L. G. Tippenhauer: Die Insel Haiti. 1893.

Mary Kingsley: West African Studies. London, Igor.
Pierre de Vassiere: Saint Domingue. 1908.
Hans Heinz Ewers: A Novel (I think) entitled Nachtmahr. Munich, 1922, also a French adaptation of the above, entitled Dans l’Epouvante. Paris, undated.
THE GARDUNA 221
(4) Spain.
The Garduna—Originated by brigands who had fought the Moors—Semi- official position—Trouble over tribute—Statutes—Degrees—Female mem; bers—Chiefs—Spies—Tariff of rewards—Fees from the Inquisition— Magnificent quarters—Cervantes—Archives—Survival in South America.
There may be very little to choose between political criminals and criminal politicians, but the change of atmos- phere is refreshing when we come to consider secret societies with no pretence of a concern for literature or science, free- dom or philanthropy, the golden age or the philosopher’s stone. Crime having succeeded in politics, there need be no reason why ordinary criminals should not adopt an organisa- tion and a policy. True, the rank and file of many na- tionalist and democratic movements have been swayed by lofty motives, loyal, disinterested, ready to sacrifice their lives for a cause, whereas the proverb about honour among thieves is often viewed with suspicion. But if oaths, punish- ments and vigilance can be made sufficiently stringent, there is no reason to despair of an efficient machine for the pro- tection of brigands, burglars, pirates and assassins. After all, they usually have their patron saints, at least in Catholic countries, like aviators, motorists, bull-fighters and other devotees of dangerous delights. Then again, the Thugs thought they were serving the goddess Kali by offering human sacrifices in her honour. Perhaps, therefore, they should not have been classified as a merely criminal associa- tion.
There need, however, be no reservations in dealing with the Garduna of Spain, in spite of its connection with the Holy Inquisition. The Garduna owed its origin to bands of brigands who had been enrolled by Ferdinand and Isabella to fight against the Moors. When the war was over, they abandoned all pretence of discipline and returned to their old habits of pillage, usually establishing themselves in the houses of Moors or Jews who had embraced Christianity
222 SECRET SOCIETIES
to secure toleration and were contemptuously known as marranos, or hogs. The brigands were welcomed by the marranos as affording a certain protection in those troublous times and made them pay heavy toll for services rendered.
The brigands, however, congregated chiefly in the suburb of Triana at Seville, which has been inhabited by desperate characters from time immemorial. Even in Naples there is no quarter where crime has been so freely rampant or the law been so completely flouted. The scandal grew so great that Isabella determined to take vigorous measures. She held a criminal court in the halls of the Alcazar, herself presiding for two months over a crusade against violent robbers, recovering large amounts of stolen property and condemning many offenders to severe penalties. The alarm grew so great among the thieving and vagabond population that four thousand of them left the kingdom, and burghers grew alarmed lest the depopulation should deprive the city of workmen. A deputation waited upon Her Majesty and she granted an amnesty to all offenders save those convicted of heresy.
Thus, by a sort of Christian Socialism, the brigands were received back into favour and came to enjoy a semi-official position, being employed intermittently from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century for the punishment and pursuit of other malefactors. While committing depredations on their own account, they enjoyed a sort of monopoly of crime and waged ruthless warfare against all who tried to infringe their prerogatives. In order to safeguard these, they paid a fifth part of all their booty into the royal exchequer, besides ren- dering tribute to the priests and the heads of the Holy Inquisition.
After a time, however, they grew restive and refused to pay any tribute at all. This resulted in a sudden awakening of justice and a determination to suppress them. Soldiers and policemen were sent out in all directions to capture and disperse, but the only result was that, instead of continuing to act independently, the brigands formed themselves into one great society, which became famous under the name of the Garduna. The authorities then found it more prudent
STATUES OF THE GARDUNA 223
tocompromise. The confidence of the Court and the Church was restored. Important services were rendered to the Holy Office and to Torquemada in particular. Tribute was paid once more, though on a more modest scale.
The following STATUTES OF THE GARDUNA afford a picture of the mixed order and discipline, barbarism and licentious- ness characteristic of this picaresque period.
(x) All honest men with good eyes, good ears, good limbs and no tongue may become members of the Garduna. Also respectable persons of a certain age, who wish to serve the Brotherhood, either by providing information of possible operations or by assisting with suggestions for the execution of such operations.
(2) The Brotherhood also receives under its protection all martyrs who have suffered for justice, and such persons as desire to charge themselves with keeping and selling those objects which a Divine Providence may deign to send to the Brotherhood ; also young women, who may be presented by some brother, these on condition that they serve the interests of the Brotherhood with their souls and bodies.
(3) The members of the Society are divided into Chivatos (goats), Postulants, Guwapos (chiefs), and Fuelles (bellows or whisperers). The Matrons are known as Coberteras (chaperons) and the young women as Serenas (or sirens). The latter should be fresh, alert and appetising.
[The Coberteras were abandoned women who insinuated themselves into private houses for purposes of theft and espionage. The Sevenas were handsome young women, usually mistresses of the leaders. It was their business to act as decoys, luring men into remote places, where they were beset by brigands and frequently murdered.]
(4) The Chivatos, when not actually employed by the Brotherhood must undertake nothing of themselves, and must never use their daggers except in self-defence. They will be fed, lodged and clothed at the cost of the Brother-
224 SECRET SOCIETIES
hood. Each will receive from the Capalaizes (commanders) the sum of 136*marevedis (1od.) a day, and, in the case of some signal service being rendered by a Chzvato, he shall immediately pass into the honourable rank of a Postulant.
[The Chivatos performed menial duties. When on the watch for their superiors, they imitated the cries of animals to give warning of danger. At night it was the owl, the frog, or the cat. During the day they chirped like crickets or barked like dogs. ]
(5) The Postulants depend on their claws and are exclusively employed to carry out eclipses (kidnappings) on behalf ot the Brotherhood. For each eclipse, the Postulant employed shall receive one-third of the profits, out of which he is expected to give something for the relief of souls in Purgatory. Of the remaining two-thirds, one shall be paid into the treasury as a provision for the costs of justice (fees to the alguazils, the clerks and the judges who protect the brethren) as well as for masses for the re- pose of the souls of deceased brethren ; the other third shall be at the disposal of the Master of the Order, who is obliged to live at Court in order to watch over the property and interests of the brethren.
(6) The Guapos (chiefs) are entrusted with burials, journeys (highway robberies), baths (stabs), baptisms, (drownings), and all the various forms of extinction. In these operations they should be accompanied by a brother Postulant, to act under their orders. One-third of all the profits of their operations shall belong absolutely to the Guapos, except that they must contribute thirty per cent. thereof towards the maintenance of the Chivatos, and as much as they deem proper for the relief of souls in Purgatory. The rest of the profits of their operations shall be distributed in the manner prescribed by Article 5.
[The Guapos were experienced duellists, usually employed to lead some important enterprise. They also conducted initiations and safeguarded the laws, usages and traditions of the Society. ]
TARIFF OF CRIMES 225
(7) The Coberteras shall receive ten per cent. of all the sums they realise, and the Sevenas six maravedis out of each peseta brought into the bank by the Guapos. All gifts received from noble sefors shall remain their own property.
(8) The Capalazes or provincial chiefs are to be nominated from Guapos, who have served not less than six years in the Society, and who are thoroughly respected by the Brotherhood.
[The Capalazes resided in the different provinces where the Garduna had branches ; they were delegates of the Hermano Mayor or Grand Master, who exercised arbitrary power over the whole Society, ruling members with a rod of iron.
The Fuelles or Whisperers, as their name implies, were spies, whose business it was to whisper into the ears of the chiefs anything that might be of service to the Society. They were, for the most part, old men of venerable appearance, always to be seen in churches with rosaries in their hands, except when they were in attendance on the Master or the Chief of the Inquisition. They seem to have combined their duties of spies for the Garduna with those of familiars for the Holy Office.
Other branches of the society included Floreadores (athletes), chiefly discharged or escaped convicts, who at- tacked and robbed travellers on the high roads; and Punteadores (pinkers) who were bullies and expert swords- men. ]
(9) All brothers should be ready to die as martyrs rather than as confessors, remembering the penalty of being degraded or expelled from the Brotherhood, and, if neces- sary, suffering condign punishment from their superiors.
Given at Toledo in the Year of Grace, 1420, being the third year after the institution of our honourable Brotherhood.
The Society had a regular tariff for every deed of darkness. False evidence, forged documents, abductions, mutilation, P
226 _ SECRET SOCIETIES
beating and wounding, smuggling an enemy on board ship and selling him as a slave to the corsairs—all these could be readily commissioned at reasonable rates. Assassinations were expensive and usually undertaken only for persons of importance, but could be counted upon when promised, for the Society was both conscientious and prompt. Half-price was paid with order, the balance on completion. One de- partment was concerned with the recovery of stolen goods.
The Inquisition was among the best clients, and the books of the Garduna show receipts of some £8,000 for 1,986 com- missions executed for the holy fathers during a period of 147 years. The members, indeed, showed great respect for religion, and it was not unusual to see Guapos drop money © into the Blessed Virgin’s offertory-box immediately after they had been paid for some bloody murder.
The official quarters of the Society were not surpassed in magnificence by the apartments of the King and Queen of Spain. One of the halls was situated some thirty feet below the ground, vast, spacious and brilliantly illuminated, with mythological subjects painted on the ceilings ; dozens of orange-trees, laden with fruit, rose from the marble floor ; at each corner a beautifully decorated fountain discharged waters into a basin of porphyry ; while brilliant candelabras and golden-winged geniuses supporting silver draperies completed an impression of solemnity and grandeur.
Cervantes, in his episode of Rinconet and Cortillado, tells of the Garduna, describing a Brotherhood of privileged rogues, who had their headquarters at Seville and shared their profits with the Church and the police. The year 1588, when he studied it, was probably its period of highest prosperity. He found that it was not all vice and crime that touched the souls of these adventurers, but that many of their actions deserved admiration for their heroism and self- sacrifice.
The Garduna had branches at Toledo, Barcelona, Cordova and elsewhere. It kept a kind of chronicle, which was deposited in the archives of the Seville law-courts by Don Manuel de Cuendias, who employed his highland troops to suppress the society in 1821-2. This book was the means of
CERVANTES 227
incriminating many members and sending them to the scaffold. The last Grand Master and sixteen of his chief followers expiated their crimes in Seville market-place on the 25th of November, 1822.
The Society now survives in Europe only in the form of brigand bands that sometimes still scour the Spanish moun- tains under the old name. It was, however, reorganised in South America and may be traced in Brazil, Peru, the Argentine Republic, and Mexico, where, for a few dollars, a hired assassin can be found to dispose of an inconvenient foe.
AUTHORITIES W. asa History of the Reign of Charles V. London, 1826.