Journal #21
Posted By: Melissa Veum
12-03-09
Engl 48A
"Conferring amongst themselves, they replied that the Christians lied: We had come from the sunrise, they from the sunset; we healed the sick, they killed the sound; we came naked and barefoot, they clothed, horsed, and lanced; we coveted nothing but gave whatever we were given, while they robbed whomever they found and bestowed nothing on anyone (De Vaca, 47)."
"To the last I could not convince the Indians that we were of the same people as the Christian slavers (De Vaca, wikipedia.com)."
I love this passage form The Relation because it shows the greatest contrast between the slaveholders and the Native Americans. The Native Americans were such giving people just by nature and because they were told that they could trust De Vaca. This passage contrast everything from where they each came from to the way that they cared for other people. In the Indians minds, the Christians had lied. The Indians seemed peaceful in their demeanor and in the way that they trusted others, they wanted to help others and did not have an army or a sole leader before De Vaca came about.
Even the simple truth about how the Indians and the Christians were clothed. The Indians were naked, they came bearing food and had no weapons, the Christians quite the opposite. The Christians wanted to use and enslave the Indians and wanted to change them for their own personal use. It makes me think about slavery in Douglass and Stowe's days, that no matter how you yourself feel about something, there is always someone above you thinking just the opposite and wanting to use you for their personal gain. It was horrible what happened to these Indians and in the same respect, what happened as a whole in terms of slavery. De Vaca seems like a very much needed abolitionist for this time and I believe that the Indians saw this.
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