The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-06-13
VANISHING OF INDIANS MYSTERY OF An ISLAND
Early Snaniart1s.


For some little time after this the
Iberian peninsula was too busy to
pay much attention to matters on this
coast, but about sixty years later-in
1902, to be exact-Philip III. OF
Spain fitted out an expedition under
the command of Sebastian vizcanio
This navigator followed Cabrillo's
route and landed on San Salvador,
but he didn't like the title and gave
| it another, the more euphonious one
which it now bears, Santa Catalina.
| Vizcanio evidently expected to do
something worth while, for he car
ried with him an official historian in
the person of Father Torquemada
Now, don't get this worthy padre
mixed up with the inquisition. 1t
was another and an earlier Torque-,
mazda who filled the pages of Spanish
history with fire and blood. The Tor
quemada of the Vizcanio expedition
made detailed report of everything
he saw on the island, possibly also Of
some things he didn't see, for Spanish
flowers of rhetoric are often rank
| boomers, and the spell of this en-
chanted land has strange influence
on tongue and pen. Nevertheless,
there is material proof of the truth
of most of his statements.
The island, says this historian, was
at that time thick1y Inhabited. There
were number of large villages and
numerous farms. Among other things
he describes temple. This, he says.
was large circular place, deliberately
decorated with feathers. In the CEN
ire was an immense idol of stone. on
either side of which were carved rude
representations of the sun and moon.
To this circular Enclosure all the ma
tlves came to worship, and here they
made sacrifices of birds. How full Of
beauty ands poetry this unique offer
ing to their gods! How different
from the horrible rites of human sac
rltlce prevalent on the mainland so
near them, yet how completely in ac-
cord with the. spirit which seems to
hang over the island to this day!
There was one bird, however, which
was never sacrificed, says Torque-
mada, and that was the raven. These
sombre birds were held in the great
est generation and were so tame they
would snatch the fish from the hands
or the women. 1t was considered a
great honor to be robbed in this way.
The Spaniards were warned not to
modest the ravens, and it is possible
that they were considerate enough to
heed the warning. Torquemada does
not mention the slaughter of any of
the natives, from which one may infer
that this expedition was less blood
thirsty than most of those sent out
under Spanish auspices.
The fact that Santa Catalina was
we'll populated by race that had
progressed some degrees beyond bar
barism is borne out by other evidence
that the island was inhabited for at
least hundred years after its dis
covery by Cabrillo, but there seems
to be no record of the existence of
these people later than the middle of
the seventeenth century. What be-
came of them? That is the mystery
which adds another touch to the
magic of Santa Catalina. Toraue-
mazda intimates that there were thou
sands of these Indians. There is no
reason to believe that they were ex-
terminated by the methods which de-
populated some of the Caribbean ISL
ands. If that had been the case there
surely would be mention of it in some
of the records.
Two theories have been suggested
to account for the absolute disappear
ance of this race from the island. One
is that contagious disease introduced.
by the whites carried them off. The
other is that after the establishment
of the missions on the coast in the
latter half of the eighteenth century
they may have been invited by the
monks to come over to the mainland
to escape the ravages of the Russians,
who were at that time sending ex-
petitions down from their Alaska
possessions.