beverage at this time of the year, there being abundance of apples, was principally new cider, but it was sufficiently fermented to produce intoxication, which I had several opportunities of observing among the men: to the credit of the women, however, I must say, that I never saw one of them in a state of ebriety. I was informed that at other times of the year they fermented liquors from the maize, the process of which I shall afterwards describe. Their cider is made in the following rude manner:—a quantity of apples is procured from the woods by the women; they are put into a species of trough, from eight to ten feet long, being the trunk of a large tree scooped into a shape somewhat similar to a canoe. A woman then takes a stick, or cane, nearly the length of the trough, and standing at one extremity, beats the apples to pieces. They are afterwards collected at one end, pressed with the hands, and the juice is received either in large calabashes (dried gourds) or in prepared goats' hides. It is now carried to the house, poured into an earthen jar, and left to ferment. The jars are made by the Indians of baked clay:—some will hold upwards of a hundred gallons, which shews that these people have some skill in pottery.

The only in-door diversion which I witnessed among the Indians at Tucapel was what they certainly considered a dance. About sixteen men and women intermixed stood up in a row, and following each other, trotted about the room to the sound of a small drum, which was made by drawing a piece of the fresh skin of a kid or lamb over an earthen pot used for cooking. This diversion I saw but twice, and in both instances after supper. Indeed the indians are not calculated for this kind of amusement. They associate with each other but little. The females are considered inferior to the men, and consequently no harmony or conviviality appears to result from their company. The principal out-door diversion among the young men is the palican: this game is called by the Spaniards chueca, and is similar to one I have seen in England called bandy. Molina says it is like the calcio of the Florentines and the orpasto of the Greeks.

The company divides into two sets. Each person has a stick about four feet long, curved at the lower end. A small hard ball, sometimes of wood, is thrown on the ground: the parties separate; some advance towards the ball, and others stand aloof to prevent it when struck from going beyond the limits assigned, which would occasion the loss of the game. I was told that the most important matters have been adjusted in the different provinces of Araucania by crooked sticks and a ball: the decision of the dispute is that of the game—the winner of the game being the winner of the dispute.

At Arauco I heard that the present bishop of Conception, Roa, having passed the territory belonging to the indians with their permission, (a formality never to be dispensed with) on his visitation to Valdivia, was apprehended in returning for not having solicited and obtained a pass, or safe-conduct from the Uthalmapu, or principal political chief of the country which he had to traverse, called by the indians, the Lauguen Mapu, or marine district. His lordship was not only made prisoner but despoiled of all his equipage; and it became a matter of dispute, which nothing but the palican could decide, whether he should be put to death or allowed to proceed to Conception. The game was played in the presence of the bishop: he had the satisfaction of seeing his party win, and his life was saved. The propriety, however, of keeping the booty taken from him was not questioned by any one.

That part of the country which I had an opportunity of visiting with some of these kind indians was not extensive, but extremely beautiful. The soil was rich, every kind of vegetation luxuriant, and some of the trees were very large: the principal ones were the espino, the luma, the maque, and the pehuen.

I was informed that the indians have both gold and silver mines, and that they are acquainted with the art of extracting the metal from the ores. One might presume that there was some foundation for this report from the ornaments made of the precious metals seen in their possession: they are of Spanish manufacture, and perhaps either the spoils of war or the result of barter.

A trade of no great importance might be established here. The wool, which is good, and timber, with some gold and silver, would be given in return for knives, axes, hatchets, white and greenish coarse flannel, ponchos, bridle bits, spurs, &c.