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1 5 3 a p p e n d i x a Two Accounts of the Areíto of Anacaona Bartolomé de las Casas, Historia de las Indias, Volume 2, Book 1, Chapter 114 Trans. Francis Sullivan in Las Casas, Indian Freedom: The Cause of Bartolomé de las Casas, 1484–1566: A Reader, 37–38. When the Christians saw the army, Don Bartholomew signaled that he came to do them no harm, but to visit them, spend time among them, and he wanted to see King Behechio and his country. The Indians relaxed, as if they had gotten great pledges from the Christians, and it would be impossible for them to fail in their word. So messengers went flying off to King Behechio, or, if he was already there, he sent orders that his whole court and all of his people , plus his sister Anacaona, a remarkable and gracious woman, should go out and welcome the Christians , and that they should put on all the festivities usually done for their own rulers, the full panoply of their traditional celebrations. The Indians and the Christians went a further thirty leagues to reach the city of Xaragua because it is some sixty leagues from Santo Domingo. A whole host of people, including many chiefs and nobles, came out to meet them, a gathering of the entire region with King Behechio and Queen Anacaona, his sister, singing their songs, dancing their dances, which they call areítos, a happy, happy thing to see, especially when performed jointly by large numbers. Thirty women led the procession, the wives of King Behechio, they were stark naked except their lower bodies were covered with cotton skirts, white skirts beautifully woven which they call naguas, and which covered them from waist to thigh. They carried green branches in their hands, and they sang and danced and leaped with grace in a womanly way, expressing great, great delight, excitement, and festival joy. The women danced up to Bartholomew Columbus, sank to the ground on their knees, and with great respect, presented him with the palm branches they carried. The rest of the people, a huge, huge number all danced in jubilation, and in that festive , celebratory fashion—almost beyond description —they led Bartholomew Columbus to the royal house, the Palace of King Behechio, where a huge feast was ready and waiting, of native foods, i.e., cassava bread, rodents—rabbit-like creatures of the island —roasted or stewed, and all sorts of fresh and salt water fish that run in that area. • • • • Next day, the Indians gathered in the town plaza to offer further and varied festivities so they brought Don Bartholomew and the Christians to watch. During the events, two troops of men, armed with bows and arrows, naked otherwise, suddenly appeared and started to skirmish in a war game, one against the other. At first it was like the wooden-sword fights in Spain, but little by little the men got heated up, then it was as if they were battling their worst enemies, so much so that wounded each other and severely, four were soon dead and many quite hurt. And this was done with all the exhilaration and zest and enthusiasm in the world, making no more of the wounded or dead than if someone had flicked them in the face. The bash would have kept up and many more died if King Behechio, at the request of Don Bartholomew and the Christians, had not ordered to halt it. . . . 1 5 4 d a n c i n g t h e n e w w o r l d Anacaona was a very remarkable woman, very prudent , very gracious and cultured in her speech, in crafts, in relationships, and very friendly toward the Christians. She was as well, Queen of Maguana, because she was the wife of King Caonabo. Peter Martyr d’Anghera, De orbe novo, Vol. 1, “First Decade,” Book 5 Trans. Francis Augustus MacNutt in De orbe novo: The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr d’Anghera, vol. 1, 119–120. “We do not pretend,” continued the Adelantado, “to exact tribute from anybody which cannot be easily paid, or of a kind not obtainable; but we know that this country produces an abundance of cotton, hemp, and other similar things, and we ask you to pay tribute of those products.” The cacique’s face expressed joy on hearing these words, and with a satis- fied air he agreed to give what...

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