De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) by Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

T >> Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt >> De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2)

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[Note 14: Referring to the Orinoco.]

In most of the islands of Paria the Spaniards found a forest of
red-coloured wood, of which they brought back three thousand pounds.
This is the wood which the Italians call _verzino_ and the Spaniards
brazil wood. They claim that the dye-woods of Hispaniola are superior
for the dyeing of wools. Profiting by the north-west wind, which the
Italians call the _grecco_[15] they sailed past numerous islands,
depopulated by the ravages of the cannibals, but fertile, for they
discovered numerous traces of destroyed villages. Here and there they
descried natives, who, prompted by fear, quickly fled to the mountain
crags and the depths of the forests, as soon as they saw the ships
appear. These people no longer had homes but wandered at large because
they feared the cannibals. Huge trees were discovered, which produce
what is commonly called cinnamon-bark and which is claimed to be
just as efficacious for driving off fevers as the cinnamon which the
apothecaries sell. At that season the cinnamon was not yet ripe. I
prefer to rely on those who have made these reports rather than to
weary myself to discuss these questions. Pinzon's men further claim
that they have found huge trees in that country which sixteen men
holding hands and forming a circle could scarcely encompass with their
arms.

[Note 15: The different points of the compass were designated
by the winds: north being _tramontane_; north-east, _grecco_; east
_levante_; south-east _scirocco_; south, _ostro_; south-west,
_libeccio_; west, _ponente_; north-west, _maestrale_.]

An extraordinary animal[16] inhabits these trees, of which the muzzle
is that of the fox, while the tail resembles that of a marmoset, and
the ears those of a bat. Its hands are like man's, and its feet like
those of an ape. This beast carries its young wherever it goes in
a sort of exterior pouch, or large bag. You have seen one of these
animals, at the same time that I did. It was dead, but you have
measured it, and you have wondered at that pouch or curious stomach
with which nature has provided this remarkable animal for carrying
its young and protecting them either against hunters or beasts.
Observation has proven that this animal never takes its young out of
this pouch save when they are at play or nursing, until the time comes
when they are able to fend for themselves. The Spaniards captured one
such with its young, but the little ones died one after another, on
shipboard. The mother survived a few months, but was unable to bear
the change of climate and food. Enough, however, about this animal,
and let us return to the discoverers.

[Note 16: The animal here described is doubtless the opossum; the
only non-Australian marsupial found in America.]

The Pinzons, uncle and nephew, have endured severe hardships during
this voyage. They had explored six hundred leagues along the coast
of Paria, believing themselves the while to be at the other side of
Cathay on the coast of India, not far from the river Ganges, when in
the month of July they were overtaken by such a sudden and violent
storm that, of the four caravels composing the squadron, two were
engulfed before their eyes. The third was torn from its anchorage and
disappeared; the fourth held good, but was so shattered that its seams
almost burst. The crew of this fourth ship, in despair of saving
it, landed. They did not know what to do next, and first thought of
building a village and then of killing all the neighbouring people to
forestall being massacred themselves. But happily the luck changed.
The tempest ceased; the caravel which had been driven off by the fury
of the elements returned with eighty of the crew, while the other
ship, which held to her anchorage, was saved. It was with these
ships that, after being tossed by the waves and losing many of their
friends, they returned to Spain, landing at their native town of
Palos, where their wives and children awaited them. This was the eve
of the calends of October.

Pinzon's companions brought a quantity of woods[17] which they
believed to be cinnamon and ginger; but, to excuse the poor quality of
these spices, they said they were not ripe when they were gathered.
Baptista Elysius, who is a remarkable philosopher and doctor of
medicine, was in possession of certain small stones they had gathered
on the shores of that region, and he thinks they are topazes. He told
you this in my presence. Following the Pinzons and animated by the
spirit of imitation, other Spaniards have made long voyages toward the
south, following the track of their forerunners, such as Columbus,
and coasting, in my opinion, along the shores of Paria. These latter
explorers have collected cinnamon bark, and that precious substance
the fumes of which banish headaches, and which the Spaniards call
_Anime Album_.[18] I have learned nothing else worthy of your
attention; thus I will conclude my narration since you hasten me by
announcing your departure.

[Note 17: Pinzon obtained license to sell a quantity of brazil
wood to pay his debts, his creditors having seized the ships and their
cargoes.]

[Note 18: _Cassiam et hi fistulam pretiosumque illud ad capitis
gravidinem suo suffumigio tollendam quod Hispani animen album vocant
referre_.]

Nevertheless, to conclude my decade, listen still to some details
concerning the ridiculous superstitions of Hispaniola. If it is not
a decade in the style of Livy, it is only because its author, your
Martyr, has not been blessed, as he should have been according to the
theory of Pythagoras, with the spirit of Livy. You also know what
mountains in travail bring forth. These things are only the fancies
of the islanders; nevertheless, though fanciful, they are more
interesting than the true histories of Lucian, for they really do
exist in the form of beliefs, while the histories were invented as a
pastime; one may smile at those who believe them.

The Spaniards lived for some time in Hispaniola without suspecting
that the islanders worshipped anything else than the stars, or that
they had any kind of religion; I have indeed several times reported
that these islanders only adored the visible stars and the heavens.
But after mingling with them for some years, and the languages
becoming mutually intelligible, many of the Spaniards began to notice
among them divers ceremonies and rites. Brother Roman,[19] a hermit,
who went, by order of Columbus, amongst the caciques to instruct them
in the principles of Christianity, has written a book in the Spanish
language on the religious rites of the islanders. I undertake to
review this work, leaving out some questions of small importance. I
now offer it to you as follows:

It is known that the idols to whom the islanders pay public worship
represent goblins which appear to them in the darkness, leading them
into foolish errors; for they make images, in the forms of seated
figures, out of plaited cotton, tightly stuffed inside, to represent
these nocturnal goblins and which resemble those our artists paint
upon walls.

[Note 19: Roman Pane was a Jeronymite friar who, as here stated,
wrote by order of Columbus. His work was in twenty-six chapters
covering eighteen pages, and was inserted at the end of the
sixty-first chapter of the _Storia_ of Fernando Columbus. The original
Spanish MS. is lost, the text being known in an Italian translation
published in Venice in 1571. Brasseur de Bourbourg published a French
translation in his work on Yucatan, _Relation des Choses de Yucatan de
Diego Landa_. Paris, 1864.]

I have sent you four of these images, and you have been able to
examine them and verify their resemblance to the goblins. You will
also be able to describe them to the most serene King, your uncle,
better than I could do in writing. The natives call these images
_zemes_. When they are about to go into battle, they tie small images
representing little demons upon their foreheads, for which reason
these figures, as you will have seen, are tied round with strings.
They believe that the _zemes_ send rain or sunshine in response to
their prayers, according to their needs. They believe the _zemes_ to
be intermediaries between them and God, whom they represent as one,
eternal, omnipotent, and invisible. Each cacique has his _zemes_,
which he honours with particular care. Their ancestors gave to the
supreme and eternal Being two names, Iocauna and Guamaonocon. But this
supreme Being was himself brought forth by a mother, who has five
names, Attabeira, Mamona, Guacarapita, Iella, and Guimazoa.

Listen now to their singular beliefs relating to the origin of man.
There exists in Hispaniola a district called Caunauna, where the human
race took its origin in a cavern on a certain mountain. The greater
number of men came forth from the larger apertures, and the lesser
number from the smaller apertures of this cavern. Such are their
superstitions. The rock on whose side the opening of this cavern
is found is called Cauta, and the largest of the caverns is called
Cazabixaba, the smaller Amaiauna. Before mankind was permitted to come
forth, they ingeniously affirm that each night the mouths of the
caves were confided to the custody of a man called Machochael. This
Machochael, having deserted the two caves from a motive of curiosity,
was surprised by the sun, whose rays he could not endure, and so was
changed into stone. They relate amongst their absurdities that when
men came out of their caverns in the night because they sought to sin
and could not get back before the rising of the sun, which they were
forbidden to see, they were tranformed into myrobolane trees,[20] of
which Hispaniola plentiously produces great numbers.

[Note 20: This name is comprehensive of several kinds of trees
whose fruits are used in compounding astringent and slightly purgative
medicines.]

They also say that a chief called Vagoniona sent from the cavern where
he kept his family shut up, a servant to go fishing. This servant,
being surprised by the sun, was likewise turned in like manner into a
nightingale. On every anniversary of his transformation he fills the
night air with songs, bewailing his misfortunes and imploring his
master Vagoniona to come to his help. Such is the explanation they
give for the nightingale's song. As for Vagoniona, he dearly loved
this servant, and therefore deeply lamented him; he shut up all the
men in the cavern and only brought out with him the women and nursing
children, whom he led to an island called Mathinino, off the coasts;
there he abandoned the women and brought back the children with him.
These unfortunate infants were starving, and upon reaching the river
bank they cried "_Toa, Toa_" (that is like children crying, Mamma,
Mamma), and immediately they were turned into frogs. It is for this
reason that in the springtime the frogs make these sounds, and it is
also the reason why men alone are frequently found in the caverns
of Hispaniola, and not women. The natives say that Vagoniona still
wanders about the island, and that by a special boon he always remains
as he was. He is supposed to go to meet a beautiful woman, perceived
in the depths of the sea, from whom are obtained the white shells
called by the natives _cibas_, and other shells of a yellowish colour
called _guianos_, of both of which they make necklaces. The caciques
in our own time regard these trinkets as sacred.[21]

[Note 21: The following passage does not lend itself to admissible
translation. _Viros autem illos, quos sine feminis in antris relictos
diximus, lotum se ad pluviarum acquarum receptacula noctu referunt
exiisse; atque una noctium, animalia quaedam feminas aemulantia, veluti
formicarum agmina, reptare par arbores myrobolanos a longe vidisse. Ad
feminea ilia animalia procurrunt, capiunt: veluti anguillae de manibus
eorum labuntur. Consilium ineunt. Ex senioris consilio, scabiosos
leprososque, si qui sint inter eos, conquirunt, qui manos asperas
callossasque habeant ut apraehensa facilius queant ritenere. Hos
homines ipsi caracaracoles appellant. Venatum proficiscuntur: ex
multis quas capiebant quatuor tantum retinent; pro feminis illis
uti adnituntur, carere feminea natura comperiunt. Iterum accitis
senioribus, quid facieudum consulunt. Ut picus avis admittatur, qui
acuto rostra intra ipsorum inguina foramen effodiat, constituerunt:
ipsismet caracaracolibus hominibus callosis, feminas apertis cruribus
tenentibus. Quam pulchre picus adducitur! Picus feminis sexum aperit.
Hinc bellissime habuit insula, quas cupiebat feminas; hinc procreata
soboles_. "I cease to marvel," continues the author, "since it is
written in many volumes of veracious Greek history that the Myrmidons
were generated by ants. Such are some of the many legends which
pretended sages expound with calm and unmoved visage from pulpits and
tribunals to a stupid gaping crowd."]

Here is a more serious tradition concerning the origin of the sea.[22]
There formerly lived in the island a powerful chief named Jaia who
buried his only son in a gourd. Several months later, distracted by
the loss of his son, Jaia visited the gourd. He pried it open and out
of it he beheld great whales and marine monsters of gigantic size come
forth. Thus he reported to some of his neighbours that the sea was
contained in that gourd. Upon hearing this story, four brothers born
at a birth and who had lost their mother when they were born sought to
obtain possession of the gourd for the sake of the fish. But Jaia, who
often visited the mortal remains of his son, arrived when the brothers
held the gourd in their hands. Frightened at being thus taken in the
act both of sacrilege and robbery, they dropped the gourd, which
broke, and took flight. From the broken gourd the sea rushed forth;
the valley was filled, the immense plain which formed the universe was
flooded, and only the mountains raised their heads above the water,
forming the islands, several of which still exist to-day. This, Most
Illustrious Prince, is the origin of the sea, nor need you imagine
that the islander who has handed down this tradition does not enjoy
the greatest consideration. It is further related that the four
brothers, in terror of Jaia, fled in different directions and almost
died of hunger because they dared stop nowhere. Nevertheless, pressed
by famine, they knocked at the door of a baker and asked him for
_cazabi_, that is to say, for bread. The baker spit with such force
upon the first who entered, that an enormous tumour was formed, of
which he almost died. After deliberating amongst themselves, they
opened the tumour, with a sharp stone, and from it came forth a woman
who became the wife of each of the four brothers, one after another,
and bore them sons and daughters.

[Note 22: Diego Landa, in his _Cosas de Yucatan_, and Cogolludo
(_Hist. de Yucatan_), treat this subject. Peter Martyr likewise
elaborates it in his letters to Pomponius Laetus and the Cardinal de
Santa Croce. _Opus Epistolarum_, ep. 177 and 180.]

Another story, most illustrious Prince, is still more quaint. There is
a cavern called Jouanaboina, situated in the territory of a cacique
called Machinnech, which is venerated with as great respect by the
majority of the islanders as were formerly the caves of Corinth, of
Cyrrha, and Nissa amongst the Greeks.[23] The walls of this cavern
are decorated with different paintings; two sculptured zemes, called
Binthiatelles and Marohos, stand at the entrance.

[Note 23: The caverns of Hayti have been visited and described by
Decourtilz, _Voyage d'un Naturaliste_. Some of them contain carvings
representing serpents, frogs, deformed human figures in distorted
postures, etc.]

When asked why this cavern is reverenced, the natives gravely reply
that it is because the sun and moon issued forth from it to illuminate
the universe. They go on pilgrimages to that cavern just as we go
to Rome, or to the Vatican, Compostela, or the Holy Sepulchre at
Jerusalem.

Another kind of superstition is as follows. They believe the dead walk
by night and feed upon _guarina_, a fruit resembling the quince,
but unknown in Europe. These ghosts love to mix with the living and
deceive women. They take on the form of a man, and seem to wish to
enjoy a woman's favour, but when about to accomplish their purpose
they vanish into thin air. If any one thinks, upon feeling something
strange upon his bed, that there is a spectre lying beside him, he
only needs to assure himself by touching his belly, for, according to
their idea, the dead may borrow every human member except the navel.
If therefore the navel is absent, they know that it is a ghost, and
it is sufficient to touch it to make it immediately disappear. These
ghosts frequently appear by night to the living, and very often on the
public highways; but if the traveller is not frightened, the spectre
vanishes. If, on the contrary, he allows himself to be frightened, the
terror inspired by the apparition is such that many of the islanders
completely lose their heads and self-possession. When the Spaniards
asked who ever had infected them with this mass of ridiculous beliefs,
the natives replied that they received them from their ancestors, and
that they have been preserved from time immemorial in poems which only
the sons of chiefs are allowed to learn. These poems are learnt by
heart, for they have no writing; and on feast days the sons of chiefs
sing them to the people, in the form of sacred chants.[24] Their only
musical instrument is a concave sonorous piece of wood which is beaten
like a drum.

[Note 24: Commonly called in the native tongue _arreytos_. Some
specimens exist. Brasseur de Bourbourg in his _Grammaire Quiche_ gives
the _Rabinal Achi_.]

It is the augurs, called bovites, who encourage these superstitions.
These men, who are persistent liars, act as doctors for the ignorant
people, which gives them a great prestige, for it is believed that the
zemes converse with them and reveal the future to them.

If a sick man recovers the bovites persuade him that he owes his
restoration to the intervention of the zemes. When they undertake to
cure a chief, the bovites begin by fasting and taking a purge. There
is an intoxicating herb which they pound up and drink, after which
they are seized with fury like the maenads, and declare that the zemes
confide secrets to them. They visit the sick man, carrying in their
mouth a bone, a little stone, a stick, or a piece of meat. After
expelling every one save two or three persons designated by the sick
person, the bovite begins by making wild gestures and passing his
hands over the face, lips, and nose, and breathing on the forehead,
temples, and neck, and drawing in the sick man's breath. Thus he
pretends to seek the fever in the veins of the sufferer. Afterwards he
rubs the shoulders, the hips, and the legs, and opens the hands; if
the hands are clenched he pulls them wide open, exposing the palm,
shaking them vigorously, after which he affirms that he has driven off
the sickness and that the patient is out of danger. Finally he removes
the piece of meat he was carrying in his mouth like a juggler, and
begins to cry, "This is what you have eaten in excess of your wants;
now you will get well because I have relieved you of that which you
ate." If the doctor perceives that the patient gets worse, he ascribes
this to the zemes, who, he declares, are angry because they have not
had a house constructed for them, or have not been treated with proper
respect, or have not received their share of the products of the
field. Should the sick man die, his relatives indulge in magical
incantations to make him declare whether he is the victim of fate or
of the carelessness of the doctor, who failed to fast properly or gave
the wrong remedy. If the man died through the fault of the doctor, the
relatives take vengeance on the latter. Whenever the women succeed in
obtaining the piece of meat which the bovites hold in their mouths,
they wrap it with great respect in cloths and carefully preserve it,
esteeming it to be a talisman of great efficacy in time of childbirth,
and honouring it as though it were a zemes.

The islanders pay homage to numerous zemes, each person having his
own. Some are made of wood, because it is amongst the trees and in the
darkness of night they have received the message of the gods. Others,
who have heard the voice amongst the rocks, make their zemes of stone;
while others, who heard the revelation while they were cultivating
their ages--that kind of cereal I have already mentioned,--make theirs
of roots.

Perhaps they think that these last watch over their bread-making.
It was thus that the ancients believed that the dryads, hamadryads,
satyrs, pans, nereids, watched over the fountains, forests, and
seas, attributing to each force in nature a presiding divinity. The
islanders of Hispaniola even believe that the zemes respond to their
wishes when they invoke them. When the caciques wish to consult the
zemes, concerning the result of a war, about the harvest, or their
health, they enter the houses sacred to them and there absorb the
intoxicating herb called _kohobba_, which is the same as that used by
the bovites to excite their frenzy. Almost immediately they believe
they see the room turn upside down, and men walking with their heads
downwards. This kohobba powder is so strong that those who take it
lose consciousness; when the stupefying action of the powder begins
to wane, the arms and hands become loose and the head droops. After
remaining for some time in this attitude, the cacique raises his head,
as though he were awakening from sleep, and, lifting his eyes to the
heavens, begins to stammer some incoherent words. His chief attendants
gather round him (for none of the common people are admitted to these
mysteries), raising their voices in thanksgiving that he has so
quickly left the zemes and returned to them. They ask him what he has
seen, and the cacique declares that he was in conversation with
the zemes during the whole time, and as though he were still in a
prophetic delirium, he prophesies victory or defeat, if a war is to be
undertaken, or whether the crops will be abundant, or the coming of
disaster, or the enjoyment of health, in a word, whatever first occurs
to him.

Can you feel surprised after this, Most Illustrious Prince, at the
spirit of Apollo which inspired the fury of the Sibyls? You thought
that that ancient superstition had perished, but you see that such is
not the case. I have treated here in a general sense all that concerns
the zemes, but I think I should not omit certain particulars. The
cacique Guamaretus had a zemes called Corochotus, which he had
fixed in the highest part of his house. It is said that Corochotus
frequently came down, after having broken his bonds. This happened
whenever he wished to make love or eat or hide himself; and sometimes
he disappeared for several days, thus showing his anger at having been
neglected and not sufficiently honoured by the cacique Guamaretus.
One day two children, wearing crowns, were born in the house of
Guamaretus; it was thought that they were the sons of the zemes
Corochotus. Guamaretus was defeated by his enemies in a pitched
battle; his palace and town were burnt and destroyed; and Corochotus
burst his bonds and sprang out of the house, and was found a stadium
distant.

Another zemes, Epileguanita, was represented in the form of a
quadruped, carved out of wood. He often left the place where he
was venerated and fled into the forests. And each time that his
worshippers heard of his flight, they assembled and sought him
everywhere with devout prayers. When found, they brought him
reverently on their shoulders back to the sanctuary sacred to him.
When the Christians landed in Hispaniola, Epileguanita fled and
appeared no more, which was considered a sinister forecast of the
misfortunes of the country. These traditions are handed down by the
old men.

The islanders venerate another zemes, made of marble, which is of
the feminine sex, and is accompanied by two male zemes who serve as
attendants; one acting as herald to summon other zemes to the woman's
assistance when she wishes to raise storms or draw down clouds and
rains; the other is supposed to collect the water which flows down
from the high mountains into the valleys, and upon the command of the
female zemes to let it loose in the form of torrents which devastate
the country whenever the islanders have failed to pay her idol the
honours due to it. One more thing worthy of remembrance and I shall
have finished my book. The natives of Hispaniola were much impressed
by the arrival of the Spaniards. Formerly two caciques, of whom one
was the father of Guarionex, fasted for fifteen days in order to
consult the zemes about the future. This fast having disposed the
zemes in their favour, they answered that within a few years a race of
men wearing clothes would land in the island and would overthrow their
religious rites and ceremonies, massacre their children, and make them
slaves. This prophecy had been taken by the younger generation to
apply to the cannibals; and thus whenever it became known that the
cannibals had landed anywhere, the people took flight without even
attempting any resistance. But when the Spaniards landed, the
islanders then referred the prophecy to them, as being the people
whose coming was announced. And in this they were not wrong, for they
are all under the dominion of the Christians, and those who resisted
have been killed; all the zemes having been removed to Spain, to teach
us the foolishness of those images and the deceits of devils, nothing
remaining of them but a memory. I have brought some things to your
knowledge, Most Illustrious Prince, and you will learn many others
later, since you will probably leave to-morrow to accompany your
great-aunt to Naples, in obedience to the orders of your uncle, King
Frederick. You are ready to leave and I am weary. Therefore, fare
you well, and keep the remembrance of your Martyr, whom you have
constrained in the name of your uncle, Frederick, to choose these few
from amongst many great things.

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