ダーウィンの日記1832年7月3日

ダーウィンの日記(リオ・デ・ジャネイロ)

[日記仮訳(抄訳)]
(1832年7月)3日

.. [前半省略]..

膨大な数の奴隷の状態はブラジルに入る誰にとっても興味深い事であるに違いないだろう。道路を通り過ぎる時に皮膚に刻み付けられた装飾や多様な言葉で見分けられる部族を観察するのは好奇心をそそる。これから国の安全が結果する。奴隷たちは彼等自身の間でポルトガル語を使って話をしなければならないというわけで、従って統合されていない。

私は、結局は彼等が支配者となるだろうと信じざるを得ない。その数、その立派な筋骨たくましい身体からそう判断する。彼等は(特に[ポルトガル系の]ブラジル人と対比した場合)親しみのある雰囲気を持ち、きちんと見てみれば彼等の知性は過小評価されていることが分かる。彼等は全ての必要な職種で有効な働き手である。もし自由な黒人が数を増やし(そうあるべきなのだが)、白人と同等でない事に不満を持つようになれば、一般的な解放の時期はそう遠くはあるまい。奴隷たちは以前彼等が予想していたよりも、あるいは英国の人々が考えるよりも、幸せだと私は思う。しかしながら、多くの恐るべき例外が存在するものと思われる。

彼等の性格の基本的なものは素晴らしい魂であり、陽気さ、善良さ、および勇気が多くの頑固さと入り混じっている。彼等がその権利を行使するであろう日が、そしてこれらの不正に報復をすることを忘れる日が来る事を私は望んでいる。

[地図]ブラジルの位置..

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[注釈]
この日の日記記事の前半部分では当時の(ポルトガル系)ブラジル人についての辛口批評が書かれています。これはなんらかの理由で辛辣に過ぎるようで、私的日記の全てをそのまま訳す必要もないので、この日の記事の前半部は訳を省略しています。原文は全文載せてあります。

[画像]リオ・デ・ジャネイロ(旧市街を中心に置いて)..

『ビーグル号航海記』マレイ社刊挿絵版(1890年)から

[日記原文]
3rd
[Note: The sentences between square brackets are not translated above.]
[Went to the city. On landing, found the Palace Square crowded with people round the house of two money changers who were murdered yesterday evening in a more atrocious manner than usual. — It is quite fearful to hear what enormous crimes are daily committed & go unpunished. — If a slave murders his master, after being confined for some-time he then becomes a government one. — However great the charge may be against a rich man; he is certain in a short time to be free. — Everybody can here be bribed. — A man may become a sailor or a physician or any profession, if he can afford to pay sufficiently. — It has been gravely asserted by Brazilians that the only fault they found with the English laws was that they could not perceive rich respectable people had any advantage over the miserable & the poor. —
The Brazilians, as far as I am able to judge, possess but a small share of those qualities which give dignity to mankind. Ignorant, cowardly, & indolent in the extreme; hospitable & good natured as long as it gives them no trouble; temperate, revengeful, but not quarrelsome; contented with themselves & their customs, they answer all remarks by asking "why cannot we do as our grandfathers before us did". — Their very appearance bespeaks their little elevation of character. — figures short, they soon become corpulent; and their faces possessing little expression, appear sunk between the shoulders. — The Monks differ for the worse in this latter respect; it requires little physiognomy to see plainly stamped persevering cunning, sensuality & pride. — One old man I always stop to look at, the only thing I ever saw like it, is Scoens Judas Iscariot. —
All that I have said about the countenances of the priests, may be transferred to the voices of the older women. — Being surrounded by slaves, they become habituated to the harsh tones of command & the sneer of reproach. — Their manners are seldom softened by terms of endearment: they are born women, but die more like fiends. — It will be more readily believed, when I state that Mr Earl has seen the stump of the joint, which was wrenched off in the thumbscrew which is not unfrequently kept in the house. —]

The state of the enormous slave population must interest everyone who enters the Brazils. — Passing along the streets it is curious to observe the numbers of tribes which may be known by the different ornaments cut in the skin & the various expressions. — From this results the safety of the country. The slaves must communicate amongst themselves in Portugeese & are not in consequence united. — I cannot help believing they will ultimately be the rulers. I judge of it from their numbers, from their fine athletic figures, (especially contrasted with the Brazilians) proving they are in a congenial climate, & from clearly seeing their intellects have been much underrated. — they are the efficient workmen in all the necessary trades. — If the free blacks increase in numbers (as they must) & become discontented at not being equal to white men, the epoch of the general liberation would not be far distant. I believe the slaves are happier than what they themselves expected to be or than people in England think they are. — I am afraid however there are many terrible exceptions. — The leading feature in their character appears to be wonderful spirits & cheerfulness, good nature & a "stout heart" mingled with a good deal of obstinacy. — I hope the day will come when they will assert their own rights & forget to avenge these wrongs. —

["ダーウィンが行く"について]
このシリーズで扱っているのはダーウィンがビーグル号で航海に出ている時の日記です。訳文は私的な研究目的に供するだけの仮のものです。普通は全文を訳しますが日によっては原文全文と注釈または抄訳だけにとどめる場合もあります。この1832年7月3日付けの記事は抄訳です。
[日記原典]
"Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary" ed. by R.D.Keynes, Cambridge U.P., 1988.