^ _522 ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA, 



If the foregoing tempers or cufloms appear ftrange, their behaviour at confefHon is 

 not lefs fo : for, befides havJhg but a flender acquaintance with the Spanifh language, 

 they have no form to direft them in it. On their coming to the confeflbr, vs^hich is 

 always at his fummons, he is obliged to inflruft them in what they are going about, and 

 with them repeat the Conjiteor from one end to the other. For if he flops, the Indian 

 alfo remains filent. Having gone through this, it is not enough for the priefl to alk 

 him, whether he has committed this or that fault ; but if it be one of the common fort, 

 he mufl affirm that he has committed it, otherwife the Indian would deny every thing. 

 The priefl further is obliged to tell him, that he well knows he has committed the fm, 

 and he has proofs of it. Then the Indian, being thus prefTed, anfwers, with great 

 aflonifhment, that it is fo : and, imagining the priefl really endued with fome fuper- 

 natural knowledge, adds circumflances which had not been afked him. It is not only 

 difficult to bring them to declare their faults, but even to keep them from denying 

 them, though publicly committed, and equally fo to prevail on them to determine the 

 number ; this being only to be obtained by fineffes ; and then little flrefs is to be laid on 

 what they fay. The natural dread, which more or lefs rifes in all men at the approach 

 of death, is what the Indians are lefs fufceptible of than any other people. Their con- 

 tempt of thofe evils which make the flrongefl impreffions on the minds of men, isfuch, 

 that they view the approach of death without perturbation : and the pain of the diflemper- 

 affefts them more than the danger of it. This I have often heard from feveral of the 

 priefls : and their words are confirmed by daily inflances. For when the priefls perform 

 the lafl offices to dying perfons, their anfwers are delivered with that tompofure and 

 ferenity, as leave no doubt but the inward flate of their mind correfponds with thefe 

 external appearances, being the principle and caufe of them. The like is even feen ill 

 thofe whom their crimes have brought to die by the hands of juflice ; and among many 

 other examples, I happened myfelf to be an eye-witnefs of one. Whilft I was at Quito, 

 two malefactors were to be executed ; one a Meflizo or Mulatto, and the other an 

 Indian : both having been brought into the prifon-chapel, I went to fee them the 

 night before the execution. The former was attended by feveral priefls, who, in Spa- 

 nifh, exhorted him to die like a Chriflian, and fhew a becoming fervour in his love to 

 God, faith, and contrition, and a deteflation for the crimes he had committed. On 

 which, his afpeft and whole deportment fhewed a fenfe of his condition. The Indian 

 had alfo ecclefialHcs about him, performing, in his own language, the like kind offices. 

 But to all appearance he was lefs concerned even than" thofe about him, and feemed 

 rather to be tilling a chacura, or tending a herd, than on the eve of eternity. His 

 appetite was fo far from leaving him, as was the cafe of his companion, that he was 

 more eager, and after difpatching his own, would have cleared his fellow fufferer's 

 plate ; fo that they were obliged to ufe fome force to prevent his eating to excefs on fuch 

 an exigency. He talked to the fpeftators with that eafe and tranquillity, as if only going 

 to take a fhort journey. He anfwered to the exhortations without the leafl confufion : 

 when he was ordered to kneel, he did fo. The prayers and ads of devotion he alfo 

 repeated word for word ; but all the time rolling his eyes about, like a fportive child, 

 whofe weak age is diverted by trifling objedls. Thus he behaved till brought to the 

 gibbet, where his companion had been carried before him : nor did he fhew the leafl 

 alteration even in the awful moment. And this, to a civilized European fo flrange, 

 is no more than what is common among the Indians of thefe parts. 



This indifference with regard to death, or intrepidity, if we may term it fo, fhews 

 itfelf upon many other occafions, particularly in the alacrity and refolution with which 

 they face themfelves before a bull, with no other view than for the bull to run full at 



3 him. 



