Historical and descriptive narrative of twenty years' residence in South America (Vol 2 of 3) / Containing travels in Arauco, Chile, Peru, and Colombia; with an account of the revolution, its rise, progress, and results

by active 1803-1825 William Bennet Stevenson

I left my friendly alcalde, in possession of his baston, at about five o'clock in the morning, and began to ascend the river with my two palanqueros, who sometimes were obliged to use a considerable degree of exertion to stem the current with a canoe that only measured eleven feet in length, and was barely sufficient to carry us; and it is certain that had they not been very expert, and I very quiet, we should have been frequently upset. At four o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at the house of the vijia, or look-out, where we remained till the following morning. An indian was immediately despatched to inform the Cacique that a viracocha, white man, or child of the sun, had arrived with two Cayapos, and wanted to see him. About ten o'clock the Cacique came in his canoe, with the messenger that had been sent to him, and as the language of the Malaba bears a strong resemblance to the Quichua, I soon entered into conversation with him. I assured him, that mere curiosity had led me to pay him a friendly visit, and in a short time the old man was satisfied; we embarked together in his canoe, the two Indians being ordered to wait my return at the vijia house.

Before noon we arrived at the house of the alcalde, and found his family highly delighted at his return, for the poor fellow who was sent from the vijia had informed them, that I was a strange looking man, in a strange dress, and that I had told him I was neither a Spaniard nor a Creole. Although this excited the curiosity of the alcalde, it did not alarm him, because, said he, I have been at the Spanish town of Cotacache, and know that all white men do not come from the same place: this is perhaps as much as many travellers have to report when they return from a grand tour. Question now followed question, without waiting for answers; nor was the alcalde less teased than myself, it being naturally inferred, that having been with me for two hours, he must certainly know every thing about me. After allowing the noise to continue for about half an hour, he ordered the females to retire, which they did immediately. To my great surprise they went down the ladder which we had ascended, after which they went up another at the back part of the house; when I turned round, I observed that they were separated from us by a division made of cane, three feet high above the floor, where, with true female curiosity, they stood and listened, but never spoke, except to one another in low whispers.

The Cacique and myself now seated ourselves on a damajagua, and four young indians stood with their backs against the partition; I again assured the old man that curiosity alone had induced me to visit him and his people: he replied, that probably my curiosity had tempted me to come in search of lavaderos, gold mines, or to request of him to receive missionaries, or to force him to become tributary. Having protested that nothing of the kind was meant, as my inquiries and conduct while among them would evince, he begged of me to make myself happy, for I was perfectly at liberty to remain or to leave them whenever I chose, and that if I thought proper to send my two Cayapos home, two of his sons should accompany me to Cayapas at any time. To this I very readily acceded, although I did not intend to remain more than a day or two; but I wished to tease my friends, who were anxious with regard to my safety, and then to convince them of the goodness of man in a natural state.

The tribe, at the head of which was Cushicagua, consisted of about two hundred ishcay huarango families, living within the distance of two leagues of his house; besides these he assured me that a great number of tribes were scattered about the woods lying between the Spanish settlements in the interior and those on the coast. This information sufficiently accounted for the reports which I had several times heard at Quito, of smoke having been repeatedly seen ascending from different parts of the woods to the westward of Otavalo.

According to the tradition of the Malabas, they and the other tribes that inhabit the woods are descendants of the Puncays of Quito; and although the Conchocando of Lican, the supreme chief of the territory now called Quito, became the vassal of Tupac Yupangui, they were not conquered by that prince, for he never passed the mountains towards the coast; and since the conquest of the country by the Spaniards, although the Cayapos solicited a Christian priest, and became tributary to the whites, the Malabas have as yet lived quite independent.

The dress of the men consists of a pair of wide drawers reaching from the waist to about the middle of the thighs, of a purple hue, which tint or dye they procure from the bark of a tree growing in the neighbouring woods, known at Quito under the name of grana ponciana, and which when known in Europe will undoubtedly become an article of commerce. The women are dressed in a very strange manner; a large piece of cotton cloth is girded round the waist, two corners of the upper half cross the breast, pass under the arms, are again brought over the shoulders, and hang down in front almost to the waist; the two lower corners pass between the legs, and are fastened to the back part; the whole body is covered, and the appearance altogether is not ungraceful; the colour of this garment is generally brown: the women have their ears perforated, but instead of rings they use small bunches of the most beautiful feathers they can procure, wearing another tuft of the same on their heads. In the same manner the men often place three or four feathers from the wing of the parrot in the wincha, an ornamented piece of leather which they wear tied round their heads; both men and women ornament their bodies with achiote, and some of the latter very tastefully.

Nothing could exceed the joy which these people evinced when after my first meal with them I borrowed a pair of drawers of one of the young men, and putting off my own clothes I substituted the drawers, and requested the females to paint me: to this the Cacique consented, and they immediately descended their own ladder, and ascended the other; after a great deal of laughter, and some disputes as to the beauty of the figures drawn on my body with this red unctious matter, I was complimented with a kiss from each of my damas del tocador, and told, that if I were not so white I should be very handsome. I returned the kindness which I had received by distributing among the females beads, bells, and combs; I also gave to Cushicagua my spoon, knife, and fork, and to the young men two glass bottles. My watch was the cause of universal astonishment, the motion of the seconds' hand when lying on the floor astounded them, conceiving that while I held the watch in my hand I communicated the motion to it: when I applied the watch to their ears their amazement was expressed in the most boisterous manner—they shouted and jumped, and then listened again! and at last it was concluded that I had a bird shut up in the little case, and that it was endeavouring to release itself by pecking a hole. I then opened it, and every one as he peeped laughed, and exclaimed, manan, manan, chy trapichote—no, no, it is a sugar-cane mill, this being the only piece of machinery they had ever seen, and the only resemblance consisted in its rotatory motion.

These Indians have two meals a day, one in the morning the other in the evening, composed chiefly of plantains, bananas, yucas, camotes, a little flesh meat procured in the woods, and fish, of which there is a great abundance in the river, to catch which they use the same means as the Esmeraldeños.