XPost: alt.mexico, alt.movies
From: pub?@?li.us
On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:17:35 GMT, Al Smith wrote:
>>>Oh, yeah, yeah, Mayan Calendar, very complex, big deal. Maybe they
>>>>invented a ritual way of trimming their toenails that takes twelve
>>>>hours, also. They still ate people.
>>
>>
>>
>> As did nearly all peoples if you go back far enough...so what?
>>
>> The simple reality is this did not and does not define a people.
>
>
>It defines them pretty well. Any culture that practices ritual
>cannibalism, particularly a well-established culture, it rotten to
>the core. That's what the European explorers saw when they came to
>the New World. Brutality, cannibalism, tribal warfare, ritualized
>murder. It's been whitewashed in the centuries that have passed to
>try to make the natives of the Americas into some sort of noble
>nature boys. Bullshit I say. They would have raped the New World
>down to the bare bedrock if they had possessed the technology to
>do so.
"Concerning the Inhabitants of this Province
Of these, three sorts may be found: 1. The natives, the so-called savages.
2. The
Christians who have come here from Europe, the so-called Old Settlers. 3. The
newly-arrived Associations and Companies.
So far as concerns the first, the savages, they are, in general, strong, agile
and supple
people, with blackish bodies; they went about naked at first and only wore a
cloth about
the loins. Now they are beginning to wear shirts. They have, usually,
coal-black hair,
shave the head, smear the same with grease, and allow a long lock to grow on
the right
side. They also besmear the children with grease, and let them creep about in
the heat of
the sun, so that they become the color of a nut, although they were white
enough by
nature.
They strive after a sincere honesty, hold strictly to their promises, cheat
and injure no
one. They willingly give shelter to others, and are both useful and loyal to
their
guests.
Their huts are made of young trees, twined, or bent, together, which they know
how to roof
over with bark. They use neither table nor bench, nor any other household
stuff, unless
perchance a single pot in which they boil their food.
I once saw four of them take a meal together in hearty contentment, and eat a
pumpkin
cooked in clear water, without butter and spice. Their table and bench was
the bare
earth, their spoons were mussel-shells, with which they dipped up the warm
water, their
plates were the leaves of the nearest tree, which they did not need to wash
with
painstaking after a meal, nor to keep with care for future use. I thought to
myself,
these savages have never in their lives heard the teaching of Jesus concerning
temperance
and contentment, yet they far excel the Christians in carrying it out.
They are, furthermore, serious and of few words, and are amazed when they
perceive so much
unnecessary chatter, as well as other foolish behavior on the part of
Christians.
Each man has his own wife, and they detest harlotry, kissing and lying. They
know no
idols, but they worship a single all-powerful and merciful God, who limits the
power of
the devil. They also believe in the immortality of the soul, which, after the
course of
life is finished, has a suitable recompense from the all-powerful hand of God
awaiting it.
They accompany their own worship of God with songs, during which they make
strange
gestures and motions with the hands and feet, and when they recall the death
of their
parents and friends, they begin to wail and weep most pitifully.
They listen very willingly, and not without perceptible emotion, to discourse
concerning
the Creator of Heaven and earth, and His divine Light, which enlightens all
men who have
come into the world, and who are yet to be born, and concerning the wisdom and
love of
God, because of which he gave his only-begotten and most dearly-loved Son to
die for us.
It is only to be regretted that we can not yet speak their language readily,
and therefore
cannot set forth to them the thoughts and intent of our own hearts, namely how
great a
power and salvation lies concealed in Christ Jesus. They are very quiet and
thoughtful in
our gatherings, so that I fully believe that in the future, at the great day
of judgment,
they will come forth with those of Tyre and Sidon, and put to shame many
thousands of
false nominal and canting Christians.
As for their economy and housekeeping, the men attend to their hunting and
fishing. The
women bring up their children honestly, under careful oversight and dissuade
them from
sin. They plant Indian corn and beans round about their huts, but they take
no thought
for any more extensive farming and cattle raising; they are rather astonished
that we
Christians take so much trouble and thought concerning eating and drinking and
also for
comfortable clothing and dwellings, as if we doubted that God were able to
care for and
nourish us.
Their native language is very dignified, and in its pronunciation much
resembles Italian,
although the words are entirely different and strange. They are accustomed to
paint their
faces with colors; both men and women use tobacco with pleasure; they divert
themselves
with fifes, or trumpets, in unbroken idleness.
---------
The second sort of Inhabitants on the province are the old Christians, who
came here from
Europe.
These have never had the upright intention to give these native creatures
instruction in
the true living Christianity, but instead they have sought only their own
worldly
interests, and have cheated the simple inhabitants in trade and intercourse,
so that at
length those savages who dealt with these Christians, proved themselves to be
also for the
most part, crafty, lying, and deceitful, so that I can not say much that is
creditable of
either. These misguided people are wont to exchange the skins and peltry
which they
obtain for strong drink, and to drink so much that they can neither walk nor
stand; also
they are wont to commit all sorts of thievery, as the occasion may arise.
Owing to this, their kings and rulers have frequently complained of the sins
of falsehood,
deceit, thieving, and drunkenness, introduced here by the Christians, and
which were
formerly entirely unknown in these parts."
========================
Francis Daniel Pastorius, on the founding of the settlement at Germantown, "at
a distance
of two hours walk from Philadelphia", 1685
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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