american-holocaust

94 AMERICAN HOLOCAUSTtation masters and begged to be taken in. "There are some who were noteven wanted as slaves," wrote Vale, so they "had themselves shackled sothat they would be taken: it seemed less likely that they would be rejectedif already in irons." Added Vasconcellos: "One man surrendered his libertyfor only one gourd of flour to save his life. Others hired themselvesout to work all or part of their lives, others sold their own children."Within three decades at least 90 percent of the region's native people hadbeen destroyed. 122This was, of course, far from the last of it. An unending rhythm ofattack from slaving parties, punctuated by furious epidemic disease episodesbrought by those same slavers, as well as by missionaries, and thenmilitary assault again, became the norm of Brazilian Indian life for mostof the next two centuries. Even when nominally free, the natives werebeing systematically destroyed. Thus, for example, by the 1630s those Indiansstill living in the municipal council of Salvador who were able towork for wages earned on average between one-eighth and one-sixteenthof what black slaves were paid-and often such "wages" were doled outin flour, cloth, and alcohol, if they were paid at all. Frequently they werenot. Even if paid, however, and paid in hard currency, such earnings werefar from sufficient for survival. 123 If there is anything that now seems surprisingin light of all this, it is the extraordinary level of resistance thenatives continued to mount even as they watched their own populationsfalling rapidly toward non-existence. The story of Ajuricaba, heroiceighteenth-century chief of the powerful Manau tribe, who fought ferociouslyto preserve his people from abduction and enslavement-and wholeapt to his own death rather than be captured-is still remembered todayamong Brazilians who care about such things. But, in fact, Ajuricaba wasonly one of many.From the very beginning-from at least that day in 1493 when a "verybeautiful Carib woman" fought off the violent advances of Michele deCuneo, before being thrashed with a rope and then raped by him-thepeople of the Americas resisted. None did so more successfully than theMaya, who combined retreats into the deep jungle cover of the Yucatanlowlands-where, as one historian puts it, the pursuing conquistadors "soonfound themselves adrift in a green expanse of forest without food to eat,souls to convert, or labor to exploit"-with relentless military counterattacksthat finally led to temporary expulsion of the Spanish in 1638. 124And neither did any people resist with more symbolism than the Maya,who made a practice of destroying not only Spanish soldiers but whateverforeign things the Spanish had brought with them-horses, cattle, cats,dogs, trees, and plants.l2 5 In the end, however, the Maya too lost 95 ofevery 100 of their people-a price for their resistance that most outsiders,if they know of it, can hardly hope to comprehend. 126