WHETHER IT TAKES PLACE for survival after an airplane crash in some desolate region, as a depraved act by a mad murderer, or in a ritualized form among primitive cultures, cannibalism is a repulsive but fascinating subject. It evokes curiosity and perhaps a nightmarish fear since it is connected with headhunting, torture, human sacrifice, and brutality. Indeed, in some of its forms, cannibalism might be seen as an ultimate act of savagery by human beings against their own kind. From the very beginning of European overseas expansion, explorers, conquerors, and missionaries wrote extensively about contacts with cannibal races or reported their existence beyond the known frontiers. The Caribs of the West Indies, the Tupinamba of Brazil, and the Aztecs of Mexico became the best known anthropophagists, Indeed, the Caribs discovered by Columbus gave us the word 'cannibal.' Today, some historians and anthropologists believe that the Aztecs engaged in large-scale cannibalism to provide animal protein in their diet while others doubt that they ate human flesh at all.• Certainly, the evidence of sixteenthcentury Europeans does leave much to be desired. Filled with misconceptions and their own superstitions, unable to understand Indian culture or language, and often filled with blind religious fervour to convert the pagan, they might be said to have been programmed to identify unusual phenomena. During the eighteenth-century Enlightenment Europeans experi-The author wishes to express thanks to the Canada Council and the University of And if the North Pacific promised to be a treasure chest in the economic and strategic areas, its coastal populations appeared to be as wild and intriguing as any race could be. To begin with, the Indians lived in a geographic setting that seemed to enhance their ferocity and warlike character. The fog-shrouded coastline, craggy islands and headlands, and deep inlets obscured mysteries and prevented the Europeans from making observations that might answer their questions. The Indians, obviously great mariners, traders, builders, and artists, offered their visitors little more than a glimpse of their complex society. Explorers and fur traders could describe arms, utensils, dress, and outward appearance, but the Indian languages were difficult and often invitations to visit villages were rejected because of perceived dangers. When communications did improve, the Indians tended to verify the first impressions of Europeans that they were a bloodthirsty, ferocious, and cruel people -anxious to exterminate their traditional enemies and to dominate the new commerce in metals, textiles, and other highly desirable products. Few observers stopped to consider that by blackening the reputations of their neighbours and bragging about their own savage prowess, Indians of one band or tribe were conducting a form of diplomacy and seeking a competitive advantage in the new trade. To further condemn themselves in the eyes of Europeans, these Indians showed little of the subservience, respect, or behaviour expec...

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In an age of fiscal and administrative reform, the army of New Spain stood out as an irredeemable drain on the treasury as well as a nightmare for bureaucrats and military planners. No knowledgeable observer could possibly advocate a continuation of the haphazard defenses of previous decades, but there were very few other points of agreement. From the perspective of the mother country, Mexicans had to recognize the need to defend themselves. The British conquests of Canada, the Floridas, and the temporary occupation of Havana, underscored the dangers and the possibilities of Mexicans losing their possessions and liberties. Naturally, the full burden of military finance and service would fall upon the residents of the viceroyalty, not to mention the growing costs of the annual subsidies (situados) sent to help pay for the defense of less advantaged possessions in the Caribbean, Central America, and the Philippines. The problem was how to prevent the army of New Spain from becoming a voracious consumer of money without offering much in the way of a standing defense force. In 1762 for example, Viceroy Marqués de Cruillas spent 3,398,471 pesos extraordinary funds without managing to get the fortifications at Vercruz into a state of readiness or a proper force to defend them. Most viceroys, inspectors general, and senior staff officers confronted with the task of having to inspect Mexican units catalogued a long list of failures. They described a history of constnatly changing military policies that achieved little other than to waste hundreds of thousands of pesos each decade while entrenching numerous chronic defects.

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