1,133 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2015
    1. e told the natives that we were going in search of that people, to order them not to kill nor make slaves of them, nor take them from their lands, nor do other injustice. Of this the Indians were very glad.

      Hmmm...is that really why they are looking for the other Spaniards?

    1. we knew not how to construct, nor were there tools, nor iron, nor forge, nor tow, nor resin, nor rigging; finally, no one thing of so many that are necessary, nor any man who had a knowledge of their manufacture;

      Basically, there is no infrastructure to build what they need, and these gentlemen have no survival skills...or skills at all...

    1. for whom the good armor they wore did not avail. There were those this day who swore that they had seen two red oaks, each the thickness of the lower part of the leg, pierced through from side to side by arrows

      Interesting characterization of the Indians' weaponry as advanced/effective.

    1. I have written this with much exactness ; and although in it may be read things very novel and for some persons difficult to believe, nevertheless they may without hesitation credit me as strictly faithful. Better than to exaggerate, I have lessened in all things,

      Appeal to truth, but also an acknowledgment of the drama of the story....

    1. I saw some with scars of wounds upon their bodies, and demanded by signs the of them; they answered me in the same way, that there came people from the other islands in the neighborhood who endeavored to make prisoners of them, and they defended themselves. I thought then,

      "... marvelous! They'll be my prisoners instead."

    2. that he before all others took possession (as in fact he did) of that island for the King and Queen his sovereigns, making the requisite declarations, which are more at large set down here in writing.

      he claims the piece of land before even stepping foot on said land? hmm...

    3. Here the pilots found their places upon the chart: the reckoning of the Nina made her four hundred and forty leagues distant from the Canaries, that of the Pinta four hundred and twenty, that of the Admiral four hundred.

      how are the three ships communicating with each other if they are this far apart?

    4. perpetual Viceroy and Governor in all the islands and continents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter he discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that this dignity should be inherited by my eldest son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever

      that's a lot of power...could go to someone's head...

    5. Reckoned only forty-eight leagues, that the men might not be terrified if they should be long upon the voyage.

      Interesting, to lead in a way that tells the men it won't be scared of a longer voyage. But how long did they really think it would be? How much supplies did they bring? For how long?

    6. iceroy and Governor in all the islands and continents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter he discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that this dignity should be inherited by my eldest son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever.

      sounds like he is pretty excited to be in such a position of power

    1. He wished to have his mother christened. It was done. They called her Molly. 

      Hmm. Ok, so why does he want his mother Christened? To understand this, I think we need to understand the history of the tribe, paticularly at the time that this story is being written down.

    1. And since that day the Indians, who should have been great, have become a little people. Truly it would have been wise and well for those of early times if they could have held their tongues.

      So somehow the inability to hold their tongues is involved with them being a "little people?" Confused about how colonialism and genocide figure in...

    1. the younger members who have been strongly permeated with Christian teachings translate the prayer into, “God, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

      interesting that Christian influences literally changed the meaning of the words of the Peyote baptism to its younger members

    2. The medicine had accomplished this.

      odd. it seems that the medicine did not cure him. I think the medicine is covering the issue, pushing secretly into a dark corner. So long as he has the medicine, he is okay. What would happen if he were to stop taking it?

    3. She knew that I used it, but nevertheless she was afraid of it

      she must know that there is something questionable about it. If her own husband not only recommended it, but also had experience with it healing him, and she was still afraid, she must know its bad stuff.

    4. ceremonies

      So every six months or so they had more meetings than once a week, but in some years the meetings around Christmas lost popularity? Why is this? The introduction of other religions?

    1. AN ONONDAGA VERSION

      I wasn't able to get through the entire thing but I chose this because it shows us how five of the smartest Native American tribes viewed the world through a narrative. It is important to understand both where traditions come from and how they are explained. It is also used as a way to explain things we do not understand such as heaven, god, and the thoughts of animals. It shows us how they believe everything is alive and why.

    2. And at that time she at once went to the place where lay the burial-case of her dead father, and now, moreover, she again climbed up there.

      I finally figured it out. There is Earth, "Heaven", and the high place is even above Heaven. This place above heaven is god and where he resides.

    3. Now again, as she traveled, she heard a man-being talking, saying: "Come, do thou stand." She did not stand. It was Aurora Borealis who was talking to her.

      Why do external forces keep trying to stop her? How does she keep going and why?

    4. Thou wilt see there, moreover, a lodge standing not far away. And there beside the lodge stands the tree that is called Tooth. a Moreover, the blossoms this standing tree bears cause that world to be light, making it light for the man-beings dwelling there.

      The tree bears that cause the world to be light shows how these five tribes viewed everything to be powerful and alive. Is another lodge almost like another universe or place. Did she leave "heaven" and go to Earth?

    5. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT ESTABLISHED ITSELF, IN WHICH IT FORMED ITSELF, IN WHICH, IN ANCIENT TIME, IT CAME ABOUT THAT THE EARTH BECAME EXTANT

      I chose this reading because it was written by a chief of one of the five or six Iroquois tribes that were more sophisticated and spiritual than the surrounding tribes. It talks about the formation of Earth, man, and important traditions.

    6. Man-beings dwell in the sky, on the farther side of the visible sky [the ground separating this from the world above it].

      So it was an early belief passed down generation to generation that a place existed in the sky where man like beings lived. Gods? Heaven?

    7. In the end of the lodge there was a doorway. On the one side of it the woman-being abode, and on the other side of it the man-being abode.

      In this "perfect" world man and woman lived together yet apart?

    8. Ye must make a burial-case. When ye finish the task of making it, then, moreover, ye must place my body therein, and, moreover, ye must lay it up in a high place."

      This and the rest of the paragraph seems to explain how humans adopted burial traditions. It also most likely marks an upcoming change.

    1. Fort Wingate, the largest military post in the Southwest, is situated some three miles south of the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and not many miles from the Arizona border. Department head-quarters are situated here, and a garrison of nine companies, mostly of the Sixth United States Cavalry, and one company of Indian scouts is constantly maintained. This large force is considered necessary to guard against any possible outbreak of the Navajo Indians, who roam over an extensive reservation, embracing nearly twenty thousand square miles of territory in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.

      I'm already starting to side with the Navajo because who claimed that American people owned any land.