Part 35 (1/2)
Add to this picture that, though delicate, modest women are rare, actual adultery is not often committed by the s.e.x, but that concubinage is more common, or rather, perhaps, more public than in Europe, the father being usually very fond and careful of his natural children, and a fair view is obtained of female character in Lima. The white Creoles are noted for sensuality, and some of the dances in which they indulge are of indescribable obscenity.[331]
The influx of foreign s.h.i.+ps and seamen into Callao, the port of Lima, has brought in its train the usual accompaniments, drunkenness and debauchery.
A few years ago it was almost in decay and ruin; now it swarms with drinking-shops (_pulperias_) and prost.i.tutes, and is probably as profligate a place as any in the western hemisphere.
Pa.s.sing to the Atlantic coast of South America, we find Robertson, the author of ”Letters from Paraguay,” writing of female Spanish society at the city of Santa Fe:
”I was particularly struck by the extremely free nature (to use the very gentlest expression) of the conversation which was adopted with the ladies, young and old. It was such as to make me, with my unsophisticated English feelings, blush at every turn, although such modesty, whenever it was observed, caused a hearty laugh.”
The same author, speaking of female society in Rio, says:
”There is no society at Rio, for I can not call that society from which females are excluded. Generally speaking, the husband of a Brazilian wife is not so much her companion as her keeper. His house is the abode of jealousy and distrust, for he can not always stretch his confidence to the point of imagining fidelity in the wife of his bosom, any more than he can rely on the virtuous forbearance of the friend of his heart. His daughters are brought up in Moorish seclusion, and his wife is delivered over to the keeping of a train of sombre slaves and domestics.”
It may be thought that some of these remarks are applicable to periods of time and conditions of society now happily pa.s.sed away. But the poison of moral depravity, when once taken up, is not to be speedily eliminated from the system of nations more than of individuals. A very recent traveler, Mr. Stewart, testifies to the demoralization of female society in all cla.s.ses.[332]
With such uniform representations of the general immorality, and of the low estimate in which female virtue is held in South America, it is not to be expected that there are any special details on the subject of our investigation. Prost.i.tution is in some degree attendant upon a state of public feeling in which the purity of wives and daughters is held in respect--not viewed with jealousy, but with reverence. In South America, even in the present time, females mix but little in society. Their education is very limited, terminates early, and they are always under some kind of guardians.h.i.+p or chaperonage in public. This does not elevate the female character. Freedom and self-respect are the best protectives to virtue and honor, and the seclusion of women from general society only serves to invest them with the attraction of mystery to the libertine, while it takes away from themselves the experience and self-reliance in which they find a safeguard.
In South America generally, the character of the priesthood is unfortunately open to reprobation. In Brazil, the priests are reputed to be free livers. Nearly all of them have families, and when seen leaving the dwellings of their wives, or of the females they visit, they speak of them as their nieces or sisters. Some unequivocally admit the relations.h.i.+p existing, and acknowledge their children.[333] The value of the priestly character, in estimating the standard of morality among a population is unquestionably great.
An enlightened native said to Mr. Ewbank, ”The priesthood of this country is superlatively corrupt. It is impossible for men to be worse, or to imagine them worse. In the churches they appear respectable and devout, but their secret crimes have made this city a Sodom. There are, of course, honorable exceptions.”[334]
Another, a man of unquestionable authority, said, ”They are a.s.suredly the most licentious and profligate part of the community. The exceptions are rare. Celibacy being one of their dogmas, you will find nearly the whole with families.”
At Rio Janeiro there is a Foundling Hospital, established in 1582, which is a n.o.ble inst.i.tution. The boys are provided for at Botofoga, and are in due time apprenticed to trades. The girls reside in the city establishment, and are taught to read, write, sew, etc. At each anniversary, bachelors in want of wives attend at the festival, and if they see girls to their liking, make themselves known. If a girl accepts such a lover, he makes his application to the managers, who inquire into his character, and, if satisfactory, the marriage takes place, and a small dowry is given from the funds of the society. In the management of the inst.i.tution or the reception of infants, there is nothing peculiarly worthy notice. But if those who are averse to such inst.i.tutions contrast the blessed results of saving these helpless infants from misery, and the horror of beholding their dead bodies cast on dunghills, to be devoured as carrion by obscene animals and birds of prey, as has been mentioned in the notice of Lima, they would, on such grounds, even if there were no better to be urged, suspend a hasty judgment on Foundling Hospitals.
CHAPTER XXIX.
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
Decrease of the Indian Race.--Treatment of Females.--Courts.h.i.+p.-- Stealing Wives.--Domestic Life among the Crow Indians.--”Pine Leaf.”-- Female Prisoners.--Marriage.--Conjugal Relations.--Infidelity.-- Polygamy.--Divorce.--Female Morality.--Intrigue and Revenge.--Decency of Outward Life.--Effects of Contact with White Men.--Traders.
The aboriginal inhabitants of the vast continent of America have been variously described by different writers, one man lauding them as models of chivalry and virtue, another decrying them as the personification of meanness and vice. Hence it is only at a recent period, comparatively speaking, that any reliable information has been obtainable on the subject. In the limited s.p.a.ce that can be given to a consideration of the Indian and his social habits, we shall endeavor to reject both romance and vituperation. We do not believe him so stoically virtuous as the former cla.s.s of writers depict, nor do we think that all of the race are so deeply sunk in depravity as the latter represent.
In addition to the authorities quoted in the progress of the chapter, we are under obligations to Mr. Horace St. John's article on Prost.i.tution, incorporated by Mr. Mayhew in his tracts on ”London Labor and the London Poor.”
At the time of the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth, it was estimated that there were about two millions of Indians scattered over this continent. They were then a brave and hardy people, who lived on the produce of the chase, varying their locations as the facilities for hunting required. When the last census of the United States was taken, their numbers were about four hundred thousand, exclusive of fifteen thousand in Canada and the British possessions. This decrease has been ascribed to the occupation of their hunting-grounds by white men, and the consequent extermination of the game upon which they depended for subsistence; the free use of intoxicating liquors, and the introduction of small-pox and other fatal diseases. These causes will, in all probability, result in the entire extinction of the race. In the small number mentioned are many half-breeds, children of white fathers and Indian mothers.
It might naturally be supposed that in the several tribes composing this people there would exist great diversity of manners, but these are found only in minor particulars. The social inst.i.tutions of the North American Indians are so generally uniform as to render it possible to sketch the whole at one view.
Their occupations are still confined to the chase and the war-path. To perform a round of daily labor, even though it insured the most ample provision for his wants, would be contrary alike to the inclination and the supposed dignity of the Red Man, who will scarcely deign to follow any pursuit which does not combine enterprise and excitement. Woman, therefore, becomes the drudge and slave; upon her devolves the duty of cultivating the ground, whenever any attempt is made to a.s.sist the spontaneous efforts of Nature; she it is who must bear the load of game which her husband has killed; must carry wood and water, build huts, and make canoes. In fis.h.i.+ng, and in reaping their scanty harvest, the man will, at times, condescend to a.s.sist her, but otherwise all the labor falls to her share. In those tribes visited by traders, her duties are still heavier; she must join in the hunt, and afterward dress and prepare the skins and furs which are to be bartered for whisky and other luxuries.
To this degraded condition the women seem perfectly reconciled, and expertness at the a.s.signed employment is a source of pride to them.
The treatment of the female s.e.x is generally admitted to be a standard by which man's moral qualities can be estimated. It may be doubted if this rule would apply to the Indian tribes, for those who treat their females most mildly are by no means the most virtuous, nor is their deference attended by any increase of attachment, the general opinion of a wife's value being the consideration of her capacity to be useful. Where they aid in procuring food or luxuries for the tribe, they are held in more esteem; while in places where the chief burden of providing rests upon the men, they are treated with severity.[335]
Even when oppressed with these laborious occupations, the women have as much native vanity in respect to decoration as the s.e.x in any part of the world; and an accurate observer remarks that, ”Judging from the time a squaw often occupies in arranging her hair, or disposing her scanty dress, or painting her round cheeks with glaring circles of vermilion, it is evident that personal ornament occupies as much of her thoughts as among fas.h.i.+onable women in civilized society.”[336]
Courts.h.i.+p and marriage are differently arranged among various tribes. The predominant custom is for a man to procure a wife by purchase from her father, thus acquiring a property over which he has absolute control, and which he can barter away or dispose of in any manner he pleases. The example of Powhatan, who was chief ruler over thirty tribes in Virginia at the time of the English colonization, is a case in point. It is said that he always had a mult.i.tude of wives about him, and when he wearied of any would distribute them as presents among his princ.i.p.al warriors. In most cases the woman is not consulted at all, the whole transaction being a mercantile one; in others an infant female is betrothed by her father (for a consideration) to some man who requires a wife, either for himself or for his son. The girl remains with her parents until the age of p.u.b.erty, when the contract is completed, at which time the father often makes a present to the husband equal in value to the price originally paid for his daughter.[337]
Another mode of obtaining a wife is to steal a girl from some neighboring tribe. Captain Clarke, who crossed the Rocky Mountains in the years 1804-1806, as one of the leaders of an expedition ordered by the executive of the United States, records instances of this kind. He says, ”One of the Ahnahaways had stolen a Minnetaree girl. The whole nation immediately espoused the quarrel, and one hundred and fifty of the warriors were marching down to avenge the insult. The chief took possession of the girl, and sent her by messengers to the hands of her countrymen in time to avert the threatened calamity.”[338] ”A young Minnetaree had carried off the daughter of a chief of the Mandans. The father went to the village and found his daughter, whom he brought home, and at the same time took possession of a horse belonging to the offender. This reprisal satisfied his vengeance. The stealing of young women is one of the most common offenses.”[339]