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The Americas 58.2 (2001) 303-305



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Book Review

Daily Life in Colonial Mexico: The Journey of Friar Ilarione da Bergamo, 1761-1768. Translated by William J. Orr. Edited by Robert R. Miller and William J. Orr. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000. Pp. x, 240. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $24.95 cloth.

Fr. Ilarione da Bergamo was a Capuchin friar who was sent by his superiors to collect alms for Propaganda Fide a Congregation that supported missionaries in several parts of the world. He stayed in Mexico between 1763 and 1768, traveling [End Page 303] through mostly its central region while performing his religious assignment. Ilarione's account remained in manuscript form until Miller and Orr undertook the task of transcribing and translating it into English. Its present rendition has been judiciously edited for readability and includes a selection of the illustrations that Ilarione included in his travel recollections. His assignment had originally been to Tibet, but a last minute change sent him to New Spain. A reluctant traveler to Mexico, the Capuchin came to like the viceroyalty well enough to remember his stay lovingly and move him to write this account of his stay.

From the outset Ilarione assumed that he would be a "truthful" observer of the realities of the distant place where God and his superiors had sent him. He reflected the Enlightenment's consciousness of the need for "objectivity" and states that he will tell "the unvarnished truth" about Mexico. What was that "truth" and how he attempted to convey it are important topics for us today. Through Ilarione's experience we can attempt to recreate those first impressions that must have been experienced by all who traveled to the Americas. What would a pious friar from an Italian city see in the New World? How would it affect him? How would he relate to the people, the daily life, the flora and fauna, the incidents and accidents of traveling on foot or by mule in climates so different and with people so "exotic" to him? His comments lead us to pry into his mind as a topic of as much interest as what he had to say. He, himself, was a "foreigner" in New Spain, welcomed by the universal appeal of alms collection for converting infidels under the umbrage of Catholic Christianity until his stay was brusquely ended as a result of a change of ecclesiastical policy.

This European who could be made to feel uncomfortable as a "foreigner" is here narrating his travails in the sea at times of war, his discovery of the tropics in the Caribbean, his first acquaintance with Indians and enslaved Africans, and his wonderment before a variety of birds and plants that really made him aware that he was in a new world. While he remained interested in the natural world, he became increasingly appreciative (albeit not always positively) of the peoples and their customs. He also stayed committed to providing his potential readers with background information that would enhance their knowledge, never abandoning his ultimate pedagogical and utilitarian objective.

Ilarione was interested in all aspects of the political economy of the viceroyalty, but also keen on social issues. He commented on agricultural production, mining, the social hierarchies produced by the viceroyalty's variegated population, and popular culture. He was shocked by the way non-elite members of society mixed and behaved. Women were not virtuous; the country was "rife with illegitimate progeny." Slaves in Cuba, where he stopped on his return, were hardly clad; he also disapproved of the nudity of the children of Guadalajara. In general, Ilarione saw many people who were "sluggards, drunkards, thieves, swindlers and lechers" (p. 115). At the same time he had some compassionate and critical words against slavery, remarked unfavorably on the disparity between rich and poor and considered Indians "more industrious and sharp witted than the Creole because they readily imitate whatever they observe" (p. 118). [End Page 304]

The narrative is a terse exercise of the memory that never reaches the height of...

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