138 



MODE OF CONVERSION. 



and recapitulated the names of a great many saints, which finished 

 the morning's tuition. 



" After a few days, no doubt these promising pupils were chris- 

 tened, and admitted to all the benefits and privileges of Christians 

 and gente de razon. Indeed, I believe that the act of making the 

 cross and kneeling at proper times, and other such like mechanical 

 rites, constitute no small part of the religion of these poor people. 

 The rapidity of the conversion is, however, frequently stimulated 

 by practices much in accordance with the primary kidnapping of 

 the subjects. If, as not unfrequently happens, any of the captured 

 Indians show a repugnance to conversion, it is the practice to im- 

 prison them for a few days, and then allow them to breathe a little 

 fresh air in a walk round the mission, to observe the happy mode 

 of life of their converted countrymen ; after which they are again 

 shut up, and thus continue incarcerated until they declare their 

 readiness to renounce the religion of their forefathers.' As might 

 be believed, the ceremonial exercises of the Roman Catholic reli- 

 gion, occupy a considerable share of the time of these people. 

 Mass is performed twice daily, besides high-days and holydays, 

 when the ceremonies are -much grander and of longer duration ; 

 and at all the performances every Indian is obliged to attend under 

 the penalty of a whipping ; and the same method of enforcing pro- 

 per discipline as in kneeling at proper times, keeping silence, &c, 

 is not excluded from the church service itself. In the aisles and 

 passages of the church, zealous beadles of the converted race are 

 stationed, armed with sundry weapons of potent influence in effect- 

 ing silence and attention, and which are not sparingly used on the 

 refractory or inattentive. These consist of sticks and whips, 

 long goads, &c, and they are not idle in the hands of the officials 

 that sway them. * * * 



" The unmarried of both sexes, as well adults as children, are 

 carefully locked up at night in separate houses, the keys being left 

 in the keeping of the Fathers ; and when any breach of this rule is 

 detected, the culprits of both sexes are severely punished by whip- 

 ping, — the men in public, the women privately. 



" It is obvious from all this, that these poor people are in fact 

 slaves under another name ; and it is no wonder that La Perouse 

 found the resemblance painfully striking between their condition 

 and that of the negro slaves of the West Indies. Sometimes, al- 

 though rarely, they attempt to break their bonds and escape into 

 their original haunts. But this is of rare occurrence, as, indepen- 

 dently of the difficulty of escaping, they are so simple as to believe 



