DALA
Digital American Literature
Anthology
Version 1.5
Edited by Dr. Michael O'Conner,
Millikin University
Unit Two Introduction: Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
When American literature was first defined as a discipline in the
late nineteenth century, the first writers covered in textbooks
were mostly born within and were citizens of the newly minted
United States. The fledgling nation wanted to proclaim a unique
brand literature that it could call its own. Names like Irving,
Cooper, Bryant, Longfellow, and Lowell all led off the early
anthologies of this field of study. Later, as definitions of
American literature expanded, the canon of writers grew and came
to include those Europeans adventurers, conquerors and settlers
who first observed and recorded their interactions in what would
eventually become portions of this country. Much of the positive
Eurocentric viewpoint that we once took for granted about these
writers and what they recorded still very much remains in the
popular imagination. However, in the academy over the last few
decades, we have come to view the interactions of Europeans with
native peoples and places with a somewhat more critical eye.
Explorers like Christopher Columbus, Bartolome de las Casas,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca, and John Smith all wrote with
particular audiences and specific purposes in mind. Those original
audience and purposes are certainly worth our consideration. But
today we also read their chronicles and observations through other
lenses, with a fuller understanding that the glories of conquest
and the rewards of colonization, for some, came at a steep cost
for others.
As the American Passages website asks, in studying these
writings:
How do [these texts] represent the violence and
exploitation that were part of the European exploration of the
New World? What kinds of beliefs and expectations did European
colonizers bring with them to the Americas? How did the
sophisticated and varied cultures of native peoples impact the
settlements Europeans created in America? How do European
writers represent the experiences and cultures of indigenous
peoples? How does gender complicate power relations in contact
zones and borderlands?
see
American Passages, Unit Two, Exploring Borderlands
Some other themes of this unit on exploration, conquest, and
colonization are described in the Heath Anthology Online
Instructor's Guide:
[Two themes are] the newness of the experience and the need
to relate it in European terms. Columbus initiated the dialogue
between American reality and the European codes of
signification.
Another theme would be the strategies utilized to convince
powerful readers of the benefits of the New World. Again,
Columbus marks the beginning. These authors are constantly
selling the unknown to potential investors and visitors. Here
begins the tradition of hawking new property developments beyond
the urban blight of the reader's familiar surroundings.
Cabeza de Vaca introduces the familiar theme of wandering the
back roads of the country--a sixteenth-century Kerouac. It is
the theme of finding oneself through the difficult pilgrimage
into the wilderness--a Carlos Castaneda avant la lettre. Cabeza
de Vaca is transformed through suffering, perseverance, and the
ability to acculturate.
[Other] texts introduce inter-European rivalries as a major
theme of American culture. Competition over territory resulted
in violent encounters. The encounters with the Native American
population were equally violent, introducing the theme of the
subjugation of the native peoples, who would rather retain their
own way of life. The arrogant assumption that one's own system
is naturally superior to the native's way is again an
indisputable characteristic of U.S. history.
Another theme is the sincerity of religious motivation, in
spite of the contradicting evidence of economic ambitions. This
conflict between the philanthropic ideals and the exploitative
motivation still underlies U.S. foreign policy.
See the rest of the essay at: http://college.cengage.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/litdiscx.html
Travel Writing, Writing of Conquest, and Persuading Readers of
the Benefits of the New World
To summarize, we can also read these sets of texts as examples of
travel writing, as examples of writing about conquests, and as
examples of writing to persuade readers of the benefits of coming
to these newly discovered shores.
Elements of these types (of explorers, conquerors, and colonists)
of writing include:
1. travel writing
a. writing about the unknown
b. comparisons made to the known
c. language is inadequate, old words for new things
d. things in the new world must be named (possessed)
2. writing of conquest
a. conquering a new land, claiming it for king/queen
b. role in life to subdue and dominate, convert "heathens" to
Christianity
c. self-justification
d. new land like a woman's body, accepting bride to the
European groom (see: American
Passages, "The Romance of Colonization")
3. writing as economic perspective and salesmanship/rhetoric
a. it all boils down to money and making a living: spices,
gold, crops, fish
b. salesmanship very important, rhetoric of convincing more
people to come to America
The Importance of Map Makers: Why is it called "America" instead
of Columbia?
Columbus refused to believe in his lifetime that he had not made
it to the Far East in his voyages. As such, the European name for
this new land, America, comes from Amerigo Vespucci (1454 – 1512),
an Italian explorer and cartographer, who argued that the New
World was actually a newly discovered land mass. The widespread
publication of letters written by Vespucci led German map maker
Martin Waldseemüller to name the new continent America on his
world map of 1507. The rest, so to speak, is history.
Questions and Considerations
Find specific examples of "travel writing," or "writing in the
language of conquest," or "writing to persuade," as described
above, in the readings completed for this unit. Be prepared to
share these specific examples in class.
Do some quick research on any of these other early European
explorers for information on their lives and discoveries:
John Cabot,
Jacques Cartier,
Samuel De Champlain,
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Robert de La Salle
Ponce De Leon
Hernando De Soto
Leif Eriksson
Henry Hudson
Louis Joliet
Peter Stuyvesant
Amerigo Vespucci
Likewise, do some quick research on the later influence Columbus
would have on the United States. What is Columbus Day? What is
controversial about it? How many states have cities or towns named
Columbus or Columbia? What was the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago?
Post-Colonial Theory through Science Fiction
In the world of science-fiction, the fictional universe of Gene
Roddenberry's many Star Trek programs and movies metaphorically
comment on the past human history of contact and conquest by the
creation of a guiding principle called the Prime Directive, or
non-interference act. One of the fictional captains of this world
states:
"The Prime Directive is not just a set of rules. It is a
philosophy, and a very correct one. History has proven again and
again that whenever mankind interferes with a less developed
civilization, no matter how well intentioned that interference may
be, the results are invariably disastrous." - Jean-Luc Picard,
"Symbiosis." Star Trek The Next Generation. Season One.
Since the premise of this television program is about exploration
and contact with "others," this governing principle forms a sharp
critique of human history through the story lines of these modern
day science-fiction fables.
How do you think the world would have been different if European
countries had a guiding principle like the Prime Directive in the
15th century?
Works Cited
"Exploring Borderlands: Instructor Overview." American
Passages. 2003.
Norton, 7th ed. http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/naal7/contents/A/welcome.asp#1
"The Literature of Discovery and Exploration" Eds. Juan
Bruce-Novoa and Carla Mulford. Heath Anthology Online Instructor's
Guide. 2012.
"The Romance of Colonization." American Passages. 2003.
Unit Two Readings: Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
Christopher Columbus (1451? – 1506)
[image]
Christopher Columbus was born in or around Genoa, in what is now
Italy, probably around 1451. He is best known for completing four
voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, and was long called the
discoverer of the New World. His famous first voyage in 1492,
sponsored by Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, brought
him to the Bahaman and Caribbean Islands southeast of Florida.
Throughout his life, he thought he had arrived in the Indies, far
to the east of Europe, and he mistakenly called the indigenous
peoples he found there Indians. Columbus was a better sailor than
politician. After he was appointed a colonial governor by the
Spanish monarchy, he became embroiled in political intrigues while
trying to maintain his authority and positions. His opponents
eventually found ways to remove him from power and even had him
arrested. He died in 1506, in Spain, in poverty and poor health, a
number of years after returning from his last voyage. The United
States, especially in its first century of existence, was long
nicknamed Columbia. It celebrates Columbus Day on the second
Monday of October, commemorating October 12, 1492 as the day
Columbus arrived in the Americas. This holiday is not without
controversy, since Columbus represents the first of many Europeans
who claimed and colonized lands long occupied by others and who
enslaved and tortured natives and dispossessed them of their own
cultures and religious beliefs. Though his original journal is
lost, a copied version exists written by Bartolomé de las Casas.
Works actually penned by Columbus include a number of letters,
which are some of the oldest written accounts of the New World
penned by a European. Works about Columbus include Joel Barlow's
imaginative poem, The Columbiad (1807), Washington
Irving's semi-factual biography, A History of the Life and
Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828), and Filson Young's
Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery
(1906). Scholarly books include Kirkpatrick Sale's The
Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian
Legacy (1990), Barry Lopez's The Rediscovery of North
America (1992), William and Carla Phillips' The Worlds
of Christopher Columbus (1993), and Miles Davidson's
Columbus Then and Now: A Life Reexamined (1997).
illustration: First
landing of Columbus on the shores of the New World by Dióscoro
Teófilo Puebla Tolín, 1862.
from "Letter of Columbus, Describing the Results of His First
Voyage" (1493)
Columbus, Christopher. "Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the
First Voyage." The Voyages of
Christopher Columbus, Translated by
Cecil Jane.
London: The Argonaut Press, 1930.
source of electronic text: http://mith.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=columbus_santangel.xml&action=show
SIR:
Since I know that you will be pleased at the great victory with
which Our Lord has crowned my voyage, I write this to you, from
which you will learn how in thirty-three days I passed from the
Canary Islands to the Indies, with the fleet which the most
illustrious king and queen, our sovereigns, gave to me. There I
found very many islands, filled with people innumerable, and of
them all I have taken possession for their highnesses, by
proclamation made and with the royal standard unfurled, and no
opposition was offered to me.To the first island which I found I
gave the name "San Salvador," in remembrance of the Divine
Majesty, Who had marvelously bestowed all this; the Indians call
it "Guanahani." To the second, I gave the name the island of
"Santa Maria de Concepcion," to the third, "Fernandina," to the
fourth, "Isabella," to the fifth island, "Juana," and so each
received from me a new name.
When I came to Juana, I followed its coast to the westward,
and I found it to be so extensive that I thought that it must be
the mainland, the province of Cathay. And since there were neither
towns nor villages on the seashore, but small hamlets only, with
the people of which I could not have speech, because they all fled
immediately, I went forward on the same course, thinking that I
could not fail to find great cities and towns. At the end of many
leagues, seeing that there was no change and that the coast was
bearing me northwards, which I wished to avoid, since winter was
already approaching and I proposed to make from it to the south,
and as, moreover, the wind was carrying me forward, I determined
not to wait for a change in the weather and retraced my path as
far as a remarkable harbour known to me. From that point, I sent
two men inland to learn if there were a king or great cities. They
travelled three days' journey, finding an infinity of small
hamlets and people without number, but nothing of importance. For
this reason, they returned.
I understood sufficiently from other Indians, whom I had
already taken, that this land was nothing but an island, and I
therefore followed its coast eastward for one hundred and seven
leagues to the point where it ended. From that point, I saw
another island, distant about eighteen leagues from the first, to
the east, and to it I at once gave the name "Española." I went
there and followed its northern coast, as I had followed that of
Juana, to the eastward for one hundred and eighty-eight great
leagues in a straight line. This island and all the others are
very fertile to a limitless degree, and this island is extremely
so. In it there are many harbours on the coast of the sea, beyond
comparison with others that I know in Christendom, and many
rivers, good and large, which is marvellous. Its lands are high;
there are in it many sierras and very lofty mountains, beyond
comparison with that of Teneriffe. All are most beautiful, of a
thousand shapes; all are accessible and are filled with trees of a
thousand kinds and tall, so that they seem to touch the sky. I am
told that they never lose their foliage, and this I can believe,
for I saw them as green and lovely as they are in Spain in May,
and some of them were flowering, some bearing fruit, and some on
another stage, according to their nature. The nightingale was
singing and other birds of a thousand kinds, in the month of
November, there where I went. There are six or eight kinds of
palm, which are a wonder to behold on account of their beautiful
variety, but so are the other trees and fruits and plants. In it
are marvellous pine groves; there are very wide and smiling
plains, and there is honey; and there are birds of many kinds and
fruits in great diversity. In the interior, there are mines of
metals, and the population is without number. Española is a
marvel.
The sierras and the mountains, the plains, the arable and
pasture lands, are so lovely and so rich for planting and sowing,
for breeding cattle of every kind, for building towns and
villages. The harbours of the sea here are such as cannot be
believed to exist unless they have been seen, and so with the
rivers, many and great, and of good water, the majority of which
contain gold. In the trees, fruits and plants, there is a great
difference from those of Juana. In this island, there are many
spices and great mines of gold and of other metals.
The people of this island and of all the other islands
which I have found and of which I have information, all go naked,
men and women, as their mothers bore them, although some of the
women cover a single place with the leaf of a plant or with a net
of cotton which they make for the purpose. They have no iron or
steel or weapons, nor are they fitted to use them. This is not
because they are not well built and of handsome stature, but
because they are very marvellously timorous. They have no other
arms than spears made of canes, cut in seeding time, to the ends
of which they fix a small sharpened stick. Of these they do not
dare to make use, for many times it has happened that I have sent
ashore two or three men to some town to have speech with them, and
countless people have come out to them, and as soon as they have
seen my men approaching, they have fled, a father even not waiting
for his son. This is not because ill has been done to any one of
them; on the contrary, at every place where I have been and have
been able to have speech with them, I have given to them of that
which I had, such as cloth and many other things, receiving
nothing in exchange. But so they are, incurably timid. It is true
that, after they have been reassured and have lost this fear, they
are so guileless and so generous with all that they possess, that
no one would believe it who has not seen it. They refuse nothing
that they possess, if it be asked of them; on the contrary, they
invite any one to share it and display as much love as if they
would give their hearts. They are content with whatever trifle of
whatever kind it may be that is given to them, whether it be of
value or valueless. I forbade that they should be given things so
worthless as fragments of broken crockery, scraps of broken glass
and ends of straps, although when they were able to get them, they
fancied that they possessed the best jewel in the world. So it was
found that for a strap a sailor received gold to the weight of two
and a half castellanos, and others received much more for other
things which were worth less. As for new blancas, for them they
would give everything which they had, although it might be two or
three castellanos' weight of gold or an arroba or two of spun
cotton. They took even the pieces of the broken hoops of the wine
barrels and, like savages, gave what they had, so that it seemed
to me to be wrong and I forbade it. I gave them a thousand
handsome good things, which I had brought, in order that they
might conceive affection for us and, more than that, might become
Christians and be inclined to the love and service of your
highnesses and of the whole Castilian nation, and strive to aid us
and to give us of the things which they have in abundance and
which are necessary to us.
They do not hold any creed nor are they idolaters; only
they all believe that power and good are in the heavens and are
very firmly convinced that I, with these ships and men, came from
the heavens, and in this belief they everywhere received me after
they had mastered their fear. This belief is not the result of
ignorance, for they are, on the contrary, of a very acute
intelligence and they are men who navigate all those seas, so that
it is amazing how good an account they give of everything. It is
because they have never seen people clothed or ships of such a
kind.
As soon as I arrived in the Indies, in the first island
which I found, I took by force some of the natives, in order that
they might learn and might give me information of that which there
is in these parts. And so it was that they soon understood us, and
we them, either by speech or signs, and they have been very
serviceable. I still carry them with me, and they are always
assured that I come from Heaven, for all the intercourse which
they have had with me. They were the first to announce this
wherever I went, and the others went running from house to house,
and the neighbouring towns, with loud cries of, "Come! Come! See
the men from Heaven!" So all, men and women alike, when their
minds are set at rest concerning us, came, not one, small or
great, remaining behind, and they all brought something to eat and
drink, which they gave with extraordinary affection.
In all the islands, they have very many canoes, which are
like rowing fustas, some larger and some smaller; some are greater
than a fusta of eighteen benches. They are not so broad, because
they are made of a single log of wood, but a fusta would not keep
up with them in rowing, since their speed is a thing incredible.
In these they navigate among all those islands, which are
innumerable, and carry their goods. One of these canoes I have
seen with seventy and eighty men in it, each one with his oar.
In all these islands, I saw no great diversity in the
appearance of the people or in their manners and language. On the
contrary, they all understand one another, which is a very curious
thing, on account of which I hope that their highnesses will
determine upon their conversion to our holy faith, towards which
they are very inclined.
I have already said how I went one hundred and seven
leagues in a straight line from west to east along the seashore of
the island of Juana, and as a result of this voyage I can say that
this island is larger than England and Scotland together, for,
beyond these one hundred and seven leagues, there remain to the
westward two provinces to which I have not gone. One of these
provinces they call "Avan," and there people are born with tails.
These provinces cannot have a length of less than fifty or sixty
leagues, as I could understand from those Indians whom I have and
who know all the islands.
[text omitted]
In all these islands, it seems to me that all men are
content with one woman, and to their chief or king they give as
many as twenty. It appears to me that the women work more than do
the men. I have not been able to learn if they hold private
property; it seemed to me to be that all took a share in that
which any one had, especially of eatable things.
In these islands I have so far found no human
monstrosities, as many expected, but on the contrary the whole
population is very well formed, nor are they negroes as in Guinea,
but their hair is flowing and they are not born where there is
intense force in the rays of the sun. It is true that the sun has
there great power, although it is distant from the equinoctial
line twenty-six degrees. In these islands, where there are high
mountains, the cold was severe this winter, but they endure it,
being used to it and with the help of meats which they consume
with many and extremely hot spices. As I have found no monsters,
so I have had no report of any, except in an island "Quaris,"
which is the second at the coming into the Indies, and which is
inhabited by a people who are regarded in all the islands as very
fierce and who eat human flesh. They have many canoes with which
they range through all the islands of India and pillage and take
whatever they can. They are no more malformed than are the others,
except that they have the custom of wearing their hair long like
women, and they use bows and arrows of the same cane stems, with a
small piece of wood at the end, owing to their lack of iron which
they do not possess. They are ferocious among these other people
who are cowardly to an excessive degree, but I make no more
account of them than of the rest. These are they who have
intercourse with the women of "Martinio," which is the first
island met on the way from Spain to the Indies, in which there is
not a man. These women engage in no feminine occupation, but use
bows and arrows of cane, like those already mentioned, and they
arm and protect themselves with plates of copper, of which they
have much.
In another island, which they assure me is larger than
Española, the people have no hair. In it there is gold
incalculable, and from it and from the other islands I bring with
me Indians as evidence.
In conclusion, to speak only of that which has been
accomplished on this voyage, which was so hasty, their highnesses
can see that I will give them as much gold as they may need, if
their highness will render me very slight assistance; moreover, I
will give them spices and cotton, as much as their highnesses
shall command; and mastic, as much as they shall order to be
shipped and which, up to now, has been found only in Greece, in
the island of Chios, and the Seignory sells it for what it
pleases; and aloe, as much as they shall order to be shipped; and
slaves, as many as they shall order to be shipped and who will be
from the idolaters. I believe also that I have found rhubarb and
cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other things of value, which
the people whom I have left there will have discovered, for I have
not delayed at any point, so far as the wind allowed me to sail,
except in the town of Navidad, in order to leave it secured and
well established, and in truth I should have done much more if the
ships had served me as reason demanded.
[text omitted]
This in accordance with that which has been accomplished,
thus briefly. Done in the caravel, off the Canary Islands, on the
fifteenth of February, in the year one thousand four hundred and
ninety-three. At your orders.
THE ADMIRAL.
After having written this, and being in the sea of
Castile, there came upon me so great a south-south-west wind that
I was obliged to lighten ship. But I ran here today into this port
of Lisbon, which was the greatest marvel in the world, whence I
decided to write to their highnesses. In all the Indies, I have
always found weather like May. There I went in thirty-three days
and I should have returned in twenty-eight, save for these storms
which have detained me for fourteen days, beating about in this
sea. Here all the sailors say that never has there been so bad a
winter nor so many ships lost. Done on the fourth day of March.
--------
Original Source: The Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Being
the Journals of his First and Third, and the Letters Concerning
his First and Last Voyages, to Which is Added the Account of his
Second Voyage Written by Andres Bernaldez. Now newly
Translated and Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Cecil
Jane. London: The Argonaut Press, 1930.
Electronic text Copyright 2003. This text is freely available
provided the text is distributed with the header information [this
notice] provided.
from Letter of Columbus, Describing His Fourth Voyage (1503)
Columbus, Christopher. "Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding
the Fourth Voyage." The Voyages of
Christopher Columbus, Translated by
Cecil Jane.
London: The Argonaut Press, 1930
electronic source of text: http://mith.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=columbus_4thvoyage.xml&action=show
[text omitted]
With a month of fair weather, I shall complete all my voyage. I
did not persist in delaying to enter on it, because there was a
lack of ships, and for all that concerns your service, I hope in
Him Who made me, that I shall be of use. I believe that your
highness will remember that I wished to order the construction of
ships in a new manner; the brevity of the time did not give room
for this, and I foresaw certainly that which has come to pass. I
hold that in this trade and mines of such extent and such dominion
there is more than there is in all else that has been done in the
Indies. This is not a child to be left to the care of a
stepmother.
Of Española, Paria, and the other lands, I never think without
weeping. I believed that their example would have been to the
profit of others; on the contrary, they are in a languid state
although they are not dead; the infirmity is incurable or very
extensive; let him who brought them to this state come now with
the remedy if he can or if he knows it; in destruction, everyone
is an adept. It was always the custom to give thanks and promotion
to him who imperilled his person. It is not just that he who has
been so hostile to this undertaking should enjoy its fruits or
that his children should. Those who left the Indies, flying from
toils and speaking evil of the matter and of me, have returned
with official employment. So it has now been ordained in the case
of Veragua. It is an ill example and without profit for the
business and for the justice in the world.
The fear of this, with other sufficient reasons, which I saw
clearly, led me to pray your highnesses before I went to discover
these islands and Tierra Firme, that you would leave them to me to
govern in your royal name. It pleased you; it was a privilege and
agreement, and under seal and oath, and you granted me the title
of viceroy and admiral and governor—general of all. And you fixed
the boundary, a hundred leagues beyond the Azores and the Cape
Verde Islands, by a line passing from pole to pole, and you gave
me wide power over this and over all that I might further
discover. The document states this very fully.
The other most important matter, which calls aloud for redress,
remains inexplicable to this moment. Seven years I was at your
royal court, where all to whom this undertaking was mentioned,
unanimously declared it to be a delusion. Now all, down to the
very tailors, seek permission to make discoveries. It can be
believed that they go forth to plunder, and it is granted to them
to do so, so that they greatly prejudice my honour and do very
great damage to the enterprise. It is well to give to God that
which is His due and to Caesar that which belongs to him. This is
a just sentiment and based on justice.
The lands which here obey your highnesses are more extensive and
richer than all other Christian lands. After that I, by the divine
will, had placed them under your royal and exalted lordship, and
was on the point of securing a very great revenue, suddenly, while
I was waiting for ships that I might come to your high presence
with victory and with great news of gold, being very secure and
joyful, I was made a prisoner and with my two brothers was thrown
into a ship, laden with fetters, stripped to the skin, very
ill—treated, and without being tried or condemned. Who will
believe that a poor foreigner could in such a place rise against
your highnesses, without cause, and without the support of some
other prince, and being alone among your vassals and natural
subjects, and having all my children at your royal court?
I came to serve at the age of twenty—eight years, and now I have
not a hair on my body that is not grey, and my body is infirm, and
whatever remained to me from those years of service has been spent
and taken away from me and sold, and from my brothers, down to my
very coat, without my being heard or seen, to my great dishonour.
It must be believed that this was not done by your royal command.
The restitution of my honour, the reparation of my losses, and the
punishment of him who did this, will spread abroad the fame of
your royal nobility. The same punishment is due to him who robbed
me of the pearls, and to him who infringed my rights as admiral.
Very great will be your merit, fame without parallel will be
yours, if you do this, and there will remain in Spain a glorious
memory of your highnesses, as grateful and just princes.
The pure devotion which I have ever borne to the service of your
highnesses, and the unmerited wrong that I have suffered, will not
permit me to remain silent, although I would fain do so; I pray
your highnesses to pardon me. I am so ruined as I have said;
hitherto I have wept for others; now, Heaven have mercy upon me,
and may the earth weep for me. Of worldly goods, I have not even a
blanca for an offering in spiritual things. Here in the Indies I
have become careless of the prescribed forms of religion. Alone in
my trouble, sick, in daily expectation of death, and encompassed
about by a million savages, full of cruelty, and our foes, and so
separated from the Blessed Sacraments of Holy Church, my soul will
be forgotten if it here leaves my body. Weep for me, whoever has
charity, truth and justice.
I did not sail upon this voyage to gain honour or wealth; this is
certain, for already all hope of that was dead. I came to your
highnesses with true devotion and with ready zeal, and I do not
lie. I humbly pray your highnesses that if it please God to bring
me forth from this place, that you will be pleased to permit me to
go to Rome and to other places of pilgrimage. May the Holy Trinity
preserve your life and high estate, and grant you increase of
prosperity.
Done in the Indies, in the island of Jamaica, on the seventh of
July, in the year one thousand five hundred and three.
Original Source: The Voyages of Christopher
Columbus, Being the Journals of his First and Third, and the
Letters Concerning his First and Last Voyages, to Which is Added
the Account of his Second Voyage Written by Andres Bernaldez.
Now newly Translated and Edited, with an Introduction and Notes,
by Cecil Jane. London: The Argonaut Press, 1930.
Electronic text Copyright 2006. This text is freely available
provided the text is distributed with the header information
[this notice] provided.
Resources for
Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
Bartolome de las Casas (1484 – 1566)
[image]
Bartolome de las Casas was born in 1484, in Seville, Spain and
became a Dominican friar and later the Bishop of Chiapas, in what
is now southern Mexico. During his life, he wrote extensively
about the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples at the hands of
Spanish colonists and he often campaigned for laws to prevent
ongoing atrocities against the natives living in America. Casas'
key works expose cruelties and injustices perpetuated by European
explorers and settlers against natives and argued that they should
be treated as equals, all in order to lay a better foundation for
missionary work in the New World. His most famous works are A
Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552) and The
History of the Indies (1561). Today, Casas is sometimes considered
one of the early advocates for universal human rights through his
writings.
Illustration: The
Destruction of the Indies by Theodor de Bry, 1552
from A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Casas, Bartolome de las. A Brief Account of the Destruction
of the Indies. London: Printed for R. Hewson at the Crown
in Cornhil, near the Stocks-Market. 1689.
source of electronic text: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20321
"Of the Island HISPANIOLA"
In this Isle, which, as we have said, the Spaniards first
attempted, the bloody slaughter and destruction of Men first
began: for they violently forced away Women and Children to make
them Slaves, and ill-treated them, consuming and wasting their
Food, which they had purchased with great sweat, toil, and yet
remained dissatisfied too, which every one according to his
strength and ability, and that was very inconsiderable (for they
provided no other Food than what was absolutely necessary to
support Nature without superfluity, freely bestow'd on them, and
one individual Spaniard consumed more Victuals in one
day, than would serve to maintain Three Families a Month, every
one consisting of Ten Persons. Now being oppressed by such evil
usage, and afflicted with such greate Torments and violent
Entertainment they began to understand that such Men as those had
not their Mission from Heaven; and therefore some of them
conceal'd their Provisions and others to their Wives and Children
in lurking holes, but some, to avoid the obdurate and dreadful
temper of such a Nation, sought their Refuge on the craggy tops of
Mountains; for the Spaniards did not only entertain them
with Cuffs, Blows, and wicked Cudgelling, but laid violent hands
also on the Governours of Cities; and this arriv'd at length to
that height of Temerity and Impudence, that a certain Captain was
so audacious as abuse the Consort of the most puissant King of the
whole Isle. From which time they began to consider by what wayes
and means they might expel the Spaniards out of their
Countrey, and immediately took up Arms. But, good God, what Arms,
do you imagin? Namely such, both Offensive and Defensive, as
resemble Reeds wherewith Boys sport with one another, more than
Manly Arms and Weapons.
Which the Spaniards no sooner perceived,
but they, mounted on generous Steeds, well weapon'd with Lances
and Swords, begin to exercise their bloody Butcheries and
Strategems, and overrunning their Cities and Towns, spar'd no Age,
or Sex, nay not so much as Women with Child, but ripping up their
Bellies, tore them alive in pieces. They laid Wagers among
themselves, who should with a Sword at one blow cut, or divide a
Man in two; or which of them should decollate or behead a Man,
with the greatest dexterity; nay farther, which should sheath his
Sword in the Bowels of a Man with the quickest dispatch and
expedition.
They snatcht young Babes from the Mothers Breasts,
and then dasht out the brains of those innocents against the
Rocks; others they cast into Rivers scoffing and jeering them, and
call'd upon their Bodies when falling with derision, the true
testimony of their Cruelty, to come to them, and inhumanely
exposing others to their Merciless Swords, together with the
Mothers that gave them Life.
They erected certain Gibbets, large, but low made,
so that their feet almost reacht the ground, every one of which
was so order'd as to bear Thirteen Persons in Honour and Reverence
(as they said blasphemously) of our Redeemer and his Twelve
Apostles, under which they made a Fire to burn them to Ashes
whilst hanging on them: But those they intended to preserve alive,
they dismiss'd, their Hands half cut, and still hanging by the
Skin, to carry their Letters missive to those that fly from us and
ly sculking on the Mountains, as an exprobation of their flight.
The Lords and Persons of Noble Extract were usually
expos'd to this kind of Death; they order'd Gridirons to be placed
and supported with wooden Forks, and putting a small Fire under
them, these miserable Wretches by degrees and with loud Shreiks
and exquisite Torments, at last Expir'd.
I once saw Four or Five of their most Powerful Lords
laid on these Gridirons, and thereon roasted, and not far off, Two
or Three more over-spread with the same Commodity, Man's Flesh;
but the shril Clamours which were heard there being offensive to
the Captain, by hindring his Repose, he commanded them to be
strangled with a Halter. The Executioner (whose Name and Parents
at Sevil are not unknown to me) prohibited the doing of
it; but stopt Gags into their Mouths to prevent the hearing of the
noise (he himself making the Fire) till that they dyed, when they
had been roasted as long as he thought convenient. I was an
Eye-Witness of these and and innumerable Number of other
Cruelties: And because all Men, who could lay hold of the
opportunity, sought out lurking holes in the Mountains, to avoid
as dangerous Rocks so Brutish and Barbarous a People, Strangers to
all Goodness, and the Extirpaters and Adversaries of Men, they
bred up such fierce hunting Dogs as would devour an Indian like
a Hog, at first sight in less than a moment: Now such kind of
Slaughters and Cruelties as these were committed by the Curs, and
if at any time it hapned, (which was rarely) that the Indians irritated
upon a just account destroy'd or took away the Life of any Spaniard, they
promulgated and proclaim'd this Law among them, that One Hundred Indians should
dye for every individual Spaniard that should be slain.
Resources for
Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca (1490?-1558?)
[image]
Cabeza De Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, whose
ventures abroad mostly met with disaster. He was involved in a
long struggle for survival mostly in western portions of the Gulf
of Mexico, around the Galveston area . He accompanied the Narvaez
Expedition to the Tampa Bay region in 1528, but the expedition
splintered, enduring sickness, starvation and shipwreck, as
various factions sought out gold or other Spaniards in Mexico. As
their numbers dwindled, Cabeza De Vaca and three other men were
enslaved by various native tribes along the Gulf coast and worked
their way to the Gulf of California over the course of many years,
finally reaching Mexico City and returning to Europe in 1537. This
tale of survival was written down and published in 1542 as La
Relacion (The Report) and later renamed Naufragios
(Shipwrecks). This writer is known today for his chronicles of the
interactions he recorded with the peoples, lands, plants and
animals of the American south and southwest. Writings about Cabeza
De Vaca include David Howard's Conquistador in Chains: Cabeza
de Vaca and the Indians of the Americas. Tuscaloosa:
University of Alabama Press, 1996, and Paul Schneider's Brutal
Journey, Cabeza de Vaca and the Epic First Crossing of North
America, New York: Henry Holt, 2007.
from The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza De Vaca, (1542)
Cabeza De Vaca. Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and
his companions from Florida to the Pacific, 1528-1536.
Translated From His Own Narrative by Fanny Bandelier. New York:
Allerton Book Company, 1904.
source of electronic text: http://archive.org/details/journeyalvarnue01bandgoog
To this island we gave the name of the Island of Ill-Fate. The
people on it are tall and well formed; they have no other weapons
than bows and arrows with which they are most dexterous. The men
have one of their nipples perforated from side to side and
sometimes both; through this hole is thrust a reed as long as two
and a half hands and as thick as two fingers; they also have the
under lip perforated and a piece of cane in it as thin as the half
of a finger. The women do the hard work. People stay on this
island from October till the end of February, feeding on the roots
I have mentioned, taken from under the water in November and
December. They have channels made of reeds and get fish only
during that time; afterwards they subsist on roots. At the end of
February they remove to other parts in search of food, because the
roots begin to sprout and are not good any more.
Of all the people in the world, they are those who most love
their children and treat them best, and should the child of one of
them happen to die, parents and relatives bewail it, and the whole
settlement, the lament lasting a full year, day after day. Before
sunrise the parents begin to weep, after them the tribe, and the
same they do at noon and at dawn. At the end of the year of
mourning they celebrate the anniversary and wash and cleanse
themselves of all their paint. They mourn all their dead in this
manner, old people excepted, to whom they do not pay any
attention, saying that these have had their time and are no longer
of any use, but only take space, and food from the children.
Their custom as to bury the dead, except those who are medicine
men among them, whom they burn, and while the fire is burning, all
dance and make a big festival, grinding the bones to powder. At
the end of the year, when they celebrate the anniversary, they
scarify themselves and give to the relatives the pulverized bones
to drink in water. Every man has a recognized wife, but the
medicine men enjoy greater privileges, since they may have two or
three, and among these wives there is great friendship and
harmony.
When one takes a woman for his wife, from the day he marries her,
whatever he may hunt or fish, she has to fetch it to the home of
her father, without daring to touch or eat of it, and from the
home of the father-in-law they bring the food to the husband. All
the while neither the wife's father nor her mother enter his
abode, nor is he allowed to go to theirs, or to the homes of his
brothers-in-law, and should they happen to meet they go out of
each other's way a crossbow's shot or so, with bowed heads and
eyes cast to the ground, holding it to be an evil thing to look at
each other or speak. The women are free to communicate with their
parents-in-law or relatives and speak to them. This custom
prevails from that island as far as about fifty leagues inland.
There is another custom, that when a son or brother dies no food
is gathered by those of his household for three months, preferring
rather to starve, but the relatives and neighbors provide them
with victuals. Now, as during the time we were there so many of
them died, there was great starvation in most of the lodges, due
to their customs and ceremonials, as well as to the weather, which
was so rough that such as could go out after food brought in but
very little, withal working hard for it. Therefore the Indians by
whom I was kept forsook the island and in several canoes went over
to the mainland to some bays where there were a great many oysters
and during three months of the year they do not eat anything else
and drink very bad water. There is lack of firewood, but great
abundance of mosquitoes. Their lodges are made of matting and
built on oyster shells, upon which they sleep in hides, which they
only get by chance. There we remained to the end of April, when we
went to the seashore, where we ate blackberries for a whole month,
during which time they danced and celebrated incessantly.
On the island I have spoken of they wanted to make medicine men
of us without any examination or asking for our diplomas, because
they cure diseases by breathing on the sick, and with that breath
and their hands they drive the ailment away. So they summoned us
to do the same in order to be at least of some use. We laughed,
taking it for a jest, and said that we did not understand how to
cure.
Thereupon they withheld our food to compel us to do what they
wanted. Seeing our obstinacy, an Indian told me that I did not
know what I said by claiming that what he knew was useless,
because stones and things growing out in the field have their
virtues, and he, with a heated stone, placing it on the stomach,
could cure and take away pain, so that we, who were wiser men,
surely had greater power and virtue.
At last we found ourselves in such stress as to have to do it,
without risking any punishment. Their manner of curing is as
follows: When one is ill they call in a medicine man, and after
they are well again not only do they give him all they have, but
even things they strive to obtain from their relatives. All the
medicine man does is to make a few cuts where the pain is located
and then suck the skin around the incisions. They cauterize with
fire, thinking it very effective, and I found it to be so by my
own experience. Then they breathe on the spot where the pain is
and believe that with this the disease goes away.
The way we treated the sick was to make over them the sign of the
cross while breathing on them, recite a Pater noster and Ave
Maria, and pray to God, Our Lord, as best we could to give them
good health and inspire them to do us some favors. Thanks to His
will and the mercy He had upon us, all those for whom we prayed,
as soon as we crossed them, told the others that they were cured
and felt well again. For this they gave us good cheer, and would
rather be without food themselves so as to give it to us, and they
gave us hides and other small things. So great was the lack of
food then that I often remained without eating anything whatsoever
for three days, and they were in the same plight, so that it
seemed to me impossible for life to last, although I afterwards
suffered still greater privations and much more distress, as I
shall tell further on.
The Indians that kept Alonso del Castillo, Andres Dorantes and
the others, who were still alive, being of another language and
stock, had gone to feed on oysters at another point of the
mainland, where they remained until the first day of the month of
April. Then they came back to the island, which was from there
nearly two leagues off, where the channel is broadest. The island
is half a league wide and five long.
All the people of this country go naked; only the women cover
part of their bodies with a kind of wool that grows on trees. The
girls go about in deer skins. They are very liberal towards each
other with what they have. There is no ruler among them. All who
are of the same descendancy cluster together. There are two
distinct languages spoken on the island; those of one language are
called Capoques, those of the other Han. They have the custom,
when they know each other and meet from time to time, before they
speak, to weep for half an hour. After they have wept the one who
receives the visit rises and gives to the other all he has. The
other takes it, and in a little while goes away with everything.
Even sometimes, after having given and obtained all, they part
without having uttered a word. There are other very queer customs,
but having told the principal ones and the most striking, I must
now proceed to relate what further happened to us.
Resources
for Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
John Smith (1579–1632)
[image]
John Smith was born at Willoughby, near Alford, Lincolnshire,
England in 1580, and left for the sea at age 16. An adventurer all
his life, he served as a French mercenary, fought for the Dutch,
sailed on the Mediterranean Sea as a pirate and trader, and fought
in Hungary. At one point he was captured as a slave for a Turkish
nobleman but escaped to return to England in 1604. In 1606, Smith
set sail with the Virginia Company of London Expedition, with
three small ships, to eventually settle in Jamestown. During the
voyage, Smith was charged with mutiny, but his life was saved by
sealed orders opened upon arrival in the New World, naming him as
one of the leaders of the new colony. Smith writes of the
struggles of the Jamestown Colony and his impact on their
survival, including the famous incident with the local native
leader, Powhatan, and his daughter Pocahontas. Smith's adventures
and explorations in America are delineated in his many books, the
most famous of which include A True Relation of Such
Occurences and Accidents of Note as Happened in Virginia
(1608), A Description of New England (1616), and The
Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles
(1624). Today, these works are notable for Smith's descriptions of
interactions with the native peoples on these shores, along with
his rhetorical passages for advancing the continued colonization
of the New World. Smith died in London on June 21, 1631 and is
buried there in St. Sepulchre's Church. Recent books about Smith
include Leo Lemay's The American Dream of Captain John Smith.
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, Everett
Emerson's Captain John Smith. New York: Twayne, 1993,
and Helen Rountree's John Smith's Chesapeake Voyages 1607-1609.
Charlottesville: U of Virginia Press, 2007.
Smith, John. The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England
& the Summer Isles. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons,
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1907.
electronic source of text: http://archive.org/details/generalhistorieo01smit
Editor's note: this passage has been modernized for enhanced
readability.
What happened till the first supply [ship arrived]
Being thus left to our fortunes, it fortuned that within ten days
scarce ten amongst us could either go, or well stand, such extreme
weakness and sickness oppressed us. And there at none need marvel,
if they consider the cause and reason, which was this, whilst the
ships stayed, our allowance was somewhat bettered, by a daily
proportion of biscuit, which the sailors would pilfer to sell,
give, or exchange with us, for money, sassafras, furs, or love.
But when they departed, there remained neither tavern, beer-house,
nor place of relief, but [only] the common Kettle [the stores of
food]. Had we been as free from all sins as gluttony, and
drunkenness, we might have been canonized for Saints. But our
President would never have been admitted, for engrossing to his
private [stores of] oatmeal, sack, oil, aquavita, beef, eggs, or
what not, but the Kettle - that indeed he allowed equally to be
distributed, and that was half a pint of wheat, and as much barley
boiled with water for a man a day, and this having [been] fried
some 26 weeks in the ship's hold, contained as many worms as
grains; so that we might truly call it rather so much bran than
corn. Our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air.
With this [lack of] lodging and diet, our extreme toil in bearing
and planting Pallisadoes [a wall of wooden stakes used as a
defensive barrier], so strained and bruised us, and our continual
labor in the extremity of the heat had so weakened us, as were
cause sufficient to have made us as miserable [whether] in our
native country or any other place in the world. From May to
September, those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea-crabs.
Fifty in this time we buried, the rest seeing the President's
projects to escape these miseries in our Pinnace [small boat] by
flight (who all this time had neither felt want nor sickness) so
moved our dead spirits, as we deposed him; and established
Ratcliffe in his place, (Gosnoll being dead) Kendall deposed.
Smith newly recovered, [both] Martin and Ratcliffe were by his
care preserved and relieved, and the most of the soldiers
recovered, with the skillful diligence of Mr. Thomas Wotton, our
Surgeon general. But now was all our provisions spent, the
sturgeon gone, all help abandoned, each hour expecting the fury of
the savages; when God the patron of all good endeavors, in that
desperate extremity, so changed the hearts of the savages that
they brought such plenty of their fruits, and provision, [so] as
no man wanted.
And now where some affirmed, it was ill done of the Council to
send forth men so badly provided, this in-contradictable reason
will show them plainly they are too ill advised to nourish such
ill conceits. First, the fault of our going was our own. What
could be thought fitting or necessary we had, but what we should
find, or want, or where we should be, we were all ignorant, and
supposing to make our passage in two months, with victual to live,
and the advantage of the springtime to work; we were [instead] at
sea five months, where we both spent [all] our victuals and lost
the opportunity of the time and season to plant, [all] by the
unskillful presumption of our ignorant transporters, that
understood not at all what they undertook [to do].
Such actions have, ever since the world's beginning, been subject
to such accidents, and everything of worth is found full of
difficulties, but nothing so difficult as to establish a
commonwealth so far remote from men and means, and where men's
minds are so untoward as neither do well themselves, nor suffer
others. But to proceed.
The building of James Towne
The new President and Martin, being little beloved, of weak
judgment in dangers, and less industry in peace, committed the
managing of all things abroad to Captain Smith, who by his own
example, good words, and fair promises, set some to mow, others to
bind thatch, some to build houses, others to thatch them, himself
always bearing the greatest task for his own share, so that in
short time, he provided most of them lodgings, neglecting any for
himself. This done, seeing the savage's superfluities [provided
supplies] begin to decrease (with some of his workmen) [Smith]
shipped himself in the shallop [light sailboat] to search the
[nearby] countryside for trade. The want of the language,
knowledge to manage his boat without sails, the want of a
sufficient power, (knowing the multitude of the Savages) apparel
for his men, and other necessaries, were infinite impediments, yet
no discouragement. Being but six seamen in company, he went down
the river to Kecoughtan, where at first they scorned him, as a
famished man, and would in derision offer him a handful of corn, a
piece of bread, for their swords and muskets, and such like
proportions, also, for their apparel. But seeing by trade and
courtesy there was nothing to be had, he made bold to try such
conclusions as necessity enforced, though contrary to his
Commission. [He] let fly his muskets, ran his boat on shore, where
they [the Indians] all fled into the woods. So marching towards
their houses, they [saw] great heaps of corn. Much ado he had to
restrain his hungry soldiers from present taking of it, expecting
as it happened that the savages would assault them, as not long
after they did with a most hideous noise. Sixty or seventy of
them, some black, some red, some white, some parti-colored, came
in a square order, singing and dancing out of the woods, with
their Okee (which was an Idol made of skins, stuffed with moss,
all painted and hung with chains and copper) borne before them:
and in this manner being well armed, with clubs, targets, bows and
arrows, they charged the English, that so kindly received them
with their muskets loaded with Pistol shot, that down fell their
God, and [it] lay sprawling on the ground. The rest fled again to
the woods, and ere long sent one of their Quiyoughkasoucks to
offer peace, and redeem their Okee. Smith told them, if only six
of them would come unarmed and load his boat, he would not only be
their friend, but restore them their Okee, and give them beads,
copper, and hatchets besides, which on both sides was to their
contents performed: and then they brought him venison, turkeys,
wild foul, bread, and what [else] they had, singing and dancing in
sign of friendship till they departed.
How Pocahontas saved his life
At last they brought him [Smith] to Meronocomoco, where was
Powhatan, their Emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim
courtiers stood wondering at him, as [if] he had been a monster,
till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest
braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat
covered with a great robe, made of raccoon skins, and all the
tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of 16 to 18
years, and along on each side [of] the house, two rows of men, and
behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders
painted red; many of their heads bedecked with the white down of
birds; but everyone with something: and a great chain of white
beads about their necks. At his entrance before the King, all the
people gave a great shout. The Queene of Appamatuck was appointed
to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a
bunch of feathers, instead of a towel to dry them. Having feasted
him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long
consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones
were brought before Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on
him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being
ready with their clubs, to beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the
King's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his
head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from
death: whereas the Emperor was contented he should live to make
him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper; for they thought
him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the King himself
will make his own robes, shoes, bows, arrows, pots; plant, hunt,
or do anything so well as the rest.
They say he bore a pleasant show,
But sure his heart was sad.
For who can pleasant be, and rest,
That lives in fear and dread:
And having life suspected, doth
It still suspected lead.
illustration: John
Smith Saved by Pocahontas by Alonzo Chappel, circa 1865
How Powhatan sent him to James Towne
Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most
fear fullest manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought
forth to a great house in the woods, and there [sat] upon a mat by
the fire to be left alone. Not long after from behind a mat that
divided the house, was made the most dole fullest noise he ever
heard. Then Powhatan, more like a devil then a man, with some two
hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now
they were friends, and presently he should go to James Towne, to
send him two great guns, and a grindstone, for which he would give
him the Country of Capahowosick, and forever esteem him as his
son, Nantaquoud. So to James Towne with 12 guides Powhatan sent
him. That night they quartered in the woods, he still expecting
(as he had done all this long time of his imprisonment) every hour
to be put to one death or other, for all their feasting. But
almighty God (by his divine providence) had mollified the hearts
of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning
betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages
with what kindnesses he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan's
trusty servant, two demi-culverings [cannons] and a millstone to
carry to Powhatan. They found them somewhat too heavy; but when
they did see him discharge them, being loaded with stones, among
the boughs of a great tree loaded with ice sickles, the ice and
branches came so tumbling down, that the poor savages ran away
half dead with fear. But at last we regained some conference with
them, and gave them such toys, and sent to Powhatan, his women,
and children such presents, as gave them, in general, full
content.
Now in James Towne they were all in combustion, the strongest
preparing once more to run away with the Pinnace; which with the
hazard of his life, with Sakre falcon [large gun] and musket shot,
Smith forced now the third time to stay or sink. Some no better
than they should be, had plotted with the President, the next day
to have put him to death by the Levitical law, for the lives of
Robinson and Emery, pretending the fault was his that had led them
to their ends. But he quickly took such order with such lawyers,
that he laid them by the heels till he sent some of them [as]
prisoners for England. Now, ever once in four or five days,
Pocahontas with her attendants, brought him so much provision,
that [this] saved many of their lives, that else for all this
[they would have] starved with hunger.
from A Description of New England
excerpt from Trent, William P. and Benjamin W. Wells,
Colonial Prose and Poetry, Volume 1. New York: Thomas Y.
Crowell & Co., 1901.
AND lest any should think the toil might be insupportable, though
these things may be had by labor and diligence, I assure my self
there are who delight extremely in vain pleasure, that take much
more pains in England, to enjoy it, than I should do here to gain
wealth sufficient: and yet I think they should not have half such
sweet content: for, our pleasure here is still gains; in England
charges and loss.
Here nature and liberty affords us that freely, which in England
we want, or it costeth us dearly. What pleasure can be more, than
(being tired with any occasion a-shore in planting vines, fruits,
or herbs, in contriving their own grounds, to the pleasure of
their own minds, their fields, gardens, orchards, buildings,
ships, and other works, etc.) to recreate themselves before their
own doors, in their own boats upon the sea, where man, woman and
child, with a small hook and line, by angling, may take diverse
sorts of excellent fish, at their pleasures? And is it not pretty
sport, to pull up two pence, six pence, and twelve pence, as fast
as you can hale and vear a line? He is a very bad fisher, cannot
kill in one day with his hook and line, one, two, or three hundred
cods: which dressed and dried, if they be sold there for ten
shillings the hundred, though in England they will give more than
twenty; may not both the servant, the master, and merchant, be
well content with this gain?
If a man work but three days in seven, he may get more then he
can spend, unless he be excessive. Now that carpenter, mason,
gardiner, tailor, smith, sailer, forgers, or what other, may they
not make this a pretty recreation though they fish but an hour in
a day, to take more than they eat in a week: or if they will not
eat it, because there is so much better choice; yet sell it, or
change it, with the fishermen, or merchants, for any thing they
want. And what sport doth yield a more pleasing content, and less
hurt or charge than angling with a hook, and crossing the sweet
air from isle to isle, over the silent streams of a calm sea
Wherein the most curious may find pleasure, profit, and content.
Thus, though all men be not fishers: yet all men whatsoever, may
in other matters do as well. For necessity doth in these cases so
rule a commonwealth, and each in their several functions, as their
labors in their qualities may be as profitable, because there is a
necessary mutual use of all.
For gentlemen, what exercise should more delight them, than
ranging daily those unknown parts, using fowling and fishing, for
hunting and hawking and yet you shall see the wild hawks give you
some pleasure, in seeing them swoop (six or seven after one
another) an hour or two together at the schools of fish in the
fair harbors, as those ashore at a fowl: and never trouble nor
torment yourselves, with watching, mewing, feeding, and attending
them: nor kill horse and man with running and crying. See you not
a hawk? For hunting also: the woods, lakes, and rivers afford not
only chase sufficient, for any that delights in that kind of toil,
or pleasure: but such beasts to hunt, that besides the delicacy of
their bodies for food, their skins are so rich, as may well
recompense thy daily labor, with a captain's pay.
For laborers, if those that sow hemp, rape, turnips, parsnips,
carrots, cabbage, and such like: give 20, 30, 40, 50, shillings
yearly for an acre of ground, and meat, drink, and wages to use
it, and yet grow rich: when better or at least as good ground, may
be had, and cost nothing but labor: it seems strange to me, any
such should there grow poor.
My purpose is not to persuade children from their parents: men
from their wives: nor servants from their masters: only, such as
with free consent may be spared: but that each parish, or village,
in city or country, that will but apparel their fatherless
children of thirteen or fourteen years of age, or young married
people, that have small wealth to live on: here by their labor may
live exceeding well: provided always that first there be a
sufficient power to command them, houses to receive them, means to
defend them, and meet provisions for them: for any place may be
overlain: and it is most necessary to have a fortress (ere this
grow to practice) and sufficient masters (as, carpenters, masons,
fishers, fowlers, gardeners, husbandmen, sawers, smiths,
spinsters, tailors, weavers, and such like) to take ten, twelve,
or twenty, or as there is occasion, for apprentice. The masters by
this may quickly grow rich: these may learn their trades
themselves, to do the like: to a general and an incredible benefit
for king, and country, masters, and servant.
***
DALA: Digital American Literature Anthology
Edited by Dr. Michael O'Conner, Millikin University
Unit 2: Explorers, Invaders, and Colonists
digitalamlit.com
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