Jones, Kristine

8/11/2019 Jones, Kristine

1/18

The merican Society for Ethnohistory

Nineteenth Century British Travel Accounts of ArgentinaAuthor(s): Kristine L. JonesSource: Ethnohistory, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Spring, 1986), pp. 195-211Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/481774.

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2/18

ETHNOHISTORY

3(2):195-211

NINETEENTH

CENTURY

BRITISH TRAVEL ACCOUNTS

OF ARGENTINA

Kristine

L.

Jones

Bowdoin

College

Abstract

Standardized

epictions

of an ahistorical"Indian"

n

nineteenth

entury

ravelac-

countsof

Argentina

re

mportant

thnohistoricalourcesnot because

he

accounts

describe

theoretically ristine

tateof

politically

utonomous

ndigenous

ocieties,

but because

hey

describe he

points

of articulation

with

expanding

Western

ociety.

In

the

nearly

one

hundred

ifty years

between

nitialJesuit

missionizing ttempts

n

the

Argentinepampas

n the 1740sand the final

"Conquest

of the Desert" n the

1880s,

a

majorreorganization

f Indiansocietiescoincided

with the

expansion

of

European

ociety

nto the

grasslands.

hese

narratives ocument he

changing

modes

of

interaction etween"Indian"and "Western"

ocieties,

record he

development

of a

complex

nterculturalrontier

ociety,

andreveal he

emerging

onquest deology

justifying

he

politics

of

expansion.

The value of travel

accounts as ethnohistorical

sources lies

not

so

much

in

ethnographic

verities as

in

the

documentation

of

developing

frontier

society

in

articulation

with

expanding

western

capitalism.'

In

Argentina

the

expansion

of

European

society

into the

pampas

and

Patagonia

between

initial

missionizing

at-

tempts

in

the 1740s and

the

ultimate

"Conquest

of

the Desert"

of the 1880s

coin-

cided

with

a

major reorganization

of social and

political

life

among

autonomous

indigenous

societies. Nineteenth

century

British travel accounts of

Argentina,

while

attempting

in

form to

objectively

describe Indian

society, categorized,

objectified,

commoditized

and thus

delegitimized

the role of

native

people

in

frontier

expan-

sion. Historians

must

recognize

that

ahistorical

details of social

life

in

travel ac-

counts do not

document a

sphere uniquely

"Indian,"

but rather describe

an

emergent

ntercultural

rontier

society

as well as

reflect

shifts

in

expansionist deology.

This

paper

will

analyze

the

development

of

nineteenth

century

travel accounts

of Argentina in an attempt to delineate explicitly the categories and objectives

in

them. The

commoditization of travel accounts themselves

stands out as one

striking

characteristic

of this

literature,

as described

n

the first section of the

paper.

Discussion of the use of travel

accounts

as ethnohistorical

sources,

the sec-

ond

section

of

this

paper,

reveals the

interpretive

transformations

in

the travel

accounts that

ultimately legitimized

the

concept

of "the Indians"

as

plundering

obstacles

to

progress.

While

implicit

western

ideological perspectives

denied

legitimacy

to the activities

of

sovereign

native

societies,

and therefore failed to record them

in

more formal

documents,

informal

descriptions by

British

travelers

indicate the

very important

role of the Indians in the history of Argentina. However, because of the fixed,

ahistorical

categories

n travel accounts that described

Indians,

historians

consistently

have

ignored

the

dynamics

and

importance

of this

interaction.

Travelers'

accounts

documented

society

peripheral,

but

nonetheless

directly

tied to the

expanding

ex-

port economy

of the British

empire.

British

travelers

and

speculators

not

only

reported

on this

"marginal"

society,

but

comprised

an

integral

part

of it. To be

used as

ethnography,

travel

accounts must be

interpreted

in this

light.

JONES

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3/18

KRISTINE

L. JONES

Background

The

development

of the travel account as

a

commodity

in

the nineteenth

century

was

not

limited

solely

to narratives about

Argentina,

nor

to accounts

exclusively

British.

Nor

did

the commoditization

of the

genre

trivialize

its

importance

in in-

forming

and

interpreting

the world

for

individuals interested in economic

exploita-

tion

of

that

world. Much recent

scholarship

analyzes

the western

development

of

an

ideology

about the "non-western" world.

Recently,

Edward Said's Orientalism

(1979) provoked

serious

reappraisal

of a

major

intellectual

tradition.

In

recent

studies

of the

New

World,

anthropologists

and

geographers

point

to

the

impor-

tance of

reconsidering

raditional

representations

of that

region

belonging

to neither

the "East" nor "West." The new look at old images has stimulated revisionist

trends

in

some

fields of Latin American and North American

history.2

The issues of

myth

and

image

in

western

concepts

about

the

thousands

of distinct

native societies

in the

Americas

have

been

approached

by

scholars

focusing primarily

on

discovery

and

early

contact. That

European concepts predetermined

much of

Spanish

colonial

policy

has

long

been

acknowledged,

and Lewis Hanke's Aristotle

and

the American

Indians:

A

Study

in

Race

Prejudice

in

the

Modern World

(1959)

stands as the

classic

analysis

of

the

origins

of western

ideological

justifications

for

(mis)treatment

of Native Americans

in

Spanish

America. Robert Berkhofer's

White Man's

Indian

(1979)

documents for

North

America

the

invention of the

idea of "The Indian" that has obvious parallelsto the South Americancase. Olive

Dickason's

Myth

of

the

Savage

and the

Beginnings of

French

Colonialism in the

Americas

(1984)

discusses

French reactions

and

interpretations

of

disparate

societies

in

Brazil,

Florida,

and the St. Lawrence. As these and

many

other studies

point

out,

perceptions

and

misconceptions

about

the

Americas

purveyed

in

early

ex-

ploration

accounts colored

interpretations

in

subsequent

centuries.

Publication of travel

accounts of the New World

began

almost

as soon as

the

first

European explorers

returned home.

By

the

sixteenth

century,

the

accounts

of

Bernal

Diaz

del

Castillo,

Bartolom6

de Las

Casas,

and the

Spanish-educated

Inca,

Garcilaso de la

Vega,

created

great interest,

and

by

the seventeenth

century

published

travel

accounts

enjoyed

more

popularity

than

standard

romances,

ac-

cording

to

one

contemporary

observer

in

France

(Dickason

1984:

6).

Part of

this

popularity

may

perhaps

be ascribed to

the fact

that

Spain

firmly

established con-

trol

over most

of

South

Americasoon after

conquest,

and maintained a stern watch

over

possible

interlopers.

The

jealous protectiveness

of

Spain

about its American

colonies led

to

suppression

of information

that

might

prove

advantageous

to

its

European

rivals.

In

the three centuries

following

the

Spanish conquest

of New

Spain

and

Peru,

royal

dictates militated

against

foreign

access to information about

the fabled

riches

of

the Americas.

Even

so,

this

blackout

could

not stem

interest

in the commercial potentials of the restricted colonies, and the very occasional

travel

accounts

met a

curiosity

for information about the Americas with a com-

bination of

hearsay, myth,

and

some

truths.

By

the

early

nineteenth

century,

travel accounts of

Spanish

America fell

within

a

firmly

established

tradition

that

perpetuated

earlier

images,

while

adding

new

variations

and embellishments.

However,

while

in

the

previous

centuries

only

a

handful of

such

accounts were

published,

in the

early

1800s scores

of

travel

ac-

counts

about South

America

appeared. Analysis

and

collation of the

upsurge

of

196



4/18

BritishTravelAccounts

nineteenth

century

travel accounts

of Latin America awaits

full

investigation,

but

there is little doubt

that such literature elaborated on

the

traditions

and

images

of

the

discovery

chronicles.

By

this

time,

British

travel accounts

were also colored

by

the

"Black

Legend"

propaganda,

originating

from seventeenth and

eighteenth

century

enmities,

which ascribed all evils of the colonial order to an idea of a

per-

nicious

Spanish

national

character.3

The

positivist

perspective

so

rigorously attempted

in

nineteenth

century

narra-

tions often

purchased

earlier

images

and

myths

wholesale,

and then

redistributed

them

in

new

packaging

to

meet

the demands of the industrial

age.

Nevertheless,

careful attention to the

intent of these

interpretations

leads to

further understand-

ing

of historical

change

and the nature

of

European

economic

expansion

as well

as the formation of American societies as they were affected by this expansion.

Discussion

of British travel accounts of

Argentina

documents one such case.

British

Travel

Accounts and

the

Argentine

Economy

One of the

first

publications

of an

Englishman

in

Argentina

appeared

more than

a

century

and

a

half

after Pedro

de Mendoza's

mooring

in the

Parana

river

delta,

and

it

provided

the

English

for the first time the kind of detail

Spain

so

carefully

guarded.

Thomas

Falkner,

a

Jesuit

priest

who had worked

among

Indians

in

the

pampas

and

Patagonia

in an ill-fated

missionizing

attempt

in the 1740s,left a record

of

his

experience,

first

published

in

London

in 1774

as a

political pamphlet.

Falkner's

Description of Patagonia

and

the

Adjoining

Parts

of

South America:

Containing

an Account

of

the

Soil, Produce,

Animals,

Vales,

Mountains, Rivers,

Lakes,

etc.

of

those

Countries;

The

Religion,

Government,

Policy,

Customs, Dress,

Arms and

Language

of

the

Indian

Inhabitants;

and some

Particulars

relating

to

Falkland's Islands

provided

one of the

very

first

published surveys

of

the

unex-

plored

territories south of

the

city

of

Buenos

Aires,

as

well

as the

first

systematic

description

of the inhabitants of those

regions.

Publication

in

London of Falkner's

description worried the Spaniards, already concerned about foreign pretensions

against

their American

possessions.

Administrative

and

political

reforms

initiated

by

the Bourbon

monarchy

in

the late

eighteenth century

tightened

the net of

secrecy

over the

colonies,

and the

mystery

of the fabled

riches of the Americas remained

locked

to

the rest of the world for

several more decades.

Publications such as

Falkner's narrative assumed

significance

simply

because such accounts so

rarely

appeared;

so

rarely,

in

fact,

that the

more fantastical

aspects

of Falkner's version

reappeared

in

1788

in

a derivative relation under

the

pen

of Thomas

Pennant,

entitled

Of

the

Patagonians.

Formedfrom

the Relation

of

Father

Falkner

A

Jesuit

who had Resided

Among

them

Thirty

Eight

Years.

Andfrom

the

Different Voyages

who had met this Tall Race.

It

was not

until Alexander von Humboldt was allowed to tour and

report fully

on

the state

of

the

Spanish possessions

in

1799-1804,

and

his

account was

published

and

translated,

that reliable information

reached a wider

European

community.

The

significance

of Humboldt's

tour,

the

first

such

fact-finding

visit

by

a

foreigner

authorized

by

the

Spanish government,

is well known

by

generations

of students.

The

narratives,

published

and translated

from French into

English,

created a sen-

sation

in

Europe

by replacing hearsay

with a

more accurate

description

of the

197



5/18

KRISTINE

L. JONES

Spanish possessions.

By

virtue

of

precedent,

Humboldt's

narrative set the

stand-

ard

for the

proliferation

of

European

travel accounts

that

followed,

especially

when access to trade followed the

independence

of most of

Spanish

America

in

1810.

The

subsequent

dismantling

and demise of the

colonial

order

in

the

Americas,

as

in

other

parts

of the

world,

opened

new vistas for free trade and

investment,

and a

scramble

for

capitalist advantage

ensued.

When

the

Spanish

monopoly

over

trade

in

their American colonies

ended,

and all trade restrictions were lifted

by

1810,

a

speculative

mania

in

England

resulted.

Foreign

commercial

expansion

into

Argentina

stimulated

increased

production

of

hides, tallow,

and salted

meat,

and

the volume of

production

of

Buenos Aires Province

more than

tripled

in

the first

two decades of the nineteenthcentury (Scobie 1971:97). Britishmerchantsquickly

assumed

precedence

in

this

trade,

and

in

little over ten

years

following

the demise

of

the

Spanish

trade

monopoly English

capital

dominated the

Argentine economy

(Reber

1979).

In

1824 the

English government

authorized a

study

of the

commercial situation

in

Colombia,

Mexico,

and

the Rio

de

la Plata. Woodbine Parish's

popular

travel

account of

the

period

disseminated the

results

of this

study

to a broader audience

in

a treatise entitled Buenos

Ayres,

and

the Provinces

of

the Rio

de

la

Plata:

from

their

Discovery

and

Conquest

by

the

Spaniards

to the Establishment

of

their

Pres-

ent

State, Trade, Debt,

etc.;

An

Appendix

of

Historical

and

Statistical

Documents;

and a descriptionof the Geology and Fossil Monsters of thePampas (1852). Parish

reported

that over half of

the

public

debt and most of

the valuable

property

in

Argentina

was

in

English

hands. Vera Reber's

recent

study

of

the

origins

of

the

British

mercantile

system

in

Argentina

corroborates his

assertions,

documenting

that

thirty-nine

commercial houses

operated

by

British

capitalists

controlled

almost

all

import

and

export

trade,

which

consisted

mostly

of

cured

hides, furs,

and

salted

meat

(Reber

1979).

The fervor of

English speculation

reached

heights comparable

to

any gold

rush.

Contributing

to the fever was the

spate

of travelers' accounts

published by

Lon-

don houses responsive to this interest in Argentina. As one historian wrote:

Good,bad,

or

indifferent,

hese bookswere devoured

by

a

public

anxious o

find

out

all

they

could

about

the

people,

the

policies,

the

possibilities

f commerce

nd

investment,

nd

opportunities

or

emigration.

omeof

these,

for

example,

he

famous

relationof

CaptainHead,

wereso well

written hat

they

became

bestsellers.

Trifilo

1959,

author's

ranslation)

Britishtravel

accounts

of

Argentina

proliferated

as

rapidly

as

capitalist

invest-

ment. Interest n

investmentstimulated

greater

demand for

information,

and

scores

of travel accounts

appeared

in

response

to this

demand.

Between 1805

and

1835,

British

publishing

houses had

published

over a

dozen

travelaccounts

about

Argen-

tina.4 Publication reached a peak in the 1820s with the appearance of the works

of

Head

(1826),

Beaumont

(1828), Caldcleugh

(1825),

Miers

(1826),

Vidal

(1820),

Brackenridge

(1820a;

1820b),

Miller

(1828),

and others.

It

bears

mentioning

that

these

accounts

of

Argentina predominated

in the

scores of travel

accounts

about

South

America,

including Peru, Brazil,

and

Mexico,

in

which

England

had

an

interest. The

intent

of these

travelogues

seldom

was

hidden,

as is

demonstrated

in

such titles

as: Travels

in

Buenos

Ayres,

and

the

Adjacent

Provinces

of

the

Rio

de

la

Plata.

WithObservations

Intended

for

the Use

of

Persons

Who

Contemplate

198



6/18

British

TravelAccounts

Emigrating

to that

Country;

or

Embarking

Capital

in

its

Affairs (Beaumont 1828).

Inevitably,

the

speculative

boom was followed

by

bust

in

1826,

but

public

in-

terest

in

things Argentine

continued for several

years. By

1830

speculative

interest

in

Argentina

dropped

off as the British

began

to look elsewhere for

investments,

and

publication

of travelers' accounts

dwindled.

New

Argentine

policies

under the Rosas administration

in

the 1830s

restricting

British investment

seemed to

dampen

the

enthusiasm for

publication

of travel

ac-

counts

of

Argentina.

Manuel de Rosas's

twenty-three year

administration

actively

opposed foreign

investment,

which so thwarted

British

and French interests that

between

1845 and 1849

they imposed

a

blockade

against Argentina.

Because

this

political

development precluded

investment

possibilities,

the

British

public

lost in-

terest in popularized travel accounts of Argentina.

Even

so,

British interests

in

the

potentials

for its

shipping

industry

continued,

and the British

Navy

endeavored to

complete mapping

and

surveying

tours

of the

relatively

unknown coastline.

The

voyages

of HMS

Beagle comprised

two of three

such

expeditions.

The few

published

narratives about

Argentina

in

the 1840s

originated

from

such official

expeditions,

usually

the edited

journals

of British

diplomats

or naval officers.

John MacDouall

prefaced

Narrative

of

a

Voyage

to

Patagonia

and

Terra

[sic]

del

Fuego Through

the

Straits

of

Magellan

in H.M.S. Adventure and

Beagle

in

1826

and

1827

by writing,

"I have written it not

only

with

the view

of

gain

.

.

.

but also . .. with that. .. of ridding myself of the remarksof certainkind-hearted

people

. .

.

toujours

pret

at

pointing

out what

ought

to

be

done on

all

possible

occasions

(1833: v)."

This account can

be

viewed

as

another

example

of the

popularized

travel accounts

churned out in the late

1820s,

but Charles

Darwin's

Diary of

the H.M.S.

Beagle (1839)

falls more

clearly

into

the

new scientific

model

of

the

positivist

age.

Following

the demise of

Rosas in

1852,

renewed trade

with

England

once

again

stimulated

public

interest

in

Argentina.

By

this time industrial

growth

in

England

directed

demand

for

new

sources

of raw

materials,

and investors looked to

Argen-

tina

for possible commercial advantage.

The need in

England

for raw wool for

the textile

industries,

combined

with

possibilities

for wool

production

in

Argen-

tina,

attracted

direct British investment

in

Argentine

latifundia,

the land itself.

This shift from trade

in

cured hides

and furs to direct

investment in land owner-

ship

hastened a

transformation from

the more traditional cattle

raising

estancias

to more

competitive

capital

and labor intensive

sheep raising enterprises (Sabato

1980).

Renewed

public

interest in commercial

activities,

as

might

be

expected,

resulted

in

a new

wave

of British travelers'

journals, published

even more

cheaply

and aimed at a wider

public.

In the

1850s

and

1860s once

again,

nearly

a

dozen

travel accounts about

Argentina

reached

the

public

(Bourne

1853;

MacCann

1853;

Hinchcliff 1863; Hutchinson 1868; Latham 1866; Seymour 1869; Catlin 1868),

compared

to those few

published

between 1839

and 1850

(King

1846;

Parish

1839;

Robertson &

Robertson

1843;

Darwin

1839).

Increased

investment

possibilities

created increased demand

for

information,

and

travel accounts met

this demand.

The full commoditization

of

the

travel account

now was

complete.

This commoditization

of the

published

travel account meant that it

began

to

lose

its

utility

as

capitalist

propaganda,

a means to an

end.

Publication

of travel

accounts

first met a demand

for

information,

but the

popularity

of the

accounts

199



7/18

KRISTINEL. JONES

for their own sake

transformed

the works into

independent

commodities.

By

the

1860s,

access

to new

specialized

business

almanacs,

reports,

and statistics

such

as those

provided

in The

Brazil

and River Plate Mail

(1863-1878)

fulfilled the

need

for

detailed

investment data. Published travel

accounts,

on the other

hand,

although

first written to remove

the

shroud

of

secrecy

and

mystery surrounding

he

Americas,

moved back

to

the

realm of the exotic

and

mysterious.

Travel accounts

now

filled

in

a

picture,

rather than

providing

the

only

window.

By

the late nineteenth

century,

this

genre

in

some cases

had

degenerated

to

pulp

status,

pandering

to

public

demand for

the

sensational.

As a

commodity,

a

ten-

sion between information

and

sensation

in

these accounts

yielded

to the sure

thing,

the

sensational. Old

legends

and

myths

were resurrected

and

brought

back

into service.

For

instance,

the 1835

publication

in

Argentina

of a collection

of

Spanish

works

and

documents edited

by

Pedro de

Angelis (1969)

provided

not

only

useful

geographic

and

topographic

information

to the

British,

but also

renewed interest

in

the

half-forgotten legend

of the Ciudad

Encantada de los

Cesares,

the

mythical

city

sought by Spaniards

throughout

the seventeenth and

eighteenth

centuries.

Published

in the

Angelis

collection was

a

1707

captivity

account of

a

Spanish

sailor,

Silvestre Antonio de

Rojas

(Angelis

1969:

537-47),

who testified

he had seen the

enchanted

city

of

the Cesares

n his

captivity.

This

eighteenth century

account

served

as

the

prototype

for a nineteenth

century

succession of

popular captivity

narratives.

An Americanversion, TheCaptivein Patagonia, orLife Among the Giants(Bourne

1853),

was

followed

in

England

with

the

translation from the French

in

1871 of

Auguste

Guinnard's

Three Years'

Slavery

Among

the

Patagonians

and Musters's

1873 At Home

With the

Patagonians (1871).

In

1879,

a

much

degenerated

ver-

sion,

entitled

Wanderings

in

Patagonia

or

Life Among

the Ostrich

Hunters,

ap-

peared

in Boston

(Beerbohm).

While

the 1707 de

Rojas

account is a

strictly

testimonial

legal

document,

later

captivity

narratives

emphasized

the

"unknown,"

"remote,"

"undiscovered"

aspects

of the

region.

Guinnard,

for

instance,

went

so far as to

claim "to

be

the

only

European

who has

yet

penetrated

so

far

into

the

interior

of

Patagonia."

These

kinds of

embellishments contributed to

the

transformation of the travel account into a

stylized,

sensationalistic,

literary

form.

Economic

exploitation

and the

development

of

foreign

trade

had

directly

con-

tributed to the

development

and standardization of a

stylized

form of travel ac-

counts. As

interest and demand

for

information

about

Argentina

increased,

the

published

travel

narrative became a

commodity

in its own

right.

The

objectifica-

tion of the

form itself then

colored the

"objectivity"

of the

observations. This

commoditization tended

to

encourage

sensationalistic and derivative

narratives,

which

manipulated

content

but

nevertheless maintained

legitimacy by

adherence

to

standardized

form.

Once the form was commoditized, anything could happen with content. This

led

to

adventure stories of

the "wild west"

variety

discussed

above

or, later,

the

more

personal

autobiographies

that

began

to

appear

in

the twentieth

century.

For

instance,

Hudson's

early

1900s

Long Ago

and

Far

Away

(1918)

can

be

fitted

into

the travel

literature

genre

but

clearly

does

not

speak

to

any

perceived

need for

information,

as with

travel

accounts a

century

earlier.

Attempts

at

"objectivity"

have

entirelyyielded

in

the

twentieth

century

to the

self-consciously

self-reflective

versions of travel accounts

exemplifiedby

Gerald

Durrell's

Whispering

Land

(1961),

200



8/18

British Travel

Accounts

or Paul Theroux's Old

Patagonian

Express (1979).

Perhaps

most indicative of

this

shift is

Bruce

Chatwin's

popular

1977 travel

account,

In

Patagonia.

Chatwin

con-

structs

a

personal

image

of the "uttermost

part

of the earth"

by manipulating

disparate

curiosities and

anecdotes

to

describe

Patagonia.

His

approach

self-

consciously

builds on

the foundation laid

by

the nineteenth

century

travel

account

in

which the same

approach

aimed toward

entirely

different commercial

ends.

While few

scholars

would

accept

at

face

value the comments

and

ethnographic

observations

in these twentieth

century

travel

accounts,

this academic discretion

is sometimes lost

in

the use of nineteenth

century

travel accounts

as

ethnography.

The

early

accounts

reported

on the Indians as distinct

objects,

independent

of other

social or

political

phenomena

("Sheep Farming,"

"The

Economy,"

"Sale and

Rent of Lands," "The Constitution," "The Indians," [from table of contents

of

Hutchinson

1865])

and so the reader tends to

accept

the

category

at face

value,

while

perhaps

questioning

possible

biases

within

the

category. Underlying assump-

tions about

the

categories

themselves often remain

unexamined,

and so

any possible

relations between "Sale

and Rent of Lands" or

"Sheep Farming"

and "The

In-

dians"

are lost.

British Travel Accounts as Ethnohistoric Sources

Much as travel literature tself became

categorized, objectified,

and commoditized

in the

nineteenth

century,

descriptions

in

those accounts also

categorized, objec-

tified,

and commoditized the

observed.

An overview and

analysis

of the treat-

ment of "the Indian" in

British travel accounts of

Argentina

illustrates

the

more

pernicious

results of this

tendency.

The 1744

Falkner

account,

with

prefatory

comments

exhorting

the

benefits

of

trade and

"the common interests of Great Britain

and

Spain,"

devoted

nearly

half

of

Description of Patagonia

to

description

of "The

Inhabitants

. . .

The

Religion,

Government,

Policy,

and Customs . .

." and "An

Account of the

Language of the Inhabitants of These Countries" (Falkner 1935, table of con-

tents).

Preceding subsequent

ethnographic descriptions by

nearly

a

century,

Falkner's

narrative

provides

one of the earliest

direct accounts of native

societies

in

the

pampas.

Note, however,

that even

this

description

is

presented

in

the

con-

text

of

an editorial

argument

for

"extending

the

commerce

and

marine

empire

of

Great

Britain,"

and "that

any

information

concerning

the

geography,

in-

habitants,

and

other

particulars,

of the most southern

part

of

the American

con-

tinent,

might

be

of some

public utility,

and

might

also afford some

amusement

to

the curious"

(ibid. i).

Even this

early

interest

in

expanding

commercial

possibilities

motivated

publication

of

Falkner's

account,

and the

trend

was to

con-

tinue in the nineteenth century publications of travel narratives.

The

prefatory

remarks

to Falkner's

description

clearly

indicate a British view of

aboriginal

peoples

as

potential trading

partners.

The

political autonomy implicitly

granted

"the inhabitants

of

these

countries" in

Falkner's account

legitimized

for

the

British their freedom

to

trade

and

commerce

in

those

regions.

Not

surprisingly,

Spain

interpreted

these

pretensions

to

rights

of

trade as

outright piracy

according

to

international law and

intimations such as these moved the

Spaniards

to

better

protect

their

colonies.

One aim of the Bourbon

reforms

sought

to better

201



9/18

KRISTINEL. JONES

protect

the American

possessions

from

foreign

intrusion with increased

military

fortifications

along

the

coasts.

The use of the Falkner account

for

ethnographic

detail,

then,

must account

not

only

for

Falkner's

goals

as a

missionary

in

writing

the narrative but

also for

the

political

uses for which the account was

published-and

for

which it was

edited

and

prefaced by

a

twenty-two

page political

treatise. The

question

is not whether

the Falkner account is

biased,

but how. Nor can the answer be found

in the

"ac-

curacy"

of the

ethnographic

observations,

but rather

it

lies

in

the

interpretive

ends

of

those observations. The careful

and detailed

description

of

political organiza-

tion and various enmities with

Spanish

settlers indicate

a

great

deal

about

British

views

of tactical

intelligence

but not much about

indigenous concepts

of their social

world. In fact, the account speaks more about England's expanding definition

of "nations" as

trading partners

than about a

theoretically pristine

Indian

society.

Once the

Spanish trading monopoly

ended,

the investment

potentials

in

Argen-

tina excited

a

demand for

information

in

England,

and the travel account

quickly

assumed a

standard

form.

This

form,

of

course,

was not limited

only

to accounts

of

Argentina;

rather,

accounts

of

Argentina

followed the standards set

by

literature

describing

all

parts

of the world in

which British

capitalism

was

expanding.

Nine-

teenth

century

British travel

accounts

of

many

developing regions

in

the

world

contributed

in

a demonstrable

way

to

emerging concepts

about a "third

world,"

as a

quick perusal

in

any major library catalogue

under "travel and

description"

for many countries indicates.

Following

the

standards

of the

genre, specific

observations of Indian

societies

in

Argentina

gradually

tended to

place

them

in

more

generalcategories ("natives"),

distinct and

separate

from the

specific sphere

of

social

and

economic

relations

being

described.

Descriptions

of

the

"natives" sounded

very

much like

descrip-

tions of "natives" in

other

parts

of

the world. In

this

way,

"Indians" became

ahistorical

categories,

commodities to be

described

in

narrative

descriptions

of

travel

accounts.

Hence,

the

descriptions

sound more

like accounts

of

other

parts

of the

world and less

specific

to

the actual

situation

in

Argentina.

While the Falkneredition had presentedthe autonomous Patagonian "nations"

as

potential

allies

in

trade

and commerce

in

the

South

Seas,

a

lapse

of little

over

a

quarter

of a

century

reversed

this

view

in

the

political

arena

and in

travel ac-

counts. The

inhabitants of

the

pampas signified

little other

than

marginalized

pro-

ducers,

political

enemies

manipulated by

local

caudillos,

or

allies used

by

the forces

of

good, usually

involving

the

British.

In his

memoirs,

the British

general

John Miller described

how,

in

the in-

dependence

movements,

Pampas

Indians

enlisted

against

the Buenoes

Aires

in-

surgents.

Note

how the

concept

of the

Indians as

free nations has shifted

to one

of

political

ally/enemy.

TheIndianswhowere

nvited

by Rodriguez

o

join

in

the war

against

us

had

an un-

conquerable

atredof

the

Portefios;

and at the

period

n

which we

expected

hem

everyday

to fall

upon

us,

a

deputation

f

fourteen

aptains

arrived n

Rosario,

sent

by

the

principal

acique

o treat with

Carrera.

They

told

him,

in the

names

of their

respective

hiefs,

of the

very

great

rewardswhich

Rodriguez

had offered

them for

their

services;

but

declared

hey

could

never ake

part

withtheir

nsidious

enemies

the

Portefios;

and

as to

the rewards

offered

them,

that

they

would

sooner

fight

in

the

company

with

brave

men,

independent

of

emolument,

than

they

would

in

favor

of such

cowards

as

they

knew

the

Portenios o

be,

notwithstandingany gifts they

might

offer.

(Miller

1828:

153)

202



10/18

British Travel

Accounts

In this

version,

the

Indians are

coming

to

be seen as little

more than

political

pawns,

with no

apparant

tactical

motivation

for their

choice.

Although

this

passage

does

give

some idea

of

indigenous political

and

military organization,

it tells

us

nothing

about

native

perceptions

of

events.

Besides the

notion of Indians as

political

pawns,

another

theme,

of Indians

as

specialized

producers,

appeared

in

the

upsurge

of

travel accounts

published

after

1800.

When the

major

seaports

of South America

opened

to trade with

the

British,

and trade

developed

in these

ports,

travelers'

accounts

began

to comment in

detail

on

native

manufactures of

possible

interest

to

investors.

Particular interest

in

the

possibilities

of

developing

trade in

furs and hides

may

even

have stemmed

from

British successes in

the

thriving

and

profitable

fur trade with

Indian

tribes

in

North

America. For instance, Samuel Hull Wilcocke's 1807 description of native dress

lingers

in

detail on

the

advantages

and

disadvantages

of

different hides

used.

They

wearmantles

f

skins

ewed

ogether,

ometimeshe skins

of

young

colts,

which

are least

esteemed;

ometimes f otter or

other

skins;

mostly,

however,

of

guanaco-

skins,

which

are

in

great

estimationon

accountof the warmthand

finenessof the

wool,

and their

ong

duration;

but those

which

are in

the

highest

esteem

are

made

with

the skins

of small

foxes,

which

are

exceedingly

oft

and

beautiful;

he area of

a

mottled

greycolour,

but are

not

so

durableas

those of the

guanaco.

(Wilcocke

1807:

449)

Not

more than ten

years

after

Argentine

independence

in

1810,

export

produc-

tion of hides, furs, and cattle by-products in Argentina depended entirely on the

market

created and

commanded

by

the British.

By

the

1820s,

the

peak

of the

first

wave of

travel accounts

and a time when

British

merchants had firm

control

over

the

export economy,

travel

accounts

commonly

included

descriptions

of Indians

in

Argentine

markets not

only

for

color but

also to indicate

the

dynamism

of

the

market itself.

Emeric Vidal

in

1820 illustrated

Pampas

Indians

who travelled

directly

to

Buenos

Aires

markets to

sell leather

goods

and

ostrich

feathers. In

their Let-

ters

on

South

America:

Comprising

Travels on

the Banks

of

the

Parana and Rio

de la

Plata,

the

Robertsons focused on

the trade in

hides

when

they

mentioned

the

Indians.

The

Pampas

Indians

received

n

return

rom

their

agent

or

patron,

as

they

called

him,

their

ponchos,knives,

obacco,

a

little

white

cloth,

and a

supply

of

spirits;

hen

off

they

marched n

battle

array

o

their avoritehaunts.

Robertson

nd

Robertson

1843:

271)

A

sharp eye

for

commercial

advantage

prompted

General

Miller

to

note in

his

memoirs,

"[F]or

the

eight

of a

dollar's worth

of

Paraguay

tea,

six

vizcacha

skins

were

bought:

At Buenos

Ayres

the same

articles

would

sell for

three

quarters

of

a dollar"

(Miller

1828:

153).

Again,

although

these

excerpts

suggest dynamic

in-

tercultural

exchange,

placing description

of

"the Indian"

into fixed

categories

obscures the importance or significance of these interactions. To read such ac-

counts,

we

must

remember that

they

inform us not

about

Indian

society,

but about

the

social and

economic

life of

a

complex

intercultural

frontier.

Even

though political

and

economic conditons in

Indian societies

were to

change

rapidly

in

the next

two

decades,

travel

accounts

continued to

portray

Indians ac-

cording

to these

fixed

categories.

These

categories

allowed

elaboration

of motifs

convenient to

a

conquest ideology.

For

instance,

Captain Fitzroy

of

HMS

Beagle

railed

about

inconvenient

manipulations

of

the

pawns.

203



11/18

KRISTINEL. JONES

At this moment he

army

of the United

Province

of

the Rio de

la

Plata

occupies

he

northernbank

(of

the Rio

Negro),

whiletheunfortunate nd now harassed

ndians

areendeavoringo keeppossessionof the southern ide.A warof exterminationp-

pears

o

be the

object

of

the

liberal

and

independent

Creoles.

..

It

is a

curious

act

that

while

Spanish

eld he

country,

hese outhern

ndianswere

xtremely

ell

disposed

towards he white

intruders,

and received hem with the

utmost

hospitality.

Since

the Revolution

what

a

glorioussound)

the most determined

ostility

has been

in-

creasing.

in

Stanbury,

d.,

1977:

165)

In

this

case,

sympathy

lies

with

the non-allied Indians because

of the

enmity

ex-

isting

between

the

British and the United Provinces at that time.

Darwin also adhered to the

"political pawn"

theme,

but cloaked

it in the

guise

of

scientific

observation of a

natural

phenomenon.

It

was

supposed

hat GeneralRosas had about six hundred ndianallies.

The men

werea

full,

fine

race,

yet

it

was afterwards

asy

to

see

in

the

Fuegian

avage

he same

countenance

endered

ideous

by

cold,

wantof

food,

and ess

civilization.

1930:

67)

In

other

words,

those Indians not

available

for

political

or

military

advantage,

nor

producing objects

of commercial

interest,

remained

in

that

classic

category

of

the

other,

the

savage.5

Even

though

direct

contact and interaction with Indian societies south of Buenos

Aires

in the

pampas

and

Patagonia

increased

throughout

the

1840s

and

1850s,

the

intractable

indigenous

societies resisted

coercive

integration

into

expanding

western economic and political spheres, and hence the idea of the "uncivilized"

Indian

grew

more

prominent

in

travel accounts.

As a

part

of

the same

process,

as more and more accounts

of

Patagonia ap-

peared,

the

notion

of an "unknown" and

"unexplored" region grew

stronger.

The

following

excerpt

from

MacDouall's

1833 narrative illustrates

a

tone

that col-

ored

most

later

accounts of

the

Patagonians.

Since

hese

people

have been

known,

they

do not

seem

to

have

altered;

wrapped

n

the

guanacoe

kin,

and inured

rom

infancy

o

privation, hey

range

he desertun-

controlled;

ubserviento no law

or

will

but their

own,

they undoubtedly

ossess

a

contentment nd a

delight

n

their nativewilds

inconceivableo the

inhabitants

f

the civilizedworld.(p. 160-61)

Evidence to

support

the notion of

the uncivilized nature of

the

Indians focused

on

"savage" aspects

of

their

actions.

When

stopping along

the

southern

coast

north of the Rio

Negro

outlet

passengers

of HMS

Beagle

had occasion to

remark

on the

countenance of Indian

prisoners

(probably

Tehuelche)

held

by

Buenos

Aires

soldiers.

Captain

Fitzroy

noted

[O]n

he other

side,

a

group

of almostnaked

Indian

prisoners

at

devouring

he re-

mains

of a

half-roasted

orse;

and as

they

scowledat

us

savagely,

still

holding

he

large

bones

they

had

been

gnawing,

with

their

rough

hairand

scanty

substitutes or

clothingblownaboutbythewind,Ithought hadneverbeheldamore ingular roup.

(in

Stanbury,

d.,

1977:

83)

Darwin

commented

similarly

on the same

incident.

The

Indians,

whilst

gnawing

bonesof

beef, looked,

as

they

are,

half

re-called easts.

No

painter

ever

imagined

o

wild a set

of

expressions.

Ibid.)

The

apparent

equation

of

savagery

with lack

of

proper

British

table

manners is

also

evident

in

MacDouall's

description

of

a

Patagonian

(also

probably

Tehuelche)

feast.

204



12/18

British Travel

Accounts

They

were

all,

and at

the same

time,

equallybusy

about the

fire,

each

turning

and

roasting

his individual

portion.

The

greaterpart,

when the flesh was

sufficiently

blackened, ithdrewt from he fireandsank heirwell-arrangedeethnto t,gnawing,

or

rather

tearing

off,

some

good

mouthfuls.

.

. .

(1833:

163)

Following

the

two decade

hiatus

in British trade

with

Argentina,

these

same

categories (political

pawn,

market

specialist,

uncivilized

savage)

appeared

in

the

revived

production

of travel accounts.

When

the

renewed

trading

relations be-

tween

Argentina

and

England

(following

Rosa's

demise)

stimulated

publication

of

travel accounts

about that

country

once

again,

the

new

wave

of

narratives

perpetuated

and elaborated

the

notion of the

(uncivilized)

Indian as ahistorical

object.

Even

though

intensified British

presence

in

Argentina

allowed

travelers

greater access to interaction and familiarity with Indian society, rote categorical

descriptions

in

these

later accounts show

little attention to

contemporary

relations

between

"the Indian"

and

the rest

of

the

intercultural

ociety

of

the southern

Argen-

tine frontier. Standard

"Indian Life"

passages

can be

found

in

most

travel ac-

counts

published

in

the 1850s

and 1860s.

While the

category

of Indian as

political

pawn

continued,

the

image

was

changing

from the

relativelystraightforward

descriptions

of

military

ncidents

such

as

General

Miller described to a

more ominous

image

in

the

last

part

of

the

century.

For

in-

stance,

Colonel

J.

Anthony King's

account

of

his

personal

adventures

in

Twenty-

four

Years

in the

Argentine

Republic, published

in

1846,

described "The

Depreda-

tions of the Pampas" carried out in 1829.

The

Indians,

nownas

Pampas,

had

entered

many

of the

(Cordoban)

illages

n

hordes,

committing

murders,

driving

he

people

from

their

homes,

destroying

heir

prop-

erty,

and,

in

numerous

nstances,burning

heir

houses. From

he

systematic

manner

andthe

impunity

with which

hey

performed

heir

work,

taking

prisoners

nd

carry-

ing

them

through

he

very

ownswhichhad

proclaimed

or

Rosas

(who

had

recently

become

conspicuous),

t seemedmore

than

possible

hat theseterrible

ceneswere

enacted

by

his

connivance,

or even

by

his direction.

1846:224)

While

travel accounts

of Indians

published

in

the

first

two decades of the

nine-

teenth

century

painted

a much

more

benign picture

of Indians as

political

pawns,

little more

than dumb

accomplices

in the notorious

inter-provincial struggles,

the

accounts

published

in the

latter half of

that

century

drew

much more

threatening

conclusions.

William MacCann's account

of

his Two Thousand

Miles' Ride

Through

the

Argentine

Provinces

(1853)

detailed

frontier life

as it was

more

than

two decades

after

the

incident

described

by King,

yet

his

portrayal

shows none

of the

insight

into

political

motivations

of

Indian

actions hinted at

by King.

Instead,

a

stark,

menacing image

transforms

the

category

of

the

Indian as

political

pawn

into a

new and ominous

image.

ThefrontierSanNicolas)s atnogreater istancehanabout wentyeagues;beyond

which

here s a vast

and

unexplored

erritorypossessedby

Indians,

whose

villages,

however,

are so remoteas

to be little

known o

Spaniards....

Abouttwo

yearsago

a

large

body

of

Indiansmadean

assault

upon

he

pasture

andsof these

parts,

weeping

away

a

greatquantity

of cattleand

horses.

(p.

18)

MacCann's

description

of these

"remote,"

"little

known"

Indians,

written

nearly

a

century

after Falkner's

account,

and several

decades

after

important

commer-

cial

relations

with the Indians

had been established

and

broken,

indicates

not so

205



13/18

KRISTINEL.

JONES

much an

ethnographic

void

as

an

emerging interpretation

that

posited

the

Indian

as menace and obstacle to commerce.

About

two

months

previously,

a

party

of

retreating

ndians

ell in with a

caravan

of

merchandize

oming

rom

Mendoza,

when

hey

drove

off 290

bullocks,

48

mules,

70

horses,

and

robbed

two merchantsof 800 doubloons

(2,500). (Ibid. 21)

While

earlier

"depredations"

had been

interpreted

as

political

maneuverings,

the

concept

of Indian as obstacle now was

firmly

established

in

a

stark

conquest ideology.

This

is not

to

suggest

that

the

images

of the Indian

were not

manipulated

without

reference to

reality.

Indeed,

the intercultural

dynamics

in

this frontier

region

by

the

mid-1850s had

degenerated

into

outright

warfare-and warfare

in which the

majority

of the

pampean

and

patagonian

societies

were

pitted

in

direct

conflict

with

expanding

western

society.

Travel

accounts, however,

by

adhering

to form

in

descriptions

of

a

stylized,

ahistorical,

objectified

"Indian,"

did

not record

chang-

ing

social

dynamics,

but rather reflected these

changes

in

increasingly

harsh

images.

Sensationalistic

pulp

novels

played

with

this

new

category

of

"Indian

menace,"

reinforcing

racist ideas

and

concepts

about

the

"Patagonian

Savages."

Examples

of

particularly

bloody

indigenous

ceremonies,

extracted

from

any

social

context,

illustrated

the theme. The

equation

of

"savagery"

with

horse flesh still

persisted,

with

some

range

in

exploiting

the theme.

George

Musters's

sympathetic feelings

for the Indians with whom he traveled caused him to rationalize his participation

in

such aberrant

behavior.

Previous

o this

I

had felt a sort of

repugnance

o

eating

horse,

as

perhaps

most

Englishmen

..

have;

but

hunger

overcame

ll

scruples,

and

I

soon

acquired

taste

for this

meat.

(1873: 80)

Bourne's

popularized

American

adventure,

published

in

Boston,

most

clearly

demonstrates the

manipulation

of

images

to conform to

the

idea

of

savagery.

I

learned,

on

inquiry,

hat a horse

was to be

killed;

a matter

which,

t

appeared,

was

always

he occasionof a

solemn

powwow.

On

reaching

he

spot,

the

poor

old

beast,

leanandlank,witha lariatabouthisneck,stood surroundedy somefiftyIndians.

The

squaws

were

inging,

n

stentorian

ones,

"Ye Ye

Yup Yup

Lar,

apuly,

apuly "

with

a

repetition

hat

became

unendurable,

nd droveme

to

a

respectful

distance.

The

horse's

fore-legs

were fast bound

together,

a violent

push

forward hrewhim

heavily

o the

ground,

and

he was

speedilydespatched

with a knife ....

Soon after

my

return

o

the

wigwam,

a

huge portion

of the

carcasswas sent to

our

quarters

and

hung

up,

to furnish

our meals After

being

duly

dressed

by

the women

...

it

was

served

up-my only

alternative

o starvation.Faminehas no

scruples

f

delicacy;

if

the reader s

disgusted,

he

is

in

a state of

sympathy

with

the

writer.

1853: 102)

Even

Guinnard's

narrative of his

Three Years'

Slavery

Among

the

Patagonians,

a

classic

ethnographic source,

portrays

the

traditional

ceremony

as

revolting.

These

savages

slaughter

nd

cut

up

a horse. ... In

less than

ten minutesall this is

done,

and

numerous

pectators,

eated

on

the

very

spot,

are

devouring

with

ferocious

avidity

hot

livers,hearts,

ungs,

and

raw

kidneys,

dipped

n

blood,

which

hey

after-

wards

drink.

(1871: 184)

Of

these

accounts of the infamous blood

drinkers

of

Patagonia,

Musters's is

the

only

one

to

suggest

"this

saving

the

blood

(which

was

secured

n

pots)

to be

cooked,

(was)

considered a

great

delicacy"

(1873: 81).

206



14/18

British

Travel

Accounts

However much

that

delicacy

may

have resembled

English

blood

pudding,

the

only

available

interpretation

in the context of

capitalist expansion

was one of

con-

quest

over

savagery.

When

the

Argentine

nation

celebrated a

military victory

over

the indios

salvajes

in

1880,

British

capital

investment

immediately expanded

into

the

"conquered

desert."

Concluding

Remarks

The travel

account,

by stylistic

convention,

placed description

of

Indians

into

categories independent

of

any

historical context.

This

objectification

of

Indians

as a category then permitted interpretation of the category according to conven-

ient

ideology,

be it

"sovereign

nations" suitable

for

trade,

"market

specialists"

providing

access to

raw materials

for

trade,

"political pawns"

in

the

struggle

over

control

of

that

trade,

or "uncivilized obstacles to

progress"

in

the modernization

of

production

for trade. The

categories

evident

in

nineteenth

century

British

travel

accounts reflect

evolving political

attitudes

about Indians much

more than

they

document social

life as

actually

lived

by indigenous people.

Because the

categories

of "Indianness"

in the travel literature

deny any

legitimacy

to actions

taken

by

the individuals

described,

interpretation

of these works as

historical sources must

first

interpret

the

categories.

The

descriptions

in

travel accounts document not

only specific ethnographic

details at

specific

dates, but also reflect a

developing

western

conquest ideology

for

Argentina.

Acknowledgments

I

am

grateful

o

Hector

Lindo

Fuentes

and

Enrique

Mayer

or

useful criticism

nd

discus-

sion.

I

also thank

MeganMcLaughlin,

who offered

careful,critical,

and

time-consuming

editorialassistance.

Notes

1.

See "Conflictand

Adaptation

n

the

ArgentinePampas

1750-1880"

Jones 1984)

for

historical

analysis

rom this

perspective.

2. Sucha broad

statement

nvitessome discussion.

Ethnohistory

as

published

much

of the work that

represents

hese new

directions,

particularly

or North

American

history.

Historians

f Colonial

America

avebeen orced o

reappraise

arly

American

history

n

light

of carefulethnohistorical

esearch,

which,

moving

beyond

he

old

images,

showsthe

very

mportant

ole of

Native

Americansn the

development

f

the American olonies.

Although

he

historiography

f the National

period

of United

Stateshistoryhas been less influencedby thistrend,studiesof nineteenth entury

western

xpansion

are

beginning

o

recognize

he

importance

f NativeAmericans

in

the

dynamism

f that

process,

which

conquest deologies

uccessfully

bscured.

In

the

historiography

f

Latin

America,

tudy

of "the

Indians,"

especially

hose

of

the Andeanand

Mesoamerican

egions,

has

long

been standard.

Only recently,

however,

havehistorians

ooked more

closely

at

the distinctionbetween

a

standard

image

of

"the Indian"

n

Latin

Americaand an actual ntercultural

ocio-political

arenawhich

contributed

o the

unique

historical

evelopments

f

particular

egions.

207



15/18

KRISTINE L. JONES

A

review of

comparable

theoretical and

methodological approaches

for

North

and

South American

ethnohistory might

begin

with the

bibliographic

essays

of

Axtell

(1978) and Salomon (1982).

3.

See Keen

(1969: 703-21)

and Hanke

(1971:

112-27)

for

scholarly

discussion

of

the

Black

Legend.

4. An

exhaustive

bibliographic

review of all

British

travel accounts of

Argentina

is

not

the intent of this

paper;

however,

the

following

bibliographic

"cross-tab" does

ac-

count for the

majority

of

published

travel accounts of

Argentina.

Published Between Number

1800 and 1820

2

1821 and 1835

12

1836 and 1850

6

1851 and 1880 14

5. The

classical idea

of

the

"savage" literally

derives

from

classical

philosophy.

Dickason's discussion of "L'Homme

Sauvage"

reviews recent studies of the "Noble

Savage."

Her

introductory

comments indicate the

complexity

of the issue.

Suchachievements s the

city

statesof

Mexico,

Central

America,

or Peruwere

either

overlooked r else weredismissed s

being,

at

best,

barbarous.

An

examination f

the

concept

f

savagery

eveals hat ts

origin

s bothmore

complex

and far older hansuch

a

viewwould ndicate.

n

fact,

it

involved he well-knownRenaissanceolkloric

igure

of the Wild

Man;

early

Christian

erceptions

f

monkeys,

apes,

and

baboons;

and

the

classical

Greekand Roman radition

of the noble

savage.

(1984:

63)

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Jones, Kristine

Documents

Transcript of Jones, Kristine