The land of the golden man

Front matter

heLand of the

Anita

Ferris sgg'isi HF

Preface

This is a book of true stories about the people of South America and how we are sharing with them some things which we have and they have not.

If you like stories about North American Indians, you will enjoy even more stories of the Indians of South America. There are no tales of a golden kingdom 'in North America like those of the kingdom of the Golden Man and of the wonderful Inca empire of Peru in South America; and we have no Indian hero as great as Tupac Amaru.

General San Martin was a splendid hero of the white race in South America, and Captain Allen F. Gardiner I am sure you will think one of the noblest missionary heroes about whom you have ever heard.

After you have read these stories you will know something of the interesting history of the big America south of us, and something about the boys and girls who live there; how much they help us, and how much we may help them.

Anita B. Ferris.

IX

Key to Pronunciation. — A has the sound of a in father; e, of a in fate; i, of e in equip or of ee in feel; o, of 5 in hold; u of oo in tool; au of ow in owl; ai and ay like i in side; ua like wa in was. H is always silent, and z has the sound of s.

The Land of the Golden Man

Chapter I The Golden Man

Here is a picture of some magic doors, which appear to be made of beaten gold. If you look closely, I am sure you will decide that this is an enchanted garden, for branches of trees have grown right across the entrance, quite concealing the top of the portals with their thick foliage, as if the doors had never been opened, and the garden were some precious secret hidden from every one.

On the inside against the portals of the entrance stand two royal Indian figures, a man and a woman, adorned with necklaces, armlets, and cunningly wrought girdles. An arm of each is extended over the form of a kneeling Indian vassal, who, with bowed head and attitude of complete subjection, typifies the many conquered tribes. The other arm of each royal Indian is stretched across the golden doorway, the fingers lightly pressed against the panels as if that touch alone would keep them closed forever.

In this beautiful way is symbolized the gateway to the wonderful new world of the Americas in the time of Columbus’ discoyeries, the existence of which had been a secret for so many hundreds of years.

Columbus believed, as you all know, that by sailing due west he would reach the rich lands of India. He was willing to risk his life over and over again to prove that the world was round, but he knew that the best way to please the idle, reckless Spanish nobles of the court, and the Spanish sovereigns who had furnished him with ships and men, would be to bring back riches, especially gold, from the ancient Indians. In many places in the West Indies and South America the Indians had found gold glistening in the sand in the beds of the creeks, and they often found nuggets of gold in the mountainsides. When Columbus asked these wandering Indians for gold, they gave it to him. When he returned to Spain with the gold, all the poor, but proud and daring nobles and adventurers of Spain rushed to the New World to search for this precious metal. The king was just as eager for gold for his royal treasury, so he helped to purchase ships and supplies for the adventurers on condition that a fifth of all the gold, silver, and precious stones found at the end of the journey should come to him.

THE GOLDEN MAN

Spain was not the only old-world country which was hungry for gold. Portugal and France, and even England and Holland would have been glad to have their share, but Spanish ships and men had discovered the rich southern islands and southern countries of the New World, and so the other nations had to yield first place to Spain.

Thus the daring Spanish adventurers, called the conquistadors (kon-quis-ta-dors') , or conquerors, came boldly to the West Indies, Panama, and Central America, to Mexico and the northern coast of South America, demanding gold , gold from all whom they met. Finally, on the coast of what is now Venezuela and Colombia, the Spaniards were told by the poor Indians who had been forced to give them what little gold they had, and wished to get rid of these unpleasant strangers, of a kingdom somewhere south and wTest of their coast, which was so rich in gold that their chief went about with his body covered with the shining metal. The Spaniards talked of this chief as “ El hombre dorado ” (El ombr dora'-do), which is Spanish for “the gilded man.” They talked and dreamed of this magic kingdom and then, since they did not know the name of this country, they called it, “ El Dorado,” “ The Gilded ” or, as it meant to them, “ The Golden.”

Years before Columbus discovered America, a tribe of Indians lived on the high table-land, 8,600 feet above sea-level, just north of the present capital of Colombia, in South America. They were very rich in gold and emeralds, and were called the tribe of Guatavita (Gwa-ta-ve-ta'), from the name of a beautiful mountain lake near their village. There was a story among them that many years before, the Wife of one of their chiefs had thrown herself into this lake to escape punishment, and had become the spirit or goddess of the lake. They believed she had the power to make their tribe prosperous and victorious, so whenever a new chief was chosen, the tribe made a grand procession up to lake Guatavita to give the goddess presents and do her honor. First in the procession came wailing men, their bodies painted with ocher, the sign of mourning in their tribe, in order to show respect for the dead chief ; then groups of men gaily decked with ornaments of gold and emeralds, and feathers in their hair; then braves in jaguar skins, blowing upon horns and conch shells; next the priests in long black robes and tall caps. Finally came the nobles and chief priests bearing among them the new chief who rode in a barrow covered with disks of gold. The chief himself wore no clothes, but his whole body was coated with sweet-smelling gums, and then powdered with gold-dust, so that he shone and glistened in the sun from head to foot as

THE GOLDEN MAN if he had been made of gold. When the procession reached the lake, the chief, with some of the highest nobles, stepped upon a canoe, and was rowed out to the middle of the water, where he plunged in and washed off his golden covering as an offering to the goddess, while the nobles about him shouted, the musical instruments played, and all the people threw into the clear water of the lake their offerings of gold and emeralds. Then they returned home and spent the rest of the day in dancing and feasting.

The Guatavita Indians continued to celebrate the choosing of a new chief in this way until about 1490, when a strong tribe in the highlands, the Muysca (Mwe'-ska) of Bogota, conquered them, and put an end forever to the gold-covered chieftains. News traveled slowly among the Indians of Colombia, since they had no railroads nor telegraphs, no steamboats, nor even good roads, so it is not surprising that when thirty years later the Spaniards reached the coast of South America and founded their little city of Cumena (Koo-ma-na ) the Indians should have told them this tale of the “ golden man,” believing that he still existed.

Only a few years after the first settlement of the Spaniards on the coast of Venezuela, and at Coro and Santa Marta in Colombia, the bands of the conquistadors set out to find the fabulous land of Gold, about which stories had :grown until the Spaniards believed they would find not only a man covered with gold, but a palace of gold, and a temple of gold with pillars of shining gems.

You see in the picture the doors are beginning to swing in as the Spaniards approach the hidden kingdom of El Dorado. The Indian king does not seem to notice as he stands with his head howed, lost in his own thoughts, but the Indian queen has turned her head as if she had caught the sound of the heavy tread of the bold conquerors.

Three of the famous captains who searched for the Golden Man met unexpectedly on the home plateau of the gilded chieftain near the site of the present city of Bogota. One was a German from Venezuela, the second a Spaniard named Quesada (Ka-sa-da), from Santa Marta, the Spanish headquarters in Colombia, and the third also a Spaniard, from Quito in Ecuador. No ^one of the captains knew that the others were seeking the Golden Kingdom.

The Spaniard, Quesada, arrived first, and succeeded in capturing a city near by so rich in gold that when the treasure was piled in a heap, it was high enough for a man on horseback to hide behind it. He also seized nearly two thousand emeralds. However, he did not see the chieftain

THE GOLDEN MAN who actually wore the golden covering, and the angry and frightened Indians had hidden the rich treasure of the kingdom securely from him, so he did not know that he had really reached the home of El Dorado.

While Quesada was founding the present city of Bogota (1538), in order to make it his headquarters during his further search for gold, the German captain arrived. He had been seeking the Golden Man for three years, during which time his men had worn out all their clothes and were now dressed only in the skins of animals. Then, to the surprise of both captains, the third company of white men arrived from the south.

Quesada, as the first comer, claimed the plateau with all its great wealth, and paid the other captains to send their men home. The three captains then proceeded together to the court of Spain that they might lay their rival claims to the kingdom of Bogota before their sovereign. At the court, however, little but disgrace and neglect awaited them, so no one of them continued the quest of the Golden Man.

As none of the three men who had reached the home of the Golden Man had seen him, they did not believe they had actually found his country, in spite of all the gold they were able to bring home. Others continued to search, led on by stories of the Golden Kingdom now in eastern and southern Colombia, now in eastern Ecuador, then in the northern part of Brazil, and even up in British Guiana. One party which had started out in quest of the Golden Man sailed the whole length of the Amazon, a distance of 3,000 miles, and gave to the world the first accurate idea of this mighty river.

Of course, no one ever found the Golden Man, and finally the Spaniards learned that years before they came to South America the gold-covered chieftains had ceased to exist.

Chapter II The Search For Golden Men

The stories of El Dorado and his golden kingdom led men to commit many crimes against the Indians and among themselves. But if the Indians suffered, the Golden Man brought his own punishment to the conquistadors too. Only a few from the many bands of adventurers lived to return to their colonies, sometimes only one man in five, and even they were frequently worn out by wounds, fevers, and starvation. The gold they won brought them little satisfaction, for they never considered it enough in quantity, and like all who get without paying or sharing, they did not value their gains as they should, but easily lost their gold, or gambled it away so that in the end, after all their toils, sufferings, wounds, and the many crimes they had committed against those weaker than themselves, most of them were no richer than they had been in the beginning.

If the Spanish conquerors were cruel, we must remember that other nations were cruel too, in this age. In England and France in the sixteenth century people were beheaded and burned alive for slight reasons, or simply for differing from others in religious opinions.

However wrong we may judge the conquistadors to have been in their treatment of the Indians, we must admire two things about them, their bravery and their determination. Just a small handful of men were not afraid to explore a great unknown wilderness like South America, where no white men had ever been before. No mountain was too high for them to cross, and no river too wild or swift for them to launch their frail boats on. Neither heat nor cold, wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, hunger nor thirst nor wounds could turp them from their purpose.

The conquistadors had marched up and down through Venezuela and Colombia seeking a golden man for the sake of the gold they might take from him. Two centuries later men as brave as the conquistadors, suffering as great hardships, came because they believed all men, even the poorest, most savage Indian, worth more than all the gold in the world. The conquistadors, came to take something precious from the Golden Man; these other men came to bring something precious to the Golden Men. The new seekers were missionaries, some of them Roman Catholic priests who really pitied the poor Indians, and regretted the cruel treatment their countrymen had given them. Others

SEARCH FOR GOLDEN MEN u

were devoted Moravians, who came to what is now British and Dutch Guiana, and strove to gather the Indians together in villages, teach them from the Bible and show them how they could live more comfortably and healthfully in villages surrounded by cultivated fields than in wandering about from one place to another in the forests or along the streams.

The Moravians founded a Christian village, and here a good man named Theophilus Schumann came to teach the Indians. He was a wonderful student of languages, and learned so quickly to speak the tongue of the Arawaks that in six months he could preach to them in their own language. He translated some of the Scriptures and many hymns for them, and then, for the help of other missionaries, he wrote a dictionary and grammar of Arawak. Indians flocked to his village from far and near, and he taught them how to plant crops and to cultivate the soil. In less than four years he baptized 266 Indians, and before he died the number had reached 400. Is it any wonder, then, that this good friend of the Indians became known as “ the Apostle to the Arawaks ” just as Paul was known as the Apostle to the Gentiles ?

Another Moravian missionary, was Louis Christopher Dahne, (Da'-na). His Indian friends built him a little hut on the river which separates British Guiana from Dutch Guiana, there he lived all alone far from any other white man, and taught the Indians. He was often sick with fever, and once his life was saved only by a timely visit from Schumann, who remained as his nurse.

One night, when Dahne lay in his hammock, a great snake called an anaconda slipped down from the roof and in the darkness coiled itself three times around his neck. As it drew its folds tighter and tighter the good missionary thought he had but a few moments more to live. Even then his first concern was for the Indians who he knew would be accused of his death. So he wrote with a piece of chalk on a table by his side : “ A snake has killed me.” Then he remembered the promise of God’s care, and with new courage he tore the snake from his neck and hurled it from him.

Once, fifty savage Carib Indians came with hatchets and swords to kill him. Dahne simply walked out to meet them as if he thought them the most pleasant visitors in the world.

“ Peace to you, friends,” he said, and proceeded to tell them about the true God.

The Indians looked at him in astonishment, and while they were listening to the strange story he told, forgot to rush upon him. After he had finished, they were ashamed to do so.

THE INDIANS WEAVE THE BLANKETS IN THEIR HOMES

THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN

SEARCH FOR GOLDEN MEN 13

“ Why does this man treat us so kindly ? ” puzzled one.

“ We cannot make an enemy out of him and kill him,” said another.

“ My anger is gone,” declared the leader. 4t Let us make him a present.”

“ It is well,” they all answered. So they gave Dahne plantains and game which they had brought for their own use.

“ Come again, good friends,” said the missionary earnestly as they were leaving, “ and I will tell you more of this loving God.”

“ We will,” promised the men who had come to murder him.

But what about the search for Golden Men in the big countries of Venezuela and Colombia, the true home of the gilded chieftain? There are people to-day who still seek and are finding, not only golden men, but golden boys and girls as well.

Although Venezuela and Colombia are very rich in soil, in mines, and in vast grazing lands which could support thousands of cattle ; although Colombia has the only mines in the world which produce the true emerald, platinum deposits next to Russia’s in wealth, and gold-mines which still yield plentifully, the people of these countries are very poor. In another chapter you will learn just why, but the main reasons are that most of the people cannot read or write, and do not have very good principles of government because they have never had the Bible to study. The Church to which most of the people of Colombia and Venezuela belong is the Roman Catholic Church, and that Church in South America does not give the Bible to the people to read. Therefore, in their quest for golden men the conquistadors of to-day, our brave missionaries, are trying to bring these two gifts — schools and the Bible — to all the people.

But supposing you were standing this minute in the city of Bogota, on the home plateau of the Golden Man. You would not find Indian boys and girls there any more, but white children descended from the early conquistadors and from Spanish people who came later. You would see the boys there playing some of the games you already know — marbles, prisoners’ base, and spin the top. They could probably beat you at this latter game, for they are very skilful in tossing their tops high in the air and then catching them on the string as they come down. You would miss baseball, however, and the boys are only just beginning to play soccer. You would find no girls playing on the streets, for it is not the custom in South America for little girls to play anywhere but at home, where, however, you would find that they can enjoy dolls, hide and

SEARCH FOR GOLDEN MEN 15

seek, and dressing up for plays as much as any girl in our land. A girl’s childhood is unfortunately very short in this country, for at twelve she is nearly a woman.

Probably if you met the boys and girls of the mission school at Bogota you would see that they do not dress very differently from the boys and girls in our own land in summer, except that most of them very comfortably go barefooted, or wear sandals made of cactus fiber, and the girls wear black shawls over their heads instead of hats.

If we stepped into the schoolroom with the boys or with the girls, for they have separate rooms, we would find a school rather different from our own. We would see a long room with whitewashed walls, on which a blackboard is painted part of the way around. Another strange thing, there would be no windows at all, but the light and air would come through numerous doorways, always open, which lead to a corridor and court outside. The floor is of plain rough boards, but the desks are the queerest of all, for they are brought by the pupils themselves, are of all sizes and colors and not fastened to the floor. Desk and seat are made in one piece with the tops opening up. When closed, the desks are always fastened with a padlock. The teacher sits on a rude chair with a cowhide seat before a plain pine-wood table for a desk.

i6 LAND OF THE GOLDEN MAN

In such a schoolroom the boys and girls study about the same lessons that we do, except that, in addition to learning to read and write their own language, those who attend the mission school have to study English and the Bible as well. The Bible is a new book to these boys and girls, for none of them have ever seen it in their homes unless a missionary has sold a copy to their father or mother. They have heard in their church of the Virgin Mary, of some of the saints, and they know about the birth of Jesus and of his crucifixion, but many of the other stories which are so familiar to you they have never heard, and you can imagine how interesting the stories of Abraham, of Jacob and of Joseph, of the kings, and of Jesus’ boyhood and life are to them.

But most of their girls and boys do not have a school to go to, nor was there any Sunday-school for them until the missionaries found these girls and boys in their search for Golden Men.

Perhaps you would like to know what the Fourth of July and Christmas are like in this Land of the Golden Man. The boys and girls of Bogota celebrate their Fourth on the twentieth of July, for that is their Independence Day, when their republic, which was once a colony of Spain, as we were of Great Britain, won her independence from the motherland. There are grand

SEARCH FOR GOLDEN MEN 17

celebrations and fireworks then during a whole week.

And now it is Christmas Eve. Juan (Hwan) and Juanita (Hwa-ne-ta) are as excited as you are when you celebrate Christmas. They have never heard of Santa Claus, — he belongs to lands where there is snow in winter, — and there is no Christmas tree to bear gifts for them on Christmas morning. Nevertheless they are very happy, for they are going to the mission chapel this evening where there will be a great crowd of their relatives and friends to hear their Christmas program.

Juan wears a bright lavender shirt, — and wonderful— a pair of shoes, instead of going barefooted !

Juanita, his sister, is dressed in a white blouse and pink skirt, though she looks demure enough, with her little black shawl over her head.

“ Do hurry, mother,” urges Juanita, fairly dancing up and d6wn with impatience.

“ Just a minute, daughter,” replies mother, as she arranges her shawl.

Juan stands in a corner mumbling something over to himself and hardly notices anything.

“ Oh, Juan, you’ve said your old piece about a thousand times,” exclaims Juanita, “ do come on and let mother follow.”

“All right, Senorita (Sa-nyo-re-ta) Juanita,”

replies Juan, “but I’m not going to forget my piece the way you will forget your song. See if she doesn’t forget it, mother. And then Cousin Eugenie and Uncle Fernando and Aunt Carita and all the rest of us will be too ashamed of you to raise our heads.”

“ I will not forget it,” exclaims Juanita indignantly. “ Mother, make him stop teasing.”

“ Hush, children,” answers their mother. “ Here we are at the chapel. Now do behave properly.”

Juan and Juanita have nothing more to say. They are too busy staring about the room at the changes that have taken place since last Sunday. Some of the older pupils and the missionary teachers have filled every corner of the room with palms, ferns, and flowers. It looks like a Children’s day in our home. The whole platform is banked with flowers, but there is not a Christmas tree in sight.

Juan, grasping his crumpled recitation tightly in his hand, goes to his class.

“ Good-by, mother, wish me good luck,” whispers Juanita, as she joins the other girls.

Then the school rises and sings, “ It came upon the midnight clear,” and the superintendent makes an address of welcome in beautiful Spanish.

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Cousin Eugenie recites without a single mistake the whole of the story of the shepherds, from Luke.

Each boy has tried to see how long a recitation he could master, and now each one gets through without being prompted once.

Finally, Juan’s name is called, and in his eagerness, he can hardly speak fast enough. He recites his fifty-five lines, the longest recitation of all, without a single mistake, and when he is seated, his mother fairly beams with pride, and Uncle Fernando, Aunt Carita, Cousin Eugenie, and even Juanita look about the room with satisfaction.

“ Now it is our turn,” whispers little Marguerita to Juanita. “We have to stand on the f platform right in front of that palm.”

And then, wishing the family to be as proud of her as of Juan, Juanita does her best, and sings clearly and sweetly with Marguerita — “ Hark, the herald angels sing.”

After that there is another carol by the school, and then happy greetings of “ Merry Christmas ” as they leave the little chapel.

Chapter III

Several hundred years before the Spaniards visited South America, a great Indian empire had been founded in the western part of the continent. It extended from the northern part of what is now Ecuador, south to about the middle of Chile, a distance of over 2,000 miles, and included part of Argentina. That was a great stretch of country to be under one Indian chief or emperor, but the Incas, as the ruling people in this great territory were called, were a very wonderful tribe, more wonderful in most ways than any other Indians who ever lived. Of course they ruled over many other tribes in their great empire of about 20,000,000 souls, all of whom they taught to speak their language.

The capital of the vast Inca empire was at Cuzco, which you will find on the map in southern Peru. It is situated on a beautiful table-land, surrounded by lofty snow-crowned mountains. Here was the central palace of the emperors, and

1Too'-pak A-ma'-roo.

a wonderful temple to the Sun worshiped by the Incas as the source of light and life. The temple was built of immense blocks of stone brought from a great distance, a wonderful work to accomplish, since the Indians of the Inca empire had no horses and no machinery for lifting heavy weights. The stones were simply dragged to their place and set up by the strength of many men working together, thousands being engaged at one time in erecting one of these great buildings. Around the outside of the temple, and embedded in the stone, was a band of pure gold. Inside, the main room, which was dedicated to the Sun, was literally plated all around with gold, the metal sacred to this god, till no walls could be seen. On the west side, opposite the entrance, where the first rays of the rising sun would touch it, and be reflected, was a great face made of pure gold, with rays of gold extending from it on. all sides, richly set with sparkling gems.

An adjoining temple was dedicated to the Moon. It was decorated in a manner similar to the temple of the Sun, only here everything was of pure silver, representing the pale light of the goddess of night. There was also a chamber sacred to the stars “ who formed the bright court of the Sister of the Sun,” a chapel to Thunder and Lightning, and one to the Rainbow, the bright-colored arch of which was painted upon the walls.

The Inca emperor lived in a palace as rich in its way as the temple of the Sun. All the vessels and dishes he used were of gold or silver, and he had a beautiful artificial garden made of plants and grain imitated in gold and silver, amid which a sparkling fountain jetted forth from a pipe of gold.

But more wonderful than their palaces and temples of gold and silver is the story of the way in which the Inca emperors governed their empire. Each man not only raised enough food for his own family, but he was also compelled to do his share in helping the sick and the needy about him. He worked a certain length of time in raising crops for the royal Inca, and then in storing away a surplus in case of famine or of war, to feed the soldiers. In the same way the women wove garments of wool and cotton sufficient for their own family and then helped clothe those who were no longer able to clothe -themselves. The finest of the garments were sent to the Inca for his use, while others were stored up for time of need, or for the use of the soldiers.