Our Neighbor-Mexico/APPENDIX C
APPENDIX C.
THE INDIAN TRIBES OF MEXICO.—THEIR ACTUAL CONDITION, SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL.
Mr. James Pascoe, an English Wesleyan, for many years residing in Toluca, now doing admirable service in the Presbyterian Church, gives in this article in the monthly Missionary Journal of that Church an excellent view of the past and present of the Indian.
"The Indians form three-fourths of the entire population of Mexico, and are divided into three distinct classes: 1st, the subjugated tribes; 2d, the Pinto Indians of the Tierras Calientes; 3d, the untamed Comanches, Apaches, and others. At present, I will speak only of the subjugated tribes, as being most numerous, most important, and as those who are likely to be first brought under Gospel influence. These Indians are the broken-down and despised remnants of the old Aztec, Texcucan, Tlascaltecan, and other nations, who, only three hundred years ago, were the ruling powers in Mexico. Three centuries of the withering influence of Romanism have sufficed to degrade these noble tribes to the level of beasts of burden; stamping out almost every spark of liberty or virtue, and steeping them in superstition, ignorance, and fanaticism of the grossest kind. These tribes still retain their ancient dialects, although, in many cases, corrupted and mixed with many Spanish words; but still they are so distinct that an Indian of one tribe can not understand the dialect of another; and the gulf that separates the Spanish-speaking Mexican from the Mexican or Otomi, or Mazahua-speaking Indian, is as great as that which divides the English and Chinese.
"As a rule, the Indians have their towns apart from the Mexicans, and the lands belong to the whole community, each man having a right to cut fire-wood or boards, etc., and to sell them, or to till any part he pleases; but no one can sell land without the consent of the whole town. Also, each man is obliged to render general services, gratuitously when required, and the expenses of religious festivals are defrayed from a general fund, to which all contribute. The Mexican Government has endeavored to break down this system of clanship; but the Indians, generally, have been shrewd enough to evade the laws and remain in their old ways.
"These towns are not grouped in any order. Here will be a town of Indians, speaking Mazahua; close by may be another of Spanish-speaking Mexicans; a little farther on a village of Otomies—this medley being seen in the neighborhood of all large cities, and each town preserves its distinctive language and customs, and even style and color of dress—the women of one town adopting one uniform shape and color of garments. But, at a greater distance from the cities, we find large districts occupied wholly by Indians of one tribe or another. The Indian lives generally in a rude hut of shingles, or of sun-dried mud bricks, and roofed with shingles or grass according to the supply at hand; but such huts are low-roofed, the bare earth the only carpet, and wind and rain finding free entry by a thousand openings in walls and roofs. The one room serves for every purpose, and often affords shelter to pigs and poultry, as well as to the family. The staple food is the maize cake (tortilla), the Indian very rarely tasting animal food—many not once a month, and thousands not once a year. Their costume is also simple. The men wear a simple shirt and a pair of cotton drawers; the women, a thin chemise, and a colored 'enagra' (skirt) rolled around their waist; and the children, as a rule, in unhampered freedom. A 'petate' (rush mat) for a bed when obtainable, and a'zerape' (blanket) as overcoat by day and bed-clothes by night, complete the Indian's outfit. These Indians supply the towns with poultry, vegetables, pottery, eggs, mats, and other similar corn materials, which they carry for many leagues.
"For instance, an Indian starts from his home loaded with goods weighing, on an average, five arrobas (one hundred and twenty-five pounds), and sometimes eight arrobas, and will travel a week, and often two or three weeks, before disposing of his wares. He calculates how many days the journey will last, and takes a stock of tortillas to last the whole time, allowing six tortillas a day, which he divides into three portions of two tortillas each, for morning, noon, and evening meal. And this is his only subsistence. So ignorant and stubborn are these Indians that they oftentimes refuse to sell their goods on the road. I have seen many carrying fowls, for instance, to sell in Mexico city; I have met them a week's journey from Mexico, and have proposed to buy the entire lot at the same price they hoped to realize at their journey's end; but no, he was bound for the city, and all my arguments were vain: not a chick would he sell. This has occurred on various occasions. Charcoal, plants, etc., are all supplied to the towns by the Indians, and it is astonishing to see their patient endurance. A man will spend, at least, four days in the mountains burning the charcoal; then carries it on his back a day's journey, sometimes more, and sells it for thirty-seven cents, thus realizing from six to seven cents a day. In the same way the poor creature fares with all else. If he sells planks or 'vigas,' he has first to pay for liberty to fell timber, if he happens not to belong to a town rich in forests. Felling the tree and hewing out the log with his hatchet occupies a day. In four days he has four 'vigas' ready. The whole family is then assembled, and the logs are dragged down to the plain and placed on two rude wheels— also the work of the hatchet. The donkey is now hitched on, and husband, wife, sons, and daughters, each lending a hand, away they travel, one or two days' journey to the nearest city. On reaching it, they must pay an entrance-fee, generally only three cents on each log; and at length they sell their logs at thirty-seven cents each, and oftentimes for less.
"The Mexican can not do without the Indian. Farms would be deserted, lands untilled, cattle unattended, and the markets entirely deserted, were it not for the poor, patient, despised Indian. Worse still, the poor Indian is the staple food of the cannon, and without him the Mexican would be unable to sustain his revolutions.
"It may be asked, how is it that the Indians, being in such a great numerical majority, allow themselves to be down-trodden by the few Mexicans who rule them? It is because Romanism has so effectually blighted and crushed out their old chivalry and love of liberty, and has steeped them in a degrading and profound ignorance. Excepting the few who, within the past few years, have become acquainted with God's word by means of Protestantism, we shall be safe in saying that not a single soul among them has ever read a line of the Bible.
"Very few of the men can read or write. National schools are found in some of the villages, but only for boys. Schools for girls are almost unknown. Perhaps a few are found in the cities; but in the smaller towns and villages they are unheard of. Thus the Indian women are kept in profound ignorance; a vast majority of the men are the same. This mighty engine of darkness, wielded by the skill and cunning of Romish priests, has produced the fearful uncleanliness of body and soul, the stupid superstition, and bloody fanaticism which now characterize the Indian of Mexico.
"Underlying this patient humility and subjection to their Mexican lords, the Indian nourishes a deep-seated and ever-augmenting hatred of his whiter countrymen. The Indian and the Mexican races do not mingle, except in isolated and exceptional cases. The Indian, in his necessary intercourse with the Mexican, naturally acquires a knowledge of the Spanish language; but they jealously avoid speaking that tongue unless compelled by necessity. In their homes not a word of Spanish is heard; the women scrupulously avoid learning it, and of course the children grow up without understanding a word. I have gone through whole villages and not found a single woman or child who could speak Spanish. I have also observed, on large haciendas, where hundreds of Indians are employed, and where they daily hear Spanish spoken, many of the women, who come weekly to the pay-office to take up their husband's miserable salaries, although understanding Spanish, nothing will induce them to speak it; and some bailiff or head workman, an Indian also, always acts as interpreter. His aversion to speaking Spanish is also seen in religious matters. The Indian refuses to confess to the priest except in his own native tongue. Very few priests understand those tongues; and to surmount the difficulty the priest has a list of written questions and answers, which he learns to pronounce like a parrot. When the Indian presents himself, the priest reads question No. I. If the Indian replies in accordance with the written answer, well and good; but if not, the priest reads again, until, by good luck, the right word is uttered, and the hitch overcome. The priest who explained this ingenious mode of confessing was somewhat perplexed when I remarked: 'But suppose the Indian confesses to some sin not down on the list; what then?' The Indian is always treated as an inferior creature. The priest requires his Mexican parishioners to confess and receive the sacrament very frequently; but the Indian is not expected to confess oftener than once a year, and, as a rule, he receives the communion only at marriage and when about to die. Once in a lifetime is considered enough for him. The march of Liberalism has done much to alter this state of affairs; but not many years ago the Indian might confess, but could not commune without a special license. So great is the chasm which separates the Mexican from the Indian, that the title of 'gente de razon,' or people of reason, is given to the former. Nothing is more common than the expression, 'Is he an Indian?' 'No, he is "de razon;"' thus making the Mexican to be a reasonable being, in contradistinction to the poor despised Indian, who ranks only with beasts of burden. The Mexican Indian is essentially religious; his whole life seems devoted to the service of the priests and saints; his earnings are all devoted to wax-candles and rockets to be burned on feast-days, and he seems to think of nothing but processions and pilgrimages to some distant shrine. Since the days of his Aztecan forefathers, the only change which the Indian has undergone in religion is that of adoring a San Antonio instead of his ancient god, 'Huitzilopochtle;' and, with this slight change in the objects of his worship, he continues to adore on the same sacred spots, and with many of the ceremonies, and with all the ignorance and superstitious zeal as did his pagan forefathers.
"The Roman Catholic priests, in days gone by, in order to divert the Indians from their Aztec idolatries, adopted the ingenious plan of going by night to some heathen temple, removing the old idol, and placing in its stead a crucifix or some Catholic saint. The next day the Indians were amazed to find a new god instead of the old one, and at once accepted the change; they continued their worship as before. Cannibalism and human sacrifices have died out; but, if we view the Indian's present religion from his own stand-point, we shall see that really he finds not one single point of difference. In his old Aztec religion he had a water baptism, confession to priests, numerous gods to adore, and whose aid he invoked under various circumstances. He worshiped images of wood or stone; employed flowers and fruits as offerings, and incense also, and offered fellow-beings in sacrifice, while he also worshiped a goddess whom he styled 'Our Mother;' and in his worship dances and pantomimes took a prominent rank. In his new Roman Catholic religion he finds baptism and confession; a great host of saints to adore—saints for every circumstance or ill of life; he finds images better made, and of richer material than the old ones; he again employs fruits, and flowers, and incense; worships another goddess as 'Mother of God,' and 'Queen of Heaven,' and 'Our Lady.' He is also taught to believe that not a mere fellow-being is sacrificed, but his Creator Himself—as the Romanists declare, in real and actual sacrifice, thousands of times every day; and, as of old, the Indian still dances and performs pantomimes in his religious festivals. Where, then, is the difference?
"As a proof of some of my assertions, I will mention a few facts. In the large town of 'Yinacautepec,' distant about two leagues from Toluca, I visited the annual feast on various occasions. It draws an immense number of spectators from all parts, and for several days bull-fights, and cock-fights, and religious processions hold sway. The procession is a very gorgeous affair, and issues from the church. Banners, and wax-candles, and images in great number; music by the band, and rockets whizzing; but the greatest feature of all consists of a number of Indians dressed in grotesque attires, with skins of animals, bulls' horns, cows' tails, and some with their heads helmeted with the entire skin of game-cocks—altogether forming a wildly fantastic mob, shouting and dancing around their priests and saints like so many imps from the lower regions. The famous church of 'La Villa de Guadalupe,' near the city of Mexico, is built on the site of an old Aztec temple, and the Roman Catholic priests adopted their usual plan of removing the old and replacing it with the new one, and by means of a pretended apparition have made 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' become the patron saint of Mexico.
"The far-famed convent of 'El Señor de Chalma,' about fourteen leagues to the south of Toluca, is another instance. It is the favorite shrine of all the Indian tribes of the land. Formerly, before the convent was built, the place was occupied by an Aztec idol, located in a cave. This idol existed long after Roman Catholic churches had been built in neighboring towns; and the Indians, when they wished to have a child baptized, would first carry the infant to be blessed by their Aztec god, and from there would go to the Romish church and complete the ceremony. To make the most of this propensity, the Catholics, in their usual fashion, stole the idol from the cave and placed there the present 'Lord of Chalma,' which is a crucifix, the Saviour being painted copper-color. This apparition gave rise to a convent being built; and all the year round the Indians, whole families, and whole towns, make pilgrimages from all parts of the land to the said convent. The sales of candles and the Popish requisites are enormous. A shop is attached to the convent, where the poor Indians buy their candles, which they carry to the priests, who remit them by a back-door to the shop again, where they are sold and sold again many times over. But here, also,