American Demons

White Smartass

What happened before

Lord Gruffydd of the Marches is a descendant of pompous bums and con artists. Gruffydd's ancestors failed at such a high level that they did not have to pay the cost of their defeats themselves. At the end of the 18th century, the coxcomb makes a writer and journalist of himself. He traveled to Australia and attracted attention as a paleontological bungler. In the care of an ingenious pathfinder, he explores the continent.

Gruffydd accompanies the hunter Yayan to a lake (Cuddie Springs?) in the north of New South Wales. His leader's way of life seems comfortable to the white smartass. Gruffydd writes: "Y. subjects almost everything to his pleasure. He leaves the tedious to his wife."

Eating snakes is taboo for girls, while boys should not eat young animals fresh from the marsupial mother's pouch.

Yayan's favorite food is larvae. He eats cockatoos, parrots, turtles, frogs and lizards. Every now and then he climbs a tree, encouraged by signs that escape Gruffydd. Yayan then pulls an opossum out of a hollow branch and throws it to the ground with such skill that the rat is already dead when it lands. Since the European concept of ownership means nothing to him, Yayan casually slaughters the colonists' grazing cattle. He leads Gruffydd to a place of worship. Near the shrine, the European discovers weapons and tools that seem ancient to him. His idiotic claims continue to shape the image of the Australian Stone Age hunter to this day.

Yayan prefers to hunt with a primitive throwing stick, which remains where the prey is. He prefers this weapon to the (technically more sophisticated) boomerang. He despises Christian converts and spreads unrest at mission stations. He stands in the way of his extinction without wanting to. Work - in European terms - makes no sense to him.  

In Latin America, the Catholic Church preserves the Indio manso's right to exist by trivializing him. It presents him as a poor child. The Spanish distinguish the Indio manso from the Indio salvajes. Yayan also insists on the difference between autonomous and unfree. He distances himself from his gentle compatriots on the mission stations. They are tamed, he is wild. They may have a future, he certainly doesn't. Yayan describes himself with a pessimistic attributional style, but shows no dissatisfaction. Gruffydd notes: "Yayan and his people seem to think the whites are tools of a great turning point."

Britain still only has one foot in the Australian door. British aspirations are greater than its ability to assert itself. Chinese migrants dig for gold, and enter the retail sector with a small fortune, while major British projects fizzle out. The worst of the Empire comes together in Australia, where the weak Governor King is replaced by Bill 'Bounty' Bligh*. Bligh takes massive action against bootlegging, rum is a currency in the colony. Bligh has already proven that he lacks the skills for diplomacy. He plays hardball to the hilt and immediately has another mutiny on his hands. The mutineers arrest him, he's seen that before. 

*As navigator and cartographer, William Bligh (1754 - 1817) had been on James Cook's last voyage. After Cook's assassination in Hawaii, he demanded command of the flagship. The mutiny on the Bounty was directed against him. As governor, he triggered a rum rebellion.