where is the contradiction? The natives, according to Mr. Max Müller himself, did not adore the "omnipotent being," whom Salvado himself describes as "dead and decrepit." They declared that this being created all things in order by his mere breath; but, as has been well remarked, Salvado does not say whether this assertion of theirs came after or before he had told them the Biblical narrative of creation. According to Mr. Müller, Salvado did not hear of the being till he had been more than three years with his flock; so we may infer that he had not spent three years without imparting the very first elements of the faith. If this be so, the native account of the omnipotent decrepit being, who was dead, and who was not adored, is a good example of the missionary tales which must be received with caution.[1] We may add a very fair example of the difficulty of learning about alien religions. It is given by Garcilasso de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, and a companion of Pizarro.[2] "The method that our Spaniards adopted in writing their histories was to ask the Indians in Spanish touching the things they wanted to find out from them. These, from not having a clear knowledge of ancient things or from bad memories, told them wrong, or mixed up poetical fables with their replies. And the worst of it was that neither party had more than a very imperfect knowledge of the language of the other, so as to understand the inquiry and to reply to it. . . . In this great confusion, the priest or layman who asked the questions placed the meaning to them which was nearest to the desired answer, or which was most like what the Indian was understood to have said. Thus they interpreted according to their pleasure or prejudice, and wrote things down as truths which the Indians never dreamt of." As an example of these comparisons, Garcilasso gives the
- ↑ Compare Hibbert Lectures, pp. 16, 17, 95, and Journal of Anthrop. Inst., 1877–78; Mr. Carmichael on Memorie Storiche dell' Australia. The reference given in Hibbert Lectures is wrong.
- ↑ Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries, vol. i. 123.
