THE ABORIGINAL ENCOUNTERS THE CONQUISTADOR 143

 his innocence: for he had made himself a body from plates of steel, and it
 was stained with red blood in various stages of decay. He carried with him
 the following things: bibles, cathedrals, museums, libraries, the contents of
 a drawing room. (75)

 The essence of the history of colonialism is painted here with a few deft
brushstrokes-violence, conquest, the role of the Church, acquisition, scribal
culture, and, finally, the ultimate irony, European refinement. Despite what
the Amerindians sense, they welcome him warmly, much as we have learned
from history texts that some of the inhabitants of the Caribbean did welcome
the first foreigners to arrive.3 However, it quickly becomes clear that this is an
entirely different animal from any they have encountered. He is defined through-
out the story by a few qualities: megalomania, acquistiveness, and a com-
plete disregard for the rights of his hosts. They recognize these traits in Ovando
and they question his conduct, but he responds that the events they will ex-
perience together are predetermined (76). Nevertheless, despite Ovando's
apparent "sheer might" (79), this Aboriginal version of history unseats the
imperialist by depicting some of the major misconceptions of the West and by
erasing the notion of the Aboriginal as purely a beleaguered victim.
 Ovando introduces the scribal culture of the West into the New World. He
documents his intellectual musings, and the native perceives that this
documentation is intended to sanction his behaviour. He draws up hundreds
of articles that all confirm the "death" and the "nothingness" of the
Amerindian (80). The conquistador is convinced that by dishonouring the
Aboriginals in writing, they are left without honour. All that they can do in
response is to make a speech, but by their own admission, it is "long and
incoherent" (81). Hulme argues,

 Writing is kept as much as possible as the defining characteristic of western
 culture.... Anthropology has consistently operated this dichotomization:
 primitive and civilized, non-literate and literate. It has functioned to divide
 the world into two, one part (ours) that can be taken at its word, the other
 (not ours) that needs the interpreting voice of the anthropologist to make
 it comprehensible (to us). (56)

 Traditionally, the ways of seeing and the modes of scholarship of the West
ensure that oral cultures are cut off from history, and it is assumed that their
"mute remains" are unequal to the "incontrovertible evidence" that written
records provide (56). Hulme insists, however, that despite the importance
of written evidence, other items that reflect a culture even items as distinct

3 Although there is one narrator, I believe this is a collective tale told from the point
of view of Caribbean Amerindians as a whole. Thus, I refer to the narrator in the
plural.