Gerardus Johannes Vos or Vossius (1577â1649) was a Dutch philosopher who taught history and languages at the University of Leiden. He was among the first to discuss non-Christian religions from a historical point of view and for that matter the observations of Christophe Artichewski may have ended up in the Addenda of his De Theologia Gentili, Physiologia Christiana, published in 1641 in Amsterdam. In the first book therein, Vossius discussed Japanese demons and stated that similar cults were present in the West Indies, among the Mexicans for example, referring to the fifth book of Acostaâs Rerum Americana, before preceding in Latin to the description of Tapuia cults provided by Christophe Artichewski.1
Christopher Artichewski (1592â1656) was a Polish commander who spent several years in the service of the WIC in Dutch Brazil.2 His military accomplishments were highly praised by the WIC and he would have become governor of the colony in 1637, had the Lords XIX not decided to appoint Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen instead. During his expeditions in Brazil, Artichewski observed the country and its inhabitants closely, and he wrote about it all in various letters and reports. Concerning his encounters with the Tapuia, evoked by Johannes de Laet when Artichewski interviewed Caracara (see Document 12), there is little handwritten material known.3 Besides quotations in Barlaeus and the passages copied in De Laet, there are the Addenda in Vossius.4 The Dutch theologian Arnoldus Montanus (1625â1683) produced a Dutch translation of the Addenda.5
The translation presented here was made by C.L. Vermeulen of Noctua Text & Translation, for which we would like to thank em.
Original Printed Document
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[i]Addenda Libro Primo â¦. [ii]â¦. Possum idem de aliis quibusdam ejusce Indiae8 gentibus dicere: sed omnium instar fuerint, quae de religione Tapuiarum perscripsit nobis Christophorus Arcissewski, Polonus, genere quidem praenobili apud suos; sed nobilior tamen rebus iis, quas, pro faederatae Belgicae terris, in Brasilia fortiter adeò, ac feliciter, gessit, ut aeternùm ei debiturae sint terrae nostrae, nec ejus memoria sine animi mirè ingrati crimine apud nos possit intercidere. Paucis exsequar; non paullo tamen fusiùs, quà m in similibus opere hoc facere est animus. Nimirum historia omnis delectat, praesertim novitate. Est verò Tapuiarum, seu Tapuionum gens, inter Siaram, et Maranthon sita; vagabunda locis incultis, et desertis, fera, |
Translation by C.L. Vermeulen I can say the same of some other peoples of the West Indies, but let the universal example be what was written to me concerning the religion of the Tapuia by Christopher Archissevsky,6 a Polish gentleman of pre-eminently noble descent among his people, but nobler still because of the things he did for the lands of the Dutch federation7 in Brazil with such courage and success that our lands owe an eternal debt to him, and if we forget him we may be accused of incredible ingratitude. I will write a little more about this, but quite a bit more elaborately than I intend to do in this book in similar cases. Without doubt the whole story is delightful, especially because of its novelty. The Tapuia people is located between Siara and Maranthon, roaming uncultivated and deserted places. They are a wild and cannibal people and do not cover any part of their bodies, at least none but the genitals. Indeed when the Dutch presented some of them with clothes, they took pleasure in the novelty at first, but within two days they returned them, gave them to others or threw them away. They also tie up the prepuce with a little strap made of silk, twigs or other materials, to prevent the head of the penis standing up in an unseemly wayâthe one thing they diligently guard against. They have pierced lips, cheeks, nostrils and ears, and from the holes they wear ornaments made of wood, bone, stone, feathers or other materials. For weapons they have a club of very hard wood, a bow made of the same material, arrows made of reed and throwing spears also made of reed. They do not value gold or silver at all. When they had dug up coffers filled with gold and silver weapons that the Portuguese had buried in the ground, they were easily cheated out of their money by the Dutch, as the Tapuia kept buying axes and dogs suitable for the huntâon which they are quite keenâbut also ordinary and very cheap dogs, for a single one of which they would pay up to twenty rijksdaalders. It would take too long to describe all the customs of this people that I learned from the noble Archissevsky. Perhaps there will be a better occasion elsewhere to recount them. I cannot, however, pass over the fact that they eat human flesh, |
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eo se meliores putare aliis Duplex agnoscunt numen, bonum, malumque: sed bonum, quia sponte faciat bene, affligat neminem, nullo prosequuntur honore: malum contrà venerantur, et invocant, quia iracundum sit, et cultum sui negligentes malè perdat. Nec vel iter instituunt, vel adversus hostem tendunt, nisi malo hoc numine, quem daemonem dicimus, certis priùs ritibus consulto. Hinc divinandi sibi scientiam arrogant. Et fatendum, varia saepe praedicere, quae prospicere mens nequeat humana. Quale illud, quod cùm Sapo Amama Frisius, turmae equitum praefectus, ad Coniahu hostiles observaret excursiones, ac fortè illi tum afforet voluntariorum ex Tapuis12 militum manus: praedictum ab iis fuit, postridie praefecti optionem, ac praeterea ex equitibus unum in velitando periturum globis è bombarda missis. Id risum eo tempore, quo dicebatur; sed eventu postea est comprobatum. Ac hujusmodi alia etiam ferebantur. Quomodo daemonem evocarent, eumque ad prodenda arcanò acta, vel futura praedicenda, orare, quandoque etiam objurgare, consueverint, non aliàs luculentiùs apparuit, quà m cùm nobilissimus Christoph. Arcissewskius (cui Hollandi, quae in Brasilia pos- |
but consider themselves superior to other cannibals because the latter eat the flesh of enemies, while the Tapuia feed on the corpses of friends who have died in battle or otherwise. They do this to prove their sense of duty and their love for them, by not allowing them to become the food of worms or to be consumed by filthy decay, but burying their precious loved ones in their own innards and converting them into their own juices and blood and their very soul, in a way. I was given a memorable example of this by the same courageous gentleman. When the Tapuia were staying in Dutch territory, at the fortress called Rio Grande, it so happened that one of them passed away. His kinsfolk washed his corpse, cut it open, cleansed the bowels of food remains and washed away all other dirt everywhere. They cut his hair and nails and set aside the cuttings. Then they cut up the corpse into its various parts, of which none were despised, not even the genitals, for they roasted them all, carefully collecting the fat and the fluid that dripped off during the roasting. All this served as a meal for his kinsfolk; no others are welcome at this feast. What cannot be eatenâhair, nails, teeth, bonesâis reduced to ashes. A portion of the ashes is put into cups and imbibed until, after a rather long drinking session, all of it has been consumed. I have written these things regarding this uncivilized peopleâs customs first, although they do not pertain to religion, of which I will speak now. They acknowledge a double deity, a good and an evil one. The good one, however, since he does what is good of his own accord and harms no one, they do not honor in any way. The bad one, on the other hand, they worship and invoke, because he is irascible and destroys those who neglect to worship him. They do not even undertake a journey or move against an enemy without first consulting this evil deity (that we call a demon) with certain rituals. From this they claim that they can see the future. One has to admit that they often predict various events that the human mind cannot foresee. When for instance the Frisian Sapo Amama, commander of a troop of cavalry, observed hostile excursions at Coniahu10 while he happened to have a group of Tapuia volunteer soldiers at hand, they predicted that the next day his adjutant and one of the cavalrymen would die from cannon fire during a skirmish. It was laughed at when it was said, but it was proved right by the outcome. And there were more stories like this. How they evoke the demon and how they are accustomed to praying to him, and sometimes scolding him, to get him to reveal things done in secret or to predict the future has never appeared more clearly than when the most noble Christopher Archissevsky (it is to him first and foremost that the Dutch |
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sident, imprimis debent) istic locorum praeesset faederatorum Belgarum copiis. Fortissimus is vir adduxerat ex Arce Rio Grande praesidiariorum partem; cui se sponte addiderunt Tapuiarum circiter quinquageni. Quia exigua haec manus erat ad Barra-Canium, munimentum Hispanicum, occupandum: cardo rei in eo potissimùm versabatur, ut oppugnationem ejus subitò, occultéque, aggrederentur. Metus interim erat, ne consilium hoc à Tapuis proderetur indigenis infidelibus: eoque non aliâ conditione in societatem admissi sunt, quà m ut nec unguem transversum ab agmine discederent: in quo ipso fidem exsolverunt. Quia verò non esset po- [iv] testas recedendi; triduano itinere, quo per avia sunt circumducti, diebus singulis in omnium conspectu sacros suos ritus peregerunt. Poposcerat à Tapuis Arcissewskius, ut se commonerent, quando daemonem essent evocaturi: conditionéque eâ promissum, ut ne ille sacra eorum14 violari, vel turbari sineret. Tertiâ igitur die, cùm corporibus jam curatis inciperet agmen moveri, arcessitus ab iis fuit: ac comperit eos prope viam in formam semicirculi, seu lunae corniculatae, considentes cruribus divaricatis. Ex adverso itidem humi sedebat sacrificulus. Hic caeteros varia interrogabat, de variis item rogabatur: utrimque dabantur responsa. Sed qualia ista forent, quae dicerentur, non satis cognosci quitum, vitio interpretum. Nam quibus Hollandi utebantur, solùm duas callebant linguas; unam maritimis Brasiliae gentibus communem, qua interpretes illi affati sunt Tapuias; alteram Lusitanicam, qua ex illis audita exponerent Hollandis. Illa verò Tapuiarum ab communi istac multum abiit. Incolunt enim mediterranea Brasiliae; quae ut in varias dissecta sunt gentes, ita linguis multùm distant; uti animis etiam sunt inter se hostilibus. Interpretes itaque multa à Tapuis responsa assequi non satis valuerunt: nec rarò è nutu potiùs, et gestibus, quam auditis, judicium ferre cogebantur. Quâ de caussâ etiam pauca adeò de Tapuiarum religione cognita habemus. Ad historiam coeptam redeo. Ubi sermocinandi pausam concio fecerat, consurrexit sacrificulus, et extra conspectum omnium abiit in sylvam, vocéque sat |
owe their possessions in Brazil) was the commander of the Dutch federationâs troops there. This very brave man had taken part of the garrison from the Rio Grande fortress, and about fifty Tapuia had spontaneously joined them. Because this tiny troop was to take Barra-Canium, a Spanish stronghold, the most important thing was for them to go about attacking it suddenly and stealthily. Meanwhile, it was feared that the Tapuia would betray this plan to the faithless natives, and therefore they were admitted to the party on the absolute condition that they not stray from the line by as much as a nailâs width; and they kept their word in this. Since now they were unable to withdraw, they conducted their sacred rites for all to see on every day of the three-day journey during which they were led around through the wilderness. Archissevsky had asked the Tapuia to warn him when they were going to call forth the demon, and this was promised to him on the condition that he would not allow their rites to be violated or disturbed. So on the third day, when they had already refreshed their bodies and the army train was beginning to move, they summoned him and he found them near the road in a semicircular or moon-sickle formation, sitting with their legs wide. Opposite them was the priest, sitting on the ground in the same way. He asked the others various questions and likewise was asked questions on various things, and answers were given by both sides. What kinds of things were said, however, remained unclear through the interpretersâ fault. The interpreters used by the Dutch knew two languages only: one that is common to the coastal peoples of Brazil, in which these interpreters talked to the Tapuia, the other Portuguese, in which they explained to the Dutch what they had heard from the Tapuia.13 Their language, however, is very different from the common one, for they live in Brazilâs inland; and as it is divided into various peoples, so the languages are very different, just as they are hostile to one another as well. Therefore the interpreters were insufficiently able to follow many of the Tapuiaâs replies, and they often had to base their judgment on nodding and gestures rather than what they heard. Because of this, our knowledge of the Tapuia religion also is rather meager. Let me go back to the story I had started. When the congregation had paused speaking, the priest stood up and went into the forest, out of everyoneâs sight. |
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sonorâ daemonem tertiò etiam inclamavit. Eo non reddente responsum, rediit ad suos: novique inde inter eos sermones: sed quos nec interpretes caperent. Hinc sacrificulus (jussus à consessu, ut videtur) iterum petiit sylvam. Verùm neque tum ad iteratum, tertiatumque sermonem, à daemone dabatur responsum. Reversus igitur, ut antè, ad suos. Post tertiò ingressus sylvam: ac tum demum eo inclamante, audita est è remotiori sylva vox sonora, sed gracilis, et velut fistulâ emissa. Hinc Tapuiae collegêre, rem bellè habere, ac daemonem mox affuturum. Sacrificulo ad coetum suum reverso, verba iterum utrimque sunt commutata. Hinc denuo recessit sacrificulus. Tum varia erat acclamatio, ac sermocinatio frequens. Interim è sylva magis, et magis, appropinquabat gracilis vox daemonis, donec hic tandem consisteret proximè sacrificulum; qui eum ad Tapuarum coetum deduxit. Ac ipse quidem priorem locum occupavit; daemonem item ex adverso coetus juxta se considêre jussit. Hinc jam sermones varii, nunc coetu aliqua dicente, nunc sacrificulo, vel daemone: quorum illi vox erat, qualis solet semper; huic gracilis illa, de qua dictum. Ac nunc sacrificulus, nunc complures ex coetu, jactare verba animosi ac masculi pectoris; aliquando etiam intentare minas, imò videri jam [v] arma velle arripere adversus daemonem. Quid mirum? quando si immorigerus esse pergat, quandoque verberibus etiam malè mulcare dicantur. Ultima interrogantis verba excipiebat inconditus quidam multitudinis sonus, longo tractu ab imo productus pectore; qui mirè adstantes afficiebat Belgas. Nisi homines coram vidissent, dixissent, conclusos in cavea leones rugire, vel caurire pantheras. Dimidiam sic horam spectarat ista Arcissewskius, cùm sacrificulus daemonem reducit in sylvam, eóque redit relicto. Caeterùm dum sic histrioniam suam agunt Tapuiae, animadversum à Belgis fuit, militem Germanum proripuisse se ab agmine, atque inter frondes reptâsse eo loci, ubi optimè occuleretur. Hinc igitur ab iis, quibus istoc incumberet, ut observarent, nequis se subduceret, retractus mox fuit. Iterum tamen se subduxit, et quia propterea transfugii suspectus foret, ad Arcissewskium est deductus. Caussam istorum rogatus, priùs quidem frivola quaedam praetexuit; verùm ubi sensit non haberi iis fidem, atque adeò vinctus traheretur ad arborem torturae destinatam, conceptis promisit verbis, dicturum se, quod res erat: hoc verò esse hujusmodi: non intra decennium se preces Deo fudisse: ac propterea, cùm daemonem inter Tapuias versantem conspiceret, malè sibi metuisse, ne ipse homo tam nefarius ab eo facilè agnitus auferretur eò loci, quò sui similes mererentur. Et haec quidem tum sic fuere. |
There in a rather loud voice he invoked the demon three times. When the demon did not reply, the priest went back to his people and they had a fresh discussion, but the interpreters did not understand this either. Then the priestâordered by the seated congregation, it seemedâwent into the forest once more, but again there was no answer from the demon to the invocation that he made three times. So he went back to his people as before. Then he went into the forest a third time; and then, finally, as he was calling upon the demon a voice was heard from deeper inside the forest. It was loud but thin and sounded as if it came from a shepherdâs flute. From this the Tapuia concluded that all was well and the demon would be present soon. When the priest had returned to his congregation, more talk was exchanged between both sides. Then the priest withdrew again, and there were various shouts of approbation and much talk. Meanwhile the thin voice of the demon drew nearer and nearer from the forest until at last he was standing quite near the priest, who then led him to the Tapuia congregation. The priest took the place of honor and ordered the demon to sit next to him facing the congregation. Then there was talk from all sides, now with the congregation saying something, then the priest or the demon. The priest had the same voice as always, the demon the thin one mentioned above. And now the priest, then several people in the congregation started talking heatedly and fiercely, sometimes even making threats, indeed appearing ready to attack the demon with their weapons. This should be no surprise, since it is said that they sometimes beat him badly if he keeps refusing to comply. The interrogatorâs last words were followed by an uncouth, long-drawn sound from the crowd that was brought forth from deep in the chest, which really affected the Dutch who stood by. If they hadnât seen the men with their own eyes, they would have said that lions enclosed in a cage were roaring, or panthers growling. Archissevsky had been watching this for half an hour when the priest took the demon back into the forest and returned having left him there. Incidentally, while the Tapuia were staging their performance, the Dutch had noticed that a German soldier had sneaked out of the army train and crept between the foliage into an excellent hiding place. So he was soon brought back from there by the men who had been appointed to ensure that no one stole away. He stole away once more, though, and was then brought before Archissevsky because he was suspected of desertion. When asked the reason for his actions, he first came up with some silly excuse, but when he realized that it was not believed and that he would therefore be put in chains and dragged to the tree that was meant for torture, he formally promised that he would say what it was, and that it was this: he had not prayed to God for ten years, and therefore when he saw the demon among the Tapuia he had become very scared for himself, that being such a sinful man he would easily be spotted by the demon and taken away to the place where the likes of him deserved to be taken. |
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Quaerat autem aliquis, utrùm verè hunc daemonem fuisse credamus, quem diximus. Mihi videtur, in toto hoc negotio intercurrisse fraudem, non daemoniacam modò, sed etiam humanam. Siquidem commodiori pòst tempore rogavit Arcissewskius Tapuias, cur eum finxissent daemonem, qui homo foret, sibi ipsi saepius visus. Negare id continuò Tapuiae, qui verè fuisse daemonem pertenderunt. Sed saepius jam ante viderat hominem Arcissewskius: illa verò vocis gracilitas erat à gramine, vel alio, quod ori indiderat. Nec quia fraus aderat humana, eò nullae erant daemonis partes. Nam aliud longè ostendit, quòd tam audacter responderunt de futuris nonnullis, quae praesciri ab homine nequirent. Ut quòd dicerent, munimentum venturum in faederatorum potestatem, tribus tantùm militum amissis. Sic enim contigit. Quia verò nec daemoniacae est potestatis praevidere omnia, fuere in quibus eos fefellerit divinatio. Ajebant, nostros pro ponte usuros assere, atque ita fossam transituros, hoste ignaro. Sanè sic decretum nostris: quod nihil mirum scîsse spiritum malignum. Sed hostis excitatus praesensit: ac diutiùs se defendit globis bombardarum emissis. Quo insolito fragore, tonitrui non absimili, usque adeò exterriti fuere Tapuiae, ut non redirent, nisi diluculo, capto munimento, atque ubi jam rebus omnibus compositis silentium intus esset. Post ista etiam, cùm Arcissewskius petiisset flumen Mon- [vi] guoape, atque ibi ex navibus hostium subductis vacuas quidem incendisset, saccaro verò onustas abducere vellet, et ad hoc Tapuiarum operâ egeret, quos breviore anfractu in tutiora vellet loca remittere: planè navem ingredi recusarunt, caussam hanc adferentes, quòd mali aliquid portenderetur. Exitus respondit; quia navis ea, praedae plena, cui imposita erant decem majora tormenta bellica, nec exigua copia vini Hispanici, saccari ac mercium aliarum, in exitu portûs angusti illisa saxo dissiliit, cunctaque naufragio sunt absumta. Atque ex his de caeteris etiam non difficilis erat conjectura. Nihil enim ullius momenti aggrediuntur, nisi daemone priùs consulto: ubi licet, ut dixi, fraus etiam sit humana, concurrat tamen vis daemoniaca; nec sanè aliud multitudo propositum habet, quà m cultum unius daemonis. Cui quantum tribuat, argumento erit, quòd aliâ contigit expeditione. Arcissewskius à sacrificulo petierat, ut ejus rogatu daemon, se inspectante, indusium, quod manu teneret, in sublimem aëra raperet: ac promittebat, indusium id mercedis loco cessurum sacrifico. Solùm id stipulatus fuit, ut liceret sibi daemona |
That was what happened then. Someone may ask whether I believe that the figure I have spoken of was really a demon. It seems to me that there was deceit in this whole businessânot just demonic, but human deceit too. For afterwards, at a more convenient moment, Archissevsky asked the Tapuia why they had pretended that it was a demon when in fact it was a man whom he himself had seen often enough. The Tapuia immediately denied this, insisting that it had really been the demon. Archissevsky, however, had repeatedly seen the man before; the thinness of his voice came from a herb or something else that he had put in his mouth. But the fact that there was human fraud involved does not mean that the demon did not play any part at all. Something else entirely is shown by the fact that they replied so boldly when asked about some future events that no man could foretell; that they said, for instance, that the fort would fall into the hands of the federation with the loss of just three soldiers. For that is what happened. Because, however, not even a demon has the power to foresee everything, there were cases in which their divination deceived them. They said that our side would use a pole for a bridge and in that way would cross the moat without the enemy noticing. Yes, our side did decide to do this, and no wonder the evil spirit knew. But the alert enemy had a presentiment of it and defended himself with cannon fire for a rather long time. This unusual noise, rather like thunder, frightened the Tapuia so badly that they did not return until dawn, when the fort had been taken and, all things settled, there was silence inside. After that there was another example, when Archissevsky had gone to the river Monguoape. Of the ships taken from the enemy he had set fire to the empty ones and wanted to sail away those laden with sugar; he needed Tapuia labor to do it and he wanted to send them to a safer place by a short detour. They flatly refused to board the ship, giving for a reason that something bad was portended. The outcome proved them right, because that ship, which was full of booty and on which ten big cannons had been placed as well as a large quantity of Spanish wine, sugar and other goods, split open on a rock while leaving a narrow harbor, and everything was lost in the shipwreck. From this the rest was an easy guess. For they do not undertake anything of any importance without first consulting the demon; and although, as I said, there is human fraud in this as well, the demonâs power nonetheless also comes into it; and of course the crowd has no other objective than the worship of the demon alone. How much store they set by him is made clear by something that happened on another expedition. Archissevsky had requested of the priest that in his presence, the demon at the priestâs bidding would snatch high into the air a shirt that Archissevsky would be holding in his hand, and he promised that he would give the shirt to the priest by way of reward. But he set the condition that as |
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accedentem ferire baculo, quem manu teneret alterâ. Placuit conditio credulae multitudini, quae nullo id negotio daemona facturum ajebat. Sed non potuit adduci sacrificulus, ut acciperet conditionem. Vnde risus est ortus ingens: quo desinente, Arcissewskius sic jocabundus affatus est sacrificulum. At ego me majorem te artificem praestabo. Die enim crastini faxo, ut capite cornua gestes cervina, ejus magnitudinis, quae non sinat te exire ex hoc conclavi. Hoc sermone ita hominem exterruit, ut postea, dilapsis aliò caeteris, cum interprete rediret, atque Arcissewskium rogaret, ut ne tantâ se afficeret contumeliâ. Haec de Tapuis ab nobilissimo, et constantissimae fidei Arcissewskio, accepta, eò fusiùs sum hoc loco persecutus, quia necdum essent consignata publicis literarum monumentis; nec obscurè docerent, quà m arctis limitibus Deus eorum quoque potestatem constrinxerit, qui nostris etiam temporibus totos se cultui daemonis manciparunt. |
the demon approached, he would be allowed to hit him with a stick that he would be holding in his other hand. The crowd of believers readily agreed to the condition, saying that there was no way the demon would do that. The priest, however, could not be persuaded to accept the condition, and this gave rise to enormous laughter. When it stopped, Archissevsky jokingly said to the priest: âWell, I will prove that I am more skillful than you. Tomorrow I will make you wear a deerâs antlers on your head, and they will be so big as to prevent you from leaving this enclosure.â With these words he so terrified the man that later, when the others had dispersed, he came back with an interpreter and asked Archissevsky not to inflict such an insult on him. This is the information I received from the most noble Archissevsky, a man of the staunchest faith;15 I have pursued it more at length here because it had not yet been published, and because it makes very clear how tightly God has restricted the power also of those who even in our times have enslaved themselves completely to the worship of a demon. |
Gerardus Johannes Vossius, De Theologia Gentili, Physiologia Christiana; sive de origine ac progressu idololatriæ, ad veterum gesta, ac rerum naturam, reductæ; de que naturæ mirandis, quibus homo adducitur ad Deum, Liber I, et II (Amsterdam: Johannes Blaeu, 1641), iâii.
His Polish name is Hirszel Henryk Krzysztof Arciszewski. For a detailed description of his life see Warnsinck in De Laet, Iaerlijck Verhael, 4.xxvâlxxiii; Dams, âComprehending the New World,â chapter 2.10.
In his Memorie of 1637, Artichewski wrote âTapulliersâ for Tapuia when discussing the attack upon Rebellin in April 1636; see Arciszewski, âMemorie,â 279.
See also Dams, âComprehending the New World,â 132.
See Montanus, De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, 373â375.
Translatorâs note: Usually referred to as Artichofsky, but Vossius consistently calls him âArcissewskiusâ and this is probably how he signed his letter to Vossius. The praise that Vossius heaps on Archissevskyâan exiled Polish count who had migrated to the Dutch Republic and with conspicuous bravery led the Dutch WIC troops in Brazil from 1635âthroughout this text should be seen against the background of the latterâs conflict with Johan Maurits, governor of Brazil from 1637, which forced Archissevsky to return to the republic in 1639. See also note 9.
Translatorâs note: Vossius uses terms like âfaederata Belgicaâ throughout the text to refer to the Dutch Republic.
i.e. Indiae Occidentalis.
Marginal gloss: hominivora.
Probably Cunhaú.
Marginal gloss: humana carne victitantibus.
1641: Topuis. Probably a typographical error.
The language used by the different groups and Europeans along the coast of Brazil is also known as the Lingua Geral da Costa, a language close to Tupi. See notably the works written by Aryon Rodrigues, for example Aryon DallâIgna Rodrigues, âAs Outras LÃnguas da Colonização do Brasil. 500 anos de História LinguÃstica do Brasil,â in Quinhentos anos de história lingüÃstica do Brasil, ed. Suzana Cardoso, Jacyra Mattos Mota and Rosa Virginia Silva (Salvador: Secretaria da Cultura e Turismo do Estado da Bahia, 2006), 143â161.
1641: earum. Probably a typographical error.
Translatorâs note: Since Archissevsky had been banished from Poland because he was a Socinian (a member of a Protestant sect that was highly suspect even in the tolerant Dutch Republic), there is more to this comment than meets the eye.