XPost: alt.mexico, alt.movies
From: raymokeeffe@hotmail.com
"publius2k" wrote in message
news:lmu2p2diqh6i08ogu3pe35ho38nkmmdk5u@4ax.com...
> 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."
>
> ========================
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