Coveted Knowledge: Indigenous Practice and Production in the Americas as Portrayed by Early Modern European Print

In a section of his travel journal relating to the weapons of the Indigenous population and their utilized war practices, Frézier noted how the Chileans had successfully used nooses to seize control of horses ridden by the Spanish during the conquest. Frézier’s focus on their use against the Spanish is continuously emphasized for obvious reason — the nooses could again be used against the Spanish should the indigenous peoples ally themselves with the French if the French were to attempt to take over the Viceroyalties.

Frézier spends a rather expansive swath of the text speaking to mining practices in Chile and Peru, describing how the viceregal administration processes and manages ore output. This process is evidently documented due to the French King’s own interest in the economic prosperity the viceroyalties give to Spain and what France might gain should they come to control the region.

Plate XXII, a print by Nicolas Geurard that accompanies this section, depicts the now institutionalized indigenous practice of using llamas (referred to by Frézier as the sheep of Peru) to efficiently move the ore to refineries, as well as various ore grinding mills and instruments for silver or gold refinement.

Freziér describes how the Indigenous workers are employed to mold silver parcels 8 times a day and how they stir the water mixtures thoroughly with their feet to separate the silver. He also describes how, prior to the conquest, the Andeans would melt the lead from the ore using furnaces rather than separating the silver from it using Quicksilver as the Spanish had introduced. These furnaces were powered using wood and dung. Frézier is enraptured by these secret histories that Peruvians speak of and how the Indigenous people had come to use such methods drawn from the earth itself. Frézier does not express as much interest in the pre-conquest gold mining practices of Chile, as he merely remarks that they were similar to those already known in Germany.

The exhalations from the mines are, according to Freziér, dangerous. He writes that the indigenous miners are obliged to regularly drink Mate, an herb from Paraguay, to moisten their breaths and prevent them from being numbed or having immense body pains. Frézier also mentions the Indigenous use of coca chewing herbs in Chile and Peru both to aid in further protection against the ill inducing air of the mines, and within secular life. Frézier writes that the Indigenous people "apply it to too many several Uses, most of them bad, that the Spaniards generally believe it has none of those Effects [in protecting against the illnesses of the mines], but by virtue of a Compact the Indians have with the Devil. For this Reason, the Use of it is prohibited in the Northern Part of Peru; and in the South, it is allowed in regard to those who work in the Mines and cannot subsist without it.” Frézier writes that the Spanish resentment of the Indigenous people chewing the herbs is so strong that the inquisition persecutes those who go against their prohibitions.

The weir was a tool Mid-Atlantic coastal indigenous people used to catch fish. Built from interwoven reeds, the weir produced a structure akin to a fence into which fish were then channeled into ever smaller reed corrals. Indigenous Fishermen were able to catch multiple fish at once with this fishing technique.

Three indigenous women embrace one another as they dance in the center of the ritual circle. Their depiction would be familiar to an educated European audience for its similarity to how the three graces are depicted. The three graces — Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia — were the handmaidens of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love. Often depicted nude and embracing, the three goddesses held an automatic association of sexuality. By depicting these indigenous women's participation in ceremonial dance in a similar fashion to the graces, the image reinforces the pagan religion of the Americas.