These Indians are great musicians, playing upon the violin and tamborine, while the women sing and dance with grace. Few of them quarrel; should a difficulty take place, seldom more than three or four blows are struck. They all carry knives, but these are not often drawn. If one man kills another, his shame, compunction, and fear in after life is much worse than death, I am told.
The Chiquiteños are very apt in learning to read, write, and calculate. They have intelligence enough to know that knowledge is valuable to them, and the children speak Spanish with great ease.
Lime and plaster of Paris are found among the hilly portions of the province. Salt from the lakes is of great value where cattle are raised. There is a market for it in the Argentine republic, Paraguay, and in the Brazilian district of Matto Grosso. In all parts of this province saltpetre is found of which the aborigines manufacture powder, to make fire-works for the churches. The rockets, they send up towards the heavens, under the dark shade of night, light the wilderness around, and was one means used by the Jesuits to attract the attention of the wild man to seek religion. The Chiquiteños are a peaceful race; their gunpowder is only used for the purpose of lighting the way towards Heaven—a lesson to civilized men who sometimes employ it too freely for the destruction of their fellows on the earth, of which they form a hell!
The Indians cast church bells. Brass, copper, and zinc are sent by the Aymara Indians from the Titicaca basin in exchange for sugar and wax. They are unacquainted with the process of casting cannon, or the art of making the brass armor of olden times.
The Indian of Chiquitos, like the Creole of Santa Cruz, has his full share of the delights of this earth, which he enjoys in his own way. When he takes a fancy to wear striped trousers, he plants a row of white cotton and a row of yellow. These colors contrast without the trouble of dye-stuff; should he wish a blue, he plants a row of indigo; when he requires red, he gathers cochineal from among the woods where he also finds a bark which produces a deep black, which the women often employ to dye their white dresses.
The heart-leaved bixa grows wild; the vanilla bean scents the doorway, while the coffee and chocolate trees shade it. The sugar cane may be planted in any part of the province, to be manufactured into sugar, rum, and molasses during the year of planting. The Indian understands the art of distilling. He cannot be considered intemperate, generally; considering his partiality for chicha, we are inclined to give him credit for self-denial, except when the saints' days of the Catholic church are celebrated, then it seems to be understood that much drinking is one of the conditions. Whatever good ideas may be instilled into their minds by the worship in the morning, are generally lost under the effects of strong drinks at night. This custom shocks the stranger. An excuse has been offered by some who resided among the more savage race of men, that in the exertions of the Jesuits to change the worship of these people from their own barbarous imitations of the actions of tigers and poisonous serpents, the priests were obliged to allow them to continue many of the most innocent popular customs, such as dancing, singing, and drinking, as well as fighting sham battles on a Sunday evening, until they were enabled to lead them gradually to perceive these were not the forms of worship which would most please the Almighty. Among these Indians, as among the people of Japan, "every custom is a part of their religion." Music has a powerful effect upon the savage, and therefore the Jesuits encouraged them to cultivate it, and as its influence over the limbs of the women was so great, that they could not stand still during that part of the church service, it was thought best to permit them to dance at the door, after which they quietly entered to say their prayers. But when the music commenced again they returned to dance in their savage fashion. They are naturally a good and tractable people, finally willing to do their dancing at home, or only on particular occasions at church after the Jesuits were long enough among them. At the present day there are times when the war dance is allowed in front of the church, performed by the able-bodied men of the nation with war clubs and hatchets in their hands.
The drinking of chicha was a portion of the primitive worship of the aborigines. They no doubt honestly believed that, the more happy they made themselves while paying respect to the Creator of all things, the better He was satisfied! They were sincere in their thankfulness to God for the blessings they received at His hands. The Jesuits found that the Indian had adopted this means of praise, and the effects produced were so agreeable, that it was not an easy matter to persuade the old Indian to give up his liquor. If force were applied he undoubtedly would fight for it, so that a mild manner had to be pursued until time worked its wonders. The Jesuits were obliged to keep back an expression of disapprobation of this custom for the purpose of converting the savage in any way, and persuaded him to attend church in the morning, and to postpone drinking until after the service. The Indian entered willingly into this compromise, and after being fastened up in church under new forms, which he did not understand, he found it rather dry, compared to what he had been accustomed to. So the moment he got out he returned to his mode of worship, and in the afternoon became generally intoxicated. The women dance to music all the way home on the road; the frolic is kept up the greater part of the night. On Monday morning the congregation were generally complaining from the effects of dissipation. This was the time at which the influence of the priest was brought to bear upon them. They were taught the art of cultivation; their minds were diverted by novel undertakings. The women were encouraged to spin, attend to the cotton plant, and to make use of chocolate. There was little or no difficulty in keeping them from chicha during the week, as they seldom made improper use of it except at the time devoted to religious worship, and that had now become a fixed one by the Jesuits, namely—after six days of labor.
Among the forests are found gums, which are used at the altar; the Indians gather and sell them to the church for incense. They also collect the sponge plant from which they extract oil. They seek transparent copal with the copaiba balsam, the gum of the storax-tree, and roots of the jalapa, ipecacuanha, and sarsaparilla.
"Mate," the tea of Paraguay, is grown in Chiquitos, with a number of species of the palm tree. There are ornamental and dye woods, many of which are only known to the Indian; few of them have been brought fairly to the notice of the mechanic.
Chiquitos is within the tropic of Capricorn. The natives enjoy the fruits of the banana, the plantain, and oranges, both sweet and sour. The grape yields wine, and from the wild apricot a pure vinegar is made. The much esteemed chirimoya is found there by the side of the pomegranate and granadilla, the pine-apple and water-melon, the mandioca, the sweet and other potatoes, guavas, pea-nuts, maize, and wheat. This is the agricultural district of Bolivia. Chiquitos will rob Cochabamba of its name "Granary," and prove a finer garden than Yungas. The hide and tallow trade of Buenos Ayres will be enlarged by the yield of the pampas of Chiquitos. The trade of La Plata must be increased when the productions of this beautiful land are sent out upon its waters, and floated down to the sea.