Indians of Latin America A Plea A Survey A Program A Bibliography Committee on Cooperation in Latin America 25 Madison Avenue New York 1924 Indians of Latin America A Plea A Survey A Program A Bibliography Committee on Cooperation in Latin America 25 Madison Avenue New York 1924 INDIANS OF LATIN AMERICA A Plea for the Indian. The Highland Indians. The Lowland Indians.. A Suggested Program. A Missionary Policy... Bibliography Ignacio Calderon George M. McBride .George M. McBride George M. McBride R. J. Hunt ....Samuel G. Inman A PLEA FOR THE INDIANS By the Minister of Bolivia at Washington There is a subject that ever since my early life has been nearer to my heart than anything else : that is the improvement of the lamentable condition of the Indians in Bolivia — in fact, the Indians of all South America. Now that the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America pro- poses to undertake the humanitarian and truly Christian work of giving the needed help to these Indians, I am glad to have this chance to make an earnest plea in their favor. The descendants of the Great Inca Empire had reached a very high degree of peaceful civilization when the Spaniards con- quered and took possession of their land. The Inca Empire, according to traditions, was founded by Manco-Capac, helped by his wife, Mama-Ocllo, and they based their rule and domain not by the use of force but by teaching the arts of peace and mutual help. At the time of Pizarro’s arrival, the Inca Empire extended in the north up to what is now the republic of Colombia, and towards the south to northern Chile and Argentina. Wonderful highways connected the various portions of the vast empire, and the people lived contented and happy under the fatherly rule of the Incas. But the Spaniards, taking advantage of the awe which they inspired with their firearms and the sight of ironclad soldiers mounted on strange looking animials — the Indians never having seen horses before — subdued them easily and reduced them to mere slaves to their will and power. Once masters of the country the Spaniards treated the con- quered Indians more like cattle than human beings. The history of the Indian race during the centuries that have passed since the conquest is an uninterrupted tale of woe, misery and degradation. The once noble and happy subjects of the Inca became pariahs in their own land, mere tools of the whims and desires of their masters. Under centuries of that kind of treatment they naturally lost their spirit ; no ambition for bettering their condition could remain in hearts that v/ere filled with despair. The once proud masters of the land were treated as slaves by the white invaders, and later the half breeds turned out to be the v/orst of task-masters. 3 Indians of Latin America Thus misery and indolence took the place of ambition. In spite of all that, however, they are the principal agriculturists and miners, in fact the main factor of manual labor and production, showing remarkable skill in their work. Whenever by chance they are given an opportunity to learn, they show the greatest desire to take advantage of it. There are many millions of these unfortunate Indians in the different countries of South and Central America and Mexico who are in dire need of help. They are nominally citizens of the several republics, but have little idea of what that means ; and as long as they are kept in their present state they will remain a great stumbling-block to the orderly and democratic development of the various American republics. The Indians need to be educated, especially in manual training and in the use of agricultural implements to replace the obsolete and primitive methods they now use. They could be taught car- pentering, blacksmithing and other useful and necessary industries that they could so well and profitably apply to their needs. One thing is very important and that is to give to the mission- ary work a distinctly non-sectarian character. This most useful and unselfish work will find a very determined opposition and create disturbances if it is not carried on from the educational standpoint and entirely for the benefit and improvement of the Indians. To save them, to bring them up to the realization of the immortal destiny of their souls, no doubt requires a high spirit of Christian devotion and self-sacrifice. Inspired ourselves by the eternal light of God, we should feel the duty of bringing that light to the most unfortunate of our fellow beings. This I feel is the noblest work to which a Christian missionary can devote his life’s efforts. That such is the spirit that animates the members of the Com- mittee on Cooperation in Latin America, I am convinced, and trusting in it, I make this plea, though it very poorly expresses the importance and the greatness of the v/ork I recommend. Ignacio Calderon. 4 CHAPTER I THE HIGHLAND INDIAN OE THE ANDEAN REPUBLICS Importance of the Problem One of the greatest problems before the republics of the Andes is the cjuestion of their Indian population. It is also one of the gravest. Scarcely any other matter elicits such a general interest among the leaders of government and education. The press of these countries is full of references to the gravity of the situation which faces them, “El problenia del indio” is a phrase that always brings thoughtful men to attention, whether in legislative halls, in educational conferences, in economic discussions, or in military plans. A recent number of the bulletin issued by the La Paz (Bolivia) Geographical Society was devoted entirely to the Indian. Two of the most popular books issued from the Bolivian press in recent years are “La Raza de Bronce” by Alcides Arguedos, and “La Educacion del Indio” by Alfredo Guillen Pinto. Numbers It is but right that there should be such an interest in the abor- iginal races of these republics, for they form the predominating element in the population. In Bolivia 50% of the inhabitants are classed as of pure Indian blood, while 27% are of mixed race with the Indian character predominating. (Census of 1900.) In Peru, out of a total population of 4,500,000, the Indians number about 2,500,000, or over 55%. In Ecuador there are practically no persons of pure Spanish blood and the pure Indians are esti- mated as about 1,600,000. In Colombia, according to the Ency- clopedia of Latin America, from 40 to 45 per cent, of the popu- lation (5,071,101) is of pure Indian blood. These four countries then show as an average about 52% of full-blooded Indians in their population and contain in the aggregate nearly 7,500,000 Indians. Character While part of this Indian population belongs to the uncivilized tribes of the Orinoco, Amazon and La Plata lowlands, the major- ity (probably some 55%) live on the plateau, from 6,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level. These tribes are by no means sav- 5 Indians of Latin America ages. They belong chiefly to the peoples who, before the advent of Europeans, had developed their own specialized culture, equal in many respects to the civilization of Europe and Asia at that time. Tribes Chief among them in numbers are those of Quechua speech. These are not all of the same ethnic division but came under the sway of the Inca empire and retain the lengua general of that empire as their present tongue. These cover almost the entire Peruvian highlands, the southern half of the Bolivian plateau and all of the uplands of Ecuador as far as Quito, and slightly beyond. Next in importance come the Aymaras, who occupy the region known as Collasuyo in Inca times, the territory about Lake Titicaca, and eastward on the higher slopes of the Cordillera Real of Northern Bolivia. Lastly there are the descendants of the Chibchas and other civilized tribes in Colombia. Though no exact statistics are available as to the exact numbers of these different tribes, they are probably about as follows: Quechuas . 3,000,CXX) Aymaras 500,000 Colombian civilized Indians .... 500,000 Total 4,000,000 Character and Heritage of the Indians There is no need to describe the admirable features that charac- terized the Inca Empire, which extended over almost all of the upland territory embraced in the three republics of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, nor the inferior but still advanced culture of the Chibchas in Colombia. Prescott, in his “Conquest of Peru,” Sir Clements Markham, in “The Incas of Peru,” and Thomas A. Joyce, in “South American Archaelogy,” considered these people worthy subjects for their masterly sketches. The Indians of those celebrated days were by no means exterminated by the Span- ish. They survive, probably in reduced numbers and certainly under great oppression, but still capable of the achievements that distinguished their ancestors. Among the humble peons on the Andean farms, and particularly among the still existing indepen- dent communities that occupy the more isolated sections of the plateau, there live many worthy sons of once distinguished fam- 6 The Highland Indians ilies. Though submerged beneath the surface of the present social and political life, though deprived of almost every opportunity for economic, intellectual or spiritual advancement, these rugged mountain people preserve many of the physical, mental and moral qualities -which in centuries past made them dominate the des- tinies of the entire continent. This is peculiarly true of the Aymara and the Quechua tribes, the most numerous as well as the most promising of these Indians. Overcome by the deceit and savagery of the Spaniard, the highland Indian has proved himself stronger than his conqueror. Of rugged physical con- stitution, quiet but masterful in his manner, moral above many of the Christian peoples of the world, this hardy mountaineer, lover of the solitude, has forced his masters to conform to his ways, has obliged the race of conquerors to learn his language in order to converse with him, and, though peaceably inclined when undisturbed, has taught the whites to recognize his customs, to respect his property, and to live in an ill-concealed fear of the day when the “Indiada” shall revolt.* No step that affects the Indian is taken in these countries, either by the individual owner of estates or by government itself, with- out first weighing its probable reception by the aborigines. Though unschooled, disfranchised and outcast, the Indian of the highlands is in a very real sense master in his own house. The Indian's Place in Industry At the present time the highland Indian furnishes the only sup- ply of labor, skilled and unskilled, in country and city alike. No field is tilled but by his hand, no harvest is reaped but with his sickle. He moulds every sun-dried brick, he dresses each stone that goes to build both hovel and palace. He mines the ore, builds roads and railroads, constructs all bridges, herds the flocks of sheep, llamas and alpacas. With his droves of llamas and donkeys he transports much of the merchandise, since only few miles of railroad exist and there are few navigable waters on the upland. He even collects the fuel, cooks the food, carries water and performs all other domestic service. With the advent of modern industries he is learning to make matches, to brew beer, to manufacture shoes. *(See David Forbes’ ‘‘The Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru,” London, 1870; E. A. Ross’ “South of Panama,’’ New York, 1915; and A. P. Boudelier's “The Islands of Titicaca and Coati,” New York 1910.) 7 Indians of Latin America Indian Communities These highland Indians are primarily agriculturist. The other work they do is merely incidental. In Bolivia 564,009 of the total population is classed as agricultural, while only 399,037 are engaged in “general industries” and but 12,625 in mining. In Peru, Ecuador and Colombia the proportion of agriculturalists is probably somewhat higher. While many Indians in these coun- tries are held as virtual serfs on the large estates, great numbers are entirely free, living in their independent communities ; some 67 per cent, of the aborigines of the Bolivian highlands and over 50 per cent, of those in Peru. They hold land in common, as in Inca and pre-Inca days, annually allotting a specified extent of tillable soil to each member. The flocks are herded on a common pasture. Even the government of these communities is left largely in the hands of the Indians. The authority of the government is exerted only in collecting taxes and curbing serious disorders when necessary. These free communities are most numerous in the isolated valleys and remote corners of the plateau, where whites seldom travel. Many of the inhabitants of these districts rarely see a white man and live the simple life of a mountain agricul- tural people, much as they did before the occupation of their land by Europeans. In such regions the influence of the Catholic Church is far less felt than in districts where whites have settled. Adaptation to Environment Another consideration of significance for the future of these highland republics is that the Indian is acclimated to these great altitudes. Where foreigner or native-born sons of Europeans succumb to the deadly soroche, or mountain sickness, the Indian, with his enormous lung capacity and vigorous heart action, seems thoroughly at home. It is doubtful if the mineral wealth of these mountains can ever be developed with any but Indian labor. Immi- gration can never be depended upon to greatly increase the popu- lation of the working class. The industrial future of the Andean republics lies with their aboriginal people. Need Yet these Indians are neither educated nor Christianized. For four centuries they have lived side by side with Europeans, yet the vast majority of them can neither read nor write, speak no 8 The Highland Indians language but their own, are familiar with only a few empty sym- bols of Christianity, and worship, as of old, the Spirits that, to their simple fancy, inhabit fields, rocks and mountain peaks. “The most needy and uncared for” is how Speer characterizes these Quechuas and Aymaras (South American Problems, p. 215), though he testifies that they are “more hopeful than our North American Indians.” Illiteracy No statistics are available as to the illiteracy among these high- land people. However, 85 per cent, of the population of Bolivia are completely without education and it is likely that not more than one out of every thousand of the Indians in that republic are literate. Conditions in Peru are little better, while in Ecuador and Colombia they are probably worse. It is doubtful if 4,000 persons in all, among these highland Indians, could be found who can read and write. Religion As to religion, they are still pagan at heart. Most of them are baptized with Christian names, are married by the Church, over a few the Christian burial rites are held. Churches stand in the towns and on many farms ; there are often chapels in their com- munities. But the average Indian sees a priest but once or twice a year, usually on occasion of the principal religious feast day. Otherwise the Indians’ Christianity consists mostly of the cele- bration of pagan festivals with Christian names, in pagan fashion, before or in the Christian house of worship, in which Christian saints and pagan spirits are perhaps equally prominent in the participants’ mind. At the little shrine (called Calvario) that stands on a high peak overlooking the city of La Paz (Bolivia), the Indians may often be seen with their cups of incense, kneeling with their backs to the Christian symbols of the crucifix and the Virgin’s picture, as they face the wide valley below and mutter phrases in neither Spanish nor Latin, but in their deep, guttural Aymara. In their celebration of religious observances, the Indian finds his deepest degradation. For months at a time he works, indus- triously in his tiny fields, assists his still more industrious wife about her household duties, plays with his red-cheeked, chubby children about his humble doorway, or tenderly cares for his 9 lNDiA::j OF Latin America domestic animals. Pie warms the new-born lamb in his bosom, adorns his pet llamas with fancy bits of colored wool or carries the load of a tired donkey on his own back. All this time he thriftily hoards his paltry earnings and lives a sober, quiet life among the members of his clan. Then comes the feast day. The best woven homespun — bright with variegated colors — clothes are brought out for all the family. The father dons his festive garb of feather head-dress, tiger skin and hideous mask, and takes his shrill reed pipe or native drum down from the low rafters that support his roof of thatch. On foot they set out at grey dawn, through the biting cold of the high plateau, the older children trot- ting beside their parents, the babies upon their mothers’ backs. For hours they trudge toward the nearest church. There are gathered friends and kin from all the neighborhood. There too are found the half-breed venders of chicha (a native fermented drink) and alcohol, while candles and incense may be bought and other necessities for the festival. Groups of acquaintances form about the booths where liquor is being sold and the Indians begin their Christian fiesta. To the music of pipe and drum they dance their ancient pagan dances, before, around and into the church enclosure. At times even before the altar they continue this bacchanal. Each brief interval of rest is marked by generous draughts of liquor, the Indian, before he touches the beverage to his lips, carefully spilling over a few drops as libation to mother earth, as have done his ancestors from time immemorial. For several days and nights a ceaseless round of alternating dance and drink is continued, until men and women alike, the latter some- times with their babes still slung upon their backs, fall in drunken stupor upon the ground. Occasional fights occur as enemies meet or differences arise among intoxicated friends. Early, if possible, during this celebration the priest arrives and goes through the form of Christian mass. Then he collects his fees of silver, grain, poultry or sheep, and off he rides to other celebrations at the neighboring centers. The supply of alcohol exhausted or the power to purchase it, the Indians slowly recover from their ca- rousal and wander sadly home again to live the life of the pagan peasant. Such is the Christianity that prevails among the aboriginal inhabitants of these highland republics. Their paganism is more frequently in evidence. Each crest 10 The Highland Indians along the mountain road is marked by heaps of stones, where every passerby should build a miniature house for some occult purpose of spirit worship. xA.t dangerous places, where overhang- ing rocks threaten the traveler, the Indians who pass make offer- ings of coca to the spirits who inhabit the hills. When an animal is killed for its meat they catch the blood and dash it upon the end of their low adobe houses, under the thatched gable, explain- ing their action to any inquisitive stranger by a shrug of the shoulders and the single word, “costumbre” (it is the custom). A survival, it would appear to be, of some ancient observance in spirit worship. When crossing a stream they call repeatedly the names of any children who may be in the company, for fear, as they say, that the spirits of these little ones may not dare to pass over and so some harm should befall them. These, the common things of an Indian’s life, attest the religion which holds most con- spicuous place in his heart. In spite of the veneer which four centuries of priestly instruction have given him, the Indian of the plateau is still a pagan. Efforts to Uplift the Indian This is the Indian problem that confronts the Andean repub- lics. Its solution is one of the prime matters that concern their governments. The question is being constantly discussed. Some plan for solving it is always under consideration. But none has yet been found, due in part to limited funds, but especially to that peculiar helplessness of Latin American people which results from lack of both initiative and perseverance. Government Efforts The history of efforts made in behalf of the Indian is quickly told. Guillen in his “La Education del Indio” (La Paz, 1919), recounts the little that has been done in Bolivia. It is typical of the other lands. In 1826 a dozen free scholarships for Indians were offered in one of the seminaries of the church. Result apparently nil. In 1905, after a lapse of three-quarters of a cen- tury, another attempt was made. This time “Profesores ambu- lantes” were appointed, educational circuit riders we would call them, to conduct classes in the districts where Indian population was densest, giving a few weeks at a time to each district. It was impossible to find competent teachers who would undergo the 11 Indians of Latin America inconveniences and hardships entailed. The plan was dropped. Six years later a normal school established in the capital to train teachers for such work found it impossible to secure candidates. It has now been moved to a rural district and efforts are being made to secure pure-blooded Indians who will take the training required for work among their own people. But so far little success has been met, for the Indian looks with suspicious eye upon the work of his white masters, fearing that it is only a scheme to add an additional burden to his already oppressed race. Better success has been met with in the army, where some attempt is being made to give elementary instruction to illiterates. But most of the Indians, not enjoying the privileges of citizenship, are not obliged to take the military service, so this effort is not far-reaching. Another effort made by the government was the offer of a pecuniary award to any one who would teach an Indian to read and write. For some years this offer has stood, the government holding itself ready to pay Bs. 20.00 ($8.00) per head for any Indian so taught. To this there has been little response. It has been considered beneath the dignity of a professor to stoop to this means of augmenting his income. About the only ones to take advantage of the offer have been some of the missionaries who found that this money would help support classes that they had opened for Indians in connection with their church work. Evangelical Missions Before censuring the governments of these countries and the Catholic Church too severely for this negiect of the Indian we should remember that neither have our Protestant missions done much to alleviate his condition. In Ecuador sporadic efforts have given so far extremely meager results. In Colombia no special work has been undertaken for the Indian, and the churches and schools for whites usually fail to reach him. In Peru, British missions have made a beginning, as have also the Adventists. In Cuzco, the nurses of the South American Evangelical Union serve Indians as well as whites, and the magnificent Urco farm acquired some years ago is beginning to have an influence upon the peons that belong on it. though so far its influence has been chiefly with the neighboring whites. The most outstanding mission, distinctly for the Peruvian Indian, is that of the Adventists near Puno on 12 . The Highland Indians Lake Titicaca. Here nursing was the foundation upon which the work was built, but this was accompanied by strong evan- gelistic efforts, and by educational work. It has been very suc- cessful, due in part to the close sympathy shown by the American missionaries for the Indians and in part to their having found in the person of a pure Aymara Indian a real apostle to his people. In Bolivia some efforts are being made to evangelize and edu- cate the Indian. On the shores of Lake Titicaca the independent Peniel Hall Society, recently taken over by the Canadian Bap- tists, has bought a farm with its some 275 Indian serfs. A school- house was built with funds raised locally. Classes for boys have been held, but great difficulty has been experienced in the matter of handling the Indians and meeting the opposition of certain white neighbors who prefer to keep the Indian ignorant so that they can exploit him. It is greatly to be desired that this attempt to educate and evangelize the Indian should succeed. Funds for its establishment were left by Mr. Chiriotto. an Italian American who bequeathed his small fortune to the society. Among the Quechuas of southern Bolivia, in the Department of Potosi, work has been carried on for some ten years by the Bolivian Indian Mission, a group of missionaries, mostly from New Zealand. They have several small stations with evangelistic, educational and medical features. Though their funds are very limited, they have made a promising beginning, in a very needy field. In addition to these undertakings there are classes for Indians and religious services for Indians conducted in connec- tion with several of the churches in La Paz and Oruro. Other- wise nothing has been done by Protestant missions in any of these Andean republics. The Indians Desire Education Yet the Indian is often eager for instruction, can he but feel that there is not an ulterior motive in the plans proposed for his uplift. The few schools that have been opened by government and missionary agencies find a satisfactory response on the part of the Indian. Many of them realize that a new situation con- fronts their race as the economic development of the plateau advances. They see that the coming of railroads, the opening of mines and the development of commerce have wrought changes within the last few decades that far exceed the accumulated influ- 13 Indians of Latin America ence of preceding centuries. They realize that the aboriginal race must be prepared to meet a new condition. Not infrequently a request is sent to the government for the opening of a school in some free Indian community. One such petition was accompa- nied by an offer to meet all expenses, to build and equip a school- house, and to pay the salary of the teacher. Moreover parents are seeking to secure for their children the advantages of the city schools. One old Indian, animated by such a desire, appeared at the La Paz American Institute, in his homespun clothes, with hide sandals on his feet, and a variegated poncho over his shoulders. He came into the school grounds, carrying his boy’s trunk on his back. On being presented to the principal he dropped to his knees and kissed the extended hand, begging to have his son received as a pupil. The boy was enrolled and within two years, though competing with white Bolivians and foreigners of several nationalities, he had outclassed many of his fellows and received the highest awards in English. Each quarter the father kept his promise to come and pay the tuition, usually bringing as a gift for the head of the school a quantity of eggs carefully packed in a home-made basket. While such examples are rare, they mark the awakening of the Indians to the need of an education. Governments Welcome Help In spite of the great neglect and apparent indifference of the respective governments toward the uplift of the Indian, any effort made to assist in the task will meet with the approval and support of many of the most influential men of the countries. These leaders realize that, at present, the illiterate aborigine, with his primitive ideas and his antiquated ways of life, is a perpetual drag to the progress of the republics. Eorming such a prepon- derant portion of the population and providing the only available labor supply for agricultural and industrial development, the Indian, they see, must be prepared for the part he will inevitably play in the nation’s advance. He must be made an integral part of the republic. This cannot be done without a certain degree of education. Realizing this, leaders of political affairs are keen to take advantage of any assistance which they can secure from out- side agencies. In Peru both the American Adventists and the British m.ission at Cuzco have met cordial support. When fanati- cal opponents began a persecution of the former and their Indian 14 The Highland Indians converts near Puno, the matter was quickl}' taken up at Lima and this incident furnished the occasion at least for the enactment of a law providing complete religious toleration in Peru, which up to that time had stood out stubbornly against this liberal measure. In Bolivia every effort to help the Indian has received the cordial encouragement of the authorities. Both at the Peniel Hall farm and at the stations maintained by the Bolivian Indian Mission, government help has been received. Wdien the former was estab- lished the Bolivian iMinister in Washington wrote his congratula- tion, sent a liberal contribution to help the work and urged his friends to do the same. The second Vice-President of Bolivia, in speaking to a missionary who was returning to the United States, urged him “Tell your people in North America that we shall be glad to have them come to our country. Tell them to come in colonies and settle here. Have them bring their Protes- tant pastors with them that our Indians may learn from them what the true gospel really is, for that our priests have never taught them.” 15 CHAPTER II THE LOWLAND INDIANS OF SOUTH AMERICA Distribution These people, in contrast with the highland peoples, are largely uncivilized. Due in great part to their unfavorable geographical environment, they have never developed in the social scale but remain, as they have been for ages past, in a state of greater or less savagery. They are divided into multitudinous small tribes, sometimes loosely federated, but generally at more or less open warfare, one with the other, and each speaking a distinct language or dialect. The Araucanians of south central Chile are far above other lowland tribes, possessing a fairly high degree of civilization, with agriculture and stock-raising well advanced and an organized patriarchal government. The lowland Indians inhabit the great forests and grass lands of the central plains about the headwaters of the Orinoco, the Amazon and the La Plata rivers, the coastal regions of the Carib- bean, the extreme southern end of the continent, and the humid regions along the Pacific in Ecuador and Colombia. Any calculation of the numbers of lowland Indians in South America can be only rough estimates. No census of the republics concerned attempts to state their Indian population of the forests in more than general terms. The following is an estimate based upon the most reliable data available : Brazil 1,300,000 Peru 1,000,000 Ecuador 700,000 Bolivia 400,000 Venezuela 300,000 Chile 102,000 Colombia 100,000 Paraguay 50,000 Argentina 30,000 The Guianas 40,000 Total 4,022,000 (In Uruguay alone of the South American countries has the pure-blooded Indian population entirely disappeared.) 16 The Lowland Indians Needs As to their needs, it will suffice to state that very little has been done for them in any way, either by missionary agencies or by the governments in whose jurisdiction they live. In general they have been entirely neglected and left in their primitive state, to become the prey of a slowly advancing wave of civilization, in which Christianity has played no part. They have thus been entirely at the mercy of traders, industrialists and slave raiders. Brazil, in her early history, depended very largely upon the raids made by the Paulistas, or slave hunters from Sao Paulo, for her supply of labor. Though slavery is forbidden by all the nations of America, the application of this protection is often not extended to the savage Indians who live far removed from the shelter of the law. Their condition in many places has been aggravated by the overlapping of territorial claims, and the consequent impossi- bility of policing such disputed areas. The situation revealed in Hardenburg’s “The Putumayo, the Devil’s Paradise’’ (London, 1912), the “Red Book of the Putumayo,’’ and Sir Roger Case- ment’s official report (Foreign Office Reports, Misc. No. 8, 1912) is probably paralleled in most of the rubber districts of interior South America. In Chile the valiant Araucanians that could never be conquered by Inca or Spanish arms have finally yielded to the gradual influence of the white man’s firewater and his per- sistent “peaceful penetration” of their territory. The Argentine Indians very largely ceased to be a factor in the national develop- ment after General Roca’s ruthless campaign of 1879 on the southern pampas. Failure of Evangelization Most attempts to Christianize these savage Indians have met with failure. Though the Catholic priests penetrated many of the remote regions during colonial times their work has not survived. The great mission organizations built up in Paraguay by the Jesuits fell into ruins when these padres were expelled from Spanish possessions in 1767. In eastern Peru about all that is left of the extensive work carried on in the vast interior bishopric of Maynas is the history of the attempt made. In southern Ven- ezuela and eastern Colombia ruins alone remain to mark the efforts directed toward the Christianization of the aborigines by Catholic missionaries. Protestant efforts have been even less 17 Indians of Latin America successful. Allen Gardiner’s devoted attempt to reach the Fue- gians is typical of other such undertakings. The scattered settle- ments in vast, sparsely populated forests, an inhospitable climate, the difficulties presented by a tropical jungle, and the hostility of the natives themselves toward all whites, have combined to destroy work attempted, and to deter even the most daring from under- taking a task which seemed both hazardous and futile. Conse- quently the uncivilized Indians of the lowlands have been almost entirely neglected as yet by Evangelical missionary agencies. Though most of the cities of Latin America contain Protestant schools and churches, the vast interior areas, with their many tribes of savage or semi-savage aborigines, still are almost untouched. Prof. Farabee, anthropologist and explorer, is quoted as saying that over an area equal to two-thirds of the LTnited States the Indians live in almost complete paganism. Outstanding exceptions to this neglect are the missions main- tained by the South American Missionary Society (British) among the Araucanians of south-central Chile, the Fuegians, and the Indians of the Gran Chaco, between Paraguay and Bolivia. To these may be added the work done by Anglican agencies in British Guiana. In these centers progress is being made, but what can a few such stations do for the millions of Indians scat- tered over so vast a territory? As far as the Indian is concerned. South America remains what it has always been, from a mission- ary viewpoint, the Neglected Continent, The gradual approach of the two Americas has produced little change there. It has but brought the problem nearer to our doors. Permanence Needed These repeated failures give conclusive evidence of the diffi- culty of undertaking the evangelization of the lowland Indians. They present one of the most difficult missionary problems exist- ing. Only a well organized, persistently maintained effort, can accomplish the task. It will require the power and the perma- nence which only the strongly established missionary boards can employ. Sporadic, independent, or poorly equipped and feebly maintained efforts will but fail as have failed many other attempts in the last four centuries. The work must be maintained, though the workers fall. Neither tropical disease, nor enervating cli- mate, nor opposition by exploiters of the Indians, nor the difficul- 18 The Lowland Indians ties presented by the character of the country and of the people, must be allowed to interfere. It will be a persevering fight, extended over many years, in which all the forces of nature and of evil men will be arrayed against the undertaking. Strong men, backed by strong, permanent organization, will be required to triumph. Unless such can be provided, the field must be left to its fate at the hands of industrial and commercial interests, who usually exploit or exterminate but do not uplift. Encouragements Offered In any attempt that will result in the civilization of the Indians cordial support may be expected from most of the governments concerned. They are already interested, far more than the Prot- estant Church, if the truth be said, in the uplift of the aboriginal element in their population. In Brazil wonderful work has been accomplished by Colonel Rondon, with whom Roosevelt traveled in the unknown interior. This officer is a true friend of the wild Indians and has become a great apostle of civilization among them. But the Gospel does not form a part of his message. His cooper- ation, however, and that of his government may be depended upon in any effort to bring the Indian into the pale of civilization. In Chile, Bolivia and Peru there exist societies or groups who are interested in all that will tend to uplift the aborigine and their support will be extended, generally in a cordial wav. They are already groping toward a solution of this great problem. THE INDIANS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Origin What has been said of the history, character, condition and need of the aborigines of South America applies in general to the Indians that inhabit Mexico and Central America. Of the same race, they developed much as did their related tribes of the south, originating, where geographical conditions favored it, their auto- urthonous culture, and vegetating in the malarial lowlands. Con- sequently they differed largely according to the altitude of the country which they inhabited. Subjected to the same ruthless conquest by the Spanish adventurers, they fared a similar fate, the civilized upland peoples being reduced to practical serfdom wherever the Spaniard became established, the lowlanders remaiii- 19 Indians of Latin America ing largely as in pre-Colombian days, in a varying degree of savagery. Importance of the Problem The missionary problem in Mexico can not be understood, much less an attempt to solve it undertaken, without taking into account the Indian element in the population. The same may be said of Guatemala and in a lesser degree of the other Central American republics, with the notable exception of Costa Rica, where the pure-blooded Indian survives only in very reduced num- bers. In Mexico some 35 per cent, of the entire population is of full-blood Indians. Tlaxcala, one of the most densely populated states, is almost entirely Indian. In Oaxaca 90 per cent, at least of the people have no Spanish blood. Other states, particularly in the south, have almost as large Indian percentages. Though, throughout Mexico the cities are predominantly Spanish in char- acter, one has only to leave the beaten paths of trade and travel to find the Indian everywhere. Especially in the south part of the republic they form the great mass of the rural population. They do not form a homogeneous ethnic or linguistic element. Due in great part to the mountainous character of the topography, they live, and have always lived, in widely separated communities. Occupying isolated valleys and mountain crests, each tribe knows little of the world beyond its own narrow confines. In Mexico there are said to be over one hundred different languages spoken. The one state of Oaxaca contains fifteen linguistic divisions: that of Chiapa thirteen. Economic Conditions In Guatemala about 60 per cent, of the total population is of pure Indian blood, descendants largely of the highly organized pre-Colombian empire of the Quiche (Statesman’s Year Book 1919). These Indians, originally occupying independent com- munities and holding their lands in common, have gradually been brought under the domination of a very degrading bondage, that of the contract labor system or peonage, whereby, either because of their attachment to the soil which their families have held for centuries, or because of debts in which the wealthy land owners Frederick Starr, “Mexico and United States,’’ Chcago, 1914; H. R. Mill, “International Geography.’’ London, 1900; Matias Romero, “Geographical and Statisitcai Notes on Mexico” in “Coffee and India Rubber Culture in Mexico,’’ N. Y., 1898; E, D. Trowbridge, “Mexico Today and Tomorrow,’’ N. Y., 1919, 20 The Lowland Indians have been able to entangle them, they are held practically as serfs, with no political or economic freedom. Their condition has been growing worse rather than improving, particularly since the devel- opment of the country in recent years has increased the demands for labor and offered premiums to the landlord who had many peons at his disposal. (See Dana G. Munro, “The Five Republics of Central America,’’ N. Y., 1918.) As in South America, exact enumeration of the Indians is entirely lacking, the following figures being only approximately correct but based upon the most accurate statistics available : Mexico 5,224,500 Guatemala 1,202,150 Salvador 234,650 Nicaragua 180,000 Panama 91 ,000 Honduras 60,000 British Honduras 20,0(X) Costa Rica 3,500 Total 7,015,800 Character The highland Indians of Mexico and Central America are sedentary agriculturalists with well established social customs, peaceable, industrious, submissive. Though unable to read or write, they are equal in intelligence to the average white or mes- tizo and usually far superior in moral character, except where contaminated by exotic vices. They form the base of the popu- lation of the countries where they live, particularly southern Mex- ico and Guatemala, performing most of the manual labor and providing almost the only labor supply in both city and rural districts. In the country they often live as serfs, being bought and sold with the farms, attached to the soil so strongly that it matters little to them who owns the estate or who rules the repub- lic, so long as they are left to till their parcels of ground unmo- lested. In some districts they have not yet passed under the con- trol of landlords but live in free communities, holding their lands in common and almost entirely independent of the race that has conquered their country. In the cities they work either for a 21 Indians of Latin America of chattels in the rights and privileges that they enjoy. Few of these highland Indians possess even the most rudimentary edu- cation and, though nominally Catholic and often even fanatical in their adherence to the Church, they are Christian only on the surface, their whole daily life being influenced far more by the pagan beliefs and superstitions that they have preserved unchanged from time immemorial. Yet these highland Indians are Mexico’s hope. Upon them depends, in very large measure, the future of the nation. Lowland Indians The lowland Indians are generally savages. Their native cul- ture is of the crudest and is still almost entirely unaffected by con- tact with civilization. Swallowed up in their great tropical for- ests, they are as pagan and uncivilized as the inhabitants of Cen- tral Africa, the aborigines of Australia, or the wild tribes of New Guinea. Degree of Evangelization 1 hough during the Spanish colonial period many Catholic mis- sions were established among the Indians of Mexico and Central America, a very great degree of paganism survives. The high- land Indians are nearly all nominally Catholics, but, as in other parts of Latin America, there is but a thin varnish of Christianity over an underlying character of distinctly pagan nature. In the lowlands even this is often lacking. The missions established there have long been in ruins, the fields and roads overgrown, their buildings nothing but mouldering walls. Evangelical agencies have accomplished little more. Though there are Protestant missions in almost all the large cities, the work undertaken has been limited almost entirely to the Spanish- speaking elements. wage or. more generally, under the orders of the finca owner to whose estate they belong. They have no voice in the government and no social recognition, being generally little above the status 22 CHAPTER III A SUGGESTED PROGRAM FOR SERVING THE INDIANS OF LATIN AMERICA Highland Indians of South America In view of the great need ; in view of the splendid promise ; in view of the urgent desire of many Indians for an education ; in view of the often expressed encouragement from the government authorities of these countries, a widely extended work should be undertaken among these submerged races of the highlands. Any program of operations for instruction and evangelization should be adapted to the peculiar needs of the Indian. He mmst be helped, largely right at home. Hence many stations will be required. The program should include particularly the following features ; evangelization, primary' education, agricultural instruc- tion, industrial training, and medical work, especially nursing. It should provide for a few well-equipped central stations, located in the centers of densest aboriginal population, vcith a number of branch stations that will reach the Indians who live in scattered communities. The central stations should have boarding depart- ments for both boys and girls, developed on a self-help basis. Beginning from the south, the following program is suggested. Beginnings in a small way have already been made in establish- ing stations by a few missionaries at some of the points men- tioned : Bolivia. A strong central station in the southern part of the country for the Quechua-speaking Indians there. Probably the best location for climate, possibilities of agriculture, accessible population, etc., would be in the province of Charcas, Department of Potosi, where the independent Bolivian Indian Mission ( Brit- ish) has already opened several stations. If another district is preferred the neighborhood of Tupiza would probably be found suitable. Another such institution should be located in northern Bolivia, in the Aymara region about Lake Titicaca. Here is the densest Indian population in Bolivia, the province of Omasuyos showing about 100 persons per square mile, almost entirely rural. (An ideal location for this mission would be the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca. It is centrally located, near the point where steamer route and land road cross at the strait of Tiquina. 23 Indians of Latin America It has been from time immemorial a sacred spot among all the Indians of the Titicaca basin. It contains some 800 Indian inhabi- tants who would form the nucleus of the work. It is a strategic and charming spot, one of the most desirable for its situation and character of any point in the whole continent. It consists of two large farms with apparently clear titles and should cost somewhere about $200,000. If not possible to buy the entire island, a site could probably be purchased there. Both owners belong to dis- tinguished liberal families, who would be in sympathy with the work of uplifting the Indian.) Fern. One would naturally think first of the Cuzco valley as the point where a central station should be established. Here already flourishes the mission maintained by the Evangelical Union of South America, but there is a large population of pure Indians in that and the neighboring valleys. Another important center of pure Indian settlement is the province of Huaraz, where the densest population in the republic is found. Ecuador. In Ecuador a central station should be opened at Ambato, Rio Bamba, or some neighboring point, or at Cuenca, in all of which places there is a large Indian population to draw from. The last-named place, though not yet connected by rail with the coast, has an important commerce. It has some 30,000 inhabitants, mo.stly of Indian blood. Ambato is the seat of an annual fair to which Indians and others come from all the sur- rounding districts. During those gatherings its population is probably doubled. This circumstance would afford an excellent opportunity to make known the work of the institution located there and to disseminate the Gospel. Colombia. The need for separate Indian institutions is less in the Colombian highlands than in the other republics, for its abor- iginal population have learned Spanish to a greater extent and mix with the other elements of the country more than elsewhere. The department of Boyaca offers the best location for a central Indian mission. Here the population is dense and composed chiefly of full-blooded Indians. There are no large cities but many small Indian towns. Only 3 per cent, of the population is said to attend school. (P. J. Eder, “Colombia,” London, 1913.) Probably the neighborhood of Tunia or Chiquinquira would be most suitable. Besides these strong central stations there should be established 24 A Suggested Program in each of these four republics from four to ten branch stations, manned with one American couple and one or two native helpers. These small stations are necessary because the centers of Indian population are greatly scattered, and means of communication are badly lacking. A small equipment only would be necessary. A few acres of ground, a residence and a schoolhouse, which could be used also as chapel, would constitute most of the outfit required. Each should be provided with a dispensary, and should give simple practical instruction in agriculture and perhaps something in the way of industrial training. In all probability many of these secondary stations would soon develop sufficiently to have added to them a boarding department and the other features characteri^- ing the central stations. Resume Central Stations : Bolivia, 2 ; Peru, 2 ; Ecuador, 1 ; Colombia, 1. Branch Stations: Bolivia, 10; Peru, 10; Ecuador, 6; Colom- bia, 4. This program would require, in addition to the present workers, a force about as follows: Central Stations, each of the six proposed : 3 missionary fam- ilies, 4 native workers. Branch Stations, each of the thirty proposed : 1 missionary family, 1 native worker. Utilize the Fairs In addition to the above programme, there is one feature that might be added with very great advantage, if properly developed. In every one of these Andean republics, with their great variety of climatic and soil conditions, and the consequent diversity in production, there exists a system of markets and fairs which dates from time immemorial. The markets are weekly or bi-weekly affairs, the fairs generally annual. On these occasions people, particularly the Indians, gather from far and near, bringing their produce to sell or coming to buy the products of regions different from their own. At these gatherings one can find inhabitants of widely separated districts, many of whom leave their native regions only on such occasions. Bible colporteurs have already taken advantage of these fairs to disseminate the Word, but, as 25 Indians of Latin America most of the participants are illiterate, the written page offers little attraction for them. But if a system of evangelistic meetings and conferences could be organized, intended particularly to take advantage of these gatherings, it should be possible to reach many thousands who otherwise would never hear the Gospel. Lowland Indians of South America The most that can be accomplished toward the evangelization of these Indians within the next five years will be the occupation of strategic points, within reach of the greatest numbers of Indian settlements. This can be done best by following the methods employed by traders and rubber men in using the only means of transportation, the river routes. To this end it is suggested that mission centers be established at the following points, equipped with hospital, medical supplies, motor boats, interpreters, etc. As there is a considerable white population in most of the sug- gested centers, it would be well to provide hospital, medical, evangelistic and probably educational equipment, on a small scale at least, for these whites. The force of workers for each such center should be about as follows : 1 Missionary evangelist for Spanish-speaking population ; 1 Woman nurse for same population ; 1 Doctor, at head of hospital ; 2 Men nurses, or doctor’s assistants ; 1 Teacher (to superintend also industrial and agricultural work) ; 3 Native helpers. The suggested centers are : a. Upper Orinoco, probably at San Fernando de Atabapo ; b. Upper Amazon, probably at Iquitos ; c. Lower Amazon, probably at Manaos ; d. Tierra del Fuego, probably at Ushuaia (or Punta Arenas) ; e. Araucania, probably on the Argentine side of the Andes. or at Yillarica, near the border. (This last mission would be a land station, equipped with church, hospital, industrial school and farm, similar to the exist- 26 A Suggested Program ing institution at Temuco of the South American Missionary Society.) Mexico and Central America In Mexico the Indian population as a distinct element has received exceedingly small consideration. Practically no insti- tutions have been established for them, though, as we have seen, they require a separate form of work and a distinct approach. They form a large proportion of the population. In Central America the same situation exists with the exception of work among the Mosquito tribes in Nicaragua and some limited attempts recently made to reach certain Indian tribes in Guatemala. Work undertaken among the Indians of these countries should be directed both toward the evangelization and the uplift of the people. It should carry the Gospel to them and at the same time extend to them every help possible toward ameliorating their physical, intellectual and moral condition. In all probability it will not be many years before these Indians will be brought into far fuller contact with modern civilization. Some of them have already been reached by traders, mining men, and others who are developing the resources of tropical lands. The Indians must be prepared to meet these new conditions. To convert them to Christianity and leave them defenseless and unprepared for the inevitable contact with modern life would be little less than crim- inal. Hence it is not enough to send itinerant evangelists among them. Permanent stations must be established wherever the pop- ulation is sufficiently fixed or can be made so. Medical aid must be carried to them, for they generally suffer greatly from pre- ventable diseases, and their death rate, especially among children, is very high. Elementary education must also accompany all efforts toward evangelization. Industrial training, particularly agricultural, should be given. For both the sedentary agricul- tural tribes who inhabit the uplands and the savage tribes of the lowlands such uplift agencies are necessary. Due to the mountainous character of the country and the con- sequent distribution of the people into widely separated settle- ments, with a great variety of languages, it will be more desirable to establish a number of small centers rather than fewer large ones. The lack of sufficient means of communication makes this the more necessary. After the work has been well begun, prob- 27 Indians of Latin America ably within ten years, it may be found desirable to open a few major stations that shall carry on the training given in the small centers proposed. As in each station there should be provision made for evangelization, elementary education, medical and dis- pensary work and industrial training, including agriculture, it would require a force composed largely of laymen. A staff of two missionary families (evangelist, physician and educator), with two native helpers, should be placed in each station. The follow- ing centers of densest Indian population are suggested as the most suitable regions for the location of these stations : In Mexico: 20 stations as follows: Two in Oaxaca, and one each in Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacan, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Mex- ico, Queretaro, Morelos, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Puebla, Yucatan, Sonora. Sinaloa. Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi Durango. In Guatemala, with its large percentage of Indian population, two stations, similar in character to those suggested for the civi- lized Indians of Mexico, should be opened, one in the north, one in the west. Salvador should have one, probably at Cojutepeque. Nicaragua should have one, probably at Matagalpa. Honduras should have one, probably at Santa Roe de Copan. The uncivilized Indians of Central America and Mexico prob- ably do not number over 3{X),000. But they are widely distrib- uted, live in scattered settlements and are hard to reach. They are found chiefly along the forested coastal belts, but there are also a number of tribes in northern Mexico and in the Sierra Madre mountains in the north central part of this republic. (See Carl Lumholtz, “Unknown Mexico,” N. Y., 1902.) The follow- ing four stations are proposed as a beginning of work among these uncivilized Indians : Nicaragua, 1, probably on the upper Bluefields River; Panama, 1, probably on the Gulf of San Bias; Mexico, 1, probably in the State of Campeche; and Honduras, 1, probably in the province of Mosquita. 28 CHAPTER IV. MISSIONARY POLICY FOR INDIAN WORK. The following paper by Rev. R. J. Hunt, a missionary of the South American Missionary Society, which has the largest' and most success- ful work among South American Indians, describes the methods which this society uses. It may seem gratuitous, perhaps, to remark that the two first essentials of successful missionary enterprise are residence among the people and the acquisition of their language. The missionary must identify himself with the people, adapting himself and his message to the existing circumstances and general mode of life of the people. During six months of the year many of the Indians may be found in civilized surroundings at work in the cane-fields or in the forests. The missionary can live in comfortable quarters and visit these workers and, as many of them know Spanish, he can talk with them freely in their rough shanties when the day’s work is done. But to the Indian mind this savours of patronage and the missionary remains an outsider, albeit a friendly one: he never becomes truly identified with the tribe. Permanent centres of work must be established in places where the natives can feel at home and where they are free to invite or receive visits from their friends. Here can be established the schools and work- shops, church and dispensary, and all the other accessories of full station life — the home of the missionary, from which he can sally forth on visitations to other districts, the home of his converts (actual or prospective) to which they can return from their labors or travels. Once the Indians begin to feel that the missionaries and the Mission Station with all that it contains belong to them real work is commenced. The fundamental desire for possession blends with other impulses and leads them to adopt ways of life and modes of thought hitherto unknown. They are prepared to believe the mis- sionary’s message or to adopt his ideas because he is owned by them, or he owns them — he has constituted himself a member of 29 Indians of Latin America the tribe, and is in consequence, trusted and obeyed. At first the missionary is adopted by a few families who naturally are inclined to guard their property with rather jealous care and to resent others sharing in their possession until the more comprehensive idea of the tribe and nation is inculcated. 1 . For reaching the primitive folk of the Chaco the establishing of a cattle-farm is an essential adjunct to the station. A farm gives work to a few men and women and pays its own way, and forms a splendid training ground for the young of both sexes. The working of a farm brings into play practically all the indus- tries that can be profitably taught to a rural population, and al- though no great number receives regular employment, there are ample opportunities for all to gain knowledge and practice of useful occupations, thus fitting them to obtain a livelihood among the squatters. Men who can work cattle, drive carts, plough, fence, square timber, build houses, work in wood, iron or leather, and the like can easily find employment at good pay. In the same way girls trained to milk and cook, wash and mend clothes, and other simple crafts, are eagerly sought after by the better class settlers. The farm is ideal because all the members of the community can be lifted up together; to develop one section or one sex and not the other retards the general progress. A purely evangelistic mission only scratches the surface, the inculcation of industry and the definite training of the people to various trades may not give quick results, but it ploughs deep and eventually produces abundance of fruit. A Mission supplied with men capable of teaching trades, business ways and simple agricul- ture as well as spiritual truths stands every chance of ultimate success. If godly settlers could be secured who would employ and train the natives under their care the work of the mission could be enhanced proportionately. Among the Matacos we are doing what we can to train industrially the young people of both sexes, but we are not in a position to employ many work-people, and having but a small establishment are limited in our resources and variety of occupations. 30 A Missionary Policy 2 . Elementary education is essential, the simple subjects of writing, reading, counting, and singing being taught in the language of the people and in Spanish. The children pass naturally from the school to the workshop, where they can put into practice what they have learnt. In poor districts it is often necessary to give out small rations of food and clothing to the children. Adults going away for work may be induced to leave their children behind for educa- tion if a certain amount of food and clothing is provided. The singing of the scholars is an important factor in conducting the recitative and sung parts of the religious services. The chief difficulty in school work consists in the irregular attendance of the scholars due to the circumstances of their parents who are fre- quently compelled to move from one place to another to obtain employment. Some of the more superstitious and backward fami- lies, if they do not actually prevent their children coming to school, give little encouragement to them to come and frequently take them off for a day or two here and there on some paltry excuse. The medical man gains prestige by going steadily ahead, not worrying about the witch-doctor or the magical beliefs of the people. He must use tact and common-sense until he has com- pletely won the confidence of the people in general, who will then flock to him for all sicknesses great and small. At first the mis- sionary’s doctor’s ministrations will be assisted by the charming of the native practitioner — the former relieve the bodily symptoms, the latter soothes the spiritual ailments. The witch-doctor himself, being an intelligent man, will be one of the first to seek medical aid in time of personal need. The Indians of the Argentine Chaco have had some severe epidemics of small pox, influenza, measles, etc. and are to a great extent prepared to receive medical help because they know that their own official curers are at a loss in epidemics and in cases requiring surgical skill : and, further, they are constantly seeing the white settlers seeking the aid of, and putting the most profound trust in, the trained medical man. 3 . The land, originally occupied by the Matacos and other Indians of the Argentine Chaco has for the most part, been sold to private 31 Indians of Latin America owners and occupied by them or their agents, so that today the Indians are very much like sheep without a shepherd scattered and harassed without any certain dwelling-place. Stocking of the camps and the opening out of roads have resulted in the gradual disappearance of wild animals so that hunting is now a very precarious way of getting a living. Fishing in the rivers and gathering of wild fruits from the forests are the only means left for securing natural food supplies. Being, therefore to all intents and purposes without a permanent home and without natural pro- vision for food and clothing, the people welcomed the little Mission Station of the S. A. M. S. on the Bermejo. The land was divided up into lots ( 100 x 200 metres) and each family presented with a plot which was large enough for a house and garden, and, above all, a home secure against intrusion pro- vided that the three simple rules of the Mission were kept, viz. : (1) respect fo rhis neighbor’s property; (2) absence of drunken feasts; (3) sale of their daughters to squatters for immoral pur- poses. The plan has met with good success and visitors from all parts call and stay for a time and many requests are preferred for land tenure on the estate. Here are brought together families from different parts, but apart from trivial jealousies and petty annoyances, no serious troubles occur ; and the people go and come freely according to the demands of their work or the impulses of their pleasures. The missionaries are recognized as their chiefs and their commands respected. The general attitude of the white settlers is not one of kind con- sideration to the subdued aborigines, but rather that of harshness and disdain, arising partly out of fear, and partly out of aversion. The Indians respect only those who treat them fairly and while they may shrink from those who abuse and unjustly treat them, and even in their extreme poverty cringe before the wealthy, they cherish, nevertheless, feelings of animosity against the stranger dwelling in their land. In spite of these things not only business relations are maintained between the two but even concubinage exists, the children resulting from the union being frequently registered as citizens. It is only natural that many of these child- ren renounce their mother’s people and scorn to be called a Mataco. If the race is to be saved eventually from a social point of view. 32 A Missionary Policy intermarriage with the settlers (many of whom have Indian blood) seems inevitable. The Indian women appreciate the attentions of the squatters, and not unfrequently solicit sexual intercourse, which has a corresponding ill effect on the native family life. To raise the standard of marriage among themselves is no easy task, owing more particularly to the low level of morality maintained by the foreign settlers. Desire for food and clothes and freedom from irksome duties, added to strong sexual desire, are probably the governing motives which lead the young girl and attractive wife astray. Consequently if congenial surroundings could be secured, accompanied by regular and well-paid employment of the men- folk, with perhaps a few animals and some property acquired, the women would be content to remain at home and the men would cease to be jealous of their wives. If conjugal fidelity could be maintained, drink banished, regular employment assured, a suitable home and garden owned, and their lives ruled by the principles of Christianity, the Indians of the Chaco might yet become a happy and useful people and a power to the state. How can the missionary create a spiritual incentive? How can he lift the minds of the savage, downtrodden by the invader, abused and exploited, insecure in his dwelling, molested in his old occupations and beliefs, suffering and struggling in the unequal race for food and clothing — how can he raise him to think of spiritual things? Chiefly by the force and example of a Christlike life. The missionary must imitate his Master. The Christ wor- shipped by the Indians can only be the Christ which the servant has portrayed by his own daily life. By a thousand little kind- nesses, by help in sickness and trouble, by constant sympathy in all that concerns the daily needs and experiences, by giving proof of his friendship and disinterestedness, by the tender love of a consecrated life, the missionary becomes the trusted friend and beloved leader. When this relation is fully established the natives will do things for their friend because he wants them done. They will be pre- pared to protect him, to suffer for him, to supply him with material necessities, grieve for his absence and cheerfully seek his company. 33 Indians of Latin America He can then begin to teach them the great truths of the Bible and unfold to their sympathetic vision the love of the Eternal Father Very little is gained and often loss is sustained by tirades against native beliefs and wholesale condemnation of old customs. Primi- tive folk do not like to change their ways. In many primitive languages there exists an habitual tense form to the verbs, which is abundant proof of their veneration for the ancient, the conven- tional, that which has always been. The appeal to the Bible as the ancient records of God’s dealings with our ancestors and of His law communicated to them is of supreme importance. Age is respected, and the advice of the old man receives marked attention. The Gospel is old but a remarkably vigorous flower and if its seeds are widely scattered it will grow in such profusion that the weeds of superstition and the evils of degenerate customs will eventually succumb, but the way to this desired end is one of patience and love. Regular services with forms of prayer, praise and confession, the atmosphere of a reverently conducted worship, the style of building, the tones of the preacher, can all be used as helps to the creation of a spiritual incentive. It must perforce be gradual, line upon line, here a little and there a little, but just as constant drip- ping wears away stones, so the outward acts of worship and the use of words in prayer and song constantly repeated take root in the natives’ hearts and minds and eventually produce fruit. In all this one does not forget that the true spiritual life is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, and spiritual fruit can only be obtained by the messenger living in closest communion with God, a clean vessel meet for the Master’s use. 34 BIBLIOGRAPHY Only a limited number of titles are here presented. Additional references will be found in the text and footnotes of this pamphlet. A large amount of additional material is found in the Missionary Research Library and the files of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. A Sara, Felix de Descripcion e historia del Paraguay y del Rio de la Plata. Madrid, Impr. de Sanchez, 1847. 2 vols. Bibolotii. Benigno Moseteno vocabulary and treatises . . , 1917 Evan- ston and Chicago, Northwestern L’^niversity, 1917. Bingham, Hiram Inca Land, Explorations in the Highlands of Peru, Plough- ton, Mifflin & Co., 1922. Bower, Reuben Edward The unreached Indian; General Board of Eoreign Missions, Church of the Nazarene, 1920. Breti, IViHiam Henry The Indian tribes of Guiana ; London, Bell and Daldy, 1868. Church. George Earl Aborigines of .South America; ed. by an old friend, Clem- ents R. Markham, K. C. B. London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1912. Clark, Bananal, or Among Pagan Indians in Brazil, Sao Paulo, 1923. Clough. R. Stewart The Amazons. London, South American Missionary So- ciety, 1873. 35 Indians of Latin America Coope, Anna Anna Coope, sky pilot of the San Bias Indians ; an auto- biography, N. Y., American Tract Society, 1917. Cooper, John Montgomery Analytical and critical bibliography of the tribes of Tierra del Fuego and adjacent territory. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1917. Farabee, William Curtis The central Arawaks. Philadelphia. The University Museum, 1918. Farabee, William Curtis Indian tribes of eastern Peru; Cambridge, Mass., The Museum, 1922. Ferris, Anita Brockzvay The land of the golden man. N. Y., Missionary Educa- tion Movement of the United States and Canada, 1916. Furlong. C. W . Southernmost peojple of the world. ( In Harper’s Monthly magazine, June, 1909.) Garnio, Manuel La Poblacion del Valle de Teotihuacan. Mexico, Secretaria de Agricultura y Fomento, Depto. de Antropologia, 1923. Glennie, R., and Blake, G. S. Report of the deputation to South America, 1909-1910. (Baptist Missionary Society.) Grubb, W. Barbrooke Among the Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco: a story of missionary work in South America. London, C. Murray & Co., South American Missionary Society, 1904. Grubb, W. Barbrooke Church in the wilds; the . . . story of the establish- ment of the South American mission amongst the hitherto savage and intractable natives of the Paraguayan Chaco; ed. by H. T. M. Jones. London, Seeley, 1914. 36 Bibliography Grubb, W. Barbrooke The problem of the South American Indian. (In The East and The West, Oct., 1919, pp. 308-318.) Grubb, W. Barbrooke An unknown people in an unknown land ; Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co.; London, Seeley & Co., Ltd., 1911. Hay, A. R. Saints and savages : Brazil’s Indian problem . . . with a foreword by Rev. J. H. Jowett.. London, Hodder, n.d. Hrdlicka, Ales, i.e. Alois Ferdinand Physiological and medical observations among the Indians of southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Wash- ington. Government Printing Office, 1908. Jaguaribe, Domingos O imperio dos Incas no Peru e no Mexico. Lido no Insti- tute historical de S. Paul. S. Paulo, Empresa typ. editora “O Pensamento,” 1913. Jordan, IV. F. Glimpses of Indian America. N. 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