Chapter 4 



ABOUT THE TEACHING OR INSTRUCTION WHICH THEY GAVE 

 TO THEIR CHILDREN. 



One of the matters in which the Ancients experienced the greatest 

 difficulty and which gave them considerable care was the bringing 

 up of the children, because on this being good or bad depends the 

 goodness or badness of the child. Since these Indians did not know 

 either the mechanic arts, or the liberal ones, or did they need them 

 because of the manner of life which they led, but only those neces- 

 sary for their own preservation, they therefore were not able to teach 

 their children anything useful to rid them of their idleness. They 

 merely instructed them in the handling of the bow and arrow, and this 

 in order that they might learn to hunt for food and defend themselves 

 from their enemies. 



Although these Indians were ignorant of the true path, and the be- 

 ginning of wisdom is the fear of the true God, and this fear the begin- 

 ning of the instruction of children, nevertheless the instructions which 

 the parents gave their children had their moral virtues, for the parents 

 and grandparents took care very earnestly that their children be well 

 brought up and good [children], because if one of them turned out 

 perverse, although they quickly removed him from their midst, they 

 were disgraced. And for this reason, from the time they were small 

 they admonished them (and this by showing them beforehand many 

 misfortunes and punishments, if they did not follow carefully what was 

 being taught them), telling them that they should not be thieves, or 

 liars, that they should not injure people, should not fight with one 

 another, and should not use bad words, and above all that they should 

 not make fun of the old people, but should respect and fear them ; and 

 that if they did not give heed to these instructions which their parents 

 gave them, even though they might kill him [the perverse child], the 

 God Chinigchinix would punish him much. And this was the daily 

 harangue. These Indians did not punish the faults of their children, 

 they merely gave them certain admonishments to correct them, but in 

 reality very few offences were committed and the reason was the 

 much fear and great dread which they felt. 



When the males were at the age of about 6 or 7 years, they gave 

 them a kind of God as a protector, and it was the animal in which they 

 should put all their faith in times of need, and it would defend them in 

 16 



