Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the Years 1599-1602

by Samuel de Champlain

The Brésil is a tree, very large compared with the ebony tree, of the same height, but it is not so hard; the said Brésil bears a kind of nut, which grows to about the size of gall-nuts which come on elm trees.

After having spoken of the trees, plants, and animals, I must give a short account of the Indians, their nature, manners, and belief. The greater number of the said Indians, who are not under the domination of the Spaniards, adore the moon as their Deity, and when they desire to perform their ceremonies, they assemble, great and small, in the middle of their villages, and place themselves in a circle; those who have anything to eat, bring it, and they put all the provisions together in the midst of them and make the best cheer possible. After they are well satisfied, they all take each other by the hand, and begin dancing with loud and strange cries, their song having no order or connexion. After they have well sung and danced, they place themselves with their faces to the earth, and all at once, they altogether begin to cry out and weep, saying, "Oh! powerful and bright moon, grant that we may conquer our enemies, and may eat them, that we may not fall into their hands; and that, dying, we may go and rejoice with our relatives." After having made this prayer, they rise and set about dancing in a round; and their feasts last thus, dancing, singing, and praying, about six hours. This is what I have learned about the ceremonies and belief of these poor people, deprived of reason, whom I have here figured.

As for the other Indians who are under the dominion of the king of Spain, if he did not take some order about them, they would be as barbarous in their belief as the others. At the commencement of his conquests, he had established the Inquisition among them, and made slaves of or caused them to die cruelly in such great numbers, that the sole recital would cause pity. This evil treatment was the reason that the poor Indians, for very apprehension, fled to the mountains in desperation, and as many Spaniards as they caught they ate them; and on that account the said Spaniards were constrained to take away the Inquisition, and allow them personal liberty, granting them a more mild and tolerable rule of life, to bring them to the knowledge of God and the belief of the holy church; for if they had continued still to chastise them according to the rigor of the said Inquisition, they would have caused them all to die by fire. The system that is now used is, that in every estance (estancia), which are like our villages, there is a priest who regularly instructs them, the said priest having a list of the names and surnames of all the Indians who inhabit the village under his charge.

BURNING INDIANS.

There is also an Indian, who is as the fiscal of the village, [ [87] ] and he has another and similar list; and on the Sunday, when the priest wishes to say mass, all the said Indians are obliged to present themselves to hear it; and before the priest begins the mass, he takes his list, and calls them all by their names and surnames; and should any of them be absent, he is marked upon the list, and the mass being said, the priest charges the Indian who serves as fiscal, to inquire privately where the defaulters are, and to bring them to the church; in which, being brought before the priest, he asks them the reason why they did not come to the divine service, for which they allege some excuse, if they can find any; and if the excuses are not found to be true or reasonable, the said priest orders the fiscal to give the said defaulters thirty or forty blows with a stick, outside the church, and before all the people.

This is the system which is maintained to keep them in religion, in which they remain, partly from fear of being beaten. It is nevertheless true, that if they have some just reason which prevents them coming to the mass, they are excused.

All these Indians are of a very melancholy humour, but have nevertheless very quick intelligence, and understand in a short time, whatever may be shewn to them, and do not become irritated, whatever action or abuse may be done or said to them. I have figured in this page and the next, what may well represent that which I have discoursed above.

The greater part of these Indians have strange habitations, and are without any fixed residence; for they have a kind of caravan or cart, which is covered with the bark of trees, and drawn by horses, mules or oxen; they have their wives and children in the said caravans, and remain a month or two in one spot, and then remove to another, and are thus continually wandering about the country.

There is another class of Indians who build their dwellings and live in certain villages which belong to nobles or merchants, and cultivate the soil.