An Account of the Abipones, Vol. II

CHAPTER III. OF THE PERSONS OF THE ABIPONES, AND THE CONFORMATION OF THEIR BODIES.

The Abipones are well formed, and have handsome faces, much like those of Europeans, except in point of colour, which, though not entirely white, has nothing of the blackness of Negroes and Mulattoes. For that natural whiteness which they have in infancy is somewhat destroyed as they grow up, by the sun, and by the smoke: as nearly the whole of their lives is passed in riding about plains exposed to the beams of the sun, and the short time that they spend in their tents, they keep up a fire on the ground day and night, by the heat and smoke of which they are unavoidably somewhat darkened. Whenever the cold south wind blows, they move the fire to the bed, or place it underneath the hanging net in which they lie, and are thus gradually smoke-dried, like a gammon of bacon in a chimney. The women, when they ride out into the country, shield their faces from the sun's rays with an umbrella, and are, in consequence, generally fairer than the men, who, more ambitious to be dreaded by their 13enemies than to be loved, to terrify than attract beholders, think the more they are scarred and sun-burnt, the handsomer they are.

I observed that almost all the Abipones had black but rather small eyes; yet they see more acutely with them, than we do with our larger ones; being able clearly to distinguish such minute, or distant objects as would escape the eye of the most quick-sighted European. Frequently, in travelling, when we saw some animal running at a distance, and were unable to distinguish what it was, an Abipon would declare, without hesitation, whether it was a horse or a mule, and whether the colour was black, white, or grey; and on examining the object more closely, we always found him correct.

Moreover, in symmetry of shape, the Abipones yield to no other nation of America. I scarce remember to have seen one of them with a nose like what we see in the generality of Negroes, flat, crooked, turned up towards the forehead, or broader than it should be. The commonest shape is aquiline; as long and sharp as is consistent with beauty. An hundred deformities and blemishes, common among Europeans, are foreign to them. You never see an Abipon with a hump on his back, a wen, a hare lip, a monstrous belly, bandy legs, club feet, or 14an impediment in his speech. They have white teeth, almost all of which they generally carry to the grave quite sound. Paraguay sometimes produces dwarf horses, but never a dwarf Abipon, or any other Indian. Certain it is, that out of so many thousands of Indians, I never saw an individual of that description. Almost all the Abipones are so tall, that they might be enlisted amongst the Austrian musketeers.

The Abipones, as I told you before, are destitute of beard, and have perfectly smooth chins like all the other Indians, both of whose parents are Americans. If you see an Indian with a little beard, you may conclude, without hesitation, that one of his parents, or at any rate his grandfather, must have been of European extraction. I do not deny that a kind of down grows on the chins of the Americans, just as in sandy sterile fields, a straggling ear of corn is seen here and there; but even this they pull up by the roots whenever it grows. The office of barber is performed by an old woman, who sits on the ground by the fire, takes the head of the Abipon into her lap, sprinkles and rubs his face plentifully with hot ashes, which serve instead of soap, and then, with a pair of elastic horn tweezers, carefully plucks up all the hairs; which operation the savages declare to be devoid of pain, and that I might give the more credit to his 15words, one of them, applying a forceps to my chin, wanted to give me palpable demonstration of the truth. It was with difficulty that I extricated myself from the hands of the unlucky shaver, choosing rather to believe than groan.

The Abipones bear the pain inflicted by the old woman with the forceps, without complaining, that their faces may be smooth and clear; for they cannot endure them to be rough and hairy. For this reason, neither sex will suffer the hairs, with which our eyes are naturally fortified, but have their eye-brows and eye-lashes continually plucked up. This nakedness of the eyes, though it disfigures the handsomest face in a high degree, they deem indispensable to beauty. They ridicule and despise the Europeans for the thick brows which overshadow their eyes, and call them brothers to the ostriches, who have very thick eye-brows. They imagine that the sight of the eye is deadened, and shaded by the adjacent hairs. Whenever they go out to seek honey, and return empty-handed, their constant excuse is, that their eye-brows and eye-lashes have grown, and prevented them from seeing the bees which conduct them to the hives. From the beard, let us proceed to the hair of the head.

All the Abipones have thick, raven-black 16locks; a child born with red or flaxen hair would be looked upon as a monster amongst them. The manner of dressing the hair differs in different nations, times, and conditions. The Abipones, previously to their entering colonies, shaved their hair like monks, leaving nothing but a circle of hair round the head. But the women of the Mbaya nation, after shaving the rest of their heads, leave some hairs untouched, to grow like the crest of a helmet, from the forehead to the crown. As the savages have neither razors nor scissors, they use a shell sharpened against a stone, or the jaws of the fish palometa, for the purpose of shaving. Most of the Abipones in our colonies let their hair grow long, and twist it into a rope like European soldiers. The same fashion was adopted by the women, but with this difference, that they tie the braid of hair with a little piece of white cotton, as our countrymen do with black.

At church, and in mournings for the dead, they scatter their hair about their shoulders. The Guarany Indians, on the contrary, whilst they live in the woods, without the knowledge of religion, let their hair hang down their backs: now that they have embraced Christianity, and entered various colonies, they crop it like priests. But the women of the Guarany towns wear their hair long, platted, and bound with a 17piece of white cotton, both in and out of doors, but dishevelled and flowing when they attend divine service. The Spanish peasantry also approach the door of the church with their hair tied in the military fashion, but loosen it on entering. Indeed, all the Americans are persuaded that this is a mark of reverence due to the sacred edifice.

As soon as they wake in the morning, the Abiponian women, sitting on the ground, dress, twist, and tie their husbands' hair. A bundle of boar's bristles, or of hairs out of a tamandua's tail, serves them for a comb. You very seldom see an Indian with natural, never with artificial curling hair. They do not grow grey till very late, and then not unless they are decrepid; very few of them get bald. It is worthwhile to mention a ridiculous custom of the Abipones, Mocobios, Tobas, &c. all of whom, without distinction of age or sex, pluck up the hair from the forehead to the crown of the head, so that the fore part of the head is bald almost for the space of two inches: this baldness they call nalemr̂a, and account a religious mark of their nation. New-born infants have the hair of the fore part of their head cut off by a male or female juggler, these knaves performing the offices both of physicians and priests amongst them. This custom seems to me to have 18been derived from the Peruvian Indians, who used to cut their children's first hair, at two years of age, with a sharp stone for want of a knife. The ceremony was performed by the relations, one after another, according to the degrees of consanguinity; and at the same time a name was given to the infant.

It is also a custom, amongst the Abipones, to shave the heads of widows, not without much lamentation on the part of the women, and drinking on that of the men; and to cover them with a grey and black hood, made of the threads of the caraquatà, which it is reckoned a crime for her to take off till she marries again. A widower has his hair cropped with many ceremonies, and his head covered with a little net-shaped hat, which is not taken off till the hair grows again. All the men cut off their hair to mourn for the death of a Cacique. Amongst the Christian Guaranies, it is thought a most shameful and ignominious punishment, when any disreputable woman has her hair cut off. I have described the person which liberal nature has bestowed upon the Abipones; it now remains for me to show by what means they disfigure it.

CHAPTER IV. OF THE ANCIENT AND UNIVERSAL METHODS OF DISFIGURING THE PERSON.

Many Europeans spoil their beauty by eagerly imitating foreign customs, and always seeking new methods of adorning their persons. The Abipones disfigure and render themselves terrible to the sight from a too great attachment to the old customs of their ancestors; by whose example they mark their faces in various ways, some of which are common to both sexes, others peculiar to the women. They prick their skin with a sharp thorn, and scatter fresh ashes on the wound, which infuse an ineffaceable black dye. They all wear the form of a cross impressed on their foreheads, and two small lines at the corner of each eye extending towards the ears, besides four transverse lines at the root of the nose between the eye-brows, as national marks. These figures the old women prick with thorns, not only in the skin, but in the live flesh, and ashes sprinkled on them whilst streaming with blood render them of an indelible black. What these figures signify, and what they portend I cannot tell, and the Abipones themselves 20are no better informed on the subject. They only know that this custom was handed down to them from their ancestors, and that is sufficient.

I saw not only a cross marked on the foreheads of all the Abipones, but likewise black crosses woven in the red woollen garments of many. It is a very surprizing circumstance that they did this before they were acquainted with the religion of Christ, when the signification and merits of the cross were unknown to them. Perhaps they learnt some veneration for the cross, or gained an idea of its possessing great virtues from their Spanish captives, or from those Abipones who had lived in captivity amongst the Spaniards.

The Abiponian women, not content with the marks common to both sexes, have their face, breast, and arms covered with black figures of various shapes, so that they present the appearance of a Turkish carpet. The higher their rank, and the greater their beauty, the more figures they have; but this savage ornament is purchased with much blood and many groans. As soon as a young woman is of age to be married she is ordered to be marked according to custom. She reclines her head upon the lap of an old woman, and is pricked in order to be beautified. Thorns are used for a pencil, and 21ashes mixed with blood for paint. The ingenious, but cruel old woman, sticking the points of the thorns deep into the flesh, describes various figures till the whole face streams with blood. If the wretched girl does but groan, or draw her face away, she is loaded with reproaches, taunts and abuse. "No more of such cowardice," exclaims the old woman in a rage, "you are a disgrace to our nation, since a little tickling with thorns is so intolerable to you! Do you not know that you are descended from those who glory and delight in wounds? For shame of yourself, you faint-hearted creature! You seem to be softer than cotton. You will die single, be assured. Which of our heroes would think so cowardly a girl worthy to be his wife? But if you will only be quiet and tractable, I'll make you more beautiful than beauty itself." Terrified by these vociferations, and fearful of becoming the jest and derision of her companions, the girl does not utter a word, but conceals the sense of pain in silence, and with a cheerful countenance, and lips unclosed through dread of reproach, endures the torture of the thorns, which is not finished in one day. The first day she is sent home with her face half pricked with the thorns, and is recalled the next, the next after that, and perhaps oftener, to have the rest of her face, her breast and arms 22pricked in like manner. Meantime she is shut up for several days in her father's tent, and wrapped in a hide that she may receive no injury from the cold air. Carefully abstaining from meat, fishes, and some other sorts of food, she feeds upon nothing but a little fruit which grows upon brambles; and, though frequently known to produce ague, conduces much towards cooling the blood.

The long fast, together with the daily effusion of blood, renders the young girls extremely pale. The chin is not dotted like the other parts, but pierced with one stroke of the thorn in straight lines, upon which musical characters might be written. All thorns seem to have a poisonous quality, and consequently, from being scratched with them, the eyes, cheeks, and lips are horridly swelled, and imbibe a deep black from the ashes placed on the wounded skin; so that a girl, upon leaving the house of that barbarous old woman, looks like a Stygian fury, and forces you involuntarily to exclaim, Oh! quantum Niobe, Niobe distabat ab iliâ! The savage parents themselves are sometimes moved to pity at the sight of her, but never dream of abolishing this cruel custom; for they think their daughters are ornamented by being thus mangled, and at the same time instructed and prepared to bear the pains of parturition in future. Though I detested 23the hard-heartedness of the old women in thus torturing the girls, yet the skill they display in the operation always excited my wonder. For on both cheeks they form all sorts of figures with wondrous proportion, variety, and equality of the lines, with the aid of no other instrument than thorns of various sizes. Every Abiponian woman you see has a different pattern on her face. Those that are most painted and pricked you may know to be of high rank and noble birth, and if you meet a woman with but three or four black lines on her face, you may be quite certain she is either a captive, or of low birth. When Christian discipline was firmly established in the Abiponian colonies, this vile custom was by our efforts abolished, and the women now retain their natural appearance.

CHAPTER V. OF THE PERFORATION OF THE LIPS AND EARS OF THE SAVAGES.

The Abipones, like all the other American savages, used formerly to pierce their lower lip with a hot iron, or a sharp reed. Into the hole some insert a reed and others a small tube of bone, glass, gum, or yellow brass; an ornament allowed only to the men when they are seven years old, never to the women. This custom has long since been abolished amongst the later Abipones, but is still continued by the Guaranies who inhabit the woods, by the Mbayas, Guanas, and Payaguas. These people think themselves most elegantly adorned when they have a brass pipe a span long, and about the thickness of a goose's quill, hanging from the lip to the breast. But this imaginary ornament renders them very formidable to European strangers; for they are of great height, their bodies are painted with juices of various colours, and their hair stained of a blood red; the wing of a vulture is stuck in one of their ears, and strings of glass beads hung round their neck, arms, knees and legs; thus accoutred they walk the 25streets smoking tobacco out of a very long reed; figures in every respect terrible to behold.

The thing which is inserted into the lip, of whatever material it may be made, is called by the Guaranies tembetà, and is universally used by them whilst they wander about the woods without religion; but after being converted to Christianity and settled in colonies they throw away this lip appendage. The hole of the lip, which neither salve nor plaster will cure, however, remains, and in speaking the saliva sometimes flows profusely through it; it also impedes them a little in pronouncing some words. All the plebeian Indians whom I discovered in the woods of Mbaeverá, both youths and adults, used a short slender reed for the tembetà; but that of the three caciques was made of a gold-coloured gum or rosin. At first sight I could have sworn that it was glass. In the heat of the sun that beautiful gum flows plentifully from the tree abati timbabỹ, and falls gradually into the models of tembetàs, crosses, globes, or any other figure they like: exposed to the air it grows as hard as a stone, so that no liquid can ever melt it, but still retains its glassy transparency. If this rosin of the tree abati timbabỹ were not possessed of singular hardness, the tembetà made of it, after remaining whole 26days in the lip of the savage, and being covered with saliva, would soften, and dissolve.

Do not imagine that there is but one method of piercing the lip amongst the savages. The anthropophagi do not pierce the lower lip but cut it to the length of the mouth in such a manner, that when the wound terminates in a scar they look as if they had two mouths. They wander up and down the woods, and are often, but fruitlessly exhorted by the Jesuits, not without peril to themselves, to embrace our religion. The Indians of Brazil and Paraguay formerly delighted in human flesh. Many of them, after having been long accustomed to Christian discipline in our towns, sometimes confessed that the flesh of kine or of any wild animal tastes extremely flat and insipid to them, in comparison with that of men. We have known the Mocobios and Tobas, for want of other food, eat human flesh even at this day. Some hundreds of the last-mentioned savages fell suddenly upon Alaykin, cacique of the Abipones, about day-break as he was drinking in a distant plain with a troop of his followers. An obstinate combat was carried on for some time, at the end of which the wounded Abipones escaped by flight. Alaykin himself and six of his fellow-soldiers fell in the engagement, and were afterwards roasted and devoured by the 27hungry victors. An Abiponian boy of twelve years old, who used to eat at our table, was killed at the same time by these savages, and added to the repast, being eaten with the rest; but an old Abiponian woman, who had been slain there with many wounds, they left on the field untouched, her flesh being too tough to be used. Now let me speak a little of the adorning, or, more properly, torturing of the ears.

The use of ear-rings, which is very ancient, and varies amongst various nations, is highly ridiculous amongst the Americans. The ears of very young children of both sexes are always perforated. Few of the men wear ear-rings, but some of the older ones insert a small piece of cow's horn, wood, or bone, a woollen thread of various colours, or a little knot of horn into their ears. Almost all the married women have ear-rings, made in the following manner. They twist a very long palm leaf two inches wide into a spire, like a bundle of silk thread, and wider in circumference than the larger wafer which we use in sacrifice. This roll is gradually pushed farther and farther into the hole of the ear; by which means in the course of years the skin of the ear is so much stretched, and the hole so much enlarged, that it folds very tightly round the whole of that palm leaf spire, and flows almost down to the shoulders. The palm leaf 28itself, when in this spiral form, has an elastic power which daily dilates the hole of the ear more and more. Do not think that I have exaggerated the size of this spire and the capaciousness of the ear. With these eyes, by the aid of which I am now writing, I daily beheld innumerable women laden with this monstrous ear-ring, and very many men even of other nations. For those most barbarous people the Oaèkakalòts and Tobas, and other American nations out of Paraguay, use the same ear-rings as the Abiponian women. The Guarany women wear brass ear-rings sometimes three inches in diameter, not however inserted into the ear, but suspended from it.

The Paraguayrians seem to have learnt the various use of ear-rings from Peru. Its famous king and legislator, the Inca Manco Capac, permitted his subjects to perforate their ears, provided however that all the ear-holes should be smaller than those he himself used. He assigned various ear-rings to all the people in the various provinces: some inserted a bit of wood into their ears; some a piece of white wool not bigger than a man's thumb; others a bulrush; others the bark of a tree. Three nations were allowed the privilege of larger ear-rings than the rest. All persons of royal descent wore for ear-rings very wide rings which were suspended 29by a long band, and hung down to the breast. The Paraguayrians, who had at first imitated the Peruvians, in course of ages invented still more ridiculous ear-rings, none of which a European could behold without laughter.

As the Abipones deprive their eyes of brows and lashes, pierce their lips and ears, prick their faces with thorns and mark them with figures, pluck the down from their chins, and pull up a quantity of hair from the fore part of their heads, I always greatly wondered at their preserving the nose untouched and unhurt, the cartilage of which the Africans, Peruvians, and Mexicans formerly perforated, sometimes inserting a string of beads into the hole. According to Father Joseph Acosta, book VII. chap. 17, Tikorìk, king of the Mexicans, wore a fine emerald suspended from his nostrils. The Brazilians from their earliest age perforate not the lower lip alone but also other parts of the face, inserting very long pebbles into the fissures; a frightful spectacle, as the Jesuit Maffei affirms in the second book of his History of the Indies. You would call the faces of the Brazilians tesselated work or mosaic. But the Parthians delighted still more in deforming themselves; for, according to Tertullian, Lib. I., cap. 10. De Cultu Fœmin, they pierced almost every part of their bodies for the admission of pebbles or 30precious stones. If Diodorus Siculus Lib. IV. cap. 1. may be credited, the female Negroes bordering on Arabia perforated their lips for the same purpose. From all this it appears that the savages of America are not the only people who have adopted the foolish custom of marking their bodies in various ways.

CHAPTER VI. OF THE STRENGTH AND LONGEVITY OF THE ABIPONES.

Truly ridiculous are those persons who, without ever having beheld America even from a distance, have written with more boldness than truth that all the Americans, without distinction, are possessed of little strength, weakly bodies, and bad constitutions, which cannot be said of the generality of them. Their habit of body varies according to climate, country, food, and occupation; as we find those Europeans who breathe the healthy mountain air of Styria more robust than those who grow sallow with ague in the marshy plains of the Bannat. Negro slaves brought in ships were often exposed to sale, like cattle, in the streets of Lisbon, whilst I was in that city. Those from Angola, Congo, Cape de Verd, and above all the island of Madagascar are eagerly chosen, being generally of strong health and superior activity. Africans, natives of that country which the Portugueze call Costa de la Mina, can scarcely find a purchaser, being generally weak, slothful, and impatient of labour, because they inhabit nearest to the equator, where there is little or no wind, tepid air, and 32frequent rain. In sailing to Paraguay we were detained in that neighbourhood by a continuous calm, and remained stationary there for full three weeks, roasted by the heat of the sun, and daily washed with warm showers. Who can wonder that this languishing climate produces languid and weakly bodies, though strong robust people are found in other parts of Africa? From this you may know what to think of so extensive a region as America, and of its inhabitants. Its various provinces and even different parts of the provinces differ essentially in the properties of the air, food, and habitations, which produces a variety in the constitutions of the inhabitants, some being weak, some very strong.

Let others write of the other Americans to whom and what they choose: I shall not contradict them. Of the Paraguayrians I confidently affirm that the equestrian nations greatly excel the pedestrians in beauty of form, loftiness of stature, strength, health, and longevity. The bodies of the Abipones are muscular, robust, agile, and extremely tolerant of the inclemencies of the sky. You scarcely ever see a fat or pot-bellied person amongst them. Daily exercise in riding, hunting, and in sportive and serious contests prevents them almost always from growing fat, for like apes they are always in motion. They consequently enjoy such an 33excellent habit of body, and such sound health as most Europeans might envy. Many diseases which afflict and exhaust Europeans are not even known by name amongst them. Gout, dropsy, epilepsy, jaundice, stone, &c. are words foreign and monstrous to their ears. They expose their bare heads for whole days to the heat of the sun, and yet you never hear one of them complain of head-ache. You would swear they were devoid of feeling, or made of brass or marble; yet even these grow hot when acted on by the rays of the sun. After having been long parched with thirst in dry deserts, they drink large draughts of marshy, salt, muddy, stinking, bitter water, without injury. They greedily swallow quantities of hard, half-roasted beef, venison, tiger's and emu's flesh, and the eggs of the latter, without experiencing any consequent languor of the stomach, or difficulty of digestion. They often swim across vast rivers in cold rainy weather without contracting any ill affection of the bowels or bladder, which was often troublesome to the Europeans in swimming, and, if succeeded by strangury, dangerous. They ride seated on saddles made of hard leather during journeys of many weeks, and yet such long sitting does not injure the external skin even. They are unprovided with stirrups, and often use trotting horses, yet after many hours of uninterrupted 34riding you can perceive no signs of fatigue or exhaustion in any of them. Stretched on a cold turf, should a sudden shower descend, they pass the night swimming in water, yet never know what the colic or the gout is. The Spaniards run the risk of both after being long drenched with rain water, which, when it touches the skin, affects the body most terribly in America, often producing syncope, and sometimes pustules and ulcers. I have frequently seen Spanish soldiers faint in the church from having been wetted with rain on their way thither. The Abipones pass many days and nights amid constant rain uninjured, because their feet are bare; for the moisture contracted from rain hurts the feet when they are wrapt up more than when they are uncovered; as, finding no vent when it exhales, it creeps inwards, penetrates the bones and nerves, and affects the rest of the body in a terrible manner. But I can give you further proof of the strength of the Abipones.

If a thorn of any plant happens to stick in their foot, and to break there, so that it cannot be pulled out by the finger, they will coolly cut the little piece of flesh, to which the thorn adheres, with a knife. When they go out to act the part of spies, or to reconnoitre distant places, they sit with both feet upon the horse's back. They climb high trees, and sit quietly 35on their boughs, in order to plunder the hives concealed there, without any sense of danger or giddiness. After their removal to our colonies, being fatigued with handling the axe and the plough, instruments to which they were unaccustomed, and feeling their strength fail them, their bodies bathed in sweat, and burning with heat, they exclaimed, La yivichigui yauigra, now my blood is angry. For this they have a ready remedy: they plunge a knife deep into their leg, watch the blood spouting from it for some time with pleased eyes, and at length stop it by applying a clod to the wound, saying with a cheerful voice that they are recovered, and feel perfectly well. They are as lavish, and almost prodigal in shedding their blood, for the purpose of obtaining glory, as of procuring health; for in public drinking parties they cruelly prick their breast, arms and tongue with a bundle of thorns, or with the sharp bones of a crocodile's back, with much effusion of blood. They emulate one another in doing this, in order to obtain a reputation for bravery, and that these spontaneous wounds may render them less fearful of shedding their blood in engagements with the enemy, and may make their skin impenetrable by covering it with scars. Boys of seven years old pierce their little arms in imitation of their 36parents, and display plenty of wounds, indications of courage superior to their years, and preludes of war, for which they are educated from earliest infancy.

Persons wasted to a skeleton, and with every symptom of fever and consumption, we have seen restored to health by daily eating and drinking the alfaroba. When seized with a violent disorder, or dangerously wounded, they recover by the use of this easily obtained remedy, or, like dogs, without any at all. I have often with horror beheld many of them wounded with various kinds of weapons, their side pierced, their bones and ribs broken, their breath drawn with difficulty, the blood streaming from their numerous wounds; themselves, in short, the breathing images of death. When I saw these very Abipones a few weeks afterwards, riding or drinking, in full health, I could attribute it to nothing but the strength of their constitutions; for it certainly could not be owing to their unskilful physicians and inefficacious medicines. Every one knows that small-pox and measles are almost the only, and by far the most calamitous pest by which America is exhausted. The Abipones take the infection like the other Indians, but seldom fall victims to the disease, though, whilst under its influence, they are less careful of themselves than the 37other natives. Owing to the more healthy temperature of their blood and humours, it does not cause either so much, or such noxious matter in them as it does in others. Of the small-pox I shall discourse more fully hereafter. They live and enjoy their health many years after they have been wounded with leaden bullets without ever suffering them to be extracted: as a proof of their strength they often showed us a bullet sticking, without injury, in their arm or foot, and offered it us to handle. It is still more remarkable that a musket ball seldom proves fatal to the Abipones, unless it strike the heart or the head: their Cacique, the renowned Kaapetraikin, received a ball of this kind into his forehead without any dangerous consequences. Considering these things I often wondered why the savages dreaded firearms so much, since they very rarely proved fatal to them. But as children are afraid of ignes fatui, though harmless; in like manner the Indians fear the report more than the ball, which they so often find to miss of its aim, and prove formidable to the air alone. These instances will, if I mistake not, do something towards convincing Europeans of the strength of the Abipones. Neither shall I ever be a convert to the opinion that the Americans are possessed of a duller and less acute sense of 38corporal inconvenience. The Abipones are highly sensible of the impressions of the elements, the injuries of weapons, and the pain arising from these causes, but are not so much overcome and exhausted by them as most others, either because they are blessed with a better temperature of blood and humours, and greater strength of limbs and muscles, or because the hardships they have been accustomed to from childhood, render them callous, or because their eager thirst after military fame impels them to deny that anything gives them pain, though they be ever so much affected by it.

I have already observed that they seldom grow bald, and not grey till at an advanced period of life. Even when arrived at extreme age they can hardly be said to have grown old, like certain plants which are always green and vigorous. Cicero, in his treatise on Old Age, bestows great praise on Massinissa, king of Mauritania, who, at ninety years of age, cùm ingressus iter pedibus sit, in equum omninò non ascendit: cùm equo, ex equo non descendit. Nullo imbre, nullo frigore adducitur, ut capite operto sit. Exequitur omnia regis officia et munera, etc. The Roman orator would find all the old Abipones so many Massinissas, or even more vigorous than Massinissa. He would scarce believe his 39own eyes were he to see men, almost a hundred years old, leap on to a fiery horse, without the aid of a stirrup, like a boy of twelve years old, sit it for hours, and even whole days, beneath a burning sun, climb trees for honey, travel or lie upon the ground in cold or rainy weather, contend with the enemy in battle, shrink from no toils of the army or the chase, evince wonderful acuteness both of sight and hearing, preserve all their teeth quite sound, and seem only to be distinguished by the number of their years from men in the prime of life. All these things will hardly be credited in Europe where they are so rare. In the colonies of the Abipones I daily beheld old men, like youths in every other respect but that of age, without surprize. If a man dies at eighty he is lamented as if cut off in the flower of his age. Women generally live longer than men, because they are not killed in war, and because the moistness of their nature renders them more long lived. You find so many old women a hundred years of age, amongst the Abipones, that you may wonder at, but will scarce be able to count them. I cannot say that the pedestrian nations of Paraguay enjoy equal strength and longevity. The Guaranies, Lules, Isistines, Vilelas, and other pedestrian Indians, are subject to diseases like the Europeans, and 40both feel old age, and discover it by their habit of body. Their lives, like those of Europeans, are sometimes short, sometimes long. You find very few men a hundred years old, or even approaching to that age amongst them. It is worth while to investigate the causes of this exceeding vigour of the Abipones.

CHAPTER VII. WHY THE ABIPONES ARE SO VIGOROUS AND LONG-LIVED.

The Abipones are indebted for their strength and longevity partly to their parents, partly to themselves. The vigour of youth, preserved by temperance, accompanies them during the whole of their lives, and is even transmitted to their children. The Abipones never indulge in licentious gratifications during youth, and though of a fiery temperament, debilitate their constitutions by no irregularities. They amuse themselves with conversation, mirth, and jesting, but always within the limits of modesty. By a sort of natural instinct peculiar to themselves, both boys and girls, hold in abhorrence all means and opportunities of infringing the laws of decorum: you never see them talking together either publicly or privately; never idling in the street. The girls love to assist their mothers in domestic employments; the continual exercise of arms and horses engrosses the chief attention of the young men.

The Indians of other nations are often shorter, slenderer, and less robust. Many of them consume 42away before they arrive at manhood; others grow prematurely old, and die an untimely death. Do you enquire the cause? I will tell you my opinion on the subject. Many are unhealthy because their parents are so; others from being oppressed with Labour, and very poorly provided with food, clothes, and lodging; the majority because they have exhausted their natural vigour by indulging from their earliest youth in shameful pleasures. Libidinosa etenim, et intemperans adolescentia effœtum corpus tradit senectuti, as Cicero observes, in his treatise on Old Age. How many of those who die a premature death would deserve to have this epitaph engraven on their tomb, Nequitia est quæ te non sinit esse senem. Too early marriages are often a cause why we find the other Indians weaker and less vigorous and long-lived than the Abipones, who never think of entering the matrimonial state till they are near thirty years old, and never marry a woman under twenty; which, as philosophers and physicians say, conduces much to the preservation of strength, lengthening of life, and producing robust children. It cannot be doubted, that tender parents never produce very strong children; and since the affections of the mind are consequences of the habit of the body, as Galen teaches with much prolixity, it cannot be wondered 43that such children should be as imbecile in mind as in body.

Their education also conduces greatly to form the manners and strengthen the bodies of the Abipones. For, as Quintilian observes, in his first book of Institutes, that soft kind of breeding, which we call indulgence, relaxes all the nerves both of the mind and body. No one can object to the education of the Abipones on account of its delicacy. The children are plunged into a cold stream, if there be one at a convenient distance, as soon as they see the light. They know of no such things as cradles, feathers, cushions, swathing-clothes, blandishments, and toys. Covered with a light garment of otters' skins, they sleep wherever chance directs, and crawl upon the ground like little pigs. Whenever a mother has to take a journey on horseback, she places the child in a bag made of boars' skins, and suspended from the saddle along with the puppies, pots, gourds, &c. The husband will often come and snatch his little son, as he is sucking, from its mother's arms, set him on his own horse, and behold him riding with eyes sparkling with pleasure. When a mother is swimming in a river for the sake of a bath, she presses her infant to her breast with one hand, while she uses the other as an oar. If the child be pretty big, it is thrown into the 44water, that it may learn to swim while it is but just beginning to walk. You seldom see little boys but just weaned walking in the street without a bow and arrow. They shoot birds, flies, and all kinds of small animals. Their usual amusement is shooting at a mark. They go out every day on horseback, and ride races with one another. All these things undoubtedly conduce much towards strengthening and enlarging the body. Would that European mothers could be brought to discard the unnatural artifices and indulgences used in the bringing up of their children! Oh that they would moderate the bandages and cloths with which they bind, and as it were imprison and enchain the tender little bodies of their infants! then should we see fewer bandy-legged, hump-backed, dwarfish, weak, and diseased persons in Europe.

The Abipones wear a garment not tight to their bodies, but loose and flowing down to their heels; calculated to cover, not load and oppress the body, and to defend it from the injuries of the weather, without preventing the perspiration, or impeding the circulation of the blood. All the wise people of the east, and most of the ancient Germans, made choice of a large wide garment. What if we say that their bodies were consequently larger, and filled a wider space? Those who wish to enjoy their health, 45should attend to the maxim ne quid nimis, in dress as well as in other things. On the other hand too scanty clothing is assuredly prejudicial to health. Prudent persons vary their dress according to the state of the air, as seamen shift their sails. Even the Abipones of both sexes, and of every age, though satisfied at other times with a woollen garment, put on a kind of cloak, skilfully sewed, of otters' skins, when the cold south wind is blowing. This skin garment bears some sort of resemblance to the cloak which we priests wear to sing vespers in the church.

Galen, in his work on the preservation of the health, boldly and truly asserts that too great repose of body is highly prejudicial, but moderate and proper motion, on the other hand, of the utmost utility. This is consonant to the words of Celsus, Lib. I. c. 1. Ignavia corpus hebetat, labor firmat; illa præmaturam senectam, iste longam adolescentiam reddit. You cannot therefore be surprized that the Abipones are athletic like the Macrobii. They are in continual motion. Riding, hunting, and swimming are their daily employments. War, either against men or beasts, occasions them to take very long excursions. Their business is to swim across rivers, climb trees to gather honey, make spears, bows, and arrows, weave ropes of leather, dress 46saddles, practise every thing, in short, fatiguing to the hands or feet. But if they indulge themselves with an intermission of these employments, they ride horseraces for a sword which is given to him who reaches the goal first. Another very common game amongst the Abipones is one which they play on foot. The instrument with which it is performed is a piece of wood about two hands long, rounded like a staff, thicker at the extremities and slenderer in the middle. This piece of wood they throw to the mark, with a great effort, in such a manner that it strikes the ground every now and then, and rebounds, like the stones which boys throw along the surface of a river. Fifty and often a hundred men stand in a row and throw this piece of wood by turns, and he who flings it the farthest and the straightest obtains the sword.

This game, which from boys they are accustomed to play at for hours together, amuses and fatigues them with wonderful benefit to their health. The same piece of wood which serves both as an instrument of peace and war, is made formidable use of by many of the savages to crush the bodies of their enemies and of wild beasts. The Abipones hate to lead the life of a snail, idle and listless, and consequently do not undergo a swift and miserable decay, like those who are stupefied with sloth, confined to 47their bed, table, or gaming-table, and seldom stir out into the street or country. The Abiponian women, though debarred from the sports and equestrian contests of the men, have scarce time to rest or breathe, so much are they occupied day and night with the management of their domestic affairs. Hence that masculine vigour of the females in producing almost gigantic offspring, hence their strength and longevity.

The food also to which the Abipones are accustomed, in my judgment contributes not a little to prolong their lives. What Tacitus says of the ancient Germans is applicable to them: Cibi simplices, agrestia poma, recens fera, aut lac concretum, sine apparatu, sine blandimentis expellunt famem. They feed, as chance directs, upon beef, or the flesh of wild animals, mostly roasted, but seldom boiled. If the plain afford them no wild beasts to hunt, the water will supply their hunger with various kinds of fish besides otters, ducks, capibaris, &c. From the air also they receive birds that are by no means to be despised, and from the woods divers fruits, to appease the cravings of appetite. Should all these be wanting, roots concealed beneath the ground or the water are converted into food. Necessity alone will induce them to taste fishes, though excellent. Tigers' flesh, spite of its vile odour, is in such esteem amongst them that if 48one of them kills a tiger, he cuts it into small portions, and divides it amongst himself and his companions, that all the hordesmen may share in what they think so delightful a delicacy. It is an old complaint amongst physicians that new seasonings of food imported from the new world have brought with them new diseases into Europe. This complaint cannot affect the Abipones, who are unacquainted with seasonings, and feed upon simple fare. They detest vinegar; and salt, though as fond of it as goats, they are seldom able to obtain, their land producing neither salt nor salt-pits. To remedy this deficiency they burn a shrub called by the Spaniards vidriera, and sprinkle its ashes, which have a saltish taste, on meat and on tobacco leaves, previously chewed and kneaded together with the saliva of old women. But as many of the Abiponian hordes are destitute of this shrub, the ashes of which are used for salt, they generally eat their meat unsalted. No one ever denied that the moderate use of salt is wholesome, for it sucks up noxious humours, and prevents putrefaction: but the too frequent use of it deadens the eye-sight, exhausts the better juices, and creates acrid ones injurious both to the blood and skin, by which means physicians say that the urinal passages are frequently hurt. We found in Paraguay that horses, mules, oxen, 49and sheep fattened only in those pastures where plenty of nitre, or some saltish substance was mixed with the grass; if that be wanting the cattle very soon become ragged and lean. Meat sprinkled with salt will keep a long time, but the more plentifully it is salted the sooner it stinks and putrefies, the moisture into which salt dissolves united with heat accelerating putrefaction. Beef hardened by the air alone, and fish dried with nothing but smoke, will keep many months without a grain of salt, as I and all the savages know from experience. When we sailed back from Paraguay to Europe our chief provisions consisted of meat part salted, part dried by the air alone. The latter from having no salt in it remained well tasted and free from decay till we reached the port of Cadiz, while the other soon putrefied and was thrown into the sea even by the hungry sailors. Now hear what inference I draw from all this. Since the Abipones, though they use salt but seldom and in small quantities, are generally healthy and long-lived, I cannot but suspect that abstinence from salt conduces more to the well being of the body than the too unsparing use of it.

That diet regulating both meat and drink is the source of a late old age, firm health, and long life is unanimously agreed by all the great 50physicians and philosophers. I have repeatedly affirmed that the Abipones are vigorous, and long-lived, yet who can call them studious of diet? They eat when, as much, and as often as they like. They have no fixed hours for dinner or for supper, but if food be at hand will dine as soon as they wake. Hungry at all hours they eat at all hours; and an appetite will never be wanting if they have wherewith to exercise it upon. You would think that the more they devour the sooner they are hungry. They are voracious, and, like the other Americans, cram themselves with flesh, but without injury to their health; for their stomachs, which will bear both a great quantity of food, and long abstinence from it, are weakened neither by gormandizing nor by extreme hunger. They undertake JOURNEYS of many months unfurnished with any provision. A sufficiency of proper food is often not to be met with on the way, either from the want of an opportunity of hunting, or from the unintermitting haste with which the desire of surprizing, or necessity of flying the enemy obliges them to pursue their journey. Yet an empty belly and barking stomach never do them any harm, nor even prevent them from cheerfully conversing to still the sense of hunger. On such occasions you see them betray no sign of impatience, nor 51complain of any indisposition of body. I do not pretend to deny that temperance in eating and drinking is the parent of longevity, and gluttony that of disease and premature death; knowing that many saintly hermits have prolonged their lives to an hundred years, spite of continual fasting, and that perhaps they would have attained a still greater age had they taken more nourishment. Yet I scarce wonder that these Christian heroes lived so long, upon poor and sparing diet, because they were always celibate, and remained fixed to one spot without ever experiencing great fatigue. Neither, on the other hand, does it surprize me that the Abipones should enjoy such singular longevity, united with so much voracity; for they, who are all married, weary themselves with running, hunting, swimming, riding, and military exercises, and consequently to recruit their strength, require, and easily digest a greater quantity of food: for their vigour would decay and their great bodies languish were they not frequently reinvigorated with plenty of victuals. The Abipones are daily obliged to assuage their thirst with river or marsh water, which is generally tepid or warm, very seldom cold, and not always quite fresh: might not this be a circumstance conducive to health? For physicians prefer river or rain 52water to that of a spring, because it is lighter and impregnated with fewer noxious particles. The Chinese never taste a drop of cold water. Many think that snow and ice-water cause divers disorders. Snow, ice, springs of water, and subterranean cells for cooling liquors are no where to be found in the territories of the Abipones, who are also unacquainted with wine expressed from grapes, or burnt out of fruits by chemic art. But though they use nothing but water to quench their thirst, yet on the birth of a child, the death of a relation, a resolution of war, or a victory, they assemble together to drink a strong liquor made of honey or the alfaroba infused in water, which when fermented causes intoxication, but taken moderately is of much service to the health. For it is universally thought that the alfaroba and wild honey conduce much to prolong life and confirm the health. The Abipones are in the habit of drinking honey, in which the woods abound, very frequently; what if we call this a cause of their vigour and longevity? Both however they partly owe to the use of the alfaroba, which they either eat dried, or drink in great quantities, as wine, when fermented in water by its own native heat. Taken either way it possesses singular virtue, for it restores the 53exhausted strength, fattens the body, clears and refreshes the breast, quickly and copiously discharges the bladder by its diuretic property, radically cures many disorders, is extremely efficacious against the stone, and affords a strong alleviation to nephritic diseases. Persons who had tried it assured me of its possessing those virtues. More robust and healthy horses are no where to be found throughout the wide extent of Paraguay, than those born in the territory of St. Iago del Estero, because they feed principally upon the alfaroba.

Add to this that the Abipones bathe almost every day in some lake or river. Bathing was certainly much practised, and reckoned of singular utility amongst the ancients. For as the dirt is washed off by the water, the pores of the skin are opened, and the perspiration of the body rendered easier and more commodious; a great advantage to the health. Some prefer cold bathing to bleeding, for by the one process the blood is only cooled, by the other it is exhausted. To continual bathing therefore, the Abipones are in a great measure indebted for the health and longevity which they possess to such an enviable degree. This opinion is confirmed in Bacon's History of Life and Death, where it 54is asserted that "washing in cold water contributes to lengthen life, and that the use of warm baths has a contrary effect." P. 131. The same author is of opinion that "persons who pass great part of their lives out of doors are generally longer-lived than those that stay more within." The Abipones spend most of their time out of the house, and consequently breathe the pure air of heaven which is so salutary to the human body. Though they dwell under mats spread like a tent, or in fixed huts, they never suffer the air to be entirely excluded. Nor are they content with living in the open air, they also choose to be buried there, entertaining an incredible repugnance to sepulchres within the church. As the Abipones live long and enjoy excellent health, though entirely destitute of physicians and druggists, I can hardly help reckoning their absence amongst the causes which co-operate to render the savages superior in vigour and longevity to most Europeans, amongst whom as physicians are numerous, and medicine in general use, there are many sick persons and few very old men. The Abiponian physicians, of whom I shall speak more fully hereafter, are impostors more ignorant than brutes, and totally unworthy the splendid title of physicians, being born not to heal the sick, but to cheat them with juggleries and frauds.

55That health of body depends in a high degree upon tranquillity of mind is incontestible: the functions of the brain are disturbed, the stomach grows languid, the strength fails for want of food, and the better juices are destroyed, when the mind is oppressed by turbulent affections, by anxiety, love, fear, anger, or sadness. The body will be sane if inhabited by a sane mind. This being the case, we cannot wonder that the Abipones are possessed of great vigour and longevity. Their minds are generally in a tranquil state. They live reckless of the past, little curious about the present, and very seldom anxious for the future. They fear danger, but either from not perceiving or from despising the weightiness of it, always think themselves able to subdue or avoid it. When a numerous foe is announced to be at hand they either provide for their safety by a timely flight, or await the assault, and amidst jocund songs quaff mead, their elixir, which inspires them with courage, and banishes fear. Gnawing cares about the augmentation of their property, or concerning food and raiment, have no place amongst them. They make no mortal of such account as to die, or run mad, for hate or love of him. No affections with them are either violent or of long duration. This tranquillity 56of mind cherishes the body, and prolongs their lives to extreme old age. I allow that the climate in which they live, and which is neither starved with cold nor parched with heat, is one strengthener of the health, but I deny that it is the only one; for neither the Spaniards nor the other Indians, though they enjoy the same temperature of air, live and thrive like the Abipones. Europeans, if they envy the longevity of the Abipones, should imitate, as far as possible, their manner of life. They should tranquillize their minds by subduing vehement passions. They should interpose a little exercise of body between inaction, and sedentary occupations; they should mingle water with wine, rest with labour. They should moderate their luxuries in dress and eating. They should use simple food, not such as is adulterated by art, and for the purpose of satisfying, not of provoking the appetite, but make sparing application to medicines and physicians. And lastly, which is of the greatest importance for preserving vigour, they should abhor pleasures, the sure destruction of the body, as much as they desire a green old age.

CHAPTER VIII. OF THE RELIGION OF THE ABIPONES.

Hæc est summa delicti, nolle recognoscere quem ignorare non possit, are the words of Tertullian, in his Apology for the Christians. Theologians agree in denying that any man in possession of his reason can, without a crime, remain ignorant of God for any length of time. This opinion I warmly defended in the University of Cordoba, where I finished the four years' course of theology begun at Gratz in Styria. But what was my astonishment, when on removing from thence to a colony of Abipones, I found that the whole language of these savages does not contain a single word which expresses God or a divinity. To instruct them in religion, it was necessary to borrow the Spanish word for God, and insert into the catechism Dios ecnam caogarik, God the creator of things.

Penafiel, a Jesuit theologian, declared that there were many Indians who, on being asked whether, during the whole course of their lives, they ever thought of God, replied no, never. The Portugueze and Spaniards, who first landed 58on the shores of America, affirmed that they could discover scarcely any traces of the knowledge of God amongst the Brazilians, and other savages. The Apostle Paul, in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, declares that this ignorance of God is by no means devoid of blame, and indeed that it cannot be excused; so that they are without excuse, because from the very sight of the things created, they might arrive at the knowledge of God the Creator. But if any one think the case admits of palliation, he will say that the American savages are slow, dull, and stupid in the apprehension of things not present to their outward senses. Reasoning is a process troublesome and almost unknown to them. It is, therefore, no wonder that the contemplation of terrestrial or celestial objects should inspire them with no idea of the creative Deity, nor indeed of any thing heavenly. Travelling with fourteen Abipones, I sat down by the fire in the open air, as usual, on the high shore of the river Plata. The sky, which was perfectly serene, delighted our eyes with its twinkling stars. I began a conversation with the Cacique Ychoalay, the most intelligent of all the Abipones I have been acquainted with, as well as the most famous in war. "Do you behold," said I, "the splendour of Heaven, with its magnificent arrangement of stars? Who 59can suppose that all this is produced by chance? The waggon, as you yourself know, is overturned, unless the oxen have some one to guide them. A boat will either sink, or go out of the right course, if destitute of a pilot. Who then can be mad enough to imagine that all these beauties of the Heavens are the effect of chance, and that the revolutions and vicissitudes of the celestial bodies are regulated without the direction of an omniscient mind? Whom do you believe to be their creator and governour? What were the opinions of your ancestors on the subject?" "My father," replied Ychoalay, readily and frankly, "our grandfathers and great grandfathers were wont to contemplate the earth alone, solicitous only to see whether the plain afforded grass and water for their horses. They never troubled themselves about what went on in the Heavens, and who was the creator and governour of the stars."

I have observed the Abipones, when they are unable to comprehend any thing at first sight, soon grow weary of examining it, and cry orqueenàm? what is it after all? Sometimes the Guaranies, when completely puzzled, knit their brows and cry tupâ oiquaà, God knows what it is. Since they possess such small reasoning powers, and have so little inclination to exert them, it is no wonder that they are 60neither able nor willing to argue one thing from another.

You cannot imagine in what dark colours the Europeans, who first entered these provinces, described the stupidity of the Americans. Brother Thomas Ortiz, afterwards Bishop of Sta. Martha, intimates in his letters to the Court of Madrid, that the Americans are foolish, dull, stupid, and unreasoning like beasts, that they are incapable of understanding the heads of religion, and devoid of human sense and judgement. Some of the Spaniards thought the Americans so stupid, that they wished to exclude them, even after they were grown up, from baptism, confession, and other sacraments, as being in the condition of infants who are not yet possessed of reason. Paul the Third was obliged to issue a bull, in the year 1537, the second of June, by which he pronounced the Indians to be really men, and capable of understanding the Catholic faith, and receiving the sacraments, the cause of the Indians being pleaded by Bartolomeo De las Casas, afterwards Bishop of Chiapa. The pontifical decree begins Vetitas ipsa, and is extant in Harold. Notwithstanding this, "the adult Indians in Peru, who have been baptized and properly confessed, do not partake of the divine communion once every 61year, nor indeed when on the point of death," as Acosta says in the eighth chapter of his work: De procuranda Indorum Salute. Nor did the exhortations and comminations of the famous councils at Lima procure the Indians permission to partake of the eucharist, as appears from the complaints and decrees of the synods held in the next century at Lima, Plata, Arequipa, Paza, and Paraguay. For the priests, who denied the eucharist, always alleged the stupidity, ignorance, and inveterate wickedness of the Indians in their excuse. But the synod held at Paza in the year 1638, was of opinion that this ignorance of the Indians should be ascribed to the negligence of their pastors, by whose sedulous instruction these wretches might have emerged from the native darkness of their minds, and from the slough of wickedness.

Taught by the experience of eighteen years spent amongst the Guaranies, and Abipones, I profess to hold the same opinion, having myself seen most barbarous savages born in the woods, accustomed from their earliest age to superstition, slaughter, and rapine, and naturally dull and stupid as brutes, who, after their removal to the colonies of the Jesuits, by daily instruction and by the example of old converts, became well acquainted with and attached 62to the divine law. Although the Americans are but slow of understanding, yet when the good sense of the teacher compensates for the stupidity of his pupils, they are successfully converted to civilization and piety, and even instructed in arts of all kinds. If you wish to see, with your own eyes, to what a degree instruction sharpens the wits of the Indians, and enlarges their comprehensions, go and visit the Guarany towns; in all of which you will find Indians well skilled in the making and handling of musical instruments, in painting, sculpture, cabinet-making, working metals of every kind, weaving, architecture, and writing; and some who can construct clocks, bells, gold clasps, &c. according to all the rules of art. Moreover, there were many who printed books, even of a large size, not only in their native tongue, but in the Latin language, with brass types, which they made themselves. They also write books with a pen so artfully, that the most discerning European would swear they were printed. The Bishops, Governours, and other visitants, were astonished at the workmanship of the Indians, which they saw or heard of in the Guarany towns. The Guaranies were instructed in music, and other arts, by the Jesuit Missionaries, Italians, Flemings, and Germans, who found the Indians docile beyond their expectation. 63Of this, however, I am perfectly certain, that the Indians comprehend what they see sooner and more easily than what they hear, like the rest of mankind, who are all more readily instructed by the eyes than by the ears. If you desire a Guarany to paint or engrave any thing, place a copy before his eyes, and he will imitate it and execute his task with accuracy and elegance. If a pattern be wanting, and the Indian be left to his own devices, he will produce nothing but stupid bungling work, though you may have endeavoured to explain your wishes to him as fully as possible. Neither should you imagine that the Americans are deficient in memory. It was an old custom in the Guarany Reductions to make the chief Indian of the town, or one of the magistrates, repeat the sermon just delivered from the pulpit before the people in the street, or in the court-yard of our house; and they almost all did it with the utmost fidelity, without missing a sentence. Any piece of music which they have either sung or played on the flute, or organ, two or three times from note, becomes so infixed in their memory, that if the music paper were carried away by the wind, they would have no further occasion for it. From these things a theologian will infer that the thinking powers of the Abipones are not circumscribed by such 64narrow limits as to render them incapable of knowing, or at least suspecting the existence of a God, the creator and governour of all things, from the sight of the things created. The nation of the Guaranies, though formerly very ferocious, knew the supreme Deity, whom they call Tupâ, a word composed of two particles, tû, a word of admiration, and pà, of interrogation.

I said that the Abipones were commendable for their wit and strength of mind; but, ashamed of my too hasty praise, I retract my words, and pronounce them fools, idiots, and madmen. Lo! this is the proof of their insanity! They are unacquainted with God, and with the very name of God, yet affectionately salute the evil spirit, whom they call Aharaigichi, or Queevèt, with the title of grandfather, Groaperikie. Him they declare to be their grandfather, and that of the Spaniards, but with this difference, that to the latter he gives gold and silver, and fine clothes, but that to them he transmits valour; for they account themselves more courageous and intrepid than any of the Spaniards. Should you ask them what their grandfather formerly was, and of what condition, they will confess themselves utterly ignorant on the subject. If you persist in your interrogations, they will declare this grandfather of theirs to have been an Indian—so barren and absurd is 65their theology. The Abipones think the Pleiades to be the representation of their grandfather; and as that constellation disappears at certain periods from the sky of South America, upon such occasions, they suppose that their grandfather is sick, and are under a yearly apprehension that he is going to die: but as soon as those seven stars are again visible in the month of May, they welcome their grandfather, as if returned and restored from sickness, with joyful shouts, and the festive sound of pipes and trumpets, congratulating him on the recovery of his health. Quemen naachic latenc! layàm nauichi enà? Ta yegàm! Layamini! What thanks do we owe thee! and art thou returned at last? Ah! thou hast happily recovered!—With such exclamations, expressive of their joy and their folly, do they fill the air. Next day they all go out to seek honey to make mead, and, as soon as that is prepared, they assemble in one place, at the setting of the sun, to make public demonstration of gladness. They pass the night, the married Abipones sitting on the ground on skins, the by-standing women singing with a loud voice, and the crowd of single persons laughing and applauding, by the light of torches, which shine here and there about the market-place. Some female juggler, who conducts the festive ceremonies, dances at 66intervals, rattling a gourd full of hardish fruit-seeds to musical time, and, whirling round to the right with one foot, and to the left with another, without ever removing from one spot, or in the least varying her motions. This foolish crazy dance is interrupted every now and then by the horrid clangor of military trumpets, in which the spectators join, making a loud noise by striking their lips with their hands. Yet in the midst of all this you can never perceive the smallest deviation from strict decorum. The men are decently separated from the women; the boys from the girls. The female dancer, the priestess of these ridiculous ceremonies, as a mark of particular favour, rubs the thighs of some of the men with her gourds, and, in the name of their grandfather, promises them swiftness in pursuing enemies and wild beasts. At the same time the new male and female jugglers, who are thought equal to the office, are initiated with many ceremonies. Of this most mischievous description of men I am now going to treat more fully.

CHAPTER IX. OF THE CONJURORS, OR RATHER OF THE JUGGLERS AND CHEATS OF THE ABIPONES.

If I remember rightly, no nation which has been discovered in Paraguay is without its jugglers, whom the Abipones call by the name of the devil, Keebèt, or devilish workers, because they believe them to have received from their grandfather, the evil spirit, the power of performing wonderful work far surpassing human art. These rogues, who are of both sexes, profess to know and have the ability to do all things. There is not one of the savages who does not believe that it is in the power of these conjurors to inflict disease and death, to cure all disorders, to make known distant and future events; to cause rain, hail, and tempests; to call up the shades of the dead, and consult them concerning hidden matters; to put on the form of a tiger; to handle every kind of serpent without danger, &c., which powers, they imagine, are not obtained by art, but imparted to certain persons by their grandfather, the devil. Those who aspire to the office of juggler are said to sit upon an aged willow, overhanging some lake, and to 68abstain from food for several days, till they begin to see into futurity. It always appeared probable to me that these rogues, from long fasting, contract a weakness of brain, a giddiness, and kind of delirium, which makes them imagine that they are gifted with superior wisdom, and give themselves out for magicians. They impose upon themselves first, and afterwards upon others. But in reality they differ from the rest in nothing but the superior ability of concerting frauds to deceive others. Indeed it is no difficult matter to cheat ignorant and credulous savages, who account every new thing, which they have never seen before, a prodigy, and immediately attribute it to magic art. Once when I happened to make some roses of red linen, to adorn the church, the Indians watched me at my work with much interest, wondering at this imitation of nature, and exclaiming, "This father is either a magician, or the son of a witch." A European lay-brother of our order astonished the Indians by turning something of wood, with much skill and expedition, and was consequently spoken of by them all as the prince of magicians; for till that day they had never seen a turning machine, nor any thing turned. Were they to behold fireworks, optical glasses, the experiments of the air-pump, and many other things 69which are every-day sights amongst Europeans, amazed at what would be so novel to their eyes, they would indeed swear them to be absolute proofs of magical art. This is confirmed by the circumstance of the Brazilians calling their conjurors Payè, and the art of working miracles Caraybà, which name they afterwards gave to the European strangers, because they saw them perform things by art which, being formerly unknown to them, they imagined above the powers of nature. Hence also the Guaranies, whose language bears much resemblance to that of Brazil, at this day call all the Spaniards and Europeans Caraỳ.

This simplicity of an ignorant people, the crafty jugglers know well how to turn to their own advantage, openly boasting themselves vicegerents and interpreters of the devil, their grandfather; diviners of future events; priests of the mysteries; creators, or, as they please, healers of diseases; necromancers, and governours of all the elements; easily persuading these credulous creatures any thing that comes into their heads. They are furnished with a thousand arts of deceiving. Suppose they have heard from some savage visitant that an enemy is coming to attack the horde; this knowledge they will boast of to their hordesmen as if it had been revealed to them by their 70grandfather, thus acquiring the reputation of prophets. Whatever they learn either from conjecture, from secret intelligence, or from their own examination, they predict to be about to happen with infinite pomposity, and are always listened to with as much attention as if they were actually inspired. Should their prophecies not be approved by the event, they are never at a loss for excuses to shelter their authority. Sometimes, in the dead of the night, they suddenly announce the enemy's approach with a whistle or a pipe. All are awakened, and without once calling in question the truth of the juggler's prediction, fly to arms. The women and children betake themselves to a place of safety, and whilst they pass hours, nay whole nights, in the fear of death, and their husbands in threatening it to the assailants, not one of the enemy makes his appearance. But that the faith in their prophecies, and the authority of the prophets, may suffer no diminution, they declare, with a smile, that the hostile assault has been averted by their grandfather the devil. At other times a body of enemies often rushes upon them on a sudden, when not one of these prophets has either foreseen or foretold the danger of an attack. A ridiculous event, à propos to this subject, occurs to my recollection. About 71night-fall an Abiponian boy brought an iron bridle, an axe, and some other trifles, the treasures of his family, to be guarded in my house. On being asked the reason of his doing so, he replied that the enemies would arrive in the night; for so it had been predicted by his mother, a famous juggler, who declared that whenever the enemy was approaching, she felt a pricking sensation in her left arm. "Oh!" replied I, "you may attribute that to the fleas, my good lad. I can tell you this on my own experience. Day and night I feel my left and my right arm too, as well as other parts of my body, insolently pricked and stung by fleas. If that were an indication of the enemy, we should never be free from their attacks night or day." But my words were vain; for the report of the old woman's presage got abroad, and disturbed the whole town all night. Yet, as often happened, no sign or vestige of the enemy appeared.

The Abipones, whom the desire of booty or glory induces to be constantly scheming war against others, are, in consequence, never free from suspicions of machinations against themselves. The more ardently they desire to take measures for their safety, the more readily do they believe themselves in danger from others, and generally for some foolish reason. 72A light rumour, smoke seen from a distance, strange foot-marks, or the unseasonable barking of dogs, fills them with suspicions that their lives are in danger from the enemy, especially when they dread their vengeance for slaughters which themselves have lately committed. The task of tranquillizing and preparing their minds devolves upon the jugglers, who, whenever any thing is to be feared, or any thing to be done, consult the evil spirit. About the beginning of the night a company of old women assemble in a huge tent. The mistress of the band, an old woman remarkable for wrinkles and grey hairs, strikes every now and then two large discordant drums, at intervals of four sounds, and whilst these instruments return a horrible bellowing, she, with a harsh voice, mutters kinds of songs, like a person mourning. The surrounding women, with their hair dishevelled and their breasts bare, rattle gourds, and loudly chaunt funeral verses, which are accompanied by a continual motion of the feet, and tossing about of the arms. But this infernal music is rendered still more insupportable by other performers, who keep constantly beating pans which are covered with deers' skin, and sound very acutely, with a stick. In this manner the night is passed. At day-break all flock to the old woman's tent, as to a Delphic oracle. The singers receive little presents, and 73are anxiously asked what their grandfather has said. The replies of the old women are generally of such doubtful import, that whatever happens they may seem to have predicted the truth. Sometimes the devil is consulted by different women, in different tents, the same night. At day-break one party will pertinaciously assert that the enemy are on the approach, which the other as obstinately denying, a conflict of opinions ensues between these foolish interpreters of oracles, which generally ends in a bloody quarrel. Sometimes one of the jugglers is desired to call up the shade of a dead man, from which they may immediately learn what their fates reserve for them. A promiscuous multitude of every age and sex flocks to the necromancer's tent. The juggler is concealed beneath a bulls hide, which serves in the same manner as a stage-curtain. Having muttered a few extemporary verses, sometimes with a mournful, at others with a commanding voice, he at length declares that the shade of such a person, whoever the people choose, is present. Him he interrogates over and over again on future events, and, changing his voice, answers to himself whatever he thinks proper. Not one of the auditors dares to doubt of the presence of the shade, or the truth of its words. An Abipon of noble family and good understanding, 74used many arguments to convince me that he had with his own eyes beheld the spirit of an Indian woman, whose husband was then living in our town. Spaniards also, who have lived from boyhood in captivity amongst the Abipones, are quite persuaded that the shades of the dead become visible at the call of a necromancer, that they reply to questions, and that there is no deceit used in the business. But what sensible man would credit such witnesses, who are in the daily habit of deceiving and being deceived?

But from this custom of the savages of calling up the shades of the dead, we may deduce that they believe in the immortality of the soul, as may also be collected both from their rites and conversation. They place a pot, a garment, arms, and horses, fastened on stakes upon graves, that the dead may not be in want of the daily necessaries of life. They have an idea, that those little ducks, which the Abipones call ruililiè, and which fly about in flocks at night, uttering a mournful hiss, are the souls of the departed. The Spaniard Raphael de los Rios, who superintended the estate belonging to the town of St. Jeronymo, was cruelly murdered in his tent, in an assault of the savages, whilst I resided there. Some months after, an Abiponian catechumen came and anxiously enquired 75whether all the Spaniards went to Heaven when they died, and was told by my companion that those who had closed their lives with a pious death alone obtained this happiness. "I agree entirely with you," said the Abipon; "for the Spaniard Raphael, who was killed here lately, seems not to have gained admittance yet; our countrymen say that they see him riding in the plain every night, and hissing in a mournful tone." This, though to be accounted either a mere fabrication, or the effect of fancy, justifies the conclusion, that the savages believe the soul to survive the body, though they are entirely ignorant of what becomes of it, or what may be its fate. The other people of Paraguay too hold the same opinion of the immortality of the soul.

From what I have said of the jugglers, who does not see that all their knowledge, all their arts, consist of nothing but cunning, fraud, and deceit? Yet the savages yield them the readiest faith and obedience during their lifetime, and after their death revere them as divine men. In their migrations, they reverently carry with them their bones and other reliques as sacred pledges. Whenever the Abipones see a fiery meteor, or hear it thunder three or four times, these simpletons believe that one of their jugglers is dead, and that this thunder and lightning are 76his funeral obsequies. If they ride out any where to hunt or fight, they are always accompanied on their journey by one of these knaves, on whose words and advice they fully depend, believing that he knows and can foretel whatever may conduce to the success of the expedition; he teaches them the place, time, and manner proper for attacking wild beasts or the enemy. On an approaching combat, he rides round the ranks, striking the air with a palm bough, and with a fierce countenance, threatening eyes, and affected gesticulations, imprecates evil on their enemies. This ceremony they think of much avail to securing them a victory. The best part of the spoils are adjudged to him as the fruits of his office. I observed that these crafty knaves have plenty of excellent horses, and domestic furniture superior to that of the rest. Whatever they wish for they extort from this credulous people. The Abipones account it a crime to contradict their words, or oppose their desires or commands, fearing their vengeance. When any of the jugglers are ill disposed towards a man, they call him to their house, and are instantly obeyed. When he is come, they harshly reproach him for some imaginary fault or injury, and declare their intention of punishing him in the name of their grandfather. They order him instantly to bare 77his breast and shoulders, and then pierce and tear his flesh with the jaw of the fish palometa. The poor wretch dares not utter the least complaint, though streaming with blood, and thinks himself very fortunate in being suffered to depart alive.

At another time, when these bugbears think any one inimical or injurious to them, they will threaten to change themselves into a tiger, and tear every one of their hordesmen to pieces. No sooner do they begin to imitate the roaring of a tiger, than all the neighbours fly away in every direction. From a distance however they hear the feigned sounds. "Alas! his whole body is beginning to be covered with tiger spots!" cry they. "Look, his nails are growing," the fear-struck women exclaim, although they cannot see the rogue, who is concealed within his tent; but that distracted fear presents things to their eyes which have no real existence. It was scarce possible to persuade them out of their absurd terrors. "You daily kill tigers in the plain," said I, "without dread, why then should you weakly fear a false imaginary tiger in the town?" "You Fathers don't understand these matters," they reply, with a smile. "We never fear, but kill tigers in the plain, because we can see them. Artificial tigers we do fear, because they can neither be seen nor killed by us." 78I combated this poor argument, by saying, "If that artificial tiger which your conjurors assume to alarm you cannot be seen, how, pray, can you tell that tigers' claws and nails begin to grow upon him?" But it was vain to reason with men in whom the extreme pertinacity with which they adhered to the opinion of their ancestors superseded all reason. Should a furious tempest arise, they will all declare the deluge caused by profuse rain to be effected by the arts of the jugglers, and whilst some attribute the flood and hurricane to one, some to another, a still more furious and louder tempest arises amongst themselves. Hear my account of an event which I cannot remember without laughter. In the month of January, a quantity of heavy rain fell in the night, and precipitating itself from a neighbouring hill, nearly overwhelmed the colony of St. Jeronymo. The immense force of waters broke the leathern door, rushed into my hut where I was sleeping, and not immediately gaining egress, increased to about five palms in depth. Awakened by the noise, I put my arms out of bed, and using them as a plumb, measured the depth of the water; and had not the wall, which was perforated by the flood, opened a way to the waters, I must have been obliged to swim for my life. The same thing happened to all the Abipones who 79dwelt on low ground, their huts being entirely inundated. But lo! the next morning a report was spread, that a female juggler, who had received some offence from one of the inhabitants of the town, had caused this great storm in the intent of drowning the whole horde, but that the clouds had been repulsed, the rain stopped, and the town saved by the interposition of another juggler. That dreadful flood did not extend to the neighbouring plain, where Pariekaikin, at that time chief of the Abiponian jugglers, was then living with some companions, who, after a long drought, were very desirous of getting water. This Pariekaikin in an oracular manner declared, that Father Joseph Brigniel had caused that rain for the advantage of his town, and that because he, Pariekaikin, did not choose to reside there, he had, out of revenge, directed the clouds with such art, that not a drop of rain reached his station. For they made no hesitation in accounting that Father a conjuror, because he happily and speedily healed the sick.

That the American jugglers enjoy familiar intercourse with the evil spirit is not only firmly believed by the ignorant savages, but some writers have even endeavoured to persuade Europe to believe it. For my part, after so long an acquaintance with these nations I 80could never bring myself to credit it, always remaining of opinion that they neither know, nor are capable of performing any thing above human powers. Being firmly persuaded that they would do me all the evil in their power, I often accosted them in a friendly manner, and by all sorts of good offices endeavoured to prevail upon them to alter their manner of life, and embrace religion; for by their example almost all the rest would regulate their conduct. But this was like washing the blackamoor white: for these wickedest of mortals, unwilling to part with their authority and lucrative office, left no stone unturned, no frauds unattempted to deter and intimidate their countrymen from going to church, attending to the instructions of the priests, and receiving baptism, daily denouncing death, and destruction on the whole nation, unless they obeyed. Nor is this either new or surprizing. In all the American nations the teachers of the holy religion have found the jugglers upholders of ancient superstition, and rocks in the way of the desired progress of the Christian law. Good heavens! what contests, and what trouble did they not cause to Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, the famous Guarany missionary! It was not till he had repressed the authority of the remaining jugglers, and commanded the bones of 81the dead ones, which were universally worshipped with great honours, to be burnt in the presence of the people, that he converted an infinite number of savages to the Christian religion, and induced them to enter colonies. Till these knavish holophants, and sycophants to speak with Plautus, are abolished, nothing can be done with the savages; this I affirm on experience. The town of St. Joachim not only merited the praise of religion, but produced many fruits of genuine piety. But as snakes often lurk in the grass, and tares in the most abundant harvest, an old Indian secretly performed the office of juggler there, and suffered himself to be adored as a divine person by some foolish women, whom he served in the double capacity of physician, and prophet, at the same time carrying on a criminal intercourse with them. These things were disclosed to me by Ignatius Paranderi, chief Cacique of the town; so that judging it advisable immediately to reprove this mischievous old man in public, since private admonitions were of no avail, I repaired to his house attended by all the chief people of the place; and imitating, in this important business, the thundering tongue of Cicero when he fulminated against Catiline, addressed him in the following manner. "How long, accursed old man, will you 82belie your profession of Christianity, by daring to corrupt the morals of your fellow-hordesmen with nefarious arts, and indecent conduct? After living near twenty years in the school of Christ, are you not afraid to practise savage rites the most repugnant to Christian laws? Your manner of life is exactly suitable to the name of tiger, (he was called Yaguaretè, which means a tiger;) for by your deceits and indecencies you tear the poor little sheep of Christ. Extreme age has conducted you to the goal of life;—unless you repent, what a wretched death, and when dead what a sad fate awaits you! I am equally ashamed and grieved on your account. He whom you behold dead on the cross for you," said I, showing him a crucifix, "will drive you headlong into hell, to punish your perfidy. Be what you appear, or appear what you are. Regulate your conduct according to divine law. But if savage superstitions are too firmly rooted in your breast to be ever eradicated, return instantly to the woods of the savages, to the dens of wild beasts where you first saw the light, that your example may not pervert the rest of your hordesmen, who have dedicated their lives to religion and virtue. Go, and repent of your former sins, and by penitence and innocence of life, cleanse away the stains of them. 83If you do not instantly obey my friendly admonitions, it will be worse for you. Henceforward, you shall not go unpunished. Know, that as soon as ever I hear of any act of superstition or indecency committed or attempted by you, at my orders you shall be led about the streets amidst the hisses of the people, and pelted with cow-dung, by a crowd of boys. Such is my firm determination. This is the thyme and frankincense that shall be offered up to the stinking divinity, which you have madly dared to arrogate to yourself and suffered to be adored." This commination left the old fellow alarmed, and, if I mistake not, corrected, all good men highly approving the severity of my speech. No suspicions were ever after entertained of him, though I inspected all things with a vigilant eye and an attentive ear.

As the jugglers perform the offices not only of soothsayers and physicians, but also of priests of the ceremonies of superstition, it exceeds belief what absurd opinions they inculcate into the ignorant minds of the Abipones. Out of many, I will mention a few. The Abipones think that none of their nation would ever die, were the Spaniards and the jugglers banished from America; for they attribute every one's death, from whatever cause it may proceed, 84either to the malicious arts of the one, or to the fire-arms of the other. If an Abipon die from being pierced with many wounds, or from having his bones broken, or his strength exhausted by extreme old age, his countrymen all deny that wounds or weakness occasioned his death, and anxiously try to discover by which of the jugglers, and for what reason he was killed. Because they have remembered some of their nation to have lived for a hundred years, they imagine that they would never die, were it not for the jugglers and the Spaniards. What ridiculous ideas do not the Americans entertain respecting the eclipse of the sun and moon! During the time it lasts, the Abipones fill the air with horrid lamentations. They perpetually cry tayretà! oh! the poor little thing! grieving for the sun and moon: for when these planets are obscured, they always fear that they are entirely extinguished. Still more ridiculous are the Chiquito Indians, who say that the sun and moon are cruelly torn by dogs, with which they think that the air abounds, when they see their light fail; attributing their blood red colour to the bites of these animals. Accordingly, to defend their dear planets from those aërial mastiffs, they send a shower of arrows up into the sky, amid loud vociferations, 85at the time of the eclipse. But, who would believe that the Peruvian Indians, so much more civilized than the rest, should be foolish enough to imagine, that when the sun is obscured, he is angry, and turns away his face from them, on account of certain crimes which they have committed? When the moon is in darkness, they say she is sick, and are in perpetual apprehension, that, when she dies, her immense carcass will fall down upon the earth and crush all the inhabitants. When she recovers her light, they say she has been healed by Pachacámac, the Saviour of the world, who has prevented her death, that the earth may not be utterly crushed and destroyed by her weight. Other crazy notions are entertained by other Americans concerning eclipses. The Abipones call a comet neyàc, the Guaranies yacitatà tatatĩbae, the smoking star: for what we name the hair, beard, or tail of a comet, they take to be smoke. This star is dreaded by all savages, being accounted the forerunner and instrument of various calamities. The Peruvians have always believed the comet to portend the death of their kings, and the destruction of their provinces and kingdoms. Montezuma, monarch of the Mexicans, having frequently beheld a comet like a fiery pyramid, visible from midnight till sun-set, was greatly alarmed for himself 86and for his people, and shortly after conquered and slain by Cortez.

Let us now return to the superstitions of the Abipones, who think another star, the name of which I have forgotten, portentous, formidable, and destructive. They say that those years in which this star has been seen have always proved bloody and disastrous to their nation. When a whirlwind drives the dust round in a circle, the women throw ashes in its way, that it may be satisfied with that food, and may turn in some other direction. But if the wind rushes into any house with that impetuous whirling, they are certain that one of the inhabitants will die soon. If any live bees be found in the honey-comb, which they bring from the woods, they say that they must be killed out of doors, imagining, that if this be done within the house, they shall never be able to find any more honey.

The Abipones labour under many superstitions, because they abound in jugglers, the teachers of superstition. The most famous at the time that I lived there, were Hanetrâìn, Nahagalkìn, Oaikin, Kaëperlahachin, Pazanoirin, Kaachì, Kepakainkin, Laamamin, and Pariekaikin, the first, and by far the most eminent of them all, who had obtained a high reputation for his prophecies and other peculiarities of his office. Female jugglers abound to such a degree, 87that they almost out-number the gnats of Egypt. Their chief endeavour is to inspire their countrymen with a veneration for their grandfather, the evil spirit. On this subject I shall now proceed to discourse.

CHAPTER X. CONJECTURES WHY THE ABIPONES TAKE THE EVIL SPIRIT FOR THEIR GRANDFATHER, AND THE PLEIADES FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF HIM.

When you read that the Abipones take the devil for their grandfather, you may laugh with me at their folly, and behold their madness with pity and wonder, but, if you be wise, let all this be done in moderation, for still grosser errors have been entertained amongst many nations civilized by laws and arts both human and divine. If you do but look into history sacred or profane, you will allow that there is scarce any thing to which divine honours have not formerly been paid. Such madness and folly in many polished nations should so exhaust our indignation and wonder as to make us judge mildly of the savage Abipones, educated amongst wild beasts, and unacquainted with letters, if they simply dignify the evil spirit with the title of their grandfather, without giving him the name or honours of a divinity. During a seven-years' residence amongst the savages, I never discovered any thing of that nature. If secretly or in our absence they did any thing which a divine would condemn, I 89think it proceeded from no religious inclination towards the evil spirit, but only from fear of him, and from the compulsion used by the jugglers; so that they rather merit the imputation of stupidity than of blasphemy.

Not only the Abipones, but likewise the Mocobios, Tobas, Yapitalakas, Guaycurus and other equestrian people of Chaco, boast themselves grandsons of the evil spirit, partakers no less of their superstition than of their madness. But how different are the opinions entertained by the southern equestrian tribes, who wander up and down the region of Magellan! They are all acquainted with the devil, whom they call Balichù. They believe that there is an innumerable crowd of demons, the chief of whom they name El El, and all the inferior ones Quezubû. They think, however, every kind of demon hostile and mischievous to the human race, and the origin of all evil, regarding them in consequence with dread and abhorrence. The Puelches, Picunches, or Moluches, are unacquainted even with the name of God. These last ascribe all the good things they either possess or desire to the sun, and to the sun they pray for them. When a priest of our order told them that God, the creator of all things, and amongst the rest of the sun, should be worshipped before the work of his own 90hands, they replied; "Till this hour, we never knew nor acknowledged any thing greater or better than the sun." The Patagonians call God Soychù, to wit, that which cannot be seen, which is worthy of all veneration, and which does not live in the world; hence they call the dead Soychuhèt, men that dwell with God beyond the world. They seem to hold two principles in common with the Gnostics and Manichæans, for they say that God created both good and evil demons. The latter they greatly fear, but never worship. They believe every sick person to be possessed of an evil demon; hence their physicians always carry a drum with figures of devils painted on it, which they strike at the beds of sick persons, to drive the evil demon, which causes the disorder, from the body. The savages of Chili are ignorant of the name and worship of God, but believe in a certain aërial spirit, called Pillan, to whom they address supplications that he will scatter their enemies, and thanksgiving, amidst their cups, after gaining a victory. Pillan is also their name for thunder, and they worship this deity chiefly when it thunders. The devil, which they call Alveè, they detest with their whole hearts. Hence, as they think life the best of all things, when any of them dies, they say that the evil 91spirit has taken him away. The Brazilians and Guaranies call the devil Aña, or Añanga, and fear him on account of a thousand noxious arts by which he is signalized. In Virginia, the savages call the devil Okè, and pay him divine honours. Since numerous and neighbouring savages regard the devil with fear and contempt, I cannot imagine why the Abipones give him the affectionate and honourable appellation of their grandfather. But there is no need of reason and argument to induce the savages to embrace the absurdest opinions, and to take what is doubtful for certain, what is false for perfectly true. The lies of a crafty juggler, the dreams of a foolish old woman, listened to with attentive ears, are more than enough to make them swear that the devil is their grandfather, or any thing still more absurd.

Why they believe the Pleiades to be the representation of their grandfather, remains to be discussed. On this subject also I can advance nothing but conjecture, nor can any thing certain be derived either from the Abipones or from the historians of America. The seven daughters of Lycurgus were placed by Jove amongst the stars, because they educated Bacchus in the island of Naxos, and distinguished by the name of Pleiades, as poets feign. What if we say that the Abipones, who are so fond 92of drinking-parties, worshipped those stars, because they were the nurses of Bacchus? But this pleasant idea would suit conversation better than history. It deserves attention, that, though various nations have paid divine honours to the sun, moon, and other stars, we cannot find a syllable respecting the worship of the Pleiades in any part of holy writ; unless, indeed, you say that they were adored by those nations mentioned in the 17th Chap. and the 3d verse of Deuteronomy: "That they go and serve other Gods, and worship them, the sun and moon, and all the host of heaven." For, as St. Jerome observes, the "whole host of heaven" means all the stars, including, of course, the Pleiades amongst the rest.

After long and frequent consideration of these things, it appears most probable to my mind, that the savages of Paraguay derived the knowledge and worship of the Pleiades from the ancient Peruvians; who, although they venerated God the creator and preserver of all things, (under the name of Pachacàmac,) are nevertheless said to have adored the sea, rocks, trees, and, what is of most importance to the present subject, the Pleiades, whom they called Colcà. The Inca Manco Capac, their ruler and chief lawgiver, afterwards substituted new superstitions for old ones. He decreed, that divine 93honours should be paid to the sun. To it alone divine veneration and sacrifices were paid, though the moon also, which they call the consort of the sun, and certain stars, which they call the handmaids of the moon, were honoured with silver altars and adoration to a certain extent, but inferior to that paid a divinity. Amongst the stars they thought the Pleiades worthy of a distinguished place, and chief honour, either from the wonderful manner in which they are placed, or from their singular brightness. After the Spaniards obtained dominion over Peru by force of arms, it is credible that the Peruvians, to avoid this dreadful slavery, stole away wherever they could, and that many of them migrated into the neighbouring Tucuman, and thence, for the sake of security, into the deserts of Chaco, close by; where, amongst other superstitions they may have taught the inhabitants a religious observance of the Pleiades. But since the Abipones, you will object, cannot even express the name of God in their native tongue, and respectfully address the evil spirit by the title of their grandfather, why did they not learn from the Peruvians the name and worship of God, with a hatred and contempt for the evil spirit? The latter certainly entertained such a reverence for the God Pachacàmac, that they thought it a 94part of their religion not to utter his name except on very important occasions, and whenever they did, to accompany the mention of it with great marks of reverence. On the other hand, they held the devil, whom they called Cupay, in much contempt. Why did not the Peruvians impart that reverence for God, and contempt for the evil spirit to the Abipones, at the same time that they instructed them in a religious observance of the Pleiades? Because vice is more easily learnt than virtue, as healthy persons are sooner infected by the sick, than sick ones cured by the healthy. Yet, if you persist in denying that the knowledge of the Pleiades was brought from Peru, I will oppose you no longer; but what hinders us from believing that it crept into Paraguay from the neighbouring Brazil, where the Tapuyas, formerly a fierce and numerous nation, greatly venerated the rise of the Pleiades, and worshipped those stars as divinities with singing and dancing. As no memorials are at hand from which any thing determinate can be elicited on this subject, I have thought fit to adduce all these conjectures, opinions, and probabilities which may seem in any way to relate to the evil spirit, the infamous grandfather of the Abipones, and to the Pleiades the representation of him.

CHAPTER XI. OF THE DIVISION OF THE ABIPONIAN NATION, OF THEIR PAUCITY, AND OF THE CHIEF CAUSES THEREOF.

To look for policy in savages will appear to you like seeking a knot in a bulrush, or expecting water from a flint. The Abipones, a nation obstinately attached to their ancient liberty, lived at their own pleasure, impatient of all controul. Their own will was their sole law. Nevertheless, as bees, ants, and every kind of animal, by natural instinct, observe certain peculiarities of their species, in like manner the most ferocious Indians pertinaciously retain, even to this day, certain customs, the ordinances of their nation, handed down to them by their ancestors, and regarded by them as laws. I shall proceed to treat of the political, economical, and military regulations of the Abipones, of their customs and magistrates.

The whole nation of the Abipones is divided into three classes: the Riikahès, who inhabit extensive plains; the Nakaigetergehes, who love the lurking-holes of the woods; and lastly, the Yaaucanigas, who were formerly a distinct 96nation, and used a separate language. In the last century, the Spaniards, whom they had gone out to slaughter, surprized them by the way, and almost destroyed them all. A few who survived the massacre, with the widows and children of the slain, joined the neighbouring Abipones, and both nations, by inter-marriages, coalesced into one; the old language of the Yaaucanigas falling into disuse. The Abiponian tribes pursue the same manner of life, and their customs and language, with the exception of a few words, are alike. Wondrous unanimity, and a constant alliance in arms, reigned amongst them as long as they had to deal with the Spaniards, against whom, as against a mutual foe, they bear an innate hatred, and whose servitude they resist with united strength. But though bound by the ties of consanguinity and friendship, impatient of the smallest injury, they eagerly seize on any occasion of war, and frequently weaken each other with mutual slaughter.

Like the other American savages, some of the Abipones practise polygamy and divorce. Yet they are by no means numerous; the whole nation consisting of no more than five thousand people. Intestine skirmishes, excursions against the enemy, the deadly contagion of the 97measles and small-pox, and the cruelty of the mothers towards their offspring, have combined to render their number so small. Now learn the cause of this inhumanity in the women. The mothers suckle their children for three years, during which time they have no conjugal intercourse with their husbands, who, tired of this long delay, often marry another wife. The women, therefore, kill their unborn babes through fear of repudiation, sometimes getting rid of them by violent arts, without waiting for their birth. Afraid of being widows in the life-time of their husbands, they blush not to become more savage than tigresses. Mothers spare their female offspring more frequently than the males, because the sons, when grown up, are obliged to purchase a wife, whereas daughters, at an age to be married, may be sold to the bridegroom at almost any price.

From all this you may easily guess that the Abiponian nations abound more in women than in men, both because female infants are seldomer killed by their mothers, because the women never fall in battle as is the case with the men, and because women are naturally longer lived than men. Many writers make the mistake of attributing the present scanty population of America to the cruelty of the Spaniards, when they should rather accuse that 98of the infanticide mothers. We, who have grown old amongst the Abipones, should pronounce her a singularly good woman who brings up two or three sons. But the whole Abiponian nation contains so few such mothers, that their names might all be inscribed on a ring. I have known some who killed all the children they bore, no one either preventing or avenging these murders. Such is the impunity with which crimes are committed when they become common, as if custom could excuse their impiety. The mothers bewail their children, who die of a disease, with sincere tears; yet they dash their new-born babes against the ground, or destroy them in some other way, with calm countenances. Europeans will scarce believe that such affection for their dead children can co-exist with such cruelty towards them while they are alive, but to us it is certain and indubitable. After our instructions, however, had engrafted a reverence for the divine law in the minds of the Abipones, the barbarity of the mothers gradually disappeared, and husbands, with joyful eyes, beheld their hands no longer stained with the blood of their offspring, but their arms laden with those dear pledges. These are the fruits and the triumphs of religion, which fills not only Heaven but earth with inhabitants. When polygamy and divorce, 99the iniquitous murdering of infants, and the liberty of spontaneous abortion were at length, by means of Christian discipline, abolished, the nation of the Abipones, within a few years, rejoiced to see itself enriched with incredible accessions of both sexes.

CHAPTER XII. OF THE MAGISTRATES, CAPTAINS, CACIQUES, &c. OF THE ABIPONES, AND OF THEIR FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.

The Abipones do not acknowledge any prince who reigns with supreme power over the whole nation. They are divided into hordes, each of which is headed by a man, whom the Spaniards call capitan, or cacique, the Peruvians curáca, the Guaranies aba rubicha, and the Abipones nelar̂eyràt, or capitâ. This word capitan sounds very grand in the ears of the Americans. They think they are using a very honourable title when they call the God, or King of the Spaniards, capitan latènc, or capitan guazù, the great captain. By this word, indeed, they mean to designate not only supreme power, and eminent dignity, but also every kind of nobility. Sometimes miserable looking old women, wretchedly clothed, and rich only in wrinkles, to prevent us from thinking them of low birth, will say aym capitâ, I am a captain, I am noble. I was astonished at hearing the savages buried in the woods of Mbaeverà, and cut off from all intercourse with the Spaniards, address their caciques by the names of Capitâ 101Roỹ, Capitâ Tupânchichu, Capitâ Veraripotschiritù, neglecting their own word, aba rubicha; so universal and honourable is the title of captain amongst the savage nations. Should an Abipon meet a Spaniard dressed very handsomely, he would not hesitate to call him captain, though he might be of low rank, and distinguished by no dignity or nobility whatever. Moreover, in Paraguay, Spaniards of the lowest rank, who live in the country, are extremely ambitious of the title of captain, and if you do not call them so every now and then, will look angry, and refuse to do you any kind of service, even to give you a drop of water if you are ever so thirsty. The Christian Guaranies have the same foolish mania for titles. After having laboured hard for two or three years in the royal camps, they think themselves amply repaid for their toils and wounds, if, at the end of the expedition, they return to their colony honoured by the royal governour with the title and staff of a captain. At all times even when employed, barefoot, in building or agriculture, they ostentatiously hold the captain's staff in their hands. When they are carried to the grave, this wooden ensign is suspended from the bier. When a man is at the point of death, and just going to receive extreme unction, he puts on his military boots and 102spurs, takes his staff in his hand, and in this trim awaits the priest, and even approaching death, as if in the intent of frightening the grim spectre away. On the domestics' expressing their surprize at the unusual attire of the dying man, he sternly and gravely observes, that this is the manner in which it becomes a captain to die. Such is the signification and the honour attached to the word captain in America.

Amongst the Guaranies, who have embraced the Christian religion, in various colonies, the name and office of cacique is hereditary. When a cacique dies, his eldest son succeeds without dispute, whatever his talents or disposition may be. Amongst the Abipones, too, the eldest son succeeds, but only provided that he be of a good character, of a noble and warlike disposition, in short, fit for the office; for if he be indolent, ill-natured, and foolish in his conduct, he is set aside, and another substituted, who is not related to the former by any tie of blood. But to say the truth, the cacique elected by the Abipones has no cause for pride, nor he that is rejected for grief and envy. The name of cacique is certainly a high title amongst the Abipones, but it is more a burden than an honour, and often brings with it greater danger than profit. For they neither revere their cacique as a master, nor pay him tribute or 103attendance as is usual with other nations. They invest him neither with the authority of a judge, an arbitrator, or an avenger. Drunken men frequently kill one another; women quarrel, and often imbrue their hands in one another's blood; young men, fond of glory or booty, rob the Spaniards, to whom they had promised peace, of whole droves of horses, and sometimes secretly slay them: and the cacique, though aware of all these things, dares not say a word. If he were but to rebuke them for these transgressions, which are reckoned amongst the merits, virtues, and victories of the savages, with a single harsh word, he would be punished in the next drinking-party with the fists of the intoxicated savages, and publicly loaded with insults, as a friend to the Spaniards, and a greater lover of ease than of his people. How often have Ychamenraikin, chief cacique of the Riikahes, and Narè, of the Yaaucanigas, experienced this! How often have they returned from a drinking-party with swelled eyes, bruised hands, pale cheeks, and faces exhibiting all the colours of the rainbow!

But although the Abipones neither fear their cacique as a judge, nor honour him as a master, yet his fellow-soldiers follow him as a leader and governour of the war, whenever the enemy is to be attacked or repelled. Some, however, 104refuse to follow him, for what Cæsar said of the German chiefs is applicable to the Abiponian cacique: Authoritate suadendi magis, quam jubendi potestate audiatur. As soon as a report is spread of the danger of an hostile attack, the business of the cacique is to provide for the security of his people; to increase the store of weapons; to order the horses to be fetched from the distant pastures to safer places; to send out watchers by night, and scouts in every direction, to procure supplies from the neighbours, and to gain their alliance. When the enemy is to be attacked, he rides before his men, and occupies the front of the army he has raised, less solicitous about the numbers of the enemy, than the firmness of his troops: for as with birds, when one is shot, the rest fly away, in like manner the Abipones, alarmed at the deaths or wounds of a few of their fellow-soldiers, desert their leader, and escape on swift horses, wherever room for flight is afforded them, more anxious about their own safety than about obtaining a victory. Yet it must be acknowledged that this nation never wants its heroes. Many remain intrepid whilst their companions fall around them, and though pierced with wounds and streaming with blood, retain even in death the station where they fought. Desire of glory, ferocious study of revenge, or 105despair of escape, inspires the naturally fearful with courage, which a Lacedemonian would admire, and which Europe desires to see in her warriors.

Moreover, being lovers of liberty and roving, they choose to own no law, and bind themselves to their cacique by no oaths of fidelity. Without leave asked on their part, or displeasure evinced on his, they remove with their families whithersoever it suits them, and join some other cacique; and when tired of the second, return with impunity to the horde of the first. This is quite common, and a matter of surprize to no one that knows how fleeting is the faith, how mutable the will of the Indians. Should a report be spread by uncertain or suspicious authors, that the enemy are coming in a few days, it is enough. Numbers, dreading the loss of life more than of fame, will desert their cacique, and hasten with their families to some well-known retreats. Lest however they should be branded with the name of deserters and cowards, they say they are going out to hunt. Hence, whenever we priests had to defend the new colonies filled with savage assailants, and almost destitute of inhabitants to repel them, we generally made more use of craft and threats than of force. The danger, or the fear of it, being dissipated, these fugacious heroes at length came home, no 106one daring to accuse them of cowardice, though no one could be ignorant that fear prompted their departure, security their return.

Whenever a cacique determines upon undertaking an excursion, a public drinking-party is appointed. Heated with that luscious beverage, prepared from honey or the alfaroba, they zealously offer their services to the cacique, who invites them to war, sing triumph before the victory with festive vociferations, and, (who would believe it?) diligently execute when sober, what they promised in a state of intoxication. That love is kindled by love, as fire by fire, and that friends are gained by liberality, are trite proverbs in Europe, and have been experienced by us in our long commerce with the Abipones. A cacique who seldom gives a repulse will have numerous, obedient, and affectionate hordesmen. Kind words or looks, the marks of good-will, avail but little amongst the savages, unless accompanied with beneficence. They require at the cacique's hands whatever they take it into their heads to wish for, believing that his office obliges him to satisfy the petitions of all. If he denies them any thing, they say he is not a captain, or noble, and insolently bestow upon him the disgraceful appellation of wood-Indian—Acami Lanařaik. The cacique has nothing, either in his arms or his 107clothes, to distinguish him from a common man, except the peculiar oldness and shabbiness of them; for if he appear in the street with new and handsome apparel, just taken out of his wife's loom, the first person he meets will boldly cry, Give me that dress, Tach cauê grihilalgi; and unless he immediately parts with it, he becomes the scoff and the scorn of all, and hears himself called covetous and niggardly. Sometimes, when they came to ask a great favour of me, they would stroke my shoulder, and say in a sweet tone, You are indeed a captain, Father; by which honourable appellation they wished me to understand that it was unlike a captain to refuse a man any thing. As those things which they asked me for were not always in my possession, nor could indeed be found in any shop at Amsterdam, I told them I was no captain, that they might bear a refusal with good humour, and attribute it to poverty, not to ill-nature. But it was all in vain. They construe a Father's excuse into a falsehood, and exclaim, not without much laughter on both sides, What a liar, what a miser you are! I found that those caciques had abundance of followers who were active and successful in the acquirement of booty, free from sordid avarice, and fond of displaying an unbounded liberality towards their hordesmen. Kaapetraikin and Kebachin had 108crowds of soldiers in their service, because they were distinguished for dexterity and assiduity in depredation; the same men, when decrepit with extreme age, inadequate to undertaking excursions, and consequently poor, found none but relations continue in their hordes.

I must not omit to mention that the Abipones do not scorn to be governed by women of noble birth; for at the time that I resided in Paraguay, there was a high-born matron, to whom the Abipones gave the title of Nelar̂eycatè, and who numbered some families in her horde. Her origin, and the merits of her ancestors, procured her the veneration of others. The Catholic kings themselves, and their governours, acknowledge the rank of the caciques of every nation, and dignify them with the title of nobility, prefixing the word Don to their names, according to the Spanish fashion. It is also customary, throughout the whole of Spanish America, for the Indian caciques, after they have received baptism, and sworn allegiance to the Catholic king, to retain, and transmit to their posterity the dominion they possessed when savage, over the savages subject to their power: which is also observed amongst the Guaranies, with this provision, however, that the caciques themselves and the Indians under their authority, are obliged to 109obey the corregidor, and other magistrates of the town. In every Guarany town, there are a number of caciques, who, if men of abilities, are often promoted to the office of magistrates, that the Indians may not suspect the Europeans of despising their nobility. There were five caciques in the town of St. Joachim, over which I presided. Their names were Don Ignatius Paranderi, Don Miguel Yeyù, Don Marco Quirakerà, Don Joseph Xavier, and Don Miguel Yazukà; which last performed the office of corregidor for many years. Though a native of the woods, he was both exceedingly attached to Christian discipline, and intrepid in guarding it; indeed he was above all praise; which is certainly very uncommon and wonderful, as, to say the truth, we have often found the caciques more stupid than the common people, and less skilful in the public employments of the town. Who, therefore, can blame the Abipones, if, setting aside the privilege of birth, they elect a cacique, who, though of obscure origin, is distinguished for military valour?

CHAPTER XIII. OF THE FOOD, JOURNEYS, AND OTHER PARTICULARS OF THE ECONOMY OF THE ABIPONES.

The wild Abipones live like wild beasts. They neither sow nor reap, nor take any heed of agriculture. Taught by natural instinct, the instructions of their ancestors, and their own experience, they are acquainted with all the productions of the earth and the trees, at what part of the year they spontaneously grow, what animals are to be found in what places, and what arts are to be employed in taking them. All things are in common with them. They have no proprietors, as with us, of lands, rivers, and groves, who possess the exclusive right of hunting, fishing, and gathering wood there. Whatever flies in the air, swims in the water, and grows wild in the woods, may become the property of the first person that chooses to take it. The Abipones are unacquainted with spades, ploughs, and axes; the arrow, the spear, the club, and horses, are the only instruments they make use of in procuring food, clothing, and habitation. As all lands do not bear all things, and as various productions grow at various 111times of the year, they cannot continue long in one situation. They remove from place to place, wherever they can most readily satisfy the demands of hunger and thirst. The plains abound in emus, and their numerous eggs, in deer, tigers, lions, various kinds of rabbits, and other small animals peculiar to America, and also in flocks of partridges. Numbers of stags, exactly like those of our country, frequent the banks of the larger rivers. Innumerable herds of wild boars are almost constantly to be seen in marshy places, which they delight in, in the neighbourhood of a wood. The groves, besides antas, and tamanduas, contain swarms of monkeys and parrots. The lakes and rivers, which abound in fish, produce water-wolves, water-dogs, capibaris, innumerable otters, and flocks of geese and ducks. I do not mention the great multitude of tortoises, as neither the Abipones nor Spaniards eat them in Paraguay. At stated times of the year, they collect quantities of young cormorants, on the banks of rivers, and reckon them amongst the delicacies of the table. Were none of these things to be procured, tree fruits and hives of excellent honey would never be wanting. The various species of palms alone will supply meat, drink, medicine, habitation, clothes, arms, and what not, 112to those that are in need. Under the earth, and even under the water, grow esculent roots. Two species of the alfaroba, commonly called St. John's bread, throughout great part of the year, produce extremely wholesome, and by no means unsavoury food, both meat and drink. See the munificence of God even towards those by whom he is not worshipped! Behold a rude image of the golden age! The Abipones have it in their power to procure all the appurtenances of daily life, with little or no labour, and though unacquainted with money of every kind, are commodiously supplied with all necessaries; for if a long drought have exhausted the rivers, they will find water even in the most desert plains, under the leaves of the caraquatà, or they can suck little apples, which are full of a watery liquor like melons, and grow under the earth, or dig a well in the channel of a dried-up river, and see water sufficient for themselves and their horses spring up from thence. A Spaniard, in the wilds of America, will pine with thirst, either from being ignorant of these things, or impatient of the labour of obtaining them.

As the supports of life are not all found collected together in one place, nor will suffice for a long time, or a great number of hordesmen, the Abipones are obliged to change their residence, 113and travel about continually. Neither rugged roads, nor distances of places, prevent them from a journey; for both men and women travel on horses which are swift and numerous there, and if they are in haste, traverse vast tracts of land every day. I shall now describe the equipment of the horse, and the method of riding. The bit which they use is composed of a cow's horn fastened on each side to four little pieces of wood placed transversely, and to a double thong which supplies the place of a bridle. Some use iron bits, of which they are very proud. The major part have saddles like English ones, of a raw bull's hide stuffed with reeds. Stirrups are not in general use. The men leap on to their horse on the right side. With the right hand they grasp the bridle, with the left a very long spear, leaning upon which they jump up with the impulse of both feet, and then fall right upon the horse's back. The same expedition in dismounting, which would excite the admiration of a European, is very useful to them in skirmishes. They use no spurs even at this day. For a whip, they make use of four strips of a bull's hide twisted together, with which they stimulate new or refractory horses to the course, not by the sense of pain, but by the fear excited by the cracking of the whip. The 114saddles used by the women are the same as those of the men, except that the former, more studious of external elegance, have theirs made of the skin of a white cow. When an Abiponian woman wants to mount her horse, she throws herself up to the middle upon its neck, like men in Europe, and then separating her feet on both sides, places herself in the saddle, which has no cushion; nor does the hardness of it offend her in journeys of many days; from which you may perceive that the skin of the Abipones is harder than leather, being rendered callous by their constantly riding without a cushion. Indians who ride much and long without saddles, frequently hurt and wound the horse's back, without receiving any injury themselves. I will now describe their manner of travelling when they remove from one place to another. The wife, besides her husband's bow and quiver, carries all the domestic furniture, all the pots, gourds, jugs, shells, balls of woollen and linen thread, weaving instruments, &c. These things are contained in boar-skin bags, suspended here and there from the saddle; where she also places the whelps, and her young infant if she have one. Besides these things, she suspends from the sides of the saddle a large mat, with two poles, to fix a tent wherever they like, and a bull's hide to serve for a boat in crossing rivers. 115No woman will set out on a journey without a stake like a palm branch, broad at each side and slender in the middle, made of very hard wood, and about two ells long, which serves admirably for digging eatable roots, knocking down fruits from trees, and dry boughs for lighting a fire, and even for breaking the heads and arms of enemies, if they meet any by the way. With this luggage, which you would think a camel could hardly carry, are the women's horses loaded in every journey. But this is not all. You often see two or three women or girls seated on one horse: not from any scarcity of beasts, all having plenty, but because they are sworn enemies to solitude and silence. As few horses will bear more than one rider, unless accustomed to it, they immediately throw the female trio, but generally without doing them any injury, except that these Amazons, when seen sprawling like snails upon the ground, excite the mirth of the spectators, and amidst mutual laughter, try to scramble again on to the rustic steed, as often as they are thrown off.

The company of women is attended by a vast number of dogs. As soon as they are mounted, they all look round, and if one be missing out of the many which they keep, begin to call him with their usual nè nè nè repeated as loud as possible a hundred 116times, till at last they see them all assembled. I often wondered how, without being able to count, they could so instantly tell if one were missing out of so large a pack. Nor should they be censured for their anxiety about their dogs; for these animals, in travelling, serve as purveyors, being employed, like hounds, to hunt deer, otters, and emus. It is chiefly on this account that every family keeps a great number of dogs, which are supported without any trouble; plenty of provender being always supplied by the heads, hearts, livers, and entrails of the slaughtered cattle; which, though made use of by Europeans, are rejected by the savages. The fecundity of these animals in Paraguay corresponds to the abundance of victuals. They scarce ever bring forth fewer than twelve puppies at a birth. When the period of parturition draws nigh, they dig a very deep burrow, furnished with a narrow opening, and therein securely deposit their young. The descent is so artfully contrived with turnings and windings, that, however rainy the weather may be, no water can penetrate to this subterranean cave. The mother comes out every day to get food and drink, when she moans and wags her tail as if to excuse her absence to her master; at length, at the end of many days, she shows her whelps abroad, though she certainly 117cannot boast of their beauty: for the Indian dogs have no elegance of form, they are generally middle-sized, and of various colours, as with us. They are neither so small as the dogs of Malta and Bologna, nor so large as mastiffs. You never see any of those shaggy curly dogs, which are so fond of the water, and so docile, except amongst the Spaniards, who have them sent over in European ships. But though the Indian dogs do not excel in beauty, they are by no means inferior to those of Europe in quickness of scent, in activity, vigilance, and sincere affection for their masters. In every Abiponian colony, some hundred dogs keep continual watch, and by the terrible howling and barking which they nightly utter in chorus, at the slightest motion, perpetually disturbed our sleep, but never secured us from being surprized by the enemy; a troop of whom would often steal into the colony, whilst the whole of the dogs maintained a profound silence. Yet none of the Abipones ever blamed them, foolishly imagining them bewitched by the magic arts of the enemy's jugglers. It may be reckoned amongst the blessings of Paraguay, that it is unacquainted with madness in dogs, or any kind of cattle, and that hydrophobia is unknown here. This must be accounted a singular benefit of Providence, and one of the wonders of nature 118in a country where beasts are frequently distressed both with the burning heat of heaven, and with long thirst, for want of water, which is not to be got for many leagues. But let us now take leave of the female riders, and of the dogs that accompany them, and direct our attention to the Abipones, their husbands.

The luggage being all committed to the women, the Abipones travel armed with a spear alone, that they may be disengaged to fight or hunt, if occasion require. If they spy any emus, deer, stags, boars, or other wild animals, they pursue them with swift horses, and kill them with a spear. If they can meet with nothing fit to kill and eat, they set fire to the plain which is covered with tall dry grass, and force the animals, concealed underneath, to leap out by crowds, and in flying from the fire to fall into the cruel hands of the Indians, who kill them with wood, iron, or a string, and afterwards roast them. Should every thing else be wanting, the plains abound in rabbits, to afford a breakfast, dinner, or supper. To strike fire, they have no occasion for either flint or steel, the place of which is supplied by pieces of wood, about a span long, one of which is soft, the other hard. The first, which is a little pierced in the middle, is placed underneath; the harder wood, which has a point 119like an acorn, is applied to the bole of the softer, and whirled quickly round with both hands. By this mutual and quick attrition of both woods, a little dust is rubbed off which at the same moment catches fire and emits smoke; to this the Indians apply straw, cow-dung, dry leaves, &c. for fuel. The soft wood used for this purpose is taken either from the tree ambaỹ from the shrub caraquatà, or from the cedar; but the harder, which they whirl round with the hand, comes from the tree tataỹi, which affords a saffron-coloured wood, as hard as box, and fit for dying clothes yellow, together with mulberries very like those of our own country.

Whenever they think fit to sleep at noon, or pass the night by the way, they anxiously look out for some place affording an opportunity of water, wood, and pasture. If there arise any suspicion of a hostile ambuscade, they hide themselves in lurking holes, rendered inaccessible by the nature of the place. You would say that they and their families are at home, wherever they go, for they carry about mats to serve for a house, as a snail does its shell. Two poles are fixed into the ground, and to them is tied a mat, twice or thrice folded to exclude the wind and rain. That the ground upon which they lie may not be wetted by a heavy shower, they providently dig a little channel at the side 120of their tent, that the waters may flow off, and be carried elsewhere. They generally send a tame mare with a bell about her neck to a drove of horses, when they are sent to pasture; for they will never go out of sight of her, and if dispersed up and down the plain, through fear of a tiger, return to her as to their mother; on which account the Spaniards call this mare la madrina, and the Abipones, latè, which means a mother. For the same reason, on a few of the horses they place shackles of soft leather, that they may crop the grass without wandering far from the tent, and be at hand, if it be found necessary to travel in the night. Not only the men, but even very young women cross rivers without ford, bridge, or boat, by swimming. The children, the saddles, and other luggage are sent over on a bull's hide, called by the Abipones, ñata`c, and by the Spaniards, la pelota, and generally made use of in crossing the smaller rivers. I will describe the rude structure of it. A hairy, raw, and entirely undressed hide is made almost square, by having the extremities of the feet and neck cut off. The four sides are raised like a hat, to the height of about two spans, and each is tied with a thong, that they may remain erect, and preserve their squareness of form. At the bottom of the pelota, the saddles and other luggage are 121thrown by way of ballast, in the midst of which the person that is to cross the river, sits, taking care to preserve his balance. Into a hole in the side of the pelota, they insert a thong instead of a rope, which a person, swimming, lays hold of with his teeth and with one hand, whilst he uses the other for an oar, and thus gently draws the pelota along the river, without shaking or endangering the person within in the least, though a high wind may have greatly agitated the waves. If the coldness of the water cramps the man that drags the pelota, so that he is disenabled from swimming, and would otherwise be drowned, he will be carried safely along with the pelota to the opposite bank, by the force of the waves. If rivers of a wider channel and a more rapid stream are to be crossed, the swimmer holds the tail of the horse, which swims before, with one hand, to support himself, and drags the pelota with the other. In so many and such long JOURNEYS, I practised this sort of navigation almost daily, and not unfrequently repeated it often on the same day. At first it appeared very formidable and dangerous to me. But instructed by frequent practice, I have often laughed at myself and my imaginary danger, and always preferred a hide in crossing a river, to a tottering skiff or boat, which is constantly liable to be 122overturned. If many days' rain has wetted the hide, and made it as soft as linen, boughs of trees are placed under the four sides, and the bottom of the pelota, which supports the hide, and strengthens it to cross the river in safety. American captains of Spanish soldiers will not swim, although they know how, that they may not be obliged to strip before their men. To reach, therefore, the opposite shore, they sit upon a pelota, which, scorning the assistance of another person, they impel forwards by two forked boughs for oars.

The Abipones enter even the larger rivers on horseback: but when the ford begins to fail, they leap from their horse into the water. With their right hand they hold the reins of the horse, and row with the same; in their left they grasp a very wide spear, at the end of which they suspend their clothes in the air, that they may not be wetted. Every now and then they give the horse a blow, if he suffers himself to be carried down with the stream, to bring him back to the right course, and make him strain to the appointed part of the opposite shore, which should be neither marshy nor weedy, nor of a very high bank, so that it may afford an easy ascent. It was laughable to see the crowds of savages swimming at my side, with nothing but their heads above water, yet conversing as pleasantly 123as others would on the green turf. How often have I crossed those tremendous rivers sitting on a hide in the midst of them! You would have called them so many Neptunes, so familiar were they with the water. Their boldness exceeds the belief of Europeans. Whenever they had a mind to go from St. Ferdinand to Corrientes, they swam across that vast sea, which is composed of the united streams of the great Paraguay and the great Parana, with their horses swimming beside them, to the great astonishment of the Spaniards: for in this part the river is formidable to ships even, from its width, depth, and incredible rapidity, and often filled myself and my companions with terror when we sailed upon it, whilst I resided in that colony. Formerly those savage plunderers, whenever they hastened home with a great number of beasts taken from the Spaniards, prudently crossed this immense river towards the South, going from island to island; by which means they had time to recruit themselves and their beasts, after the fatigue of swimming, in each of the islands. It will be worth while to describe the manner in which many thousands of horses, mules, and oxen, are sent across great rivers to the opposite shore. The herd of beasts is not all driven by one person, but divided into companies, each of 124which is inclosed behind and on both sides, by men on horseback, to keep them from running away: to prevent which, some erect two hedges, wider at the beginning, and narrower at the shore itself, through which the beasts are driven, so that more than two or three cannot enter the river at a time. The tame oxen and horses are sent first into the water, and the wild ones follow without delay. Great care must be taken, that they be not deprived of the power of swimming, by being too much crowded. Behind and on both sides the beasts are watched by Indians, either swimming, or conveyed in a little bark, that they may make straight for the opposite shore: for when left alone, they suffer themselves to be carried down by the stream, and float to those places which forbid all access, on account of the high banks, marshes, or trees, by which they are impeded. If an ox or a horse be whirled round in swimming, it will be sucked up by the water, unable to exert itself any longer. To prevent this, the Abipones, even in the midst of the river, mount those oxen, that are either sluggish or refractory, and taking hold of their horns with both hands, sit upon their backs, striking their sides with both feet, till, in spite of themselves, they are guided to the opposite shore. When arrived at land, fear gives way to rage, 125and they attack every thing that comes in their way, with their threatening horns. You will hardly believe that I always found fierce bulls less dexterous in crossing rivers, than cows, which, on account of the greater timidity of their nature, are more obedient to the driver, and strain more eagerly to the shore. Oxen tied by the horns to a tolerably large boat often swim across in perfect security: for as the heads of the animals are suspended on each side the boat, their bodies scarcely find any difficulty in swimming. In this manner I sent twenty oxen at a time from the estate, to the colony of the Rosary, across the river Paraguay. More or fewer oxen may be tied to the bark, according to the size of it. Sometimes the herd of beasts is surrounded by long barks or skiffs on every side, lest, when weary of swimming, they should float down with the stream, and wander from that part of the shore that had been fixed on for their ascent. But the Abipones, not needing these precautions of the Spaniards, could successfully transport crowds of swimming oxen across any rivers, themselves swimming beside them. This expertness of the Abipones in swimming across rivers, I have long desired to see in European armies, which are often prevented from attacking the enemy, by the intervention of some 126large river, though every thing conspired to yield them an easy victory, if the soldiers could cross the river by swimming, without the noise of bridges or boats. But, alas! out of a numerous army, how few are able to swim! Much service has indeed been rendered the Austrian camp, by the Croatian forces, who, not waiting for boats or bridges, have so often surprized the enemy on the opposite shore, apprehending no hostilities.

CHAPTER XIV. OF THE FORM AND MATERIALS OF CLOTHING, AND OF THE FABRIC OF OTHER UTENSILS.

Those persons are egregiously mistaken, who imagine that all the Americans, without distinction, wear no other clothes than those in which they were born. This error seems to have arisen from the misrepresentations of pictures or engravings, in which every American Indian is pourtrayed like a hairy Satyr, or like one of the Cyclops, Brontes, or Steropes, or naked Pyracmon. I do not deny that there do exist in America nations entirely destitute of clothing; but that this nakedness is common to them all, is very far from being true. The Payaguas are abominated by the other Indians, because they are unacquainted with dress and with modesty. They think themselves elegantly attired when they are painted with various colours from head to foot, and loaded with glass beads. We found that the Mbayas had plenty of clothes, but made a bad use of them: for they cover those parts of the body which may safely be exposed to the eyes of all, and bare those which modesty commands to be concealed. 128The Abipones, when I asked them their opinion of the Mbayas, said they thought them like dogs, because they were as impudent. My companions too, who dwelt amongst them, complained much to me of their shamelessness and public indecencies. The women, however, of both nations wear that degree of clothing which modesty requires. In the woods called Mbaeverà, or Mborebiretâ, the country of the antas, I found the men clothed up to the middle with a thin veil, and naked every where else; but the female Indians are decently clothed from the shoulders to the heels, with a white cloth which they weave themselves. I observed the same amongst the wood-Indians who wander on the shores of the Tapiraguaỹ and the Yeyuy, crowds of whom were brought by the Jesuits to the new colony of St. Stanislaus. An old Indian woman and her daughter fifteen years of age, whom I found in the woods betwixt the rivers Mondaỹ and Empalado, wore nothing but a net woven of the hemp caraquatà, in which they slept at night, so that the same dress, which was certainly too transparent, served them both for bed and clothing.

I can truly say of the Abipones, that whilst they were in a state of barbarism, and roamed up and down like brutes, they were all decently, and, in their fashion, elegantly clothed. They 129will not suffer a female infant, a few months old even, to remain naked. We have often vainly desired to see this decency imitated by the Spaniards in Paraguay, especially those of the cities Asumpcion and Corrientes. How often do grown women allege the excessive heat of the sun as an excuse for throwing off their clothes, without the least regard to modesty, in the public street! For this they are frequently reprehended by preachers, both in public and private. Do you wish to be made acquainted with the kind of clothing which the Abipones wear? They use a square piece of linen, without any alteration, or addition of sleeves, thrown over their shoulders, tying one end of it to the left arm, and leaving the right disengaged. They confine this woollen garment, which displays various colours, and flows from the shoulders to the heels, with a woollen girth. In leaping on to a horse they keep back their dress with their knees, that they may not be quite bare: for they know of no such things as shoes, stockings, or drawers, and are for that reason better prepared to swim rivers, and ride on horseback. Besides this vest which I have described, they throw another square piece of linen over their shoulders, by way of a cloak, which, tied in a knot under the neck, both defends them against the cold, and gives them a 130respectable appearance. When they are hewing down a tree, and are afraid of being fatigued, they will sometimes throw off their clothes, if they be out of sight. Some strip themselves quite naked when they are going to join battle with the savages, partly that, being lighter, they may be so much the more expeditious in avoiding their adversaries' weapons, partly, that they may appear to despise wounds. In long JOURNEYS, they generally go bareheaded amidst rain, heat, and wind. Some, however, tie a piece of red woollen cloth round their forehead, which is a great defence against the heat of the sun and pains in the head. They greatly prize a European hat, especially the young men, who likewise are much delighted with Spanish saddles, with spurs, and iron bridles. The women wear the same dress as the men, adjusted in rather a different manner.

The clothing of the Abipones is the chief employment of the women, who are commendable for their assiduity, and almost avidity in labour: for not to mention the daily business of the house, they shear sheep, spin the wool very neatly, dye it beautifully, by the aid of alum, with any colours they may have at hand, and afterwards weave it into cloth, adorned with a great number of lines and figures, and with a variety of colours. You would take it for a 131Turkey carpet, worthy of noblemen's houses in Europe. The loom and the instruments of which it consists are confined to a few reeds and sticks. The American women seem to have a natural talent for making various useful articles. They can mould pots and jugs of various forms of clay, not with the assistance of a turning machine, like potters, but with their hands alone. These clay vessels they bake, not in an oven, but out of doors, placing sticks round them. They cannot glaze them with lead, but they first dye them of a red colour, and then rub them with a kind of glue to make them shine. There is never any snow, and very little frost, in the region inhabited by the Abipones: but when the South wind blows hard, the air becomes very piercing, and sometimes intolerably so to persons thinly clad. The Abipones shield themselves from the cold with a cloak made of otters' skins. This garment, which is likewise square, is laboriously and elegantly made by the women: whose business it is to strip off the skins of the otters, after they have been caught by dogs, and then fix them to the ground with very slender pegs, that they may not wrinkle. After being dried, they are painted red, in square lines like a dice box. The Indian women cannot dress hides like curriers, 132but after having well rubbed and softened them with their hands, they sew them with a very thin thread, with so much skill, that the seams escape the quickest eye, and the whole cloak looks like one skin. For needles they use very small thorns, with which they pierce the otters' skins, as shoemakers do leather with an awl, so that the slender thread of the caraquatà can be passed through it. This cloak is commonly used both by men and women, when the air is cold; but the old people of both sexes will not part with a hair of these otters' skins, even in the hottest weather. Some of the poorer sort appear clothed in the skins of stags, does, and tigers. All the Americans, who are not entirely devoid of modesty, cover themselves with skins to keep out the cold. Others substitute, or wear in addition, the many coloured feathers of birds, sewed together with singular art; but this is more for the sake of adorning than of covering the body. The savages who inhabit the mountains, generally make threads of the caraquatá, or of the bark of the tree pinô, with which they weave a kind of cloth to serve in part for a covering. The Abiponian widows, whilst they mourn for their husbands, cover their shorn heads and their shoulders with this same kind of cloth. When 133the Abipones are bathed in sweat, the otters' skins, from not being dressed, exhale, I confess, a by no means balsamic odour. On coldish nights they are used for counterpanes. These skins and cloaks, when worn by use, generally serve to wrap and cover infants, and, when they have no linen in the house, to bind up wounds.

In former ages the Americans preferred nakedness to clothing so greatly, that they refused or threw away the garments offered them by the Europeans. Now, however, the ardour with which the Paraguayrian Indians seek fine dresses exceeds belief. Give them a handsome hat, some pieces of red linen or cloth, or a string of glass-beads, and they will pay you the profoundest homage and obedience. Day and night did the Abipones pester us with the following petition: Give me a dress, father! Paỳ! Tachcauê hihilalk, or aapar̂aik. There is no surer method of gaining the hearts of the Indians than giving them clothes. No American colony will abound in Christian inhabitants, unless it also abound in sheep and oxen; the wool of the former being necessary to clothe, and the flesh of the latter to feed the bodies of the Indians. If both or either of these articles be wanting, they will return to their 134retreats, and think themselves richer in being foes than friends to the Spaniards. For, as I have often heard them complain, they found war with the Christians more to their advantage than peace. In times of declared enmity, they acquired by arms what, when peace was established, they failed of obtaining by prayers. The most eloquent teacher of God's word will do but little good in Paraguay, unless he be liberal in clothing and feeding his disciples. Should an angel descend from Heaven to make the Abipones acquainted with God and his commandments, if he should come empty handed, unprovided with clothes, food, and other gifts, it would be all in vain, he would scarce obtain a hearing. Were the blackest demon to come up from hell, and offer them chests full of clothes, food, knives, scissors, rings, and glass-beads, he would be called captain, and find all the Abipones tractable and obedient. If you ask me why the Americans have not all been induced to embrace Christianity, I will tell you the reason. It is chiefly owing to the pernicious examples of the old Christians, and to their want of liberality to the Indians; the former deter them from embracing our religion, while the latter renders them apostates to it. Another cause is to be found in the 135extreme, and almost incredible scarcity of priests to instruct them, and indeed of all things. After perusing the latter part of my history, you will perhaps be better inclined to credit what I say.

CHAPTER XV. OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABIPONES.

The Abipones, in their whole deportment, preserve a decorum scarce credible to Europeans. Their countenance and gait display a modest cheerfulness, and manly gravity tempered with gentleness and kindness. Nothing licentious, indecent, or uncourteous, is discoverable in their actions. In their daily meetings, all is quiet and orderly. Confused vociferations, quarrels, or sharp words, have no place there. They love jokes in conversation, but are averse to indecency and ill-nature. If any dispute arises, each declares his opinion with a calm countenance and unruffled speech: they never break out into clamours, threats, and reproaches, as is usual to certain people of Europe. These praises are justly due to the Abipones as long as they remain sober: but when intoxicated, they shake off the bridle of reason, become distracted, and quite unlike themselves. In their assemblies, they maintain the utmost politeness. One scarcely dares to interrupt another, when he is speaking. Whilst one man relates some 137event of war, perhaps for half an hour together, all the rest not only listen attentively, but assent at every sentence, making a loud snort, as a sign of affirmation, which they every now and then express with these words: quevorken, certainly, cleerà, very true, and chik akalagritan, I don't in the least doubt it. Ta yeegàm, or kem ekemat! are exclamations of wonder. With these words, uttered with great eagerness, they interrupt the preacher in the midst of his discourse, thinking it a mark of respect. They account it extremely ill-mannered to contradict any one, however much he may be mistaken. They salute one another, and return the salute in these words: La nauichi? Now are you come? La ñauè, Now I am come. But in general, for the sake of brevity, both parties only use the word Là, pronounced with much emphasis. The same manner of saluting is usual to the Guaranies, who say Ereyupà? Are you come? Ayù angâ, I am come. When tired of a conversation, they never depart without taking leave of the master of the house. The one who sits nearest to him, says: Ma chik kla leyà? Have we not talked enough? the second accosts the third, and the third the fourth, in the same words, till at length the last of the circle, seated on the ground, declares that they have talked enough: Kla leyà, upon 138which they all rise up together at one moment. Each then courteously takes leave of the master of the house in these words, Lahikyegarik: now I am going from you; to which he replies, La micheroà: now you are going from me. The plebeian Indians say Lahik, now I am going. When at the door of the house, that is, at the place where they go out, for they have no doors, they turn to the master, and say, Tamtařa, I shall see you again, an expression commonly made use of in our country. They would think it quite contrary to the laws of good-breeding, were they to meet any one, and not ask him where he was going: so that the word Miekauè or Miekauchitè? where are you going? resounds in the streets.

The men think polygamy and divorce allowable, from the example of their ancestors, and of other American nations; but very few of the Abipones indulge in this liberty. Repudiation is much more common than a plurality of wives. But very many are content with one wife during the whole of their lives. They think it both wicked and disgraceful to have any illicit connection with other women; so that adultery is almost unheard-of amongst them. Both boys and girls display a native hilarity in their countenances, yet you never see them in company, or talking together. 139Some time after my arrival, I played on the flute in the open street. The crowd of women were delighted with the sweetness of a musical instrument they had never before seen; and the youths flocked in numbers to hear it; but as soon as they approached, the women every one disappeared. The custom of bathing in a neighbouring stream is agreeable to them, and practised every day, except when the air is too cold. But do not imagine that, as syrens and dolphins are seen sporting on the same waves in the ocean, males and females swim and wash in the same part of the lake, or river. According to the Abiponian custom, the different sexes have different places assigned them. Where the women bathe, you cannot find the shadow of a man. Above a hundred women often go out to distant plains together to collect various fruits, roots, colours, and other useful things, and remain four or eight days in the country, without having any male to accompany them on their journey, assist them in their labours, take care of the horses, or guard them amidst the perils of wild beasts, or of enemies. Those Amazons are sufficient to themselves, and think they are safer alone. I never heard of a single woman being torn to pieces by a tiger, or bitten by a serpent: but I knew many men who were killed in both ways.

140I do not deny that the Abipones have been savage, inhuman, and ferocious, but only against those whom they believed to be their enemies. Before peace was established, they afflicted all Paraguay, for many years, with fire, slaughter, and rapine; but this they looked upon as the privilege of war, and indeed a thing to be gloried in, because they always found or suspected the Spaniards their enemies. They thought they were only repelling force by force, and returning injuries for injuries, slaughters for slaughters; which they deny to be wrong or dishonourable; seeing the same so frequently done, in time of war, by the Spaniards to the Portugueze, and by the Portugueze to the Spaniards. Led by their example, they insisted upon it that they should not be called assassins, and thieves, but soldiers, whose duty it is to offend their adversaries, and defend themselves and their possessions to the utmost of their power. The heads of the Spaniards severed from their shoulders, they called their trophies, and preserved as testimonials of their valour. The innumerable herds of cattle, the thousands of horses, in short whatever they took from the Spaniards, they called booty justly obtained in war. They always disown the name of robbers, in the plea that all the cattle of the Spaniards, by right, belongs to them; because, born on lands which 141the Spaniards forcibly wrested from their ancestors, and which, in their opinion, they at this day unjustly usurp. To eradicate these errors, we all ardently strove to instil into their ferocious minds an affection and friendship for the Spaniards; but our efforts were not crowned with success. Although they burnt with hereditary hatred to the Spaniards, yet, in their very manner of killing them, they displayed a sort of humanity. They inflicted death, but thought it unworthy of them, after the mortal blow, to torture, excruciate, tear, and mangle them, like other savages; though they were wonderfully solicitous about cutting off their heads, by displaying which they thought to testify their valour to their countrymen at home. They generally spared the unwarlike, and carried away innocent boys and girls unhurt. They used to feed infants, torn from their mothers' breasts, with the juice of fruits and herbs, during a long journey, and carried them home uninjured. If ever mothers, or their children, were slain, it was done by youths thirsting for the blood of the Spaniards, or by grown men enraged at the deaths of their countrymen whom the Spaniards had slain.

The Spaniards, Indians, Negroes, or Mulattoes, taken by them in war, they do not ill-use like captives, but treat with kindness, and indulgence; 142I had almost said like children. If a master wants his captive to do any thing, he signifies it in an asking, not a commanding tone. If you please, he gently says, or take compassion on me, and bring me my horse, Amamàt gröhöchem, or Grcáuagiikàm, yañerla ahöpegak tak nahörechi ena. I never saw a captive, however dilatory or hesitating in performing his master's orders, punished either with a word or a blow. Many display the tenderest compassion, kindness, and confidence towards their captives. To clothe them, they will strip their own bodies, and though very hungry, will deprive themselves of food to offer it them, if they stand in need of it. An old woman, wife of the chief Cacique Alaykin, has frequently got the horse ready and saddled it, in my presence, for a Negro captive of her's. Another old woman, mother of the Cacique Revachigi, gave up her bed for many nights to a sick boy, one of her captives, and, lying miserably on the floor herself, watched day and night in attendance upon him. By this kindness and wish to gratify, they bind their captives so firmly to them, that they never think of taking advantage of the daily opportunities afforded them of flight, being perfectly well satisfied with their situation. I knew many, who, after being ransomed, and brought back to their own country, 143voluntarily returned to their Abiponian masters, whom they follow both to the chase and to the combat; little scrupulous about shedding the blood of Spaniards, though Spaniards themselves. What a subject for lamentation have we here! How many Spaniards by birth, brought up from childhood amongst the Abipones, and instructed in their ceremonies, customs, and a hundred arts of injury, became the destroyers of Paraguay, their native soil! Whenever these men were present at the bloody expeditions of the savages, they were not only companions of the journey, but guides and partakers in all the slaughter, burning, and plundering committed at such times; in a word, instruments of public calamities, in the same manner as the Portugueze, Spanish, and Italian renegadoes, who did so much service to the pirates of Algiers and Morocco, by intercepting the vessels of their countrymen.

Now at this moment I have before my eyes the countenances and wicked actions of many of these captives, whom I knew amongst the Abipones, and who, in desire of injuring the Spaniards, and indeed in savageness, exceeded the savages themselves. The soldiers of St. Iago, whilst resting at noon in an excursion to Chaco, happened to cast their eyes upon a scull, and after much debate about whom it 144could belong to, clearly discovered that a short time previous, four Spaniards had been slain in that place, and that the perpetrator of the murder was a Spaniard, a captive, and leader of the Abipones, and more formidable to the Spanish nation than any Abipon. Many things worthy of relation will occur respecting this base crew, respecting Almaràz, Casco, Juanico, a Negro of Corrientes, Juan Joseph, an Ytatingua Indian, and above all, respecting Juan Diaz Caëperlahachin. This last, an Abipon by origin, had been taken in war by the Spaniards, when a boy, and afterwards converted to their religion. During twenty years which he spent in the town of St. Iago, in the service of the Spaniard Juan Diaz Caëperlahachin, he evinced much probity, and even piety. Every year, in the last week of Lent, did he publicly mangle his back with a bloody scourge; but after having effected his escape, and got back to his countrymen, he became the scourge of the Spaniards, and shedding torrents of their blood, obtained a high renown amongst his own people, to whom his knowledge of roads and places rendered him eminently useful; for, in expeditions having the slaughter of the Spaniards for their object, no man discharged the offices of scout and leader more gloriously or more willingly than he. Peace being subsequently 145established with the Spaniards, and the colony of Concepcion founded for the Abipones, this man, who was acquainted with many languages, performed the part of interpreter there; abusing which office to his own purposes, he left no stone unturned to render the friendship of the Spaniards suspicious, the religion of Christ, and us, the teachers of that religion, odious to the Abiponian catechumens. Feigning, however, piety and friendship, this crafty knave succeeded in gaining an excellent character amongst the credulous Spaniards and Abipones, though dangerous to both, and perfectly intolerable to us who governed the colony. But lo! the pestilent son had a still more pestilent mother. This woman, the chief of all the female jugglers, a hundred years old, venerable to the people on account of her wrinkles, and formidable by reason of the magic arts she was thought to be acquainted with, never ceased exhorting her countrymen to shun and detest the church, our instruction, and baptism, even when administered to dying infants. Behold! a mother worthy of her son—a bad egg of a bad crow! But the vengeance of God overtook this accursed old woman. Flying from the town, with a band of her hordesmen, she was killed by the Mocobios, 146along with many others. Of what death, or in what place Caëperlahachin died, I am still ignorant.

The liberty of wandering at will, the abundant supply of food and clothing, the multitude of horses, the power of being as idle and profligate as they chose, and the completest impunity, where neither law nor censure is to be apprehended, bind the Spanish captives to the Abipones with so sweet a chain, that they prefer their captivity to freedom, forgetful of their relations and their country, where they know that they must live in obedience to the laws, and labour daily, unless they choose to endure stripes and hunger. I have known captives of so bad a disposition that their masters were glad to get rid of them without ransom. In many of the captives you would look in vain for the least trace of a Christian, or even of a man. Very few of the Abipones have many wives at a time, though they account polygamy lawful; the captives, seldom content with one, marry as many Spanish or Indian captives as they can. For the Abiponian women scorn to marry either Spaniards, or Indians of any other nation, unless, by the splendour of their achievements, namely, slaughters and rapine, they be reputed Abipones in nobility. The men too, accounting themselves 147more noble than any other nation, never deign to marry the Spanish captives, much less to have any clandestine intercourse with them: so that their virtue would be safer in captivity amongst the savages, than in freedom amongst their own countrymen, could they escape the seductive arts of their fellow captives. In confession, I found most of the female Spaniards, after a very long captivity amongst the Abipones, guilty of no trespass upon the laws of chastity. They all agreed in confessing that no woman need go astray amongst these savages, unless she herself chose it. I can say as much for the continence of the young men, who had been long captives amongst them.

The gentle reader will pardon this digression concerning captives, if indeed it be a digression, because it does much towards establishing a good opinion of the chastity and benevolence of the Abipones, which form the subject of the present chapter, and will be further confirmed by additional arguments. They hospitably entertain Spaniards of the lower order, Negroes or Christian Indians, who have run away from their masters, lost their way, or, by some other means, chanced to enter the hordes of the Abipones, and, in the most friendly manner, offer them food or any thing else they may stand in need of; this they do the more cordially the 148more liberally these strangers abuse the Spanish nation; but if they neglect this they are taken for spies, and undergo considerable danger. They diligently watched over the safety of us Jesuits, to whom was committed the management of the colonies. If they were aware of any danger impending over us from foreign foes, they acquainted us with it immediately, and were all intent upon warding it from us. In JOURNEYS, when rivers were to be crossed, the horses got ready, sudden and secret attacks of the enemy to be avoided or repelled, it is incredible how anxiously they offered us their assistance. See! what mild, benevolent souls these savages possess! Though they used to rob and murder the Spaniards whilst they thought them their enemies, yet they never take anything from their own countrymen. Hence, as long as they are sober, and in possession of their senses, homicide and theft are almost unheard of amongst them. They are often and long absent from their homes, during which time they leave their little property without a guard, or even a door, exposed to the eyes and hands of all, with no apprehension of the loss of it, and on their return from a long journey, find every thing untouched. The doors, locks, bars, chests, and guards with which Europeans defend their possessions from thieves, are things 149unknown to the Abipones, and quite unnecessary to them. Boys and girls not unfrequently pilfered melons grown in our gardens, and chickens reared in our houses, but in them the theft was excusable; for they falsely imagined that these things were free to all, or might be taken not much against the will of the owner. Though I have enlarged on the native virtues of the Abipones more than it was my intention to do, I shall think nothing has been said till I have made a few observations relative to their endurance of labour. Who can describe the constant fatigues of war and hunting which they undergo? When they make an excursion against the enemy, they often spend two or three months in an arduous journey of above three hundred leagues through desert wilds. They swim across vast rivers, and long lakes more dangerous than rivers. They traverse plains of great extent, destitute both of wood and water. They sit for whole days on saddles scarce softer than wood, without having their feet supported by a stirrup. Their hands always bear the weight of a very long spear. They generally ride trotting horses, which miserably shake the rider's bones by their jerking pace. They go bareheaded amidst burning sun, profuse rain, clouds 150of dust, and hurricanes of wind. They generally cover their bodies with woollen garments, which fit close to the skin; but if the extreme heat obliges them to throw these off as far as the middle, their breasts, shoulders, and arms are cruelly bitten and covered with blood by swarms of flies, gad-flies, gnats, and wasps. As they always set out upon their journeys unfurnished with provisions, they are obliged to be constantly on the look out for wild animals, which they may pursue, kill, and convert into a remedy for their hunger. As they have no cups they pass the night by the side of rivers or lakes, out of which they drink like dogs. But this opportunity of getting water is dearly purchased; for moist places are not only seminaries of gnats and serpents, but likewise the haunts of dangerous wild beasts, which threaten them with sleepless nights and peril of their lives. They sleep upon the hard ground, either starved with cold, or parched with heat, and if overtaken by a storm, often lie awake, soaking in water the whole night. When they perform the office of scouts, they frequently have to creep on their hands and feet over trackless woods, and through forests, to avoid discovery; passing days and nights without sleep or food. This also was the case when they were long pursued by the enemy, 151and forced to hasten their flight. All these things the Abipones do, and suffer without ever complaining, or uttering an expression of impatience, unlike Europeans, who, at the smallest inconvenience, get out of humour, grow angry, and since they cannot bend heaven to their will, call upon hell. What we denominate patience is nature with them. Their minds are habituated to inconvenience, and their bodies almost rendered insensible by long custom, even from childhood. While yet children they imitate their fathers in piercing their breasts and arms with sharp thorns, without any manifestation of pain. Hence it is, that when arrived at manhood, they bear their wounds without a groan, and would think the compassion of others derogatory to their fortitude. The most acute pain will deprive them of life before it will extort a sigh. The love of glory, acquired by the reputation of fortitude, renders them invincible, and commands them to be silent.

Most of the observations I have just been making apply both to men and women, although the latter possess virtues and vices peculiar to themselves. All the Americans have a natural propensity to sloth, but I gladly pronounce the Abiponian women entirely free from this foible. Every one must be astonished at their unwearied 152industry. They despatch the household business with which they are daily overwhelmed, with alacrity and cheerfulness. It is their task to make clothes for their husbands and children; to fetch eatable roots, and various fruits from the woods; to gather the alfaroba, grind it, and convert it into drink, and to get water and wood for the daily consumption of the family. A ridiculous custom is in use amongst the Abipones, of making the most aged woman in the horde provide water for all domestic purposes. Though the river may be close at hand, the water is always fetched in large pitchers on horseback, and the same method is observed in getting wood for fuel. You will never hear one of these women complain of fatigue, however many cares she may have to employ her mind. A noble Spaniard had a captive Abiponian woman in his service many years, and he assured me that she was more useful and valuable to him than three other servants, because she anticipated his orders, and did her business seasonably, accurately, and quickly. They justly claim the epithet of the devout female sex. No sooner do they hear the sound of the bell than they all fly to hear the Christian religion explained, and listen to the preacher with attentive ears. They highly approve the law of Christ, because by it no husband is allowed to put 153away his wife, or to marry more than one. For this reason they are extremely anxious to have themselves and their husbands baptized, that they may be rendered more certain of the perpetuity of their marriage. This must be understood only of the younger women; for the old ones, who are obstinate adherers to their ancient superstitions, and priestesses of the savage rites, strongly oppose the Christian religion, foreseeing that if it were embraced by the whole Abiponian nation, they should lose their authority, and become the scorn and the derision of all. The young men amongst the Abipones, as well as the old women, greatly withstood the progress of religion; for, burning with the desire of military glory and of booty, they are excessively fond of cutting off the heads of the Spaniards, and plundering their waggons and estates, which they know to be forbidden by the law of God. Hence, they had rather adhere to the institutes of their ancestors, and traverse the country on swift horses, than listen to the words of a priest within the walls of a church. If it depended upon the old men and the young women alone, the whole nation would long since have embraced our religion.

Honourable mention has been frequently made by me of the chastity of the Abiponian women: 154it would be wrong to be silent upon their sobriety and temperance. It costs them much labour to prepare a sweet drink for their husbands of honey and the alfaroba: but they never even taste it themselves, being condemned to pure water the whole of their lives. Would that they as carefully abstained from strife and contentions, as they do from all strong drink! Quarrels certainly do arise amongst them, and often end in blood, upon the most trivial occasions. They generally dispute about things of no consequence, about goats' wool, as Horace expresses it, or the shadow of an ass. One word uttered by a scolding woman is often the cause and means of exciting a mighty war. The Abipones, in anger, use the following terms of reproach: Acami Lanar̂aik, you are an Indian, that is, plebeian, ignoble; Acami Lichiegar̂aik, you are poor, wretched; Acami Ahamr̂aik, you are dead. They sometimes dreadfully misapply these epithets. Who would not laugh to hear a horse, flying as quick as lightning, but which his rider wishes to incite to greater speed, called Ahamr̂aik, dead? When two women quarrel, one calls the other poor, or low-born, or perhaps lifeless. Presently a loud vociferation is heard, and from words they proceed to blows. The whole company of women crowd 155to the market-place, not merely to look on, but to give assistance as they shall think proper. Some defend the one, some the other. The duel soon becomes a battle-royal. They fly at each other's breasts with their teeth like tigers, and often give them bloody bites. They lacerate one another's cheeks with their nails, rend their hair with their hands, and tear the hole of the flap of the ear, into which the roll of palm-leaves is inserted. Though a husband sees his wife, and a father his daughter, bathed in blood and covered with wounds, yet they look on at a distance, with motionless feet, silent tongues, and calm eyes; they applaud their Amazons, laugh, and wonder to see such anger in the souls of women, but would think it beneath a man to take any part in these female battles. If there appears no hope of the restoration of peace, they go to the Father: "See!" say they, "our women are out of their senses again to-day. Go, and frighten them away with a musket." Alarmed at the noise, and even at the sight of this, they hasten back to their tents, but even from thence, with a Stentorian voice, repeat the word which had been the occasion of the combat, and, neither liking to seem conquered, return again and again to the market-place, and renew the fight. It seems to have been a regulation 156of divine Providence, that the Abiponian women should abstain from all strong liquors, for, if so furious when sober, what would they have been in a state of intoxication? The whole race of the Abipones would have been utterly destroyed.

CHAPTER XVI. OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE ABIPONES.

The multitude and variety of tongues spoken in Paraguay alone, exceeds alike belief and calculation. Nor should you imagine that they vary only in dialect. Most of them are radically different. Truly admirable is their varied structure, of which no rational person can suppose these stupid savages to have been the architects and inventors. Led by this consideration, I have often affirmed that the variety and artful construction of languages should be reckoned amongst the other arguments to prove the existence of an eternal and omniscient God. The Jesuits have given religious instructions to fourteen nations of Paraguay, and widely propagated the Christian faith, in fourteen different languages. They did not each understand them all, but every one was well acquainted with two or three, namely, those of the nations amongst whom they had lived. Of the number of these was I, who spent seven years amongst the Abipones, eleven amongst the Guaranies. The nations for whom we laboured, and for whom founded colonies, were the Guaranies, 158Chiquitos, Mocobios, Abipones, Tobas, Malbalaes, Vilelas, Passaines, Lules, Isistines, Homoampas, Chunipies, Mataguayos, Chiriguanes, Lenguas or Guaycurùs, Mbayas, Pampas, Serranos, Patagones, and Yaròs. Moreover, the Guichua language, which is peculiar to the whole of Peru, and very familiar to Negro slaves, to the lower orders amongst the Spaniards, and even to matrons of the higher ranks in Tucuman, was used by many of the Jesuits, both in preaching and confession. Different languages were spoken too in the towns of the Chiquitos, which were composed of very different nations. The languages of the Abipones, Mocobios, and Tobas, certainly have all one origin, and are as much alike as Spanish and Portugueze. Yet they differ not only in dialect, but also in innumerable little words. The same may be said of the Tonocotè language, in use amongst the Lules and Isistines. The language of the Chiriguanes and Guaranies, who live full five hundred leagues apart, is the same, with the exception of a few words, which may be easily learnt in the course of two or three weeks by any one who understands either of them.

Many writers upon America have interspersed sentences of the Indian languages into their histories; but, good Heavens! how utterly defective 159and corrupted! They have scarce left a letter unmutilated. But these writers are excusable, for they have drawn their information from corrupted sources. Without having even entered America, they insert into their journals the words of savage languages, the meaning and pronunciation of which they are totally ignorant of. Hence it is that the American names of places, rivers, trees, plants, and animals, are so wretchedly mutilated in all books, that we can hardly read them without laughter. Spanish children, by constantly conversing with Indians of their own age, imbibe a correct knowledge of the Indian languages, which, to grown-up persons, is a business both of time and labour. I have known adults who, after conversing many years with the Indians, uttered as many errors as syllables. It is difficult for a European to accustom his tongue to the strange and distorted words which the savages pronounce so fast and indistinctly, hissing with their tongues, snoring with their nostrils, grinding with their teeth, and gurgling with their throats; so that you seem to hear the sound of ducks quacking in a pond, rather than the voices of men talking. Learned men had long wished that a person who understood some American language would clearly expound the system, construction, and whole anatomy of it: 160and it is to comply with the desire of these persons that I am going to treat compendiously of the Abiponian language.

Most of the Americans want some letter which we Europeans use, and use some which we want. A letter of very frequent occurrence amongst the Abipones, but which we Europeans are unacquainted with, is one which has the mixed sound of R and G. To pronounce it properly, the tongue must be slided a little along the roof of the mouth, and brought towards the throat, in the manner of those persons who have a natural incapacity of pronouncing the letter R. To signify this peculiar letter of the Abipones, we have written R or G indiscriminately, but distinguished by a certain mark, thus: Laetar̂at, a son: Achibir̂aik, salt. The plural number changes R into K, thus: Laetkáte, sons. Europeans find much difficulty in pronouncing this letter, especially if it recur several times in the same word, as in Rar̂egr̂anr̂aik, a Vilela Indian. Rellar̂anr̂aǹ potròl, he hunts wild horses. Lapr̂ir̂atr̂aik, many-coloured. The Abipones can distinguish an European, however well-skilled in every other part of their language, by the pronunciation of this letter.

The Abipones use the ö, which the Paraguayrians write ë with two dots, like the French, Hungarians, and Germans: as Ahëpegak, a 161horse, Yahëc, my face. They make frequent use of the Greek K. They pronounce N like the Spaniards, as if the letter I was added to it: thus, Español must be pronounced Espaniol. The Abipones say Menetañi, it is within; Yoamcachiñi, the inner part is good. The legitimate pronunciation of this and other letters can only be learned vivâ voce.

Great attention must be paid to all the different accents and points, for the omission of a point, or the variation of an accent, gives a word a totally different meaning, thus: Heét, I fly; Hëët, I speak; Háten, I despise; Hateń, I hit the mark. This language abounds in very long words, consisting of ten, twenty, or more letters. The accents repeated in the same word show where the voice should be raised and where lowered: for the speech of this nation is very much modulated, and resembles singing. The accents alone are scarce sufficient to teach the pronunciation. It would not be amiss to subjoin musical notes to each of the syllables, unless a master supersedes the necessity of this artifice by teaching it vivâ voce. It may be as well to give some examples of accents. Hamihégemkiń, Debáyakaikin, Raregr̂ágremar̂achiń, Oahérkaikiń. These are names of Abipones. Grcáuagyégarigé, pity me. Oaháyegalgè, free me. Hapagrañütapagetá, you teach one another. 162Ñicauagrañíapegar̂algé, I intercede for thee. Hemokáchiñütápegioà, thou praisest me. Here are words of twenty letters. You will not find many monosyllables. The tall Abipones like words which resemble themselves in length.

They have a masculine and a feminine gender, but no neuter. A knowledge of the genders is to be gained by use alone. Grahaulái, the sun, is feminine with them, like the German Die Sonne. Grauèk, the moon, is masculine, as our Der Monde. Some adjectives are of both genders, as Naà, which is evil, both masculine and feminine. Neeù, good, of both genders. In others every gender has its own termination, as Ariaik, good, noble, mas. Ariayè, good, noble, fem. Cachiergaik, an old man; Cachergayè, an old woman.

The nouns have no cases. A letter prefixed to the noun sometimes indicates the case: as, Ay`m, I; M`ay`m, to me; Akami, thou; M'akami, to thee.

The formation of the plural number of nouns is very difficult to beginners; for it is so various that hardly any rule can be set down. I give you some examples:

163From these few examples it appears that nouns ending in the same letter have different plurals. Moreover, as the Greeks, beside a plural number, have also a dual by which they express two things, so the Abipones have two plurals, of which the one signifies more than one, the other many: thus Joalé, a man. Joaleè, or Joaleèna, some men. Joalíripì, many men. Ahëpegak, a horse. Ahëpega, some horses. Ahëpegeripì, many horses.

I wonder that the Abipones have not two words for the first person plural, we, like many other American nations. The Guaranies express it in two ways: they sometimes say, ñandè, sometimes ore. The first they call the inclusive, the second the exclusive. In their prayers, addressing God, they say, We sinners, 164ore angaypabiyà; because God is excluded from the number of sinners. Speaking with men, they say, ñandè angaypabiyà, because those whom they address are sinners likewise, and they accordingly use the inclusive ñandè.

As they have no possessive pronouns, mine, thine, his, the want of them is supplied in every noun, by the addition or alteration of various letters. Amongst the Abipones a great difficulty is occasioned by the various changes of the letters, especially in the second person. Take these examples. Netà, a father indeterminately. Yità, my father. Gretaỳ, thine. Letà, his. Gretà, our father. Gretayi, yours. Letai, theirs.

Naetar̃at, a son, without expressing whose. Yaetr̃at, my son. Graetr̃achi, thy son. Laetr̃at, his son.

Nepèp, a maternal grandfather. Yepèp, mine. Grepepè, thine. Lepèp, his.

Naàl, a grandson. Yaàl, mine. Graalí, thine. Laàl, his.

Nenàk, a younger brother. Yenàk, mine. Grenarè, thine. Lenàk, his.

Nakirèk, a cousin german. Ñakirèk, mine. Gnakiregi, thine. Nakirek, his.

Noheletè, the point of a spear. Yoheletè, mine. Grohelichi, thine. Loheletè, his.

Natatr̃a, life. Yatatr̃a, my life. Gratatr̃e, thine. Latatr̃a, his.

165But these examples are sufficient to show the multiplied variety of the second person. Amongst the Guaranies too, the possessives are affixed to the nouns, but this occasions no difficulty, because the mutation is regular: thus, Tuba, a father. Cheruba, my father. Nderuba, thine. Tuba, his. Guba, theirs. Tay̆, a son. Cheray̆, mine. Nderay̆, thine. Tay̆, his. Guay̆, theirs. Che is prefixed to nouns for the first person, and Nde for the second, without variation. Likewise in the plural they say Ñande, or Oreruba, our father. Penduba, your father. Tuba, or Guba, their father. In all other substantives these particles supply the place of possessives.

The following observation must be made on the possessive nouns of the Abipones. If they see any thing whose owner they do not know, and wish to be made acquainted with, they enquire to whom it belongs in various ways. If the object in question be animate, (even though it only possess vegetable life,) as wheat, a horse, a dog, a captive, &c. they say Cahami ledà? whose property is this? to which the other will reply, Ylà, mine. Grelè, thine. Lelà, his. On the other hand, if the thing be inanimate, as a spear, a garment, food, &c. they say Kahamì kalàm, to whom does this 166belong, and the other will say, Ai`m, to me. Karami, to thee. Hala`m, to him. Kara`m, to us, &c.

The pronouns of the first and second persons are subject to no mutations, on account of place or situation. Thus, Aỳm, I. Akami, thou. Aka`m, we. Akamyì, you. If alone be added, they are altered in this manner: Aỳmátarà, I alone. Akamítarà, thou alone. Akàm àkalè, we alone.

But the pronoun of the third person, he, is varied, according to the situation of the person of whom you speak. For if the object of discourse

He alone is also expressed in various ways.

They form the comparative and superlative degrees, not as in other languages, by the addition of syllables, but in a different manner. An 167Abipon would express this sentence. The tiger is worse than the dog, thus: the dog is not bad though the tiger be bad. Nétegink chik naà, oágan nihirenak la naà: or thus, The dog is not bad as the tiger, Netegink chi chi naà ỳágàm nihirenak. When we should say, The tiger is worst, an Abipon would say, the tiger is bad above all things, Nihirenak lamerpëëáoge kenoáoge naà: or thus, The tiger is bad so that it has no equal in badness. Nihirenak chit keoá naà. Sometimes they express a superlative, or any other eminence, merely by raising the voice. Ariaik, according to the pronunciation, signifies either a thing simply good, or the very best. If it be uttered with the whole force of the breast, and with an elevated voice, ending in an acute sound, it denotes the superlative degree; if with a calm, low voice, the positive. They signify that they are much pleased with any thing, or that they approve it greatly, by uttering with a loud voice the words Là naà! before Ariaik, or Eúrenék. Now it is bad! It is beautiful, or excellent! Nehaol means night. If they exclaim in a sharp tone, Là nehaòl, they mean that it is midnight, or the dead of the night: if they pronounce it slowly and hesitatingly, they mean that it is the beginning of the night. When they see any one hit the mark with an arrow, knock down a tiger quickly, &c. and wish to express 168that he is eminently dexterous, they cry with a loud voice, La yáraigè, now he knows, which, with them, is the highest commendation.

They form diminutives, by adding avàlk, aole, or olek, to the last syllable of the word, thus: Ahëpegak, a horse. Ahëpegeravàlk, a little horse, Óénèk, a boy. Óénèkavàlk, a little boy. Haáye, a girl. Haayáole, a little girl. Paỳ, father, a word for priest, introduced into America by the Portugueze. Payolék, little father, which they used when they wished to express particular kindness towards us. When angry, they only used the word Paỳ. Kàëpak, wood. Kàëperáole, a little piece of wood, by which they designated the beads of the rosary. Lenechì, little, moderate. Lénechiólek, or Lenechiavàlk. They make very frequent use of diminutives, which, with them, indicate either tender affection or contempt: thus, Yóale, a man. Yoaleólek, a little man, a bit of a man. Often with them a diminutive is a stronger expression of love or praise than any superlative: thus, they call a stronger or handsomer horse than ordinary, Ahëpegeravàlk. The Spaniards too express a more particular liking for a thing, when they call it bonito, than when they simply call it bueno, good or pretty.

Most of the American nations are extremely deficient in words to express number. The 169Abipones can only express three numbers in proper words. Iñitára, one. Iñoaka, two. Iñoaka yekainì, three. They make up for the other numbers by various arts: thus, Geyenk ñatè, the fingers of an emu, which, as it has three in front and one turned back, are four, serves to express that number. Neènhalek, a beautiful skin spotted with five different colours, is used to signify the number five. If you interrogate an Abipon respecting the number of any thing, he will stick up his fingers, and say, leyer iri, so many. If it be of importance to convey an accurate idea of the number of the thing, he will display the fingers of both hands or feet, and if all these are not sufficient, show them over and over again till they equal the number required. Hence Hanámbegem, the fingers of one hand means five; Lanám rihegem, the fingers of both hands, ten; Lanam rihegem, cat gracherhaka anámichirihegèm, the fingers of both hands and both feet, twenty. They have also another method of making up for want of numbers. When they return from an excursion to hunt wild horses, or shoot tame ones, none of the Abipones will ask them how many horses have you brought home? but, how much space will the troop of horse which you have brought home occupy? to which they will reply, the horses placed in a 170row would fill the whole market-place, or they extend from this grove to the river's bank. With this reply, which gives them an idea of the quantity of horses, they remain satisfied, though uninformed of the exact number. Sometimes they take up a handful of sand or grass, and showing it to the interrogator, endeavour in this way to express an immense quantity. But when number is spoken of, take care you do not readily credit whatever the Abipones say. They are not ignorant of arithmetic, but averse to it. Their memory generally fails them. They cannot endure the tedious process of counting. Hence to rid themselves of questions on the subject, they show as many fingers as they like, sometimes deceived themselves, sometimes deceiving others. Often, if the number about which you ask exceeds three, an Abipon, to save himself the trouble of showing his fingers, will cry Pòp! many. Chic leyekalipì, innumerable. Sometimes, when ten soldiers are coming, the assembled people will exclaim, Yoaliripì latenk naúeretápek, a very great number of men are approaching.

But still greater is their want of numerals, which grammarians call ordinals, for they cannot count beyond first: Era námachìt, the first. So that the Ten Commandments are reckoned in this way: the first commandment, Era námachìt, 171but as they are unable to express second, third, fourth, in their language, instead of these numbers, they place before the commandments, and another, and another, &c. Cat laháua, cat laháua, &c. They have, however, words signifying first and last, Enàm cahèk, that which goes before, and Iñagehék, that which comes last.

They have only two distributive numerals: each Iñitarapè, and Iñóakatapè, which answers to the Latin, bini. Liñoaka yahat, means twice. Ekátarapek, and sometimes Haûe ken, once. This is the extent of the Abiponian arithmetic, and the whole of their scanty supply of numbers. Scarce richer are the Guarany Indians, who cannot go beyond the number four. They call One, Petey̆. Two, Mokoy̆. Three, Mbohapĭ. Four, Irundy̆. First, Iyipĭbae. Second, Imomokoyndaba. Third, Imombohapĭhaba. Fourth, Imoimrundy̆haba. ^[1]Singuli, Petey̆tey̆. Bini, Mokoy̆mokoy̆. Terni, Mbohápĭhapĭ. Quaterni, Irundy̆ rundy̆. Once, Petey̆ yebĭ. Twice, Mokoy̆ yebi, &c. The Guaranies, like the Abipones, when questioned respecting a thing exceeding four, immediately reply, Ndipapahabi, or Ndipapahai, innumerable. But as a knowledge of numbers is highly necessary in the uses of civilized 172life, and above all, in confession, the Guaranies were daily taught at church to count in the Spanish language, in the public explanation, or recitation of the catechism. On Sunday, the whole people used to count from one to a thousand, in the Spanish tongue, in the church. But it was all in vain. Generally speaking, we found the art of music, painting, and sculpture, easier learnt than numbers. They can all pronounce the numbers in Spanish, but are so easily and frequently confused in counting, that you must be very cautious how you credit what they say in this matter.

For the conjugation of verbs, no paradigm can be given; as the singular number of the present tense of the indicative mood differs in almost all words, and is more difficult to learn than the augments of the Greek verbs. The second person particularly takes new letters, not only in the beginning, but also in the middle, and the end, as will appear from the examples which I shall lay before you.

But these few are sufficient to show the infinite changes of almost all verbs. I refrain from giving more examples which I have in my head; for it is not my intention to teach you the Abiponian language, but to show you the strange construction of it, and to avoid fatiguing 174your ears with so many long savage words. From the little which I have written, you will collect that the inflexions and variations of the second person in particular can only be learnt by use, not by rules. The other tenses of the indicative mood, and indeed all the moods of every conjugation, give little trouble to learners, being formed simply by adding a few syllables, or particles, to the present of the indicative: for instance:—

You add the same particles to the second and third persons, without changing them in any other respect: thus—

For the syllable am is what distinguishes the present from the future.

The imperative mood undergoes no mutation either in the present or future tense. Thus, hasten thou; Grahálgalí, which is also the second person of the indicative, thou hastenest. Eichi, do thou: Grkapichi, love thou: 175or Grkapichiam, which likewise signifies thou wilt love. They sometimes prefix the particle Tach to the second person of the imperative, and Ták to the third: thus Tach grahápichì obey thou. Tach grakatřani, say thou. Ták hanek, let him come: which also denotes the present of the potential; thus: Ták hanek Kaámelk, the Spaniard may come for me. Prohibition is expressed by the future with the addition of the particle tchik or chigè, according to the following letter. Thus, thou mayst not kill, Chit kahamatrañiam. Thou mayst not lie, Chit Noaharegraniam.

The optative, or subjunctive, is formed of various particles, placed before or after the present of the indicative: as I shall show by examples.

Chigriek, would that. Chigriek grkapichi g'Dios eknam caogarik: Would that thou wouldst love God the Creator. Kët, if. Kët greenřani, G'Dios grkapichi kët: If thou wert good thou wouldst love God. Kët, if, is repeated both in the condition and the conditionated.

Amla, after that. Amla grkapichi g`Dios, Dios `lo nkapíchieřoám: After thou hast loved God, God will love thee. Postquam amaveris Deum, Thus amabit te.

Ehenhà, until. Ehenhà na chigrkápichi 176g'Dios, chitl gihè groamketápekàm: Until, or as long as thou dost not love God, thou wilt never be quiet. Donec vel quamdiu non amaveris Deum, non eris unquam quietus.

Amamach, when. Amamach rikápichieřoa, lo grkápichioam: When thou lovest me, I will love thee. Quando amaveris me, amabo te.

Kët mat, if. Kët mat nkápichirioà, là rikapitla kët: If they had loved me, I would have loved them. Si amassent me, amassem illos.

Tach, that. Tach grkápichioa, rikapichieřoàm: Love me, that I may love thee. Ama me, ut amem te.

The Abipones seem to want the infinitive, the place of which they supply in other ways, as I shall more plainly show by examples, thus: now I wish to eat: Là rihete m'hakéñe. Rihe, or rihete, I wish, and hakéñe, I eat, are both put in the same mood, tense, and person; the letter M placed between them makes, or supplies the place of our infinitive. I cannot go, Haoahen m'ahik. Haoahen and ahik, are both in the first person of the present of the indicative, M only being placed between. Thou knowest not how to teach me: Chig graařaige m'riapa grañi. Wilt thou be baptized, or, as the Abipones say, wilt thou have thy head washed? Mik mich grehech m'nakarigi gremarachi?

They elude the necessity of an infinitive, of 177gerunds, and supines, by various modes of speech peculiar to themselves. It may be as well to illustrate this by some examples. When we say, Can I go? an Abipon would express it in this way: I will go. There is no difficulty, or is there any difficulty? Lahikam. Chigeeka loaik, or Mañigà loaik? Thou oughtest to go, an Abipon would render thus: Yoamkatà kët, lame: It is right that thou shouldest go. Thou oughtest not to go, or it is not convenient: Mich grehech m'amè? oagan chik yoamk: Wilt thou go? though that is not convenient. How skilful this man is in swimming! an Abipon would express thus: What a swimmer this man is! Kemen álařankachak yóale! I shall be strong by eating: Rihotam am hakeñe: I shall be strong whilst I eat. I come to speak to thee: Hëëchiapegrari; kleranam kaúe, la nauè: I will speak to thee; that was the reason why I came now. The boy is wont to tell lies: La noaharegřan kén oenek. The particles kén and aage signify custom. An Abipon would also express the above sentence in this way: Noaharegřan oenek: la lahërek: The boy tells lies: now it is his custom. I am accustomed to pray: Klamach hanáyaagè m'hëëtoalá.

The passive voice in affirming has no particular form, but is expressed by some passive 178participle, or by active verbs. When we say that a thing is lost or ended, they say that the thing has perished, ceased, does not appear, &c. Yúihak oaloà, or chitlgihe: The ox hath perished, or does not appear. In denying, the passive is explained by an active verb only, with the addition of the particle chigat, or chigíchiekat: thus: It is not known: Chigat yaraigè. Yaraigè is the indicative mood, present tense, third person singular, of the active verb. That is not eaten: Chigat yaìk. That is not usurped: Chigat eygà. I was not informed: Chigat ripachigui. The horses were not well guarded, therefore they perished: Machka chigat nkehayape enò ahëpega, maoge oaloéra. The stars cannot be counted: Chigichiekat nakatñi eeřgřae. What is not known, ought not to be told. Am chigat yaraige, chigichiekat yaratapekam, &c.

Of many active verbs, both active, and passive, but not future participles are formed. Rikapit, I love, amo. From it are formed: Ykapicher̂, beloved by me, or my beloved; a me amatus, meus amatus. Grkapicheřachi, thy beloved, tuus amatus. Lkapicheřat, his beloved: suus amatus. From this comes the feminine. Ykapichkatè, my beloved; mea amata. Grkapichkachi, thy beloved; tua amata. Lkapichkatè, his beloved, illius amata. I am beloved by all; 179ego sum amatus ab omnibus: Lkapicheraté Kenoataoge. From this participle are derived, Kapicheřa, love, amor. Ykapicheřa, my love; amor meus. Kapichieraik, loving, a lover, amans, amator.

Rikaùagè, I pity, I feel a kindness for any one. Its passive participle is, Ykáuagřat, kindly affected by me. Substantive, Ykaúgřa, my good-will. Kauagřankatè, the instrument, manner, or place of good-will, or the benefit itself. Kauagřankachak, benevolent, compassionate. Ykaúagek, kindly regarded by me. Grkaúagigì, kindly regarded by thee.

Hapagřanatřan, I teach. Napagřanatřanak, the master who teaches. Napagřanatek, the scholar who is taught. Napagřanatřanřek, teaching, instruction. Napagřanatrankatè, the place where, or the matter which the scholar is taught.

We now enter a labyrinth of the Abiponian tongue, most formidable to learners, where, unless guided by long experience, as Theseus was by Ariadne, you will not be able to walk without risk of error. I am speaking of those verbs which grammarians call transitive, or reciprocal. In our language, the action of one person, or thing, upon another, is easily described by the pronouns themselves, I, thou, he, 180we, you. The Abipones, on the contrary, neglecting the use of the above pronouns, effect this by various inflections of the verbs, and by here and there combining new particles with them. This shall be made plainer by examples. I love thee, thou lovest me, he loves me or thee. We love him, ye love us or them. The Latins, in this manner, express mutual love, to which purpose the Abipones use much circumlocution, and various artifices, thus: Rikapit, I love. Rikapichieřou, I love thee. Grkapichioà, thou lovest me. Nkapichioà, he loves me. Nkapichieřoà, he loves thee. Grkapitaè, we love him. Grkapitla, we love them. Matníkapitalta, I love myself. Nikapichialta, thou lovest thyself. Grkapitáatá, we love one another. But would that this were a paradigm of all the verbs! Others take other particles, and changes of syllables, thus:

Rikauagè, I pity. Rikauágyégarigè, I pity thee. Grkauagiygè, thou pitiest me. Grkauág yegarik, thou pitiest us. Nkauágigyè, he pities me. Nkauág yegarigé, he pities thee. Nkaúagegè, he pities him. Grkaúagekápegetaá, we pity one another. Ñikaúakáltaá, I pity myself.

Hapagřanatřan, I teach. Neapagřan, I teach myself. Hapagřankátápegetà, we teach one 181another. Hapagrani, I teach thee. Riápagřani, thou teachest me. Riapagřan, he teaches me. Yapagřan, he teaches him.

Hamelk, I whip. Hámelgi, I whip thee. Riámelgi, thou whippest me. Riamelk, he whips me. Gramelgi, he whips thee. Yamélk, he whips him.

Hakleenté, I remember. Hakleenchitápegřari, I remember thee. Hakkenchitapegii, thou rememberest me. Yákleentetápegiì, he remembers me. From these instances, you will perceive the variation in transitive verbs, as sometimes eřoà, sometimes yégarige, sometimes raři, or other particles, must be added to the different persons. Believe me, the learning of them is extremely tedious to Europeans, and can only be effected by long acquaintance with these savages. Other Americans also use these transitive verbs, but their form is the same, whether mutual action or passion is expressed. Thus the Guaranies say, Ahaĭhù, I love. Orohaĭhù, I love thee. Ayukà, I kill. Oroyukà, I kill thee. Amboé, I teach. Oromboe, I teach thee, &c. What can be easier or more expeditious than this?

They sometimes express the relative who, by eknam, or, in the plural number, enonam, thus: Dios eknam Kaogarik: God who is the creator. 182Hemokáchin nauáchiekà, enonam yapochi: I esteem soldiers who are brave. Sometimes, in the manner of the Latins, they suppress the relative who, and supply its place by a participle, or adjective. Riákayà netegingà oakaika, kach quenò ahamr̂aeka: I abominate biting and dead dogs.

CHAPTER XVII. CONCERNING OTHER PECULIARITIES OF THE ABIPONIAN TONGUE.

At this moment, I am doubtful whether to call the language of the Abipones a poor or a rich one: after I have told you what words they want, and what they abound in, you yourself shall decide on this point. The Abipones are destitute of some words which seem to be the elements of daily speech. They, as well as the Guaranies, want the verb substantive to be. They want the verb to have. They have no words whereby to express man, body, God, place, time, never, ever, everywhere, &c. which occur perpetually in conversation. Instead of I am an Abipon, they say Aỳ`m Abipon, I Abipon; instead of thou art a plebeian, Akami Lanařaik, thou plebeian. They often substitute some neuter verb for an adjective and verb substantive, like the Latins, who say bene valeo as well as sum sanus. Thus, I am strong, Riahòt, thou art strong, Grihochi, he is strong, Yhòt. I am brave, Riapòt, thou art brave, Grapochì, he is brave, Yapòt. I am fearful, Riakalò, thou art fearful, Grakaloi, he is fearful, Yakalò. Let the 184Spaniard come, I shall be brave: Tach hanék Kaámelk, la riapotam. See how well the Abipones do without the verb to be! as also the verb to have. I have many horses: Ayte yla ahëpega: many horses mine. I have many fleas: Netegink loapakate enò! Pop. I have no meat: Chitkaeká lpabè. I have no fishes: Chigekoà nòayi. Hekà has the same meaning with the Abipones that datur or suppetit has with the Latins, es giebet with the Germans, and hay with the Spaniards. Chitkaekà is a negative, and signifies that there is no meat, fishes, &c. In the plural number it changes to chigekoà. Is there food? Meka kanák?

Neogà means a day, and likewise time. Grauek, the moon, is taken for a month. Yñieřa, the flower of the alfaroba, also denotes a year. Hence, when they wish to ask any one how old he is, they say, How many times has the alfaroba blossomed during your life-time? Hegem leyera yñiegari? which is a very poetical expression. For the body they name the skin or bone, thus taking the part for the whole. Yoalè means only a husband; it is however used to signify a man. In the same way the Guaranies use the word Aba, which denotes a husband, and the Guarany nation, as they have no word for man. Aba che has three meanings, I am a Guarany, I am a man, or I am 185a husband; which of these is meant, must be gathered from the tenor of the conversation. Perhaps there are nowhere more virgins than in the country of the Abipones, yet they cannot express a virgin except by a paraphrase, as haayè simply means a young girl. For never, they say chik or chit, thus, I shall never go hence: Chik rihiukàm. They more frequently say, Chitlgihe rihiukàm. Chitlgihe means, there appears no time in which I shall go hence. They express eternal by interminable, thus: Life eternal, Eleyřa chit kataikañi, the life which is not finished. We used the Spanish word for God, whose name they are ignorant of: Dios, eknam Kaógarik, or Naenatřanak hipigem, kachka aalò. God, who is the maker of all things, or the creator of heaven and earth. Kauè signifies to make; Kaógarik, a maker. They call eggs Tetarik l'kauetè, the hen's work.

They cannot express everywhere in one word, but explain it in this way: God is in heaven, in earth, and there is not a place in which he is not; Menetahegem quem hipigém, menetañi quen aaloà, ka chigekòr amà, chig enaè. I omit innumerable other words which they want, but which they make up for in various ways. Many things which we always express with one and the same word, they distinguish with various names, or entirely transform, by clothing the original word 186with new particles. After having exposed the poverty of this language by examples, I ought briefly to make you acquainted with its richness, in the same manner.

It contains an incredible number of synonymes, thus: Kachergaik, Kameřgaik, Kereřaik, and Laykamé, all signify an old man. Elořaik, Egargaik, Ahamřaik, and Chitkaeka Lach, dead. Nahamatřek, Nuichieřa, Noélakierek, and Anegla, war. Kiñierat, Hanák, Nakà, and Naek, food. Lemařat and Lapañik, the head. Hipigem and Ohajenk, heaven. Chigriařaik, Taagè, Uriakà Ntà, Chig ñetun, and Akamitañi, I know not, which last is the same as if one should reply to a question, Thou thyself know'st it, thus acknowledging his own ignorance. They sometimes repeat the words of the interrogator, to show that they do not know what he asks about. They call a wound generically Lalaglet. If it be inflicted by the teeth of a man or a beast, they call it Naagek; if by a knife or a sword, Nichar̂hek; if by a lance, Noarek; if by an arrow, Nainek. They fight, if the kind of fight be not expressed, would be rendered Roélakitapegetà; if they fight with spears, Nahámretà; if with arrows, Natenetápegetà; if with fists, Nemarketápegetà; if with words alone, Ycherikáleretaà; if two wives fight about their husband, Nejétentà. They signify that a thing is ended or 187finished in divers ways. The sickness is ended, would be rendered Láyamini; the rain, the moon, the cold is ended, Lánádmreuge neetè, grauek, latarà; the war is ended, Nahálañi aneglà; the Spanish soldiers are ended, that is slaughtered; Lanamichiriñi Kaáma yoalirípi; my patience is ended, Lanámouge yapik; the storm is ended, Layamhà; he hath ended his office, his magistracy hath expired, La yauerelgè; end, or finish thy work, Grahálgali, laamachi graénategi; now the thing is finished, Layam ayam; at the end of the world, Amla hanamřani. If a battle is fought with arrows, it is called Noatařek; if with spears, Noaařaranřek, or Nahamatřek; if with fists alone, Nemarketřek. This word reminds me of a ludicrous occurrence. A certain Bavarian lay-brother of our's stayed some time in the new colony of St. Ferdinand to build a hut for the Missionaries. Whilst he was employed in building, he daily had the Abipones for spectators, and heard them talk, without understanding a syllable of what they were saying. As he continually caught the words Nahamatřek, Noatařek, and many others ending in třek, one day at dinner he said to Father Joseph Brigniel, an Austrian, with much simplicity, "Never trust me, if the language of the Abipones isn't as like German as one egg is to another; I often hear them say Trek, Trek."

188The Abiponian tongue might not improperly be called the language of circumstances, for it affixes various particles to words to denote the various situations of the subject of discourse: either hegem, above; añi, below; aigìt, around; hagam, in the water; óuge, out of doors; alge, or elge, on the surface, &c. The thing will be made plainer by examples: we use the same word is when we say, God is in heaven, is on earth, is in the water, is every where. The Abipones always add some new particle to the verb, to indicate situation, thus: Dios menetahegem ken hipigèm, God dwells above in heaven: menetañi ken aàloà, dwells below in the earth: meñetahàgàm ken enařap, dwells in the water, &c. Here the particles añi, hegem, and haganì are affixed to the verb ménetá. But now attend to something else. How great is the variation of the verb to follow^[2]! I follow a person coming, Hauíretaigìt. I follow one departing, Hauiraà. I follow with my hand what is beneath me, Hauirañì, what is above me, Hauirihegeméege. I do not follow with my eyes, Chit heonáage. I do not follow with my understanding, (I do not comprehend,) Chig ñetunêtaigìt. I follow, I hit with an arrow, Ñaten. Some going out follow others, Yáueráatà, or Yauirétapegetà,189I have followed, or perceived what another meditates or purposes in his mind, La hâui larenatřanřek lauel. I have followed or obtained what I desired, La hâuì eka kan ahelřanřat kiñi. Hear other examples: I fear, Rietachà. I fear water, Rietachahagam. It lightens, Rkáhagelk. It lightens afar off, Rkáhagelkátaigìt. It shines, Richàk. It shines on the surface, Richákatalgè. The brightness spreads wide, Richakataugè. I open the door towards the street, Hehòtouge lahàm. I open the door towards the window, Hehòtoà lahàm. If I should open two doors at the same time, Hehòtetelgè lahàm. Shut the door, Apëëgi lahàm. I die, Riigà. I am dying, Riigarari, I die of suffocation, Riigarañi, &c. &c.

We now come to speak of other particles, the use of which is very frequent amongst the Abipones.

They prefix là, now, to almost all words. Now the old woman weeps, Là reòkatarì cachergayè. Now I am terrified, Là rielk. Now I drink, Là nañam.

Tapek, or Tari, annexed to the last syllable of a verb, denote an action which is undertaken now: Hakiriogřan, I plough land. Hakiriogřanetapek, now, whilst I speak, I am ploughing. Haoachin, I am sick. Haoachinetari, I am sick at this very time.

Kachit, I make. Ařaiřaik ahëpegak, a tame 190horse. Ařaiřaikachit ahëpegak, I make a horse tame. Riélk, I fear. Riélkachìt nihìrenàk, a tiger put me in fear. Ayerhègemegè, a high thing. Ayercachihègemegè, I make a thing high, I put it in a high place.

Řat, or řan has the same signification as the former in certain verbs. Rpaè enařap, hot water. Hapaeřat enařap, I heat water. Laà, great, large. Laařařat, I increase. Lenechi, little, small. Lenechitařat, I diminish. Haoatè, I sleep. Haoacheřan akíravàlk, I make a little infant sleep.

Ken denotes custom or habit. Roélakikèn, he is accustomed to fight.

Aagè affixed to the substantives Lahërek, work, or Yaářaiřèk, knowledge, likewise denotes custom. Nèoga latènk nañametapek; gramackka lahërekaage, or Mat yaářaiřèk aage, he drinks all day: this, to wit, is his occupation; it is his knowledge; in a word his custom.

It signifies the material of which any thing is made. Nichigeherit is a cloak made of otters' skins, for Níchigehè is the Abiponian for otter. Káepèrit, a place fortified with stakes fixed in the earth, (which the Spaniards call la palisada, or estacada,) káepak, signifying wood.

Hat indicates the native soil of certain trees, or fruits. Nebokehat, a wood where palms 191grow. Neboke is a kind of palm. Nemelkehat, a field sowed with wheat, which is called nemelk. The Guaranies make use of the same compendious expression, substituting ti for the particle hat, thus: Abati, maize. Abatiti, a maize-field. Petí, tobacco. Petíndi, a place where tobacco is grown. For the sake of the euphony, to which the Guaranies are particularly attentive, ndi is substituted for ti.

Ik. The names of almost all trees end in this syllable. Apèhe, the fruit chañar. Apehìk, the tree. Oaik, the white alfaroba. Roak, the red. The trees which produce it, Oáikik, and Roaikik. Though the alfaroba is also called Hamáp.

Řeki signifies the vessel, place, or instrument in which any thing is shut up, kept, or contained. Nařamřeki, a cup, from nañàm, I drink. Neetřki signifies the same thing: for ñeèt and nañàm are synonimous. Katařanřeki, an oven, a chafing-dish, from Nkáatèk, fire. Keyeeřánřekì, a tub in which clothes are washed with soap, for keyařanřàt is their word for soap.

Laỳt has almost the same signification as the former particle. Yabogék laỳt, a snuff-box, yabogék being Abiponian for snuff. Ahëpegrlaỳt, a fold for horses.

Lanà is a very useful word, and often serves as a sacred anchor, which beginners, slightly 192acquainted with the language, catch hold of to make themselves understood. It means that which is the instrument, means, or part of performing any thing. This shall be elucidated by examples. The Abipones constantly chew tobacco leaves mixed with salt, and the saliva of old women, calling it medicine. They come at all hours, and say, Tach kaûe Paỳ npeetèk yoetà: Father, give me tobacco leaves, my medicine. Having obtained this, they presently add, Tach kaûe achibiřaik noetà lanà,: Give me also salt, which serves to compose this medicine. Another comes and says: Tachkaûe latařan lpahè lanà: Give me a knife to cut my meat with, or Tachkaûe këëpe yëëriki lanà: Give me an axe to build my house with. Persons better acquainted with the language generally abstain from the use of this word lanà, in place of which they make noun substantives of verbs, by which the instrument or means of doing a thing is admirably expressed. Thus, Noetarèn, I am healed. Noetarenátařanřát, medicine. Noetaranatařankatè, a medical instrument. Hakiriogran, I plough. Kiriogrankatè, a plough. Ñahategřan, I shear. Ahategkatè, scissars, or snuffers, which, as it were, shear the wick. Géhayà, I behold. Geharlatè, a looking-glass. Rietachà, I fear. Netachkatřanřat, an instrument of terror. They facetiously call remarkably ugly 193faces by this name as if they were a terror to the eyes.

Latè, indicates the place of action, thus: Nahamátřalatè, the place of the fight. Kiñieřalatè, the place where one eats, that is, the table.

They ingeniously invented names borrowed from their native tongue, for things introduced from Europe, or made by Europeans. They did not like either to appear poor in words, or to contaminate their language by adopting foreign ones, like the other Americans who borrow words from the Spaniards. Horses, which the Spaniards call cavallos, the Guaranies call cavayù, and oxen, which the Spaniards call nobillos, they call nobì. The Abipones, on the contrary, call a horse ahëpegak, an ox, ỳúihàk, and a bull, ỳúihàk lepà, an uncastrated ox, a name derived from their own language, though, before the coming of the Spaniards, they were unacquainted with these animals. They call a church loakal lëëriki, the house of images, or natamenřeki, where thanks are given to God. A gun is expressed by netelřanře, which means a bow from which arrows are cast. Perhaps it is derived from the word neetè, a storm, because a gun resembles the thundering of a storm. Gunpowder is called netelřanřre leenřra, the flour of the gun; a book, lakatka, which means a word, tongue, speech. They call a letter, or any 194sheet with letters written or printed on it, elorka, by which name they also designate the otters' skins painted by women with red lines of various forms, of which cloaks are made to keep out the cold. They call water-melons, Kaáma lakà, the food of the Spaniards. They express a soul, a shadow, echo, and an image, all by the same word, loákal, or lkihì. The Latins also used the word imago, for an echo. Valerius Flaccus, in the third book of the Argonautics, says:

Echo is a representation of voice, as an image is that of the figure. Cotton, the material of which cloth is made, they call aapařaik, cloth; wheat, etantà lpetà, the grain of bread; and bullets, netelr̃anře lpetà, the grain of the gun, or Káamà lanařha, the arrows of the Spaniards. A lute or harp is called liûigi, which means the loins of an animal; all metals, lekàt, and silver money, lekacháole, little metals; hell, aalò labachiñi, the centre of the earth, or Keevét lëëriki, the devil's house; a shirt, yelamřkie; stockings or boots, lichil lelamřkiè; breeches, ykiemařha; shoes, yachrhářlatè; a hat, ñoarà; a fillet, mitre, or any covering of the head, yetapehè; glass-beads, ekelřaye. I omit the rest.

Metaphors are familiar to these savages. 195When they have the head-ache they cry Là ỳívíchigi yemařat, now my head is angry. When fatigued with manual labour, Là ỳívíchigi yauigřa, now my blood is angry, they exclaim with a smile. When in anger, they say, Là ànahegem yauel, now my heart hath risen. When impatient at any inconvenience, they vociferate: Là lanamouge yapìk, now my patience is ended, now I will bear this no longer.

Although the Guaranies and many other people of America have none but post-positions in their language, the Abipones use prepositions likewise. Thus the Guaranies, in making the sign of the cross, say: Tuba haè layřa, hae Espiritu Santo rera pĭpe. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. For pĭpe means in, and rera name with them. The Abipones, on the contrary, say: Men lakalátoèt Netà, kat Náitařat, kachka Espiritu Santo. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, &c. Men signifying in, and lakalátoèt, a name. Men, mek, kèn, or en kerà, signifies in or at, either with or without motion. Men aaloa, men hipigem, in the earth, in heaven. Lahik ken nepàrk, now I go to the plain. Là rihi mek Kaáma loetà, now I remove to the lands of the Spaniards. They are unacquainted with the preposition with which denotes society: they would express the 196sentence, I will go with thee, in this manner: Grahauitapekam, I will accompany thee: or thus, Là me? Clachkehin, wilt thou go away? I also. The Lord with thee: Dios Gnoakàra hiñitařoat; The Lord is associated with thee. Haraà is a preposition signifying the instrument with which a thing is done. Yóale yahámat nihirenak naraà lohélete: The Indian killed the tiger with a spear. Yágàm means, as, or like, Roahà ỳágàm netegink: He attacks like a dog.

Adjectives themselves are generally used instead of adverbs; both, according as they relate to past, or future, are variously inflected, like verbs: thus, ariaik and neèn signify both good and well. Kemen ariaik kàn! how good, or how well he was. Kàn is the sign of the past tense. Ariaekam, it will be good or well. Am is the sign of the future, and kitè means now. Kitekàn, it was now. Kitàm, it shall be now presently. If you wish to enquire about a thing past, you must say: hegmalagè, when? If about a future thing, hegmalkàm. For the past, they will answer, nehegetoè, long since; hákekemàt, now, at this point of time; chigahák, not yet; kitnéoga, to day; kitnénegin, or kitnehaól, this night; gnaàma, yesterday. For the future, amà, amlayeřge, chitlkihe, after a long interval of time; amlà, afterwards; am richigni, to morrow; amékére láhaua, the day after to-morrow; am náama, in the evening. 197And is expressed by Rachka, Rack, or Rat, according to the letters that follow. All universally call no, ynà: but yes is expressed variously, according to the age and sex of the speaker. Men and youths say, héé; all women, hàà. Old men affirm by a loud snort, which can only be expressed vivâ voce, though you could not do it easily and clearly without danger of hoarseness. The louder the snort the stronger the affirmation.

Eùrigri, eòrat, and miekaenegen, mean why, for what reason. Miéka énegen nkaué, nauichi enà? What was the reason that you came? Men is a particle of interrogation, having the same signification as the Latin an. Men leerà? Is it true? Klerà, it is certain. Chigera, it is not true. Or if they doubt of the truth of the thing, they will reply, Eùriñigi. Sometimes, when they suspect another of relating what is not true, they join the past with the future, and ironically say, Kánigra leeràm, formerly, that will be true. Kánigra is the past, and leeràm the future.

The letter M prefixed to a word denotes interrogation, thus: M'ayte nauachieka? Are there many soldiers? M'oachiñi, Art thou sick? If the first letter following M be a consonant or an H, it is dropped, M'anekam ena? Will he come hither? The H is entirely omitted in the 198verb hanekám, will he come, and it is pronounced manekám. Mauichi kenà? Hast thou come hither? The letter N is dropped in the verb nauichi, and M substituted, so that it is called mauichi. Mik alone, or mik mich, are forms of interrogation; as Mik mich grihochi? Art thou in good health? Sometimes an interrogation is expressed by the accent alone, and by the raising of the voice. Layàm nauichi? Art thou come at length? Origeenu and morigi are words of interrogation, expressing, at the same time, doubt: Morigi npágàk oenèk? Perhaps the youth is ashamed? Hegmi hínnerkam? What is it after all? Orkeénum, I do not know what it can be.

Latàm means almost. Latàm riýgerañi: He was very near being drowned. Latàm riahámat ỳúihàk: the ox had almost killed me. Yt, or ych, means only, alone. Tachkaûe yt lenechiavàlk: Give me only a little of any thing. Mat, or gramachka, means lastly. They use this word, in affirming any thing with serious asseveration, or with boasting. Gramachka Abipon yapochì; lastly the Abipones are brave. Eneha mat yoale: this, lastly, is the man. Chik, chit, and chichi, are words of prohibition, as ne with the Latins. Chik grakalakitřani: Thou shouldst not doubt. Chichi noaharegřani: Thou shouldst not lie. Klatùm keèn means although, and 199oagan, yet, however. Eneha klatùm keèn èúének, oagan netackaik: Though this man is beautiful, yet he is cowardly. Tán means because, and máoge, therefore. Tán aỳte apatáye ken nepark, máoge chik ààtèkan: Because there are many gnats in the plain, therefore I have not slept. Men, men, mean as, so. Men netà, men naetařat, As the father, so the son.

They have various exclamations of wonder, grief, joy, &c. Kemen apalaik akami! How stingy and tenacious of thy own property thou art! Kemén naáchik, or Kîmilî naáchik! Oh! how useful this will be to me! is their way of thanking you for a gift; for neither the Abipones nor Guaranies have any word whereby to express thanks. What wonder, since gratitude is unknown, even by name, among them, that they do not display it their actions? For, as some one observed, they think benefits like flowers—only pleasant as long as they are fresh. One repulse entirely effaces the memory of former benefits from the minds of the Indians. The Guaranies, on receiving a gift, use the same phrase, and say, Aquiyebete ângà: This will be useful to me. The Abipones, after obtaining what they ask, sometimes thanked the giver with nothing but the word Kliri: This is what I wanted. In wonder or compassion, they exclaim, Kem ekemat! Ta yeegàm! or 200Ndřè! (which they usually say when astonished at any sudden novelty,) and Tayretà! Oh! the poor little thing!

But these examples are sufficient to show you the asperities, difficulties, and strange construction of the Abiponian tongue. Were I to embrace every thing necessary to the thorough understanding of it, I should fill a volume. Father Joseph Brigniel, the first civilizer of that nation, was also the first to turn his attention towards learning, and afterwards explaining this language. He translated the chief heads of religion, and the regular church prayers, into the Abiponian tongue, for the use of the whole nation. It is incredible what pains he took in this study; and his patience, and the retentiveness of his memory, were absolutely iron. Though he spoke Latin, German, French, Italian, and Spanish, as well as the language of the Guaranies, whose apostle he had formerly been, with elegance and fluency, being well versed in six different languages, yet he found it a difficulty to gain even a smattering of the Abiponian tongue. He left no stone unturned to fish out the names of things, and the inflexions, and force of the words. But though he was extremely eager to obtain a knowledge of the language, and spared no pains in the pursuit, masters and books were 201both wanting. There were, indeed, Spaniards who, having been taken captives by the Abipones in their boyhood, had learnt the Abiponian tongue, but they had generally forgotten the language of their own country; while those who fell in captivity amongst the savages, after they had grown up, had learnt their language so ill that they scarce spoke a word without blundering. By degrees they forget their own language, but are incapable of properly acquiring any other. The same may be said in regard to the Abipones, who have returned to their own people after being for some time captives amongst the Spaniards. You will, therefore, sooner learn to err than to speak from the captives. But if we were able to hire any one of them to instruct us who was tolerably well acquainted with both languages, Good heavens! what troubles had we not to undergo! When asked what the Abipones called such or such a thing, he would reply in so low and dubious a tone, that we were not able to distinguish a syllable, or even a letter. If we asked him to repeat the same word two or three times over, he grew angry, and would not speak. Scarce was the hour of instruction ended, when he required the reward for the few words he has pronounced: one day a knife; the next a pair of scissars; the next glass-beads; the next 202something of more value. If we denied him what he asked, he would never visit us again; if we gave it, he was daily emboldened to ask things of still more value. Great is the misery of the scholar when masters are either scarce or too dear. I do not deny that, by daily conversation with the Indians, I learnt the names of those things which are present to the eyes; but invisible things, which relate to God and the soul, can only be learnt by conjecture and very long use. When horses, tigers, or arms, are talked of, you will find any of the Abipones a Demosthenes or a Tully: if the question turn on the affections and functions of the mind, and the practice of virtue, they will either give you answers darker than night, or remain silent.

When we were studying the Guarany tongue, grammars and three dictionaries were published by Fathers Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, and Paulo Restivo, a Sicilian, which saved us a great deal of time and labour. By their assistance our progress was so much accelerated that, at the end of three months, we were permitted to confess the Guaranies by order of four of the older Jesuits, who, at the command of the superiors, closely examined our knowledge in the language. But as the assistance of books was wanting amongst the Abipones, Joseph Brigniel made up for the deficiency by 203all possible arts and industry. If any new word or elegance could be gathered from the conversation of the savages, he carefully wrote it down, and at length composed a dictionary, which, in course of time, grew to a hundred and fifty sheets. It was afterwards copied out, corrected, and considerably enriched by members of our society. It is easy to add to what is begun; for the successors, sitting on the shoulders of those that preceded them, see farther, and more than they. Pizarro penetrated into Peru, and Cortez into Mexico, but not till Columbus, who first saw America, had shown them the way. The Jesuit Brigniel first discovered the track to be pursued amid the dim shades of a savage language, made himself a guide to the rest, and, to express myself in few words, merits eternal fame for having kindled a light amidst darkness, by pointing out the rude lineaments of grammar rules.

The Abiponian language is involved in new difficulties by a ridiculous custom which the savages have of continually abolishing words common to the whole nation, and substituting new ones in their stead. Funeral rites are the origin of this custom. The Abipones do not like that any thing should remain to remind them of the dead. Hence appellative words bearing any affinity with the names of the deceased 204are presently abolished. During the first years that I spent amongst the Abipones, it was usual to say Hegmalkam kahamátek? When will there be a slaughtering of oxen? On account of the death of some Abipon, the word kahamátek was interdicted, and, in its stead, they were all commanded, by the voice of a cryer, to say, Hegmalkam négerkatà? The word nihirenak, a tiger, was exchanged for apañigehak; peûe, a crocodile, for kaeprhak, and Kaáma, Spaniards, for Rikil, because these words bore some resemblance to the names of Abipones lately deceased. Hence it is that our vocabularies are so full of blots, occasioned by our having such frequent occasion to obliterate interdicted words, and insert new ones. Add to this another thing which increases the difficulty of learning the language of the Abipones. Persons promoted to the rank of nobles are called Hëcheri, and Neleřeycatè, and are distinguished from the common people even by their language. They generally use the same words, but so transformed by the interposition, or addition of other letters, that they appear to belong to a different language. The names of men belonging to this class, end in In; those of the women, who also partake of these honours, in En. These syllables you must add even to substantives and verbs in talking with them. 205The sentence, This horse belongs to Captain Debayakaikin, would be rendered by an Abipon, speaking the vulgar tongue, in this manner: Eneha ahëpegak Debayakaikin lela. But in the language of the Hëcheri you must say, Debayakaikin lilin. They salute a plebeian with Là nauichi? Art thou come? to which he replies Là ñauè, I am come. If a noble person is addressed, he must be saluted in these words: La náuirin, Art thou come? and he, with much importance, and pompous modulation of his voice, will reply, Là ñauerinkie, I am come. Moreover, they have some words peculiar to themselves, by which they supersede those in general use. Thus, the common people call a mother, Latè, the nobles, Lichiá. The former call a son Laétařat, the latter Illalèk, not to mention other instances. Both in the explanation of religion, and in common conversation, we chose to use the vulgar tongue, because it was understood by all.

I have said that there are three kinds of Abipones, the Riikahes, the Nakaikétergehes, and the Yaaukanigas. All of them, however, speak the same language; all understand each other, and are understood. Yet each of these classes has some words peculiar to itself. The Riikahes call gnats ayte; the Nakaiketergehes apatáye. Both names are extremely suitable to gnats, for 206ayte means many, and apatáye is derived from napàta, a mat, which they use to cover their tents with; and so great is the multitude of gnats in the lands of the Abipones that the inhabitants seem not only covered but oppressed by them. To drink with the Riikahes is expressed by neèt, with the Nakaiketergehes by nañàm. The latter call a head Lapañik, the former Lemařat. The Yaaucanigas, in the use of words, sometimes imitate one, sometimes the other; but in a few they differ from both. The rest call the moon Grauèk, but they, by antonomasia, name it Eergřaik, a star. The rainbow is called by the rest, Oáhetà, but by the Yaaucanigas, Apich. But this variety creates neither difficulty nor wonder. The Teutonic language is used by many nations, but how greatly does it differ in different provinces, not only in dialect but also in words! How different is Tuscan from the languages spoken at Milan, Savoy, and Venice! How different is Castilian from the languages of Arragon, Andalusia, Navarre, and Valencia!

CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE WEDDINGS OF THE ABIPONES.

Whenever an Abipon thinks fit to choose a wife, he must bargain with the parents of the girl about the price to be payed for her. Four or more horses, strings of beads made of glass or snail-shells, a woollen garment of various colours, woven like a Turkish carpet, a spear furnished with an iron point, and other articles of this kind, are paid by the bridegroom. It frequently happens that the girl rescinds what had been settled and agreed upon between the parents and the bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage. Many girls, through fear of being compelled to marry, have concealed themselves in the recesses of woods or lakes; seeming to dread the assaults of tigers less than the untried nuptials. Some of them, just before they are to be brought to the bridegroom's house, fly to the chapel, and there, hidden behind the altar, elude the threats and the expectation of the unwelcome bridegroom.

Let us suppose the Abiponian bride to have acquiesced in her parents' wishes with regard to 208her marriage; without the observance of other ceremonies usual elsewhere, she is conducted, not without pomp, to the tent of her spouse. Eight girls hold up a beautiful garment like a carpet in their hands, by way of a shade, under which the bride goes, full of bashfulness, with her eyes fixed upon the ground, preserving a pensive silence, spectators being scattered around. After having been received by her spouse, and kindly saluted, she is brought back by her hordesmen to her fathers house, in the same manner, and with the same attendants as she left it; whence, in a second and a third journey, she brings the gourds, pots, pans, and the weaving-machine, under a shade, to her husband's tent, and after a very short conversation returns to the house of her parents, where the bridegroom is forced to go to take his food and pass the night: for the mothers are so careful of their daughters, that even when they are married they can hardly bear to part from them, and deliver them immediately into the power of another. After they have satisfied themselves of the probity of their son-in-law, or after the birth of a child, they suffer them to live in a separate house. These are the scanty rites of the Abiponian nuptials, which however are sometimes gladdened by a compotation on the part of the men. Sometimes a drum is 209struck by a boy seated on the top of a tent to proclaim the nuptials. The bride's being covered with a skreen when she is conducted to the bridegroom's house, resembles the Roman fashion of veiling the heads of the women, when they were given to their husbands, with a yellow or flame-coloured veil, whence the word nuptials.

Gumilla relates, in his History of the river Orinoco, that there is one nation which marries old men to girls, and old women to youths, that age may correct the petulance of youth. For, they say, that to join young persons equal in youth and imprudence in wedlock together, is to join one fool to another. The marriage of young men with old women is a kind of apprenticeship, which after they have served for some months, they are permitted to marry women of their own age.

CHAPTER XIX. OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE ABIPONES.

We know that a plurality of wives, or the repudiation of them, was familiar to the Hebrews and other nations, and that it is tolerated even now amongst the Mahometans and Chinese. The Greeks and Romans did not universally, nor at all times object to it. What wonder then that the custom of polygamy and divorce should be common to many savages of America, since it is upheld by the practice of the ancients? You should not however imagine that the whole nation of the Abipones follow after the steps of the other nations in that respect. The major part are contented with one and the same wife, though I cannot deny that divorce is as frequent amongst them as the changing of the dress in Europe; yet I have known many who kept the same wife all their lives. But if any Abipon marries several women, he settles them in separate hordes, many leagues distant from one another, and visits first one, then the other, at intervals of a year. If he keeps many in the same house, which is very seldom the case, endless quarrels, blows, and battles, are sure to 211ensue, about the prerogative of governing the family, and the favour of their husband. Nejetenta, as I said before, is a word appropriated to express a contest between two wives about their husband; any other sort of fight is called Roélakitápegeta.

Let us now speak of the reason that occasions divorce. It is very common amongst them to reject wives to whom they have formerly united themselves, at their own pleasure, and with impunity, so that divines have very properly doubted the reality of the marriage of savages, as it seems to want the perpetuity of the nuptial tie. If their wives displease them, it is sufficient; they are ordered to decamp. No farther cause or objection is sought for; the will of the husband, who dislikes his wife, stands in the place of reason. Should the husband cast his eyes upon any handsomer woman, the old wife must remove merely on this account, her fading form or advanced age being her only accusers, though she maybe universally commended for conjugal fidelity, regularity of conduct, diligent obedience, and the children she has born. None of the men of most authority have either the right or the inclination to defend the divorced, or control the divorcer. But, appointing a drinking-party, wherein the memory of 212injuries is refreshed in the minds of the intoxicated guests, the relations fiercely avenge the dishonour done to the repudiated wife. Often, too, women just cast off by one man are immediately married by another. I have observed elsewhere that the younger women highly approve the law of Christ, and are anxious that themselves and their husbands should be baptized, because the perpetuity of their marriage is thereby secured, and their husbands prevented from changing or increasing the number of their wives. This licence of divorce produces, as I have already related, bloody murders of children, and the incredible diminution of the whole nation.

You will find many things worthy of reprehension, but at the same time not a few deserving of praise, in the married state of the Abipones. I will inform you of those most worthy of mention. Though the paternal indulgence of the Roman pontiffs makes the first and second degrees of relationship alone a bar to the marriage of the Indians, yet the Abipones, instructed by nature and the example of their ancestors, abhor the very thought of marrying any one related to them by the most distant tie of relationship. Long experience has convinced me, that the respect to consanguinity, by which they are deterred from marrying into their own families, 213is implanted by nature in the minds of most of the people of Paraguay. In this opinion I was greatly confirmed by the Cacique Roỹ, leader of the savages in the woods of Mbaeverà, who, when I was explaining the heads of religion to the surrounding multitude, and happened to make mention of incestuous nuptials, broke out into these words—"You say right, Father! Marriage with relations is a most shameful thing. This we have learnt from our ancestors." Such are the feelings of these wood savages, though they think it neither irrational nor improper to marry many wives, and reject them whenever they like.

Another admirable trait in the character of the savage Abipones is their conjugal fidelity. You never hear of this being shaken, or even attempted. Husbands are many months absent from their homes, whilst their wives remain in the midst of a horde of men without danger or even suspicion. What the Greeks have fabled of Penelope, who continued faithful to her husband Ulysses during an absence of twenty years, is the true history of the Abiponian women. But if an Abipon entertains the slightest suspicion of his wife's virtue, he does not digest it in silence, but takes ample vengeance on the person suspected though not convicted of the injury.

Amongst the other good qualities of the married 214people amongst the Abipones, may be reckoned the tender affection which they display towards their offspring, in feeding, clothing, and taking care of them. To tutor the boys from their earliest age in the arts of riding, swimming, hunting, and fighting, is the chief care of the fathers. The girls are diligently instructed by their mothers in the domestic duties of females, and early inured to labour and in accommodation. But this is worthy of censure in them, that however disobedient or refractory their children may be, they never have the courage to correct them with a word, much less with a blow. Alaykin, chief Cacique of the town of Concepçion, whenever he visited me, held a little boy five years of age upon his lap. This child, who was as restless as a young ape, would sometimes pull his father's nose or his hair, and sometimes struck his face. The old man, pleased at this, would cry—"Look, Father! can you ever doubt that this fearless boy will sometime come to be a famous soldier or captain, since he is not afraid of me, a leader so victorious and so formidable to the Spaniards?" The same boy would throw bones, horns, or any thing else he could lay hold on, at his mother, when she came to call him home. The warlike father interpreted the child's insolence, which he ought to have punished, 215as the mark of an intrepid mind, and rewarded it with laughter, and even with praise. The too unbounded love which they bear their children incapacitates the savages from doing any thing to cause them pain. But every one knows that the immoderate fondness of parents is a frequent injury to children in Europe.

CHAPTER XX. GAMES ON THE BIRTH OF THE MALE CHILD OF A CACIQUE.

The love implanted in the minds of all nations towards their prince never shows itself more clearly than when the birth of an heir is announced. Festive fires, theatrical games, joyous acclamations, songs, paintings, sculpture, elegant dances, and various other things attest the public joy. This custom of the Europeans, the savage and warlike Abipones in their fashion imitate. They make public show of rejoicing for some days, when informed of the birth of a Cacique's son. As soon as a report is spread of the birth of the son of a Cacique, the whole crowd of girls, bearing palm boughs in their hands, repair to the house of the infant amid festive acclamations; they run round the roof and sides of it, shaking the palm boughs, by which percussion they happily augur that the child will become famous in war, and the scourge of his enemies. The use of the palms, and the other ceremonies which follow all have relation to this. The strongest of the women is covered from the loins to the legs, with a sort 217of apron made of the longer ostrich feathers. That woman has every day the most business to perform; for in company with the other girls, she visits all the huts, and with a hide, twisted in the form of Hercules's club, whips, puts to flight, and pursues all the men that she finds in every house, and those that are met by the way are soundly beaten by the girls, with the palm boughs. The first day is passed in this running up and down, amidst the laughter of the flagellated men. Next day the girls, who are distributed into bands, wrestle with one another, and the boys do the same in a separate place. On the third day they are called out to dance, the boys on one side, and the girls on the other. They all join hands till a circle is formed, an old woman, the directress of the dance going round striking a gourd: and when after a whirling for some time, they grow giddy, they rest at intervals, and then renew their dancing, which contains nothing worthy of admiration, but the patience displayed on the part both of the spectators and of the performers, and is perfectly devoid of art. On the fourth day, the woman with the apron of ostrich feathers traverses the town, surrounded by girls, challenging the stoutest and strongest woman she finds in every house, to contend with her in the street; and now throwing her adversary, now 218being herself thrown, affords an amusing spectacle to the assembled people. During the remaining days, (for those games last eight days,) either the former sports are renewed, or the men joyfully indulge in public drinking-parties, wherein songs are alternately sung to the sound of drum. Of the other games, on the occasion of some person's being admitted to the rank of captain, of the celebration of any signal victory, of the death of a noble, the removal of the bones of the dead, the shaving of a widow's hair, &c. we shall discourse elsewhere. Of this I am quite certain, that the Abipones Nakaiketergehes, or wood-Abipones, are much more observant of national rites and ceremonies than the rest. It is incredible what time and labour it cost us to abolish the national rites of this ferocious nation, which the example of their ancestors had hallowed in their eyes. An oak a hundred years old, which has stuck its roots deep into the ground, is not felled at a blow. But now, from nuptial and natal games, let us proceed to things of a more gloomy character, to diseases, physicians, and medicines.

CHAPTER XXI. OF THE DISEASES, PHYSICIANS, AND MEDICINES OF THE ABIPONES.

I have long since described the Abipones to be stout, vigorous, and robust; and unless I am much deceived, have already proved in chapter the seventh, that the diseases, which in Europe fill houses with sick persons, and graves with dead bodies, are unknown here. Epilepsy, gout, lethargy, madness, jaundice, diseases in the joints, complaints in the kidneys, elephantiasis, iliac disorders, &c. are names strange and foreign to the Abipones. You scarce hear once in three years of any of them dying of a fever, pleurisy, or consumption. Sickness is more rare amongst them than an Aurora Borealis, or an eclipse with us. I never heard any of them complain of tooth-ache except an old woman, who soon stopped the pain with a few drops of vinegar. I do not wonder that the savages should be exempt from so common a complaint, as they are accustomed from childhood to chew tobacco leaves mixed with salt and the saliva of old women, and reduced into the form of an unguent. It is not improperly, therefore, that 220they call tobacco noetà, their medicine: for they are constantly eating honey, both in a solid and liquid state, which is the certain destruction of the teeth; so that the Indians must suffer continual torment from them, or soon be deprived of them altogether, were not the bad effects of the honey counteracted by the acrimony of the salt and tobacco. Experience shows that persons who smoke or chew tobacco every day will preserve their teeth sound. I have seen Spaniards of the higher orders in Paraguay either chew or smoke tobacco, and take delight in it as of certain utility to the health. But the Paraguayrians have another remedy against the tooth-ache. The pods of the cacào are steeped for some time in brandy. Cotton dipped in this liquor is applied to the tooth, which, if not hollow, is well moistened with that brandy, which should be held a long time in the mouth. If you repeat this several times, both the swelling and the pain will entirely cease. My own frequent experience, joined with that of others, has taught me the efficacy of this noble medicine, which is celebrated even in Europe. The freshest and most juicy pods must be chosen for the purpose, for what virtue will the old decayed ones yield, which are destitute of oil? The milder drinkable brandy should be used, not that fiery liquor which chemists call 221spirits of wine. Some prick the gum of the tooth with the spine of the fish raya, and by eliciting blood, allay the pain. Others again reduce tigers' claws and alum first into a calx, and then into a powder, by laying them on hot coals, and after they are well mixed up together, apply them to the hollow of the tooth. By the adoption of this method, many, beside myself, have found not only the pain, but the cause of the pain so entirely removed, that it never returned afterwards. Tooth-ache is a frequent and dreadful affliction to Europeans in Paraguay, on account of the scarcity or unskilfulness of surgeons. In extracting the diseased tooth, they pierce and lacerate the whole gum near it, which causes extreme pain, together with much effusion of blood. That the Abipones never need the aid of these torturers, is a truly enviable part of their felicity. I never saw a toothless person amongst them. The teeth, which they have made strenuous use of all their lives, generally go with them to the grave.

Whenever they feel themselves unwell, although the complaint be in the foot or the elbow, they always say that their heart pains them. The same is the case with the Guaranies. If you say to the sick man, what ails you, what is the matter with you? he immediately 222replies with a groan, it is in my heart: so that it is very difficult to understand from the Indians what their complaint is, and where it is situated, unless it be betrayed by other signs. Loathing of food for ever so short a time is, in their opinion, a certain indication of sickness. If an Abipon, from having overloaded his stomach, abstains from food for a little while, the women immediately augur the worst respecting him, and make no end of their lamentations, saying every now and then with a groan, Chik rkeñe, he does not eat. As soon as the sick person takes ever so little food, though the disorder be not yet subdued, they think him out of danger, so that Là rkeñe, he eats now; and Là yamini, or Là natatéuge, now he is recovered, now he revives, are with them synonymous. Moreover, as the Abipones are but very seldom sick, so very few of them die when they are sick. I do not doubt but that in the frequent conflicts they have with enemies and tigers, numbers fall yearly by the nails of the one, and the claws of the other. In most of the remainder, extreme old age is generally the fatal disease. In a word, greatest part of the Abipones die when they are satiated with life, when, weary of the burden of years, they long for death as the rest and solace of their miserable existence. This circumstance occasions 223the common error that they should never die at all were the Spaniards and the jugglers banished from America; for, to the arms of the former, and to the arts of the latter, they attribute the deaths of all their countrymen. A wound inflicted with a spear often gapes so wide that it affords ample room for life to go out and death to come in; yet if the man dies of the wound, they madly believe him killed, not by a weapon, but by the deadly arts of the jugglers. The relations leave no stone unturned, not only diligently to investigate, but severely to punish the authors of the death, and of the sorcery. They are persuaded that the juggler will be banished from amongst the living, and made to atone for their relation's death, if the heart and tongue be pulled out of the dead man's body immediately after his decease, roasted at the fire, and given to dogs to devour. Though so many hearts and tongues are devoured, and they never observe any of the jugglers die, yet they still religiously adhere to the custom of their ancestors, by cutting out the hearts and tongues of infants and adults of both sexes, as soon as they have expired. How firmly this mad notion, that men are killed by magical arts alone, is rooted in the minds of the Abipones, you may learn from the following facts, of which I myself was a spectator. In the 224colony of St. Ferdinand, a Yaaucaniga, famed amongst his countrymen both for high birth and military prowess, and on that very account ready for any audacious action, was much afflicted at the untimely death of his little daughter. He knew that she had been weak and diseased from her birth, yet was fully bent upon finding out the magical author of her death. A foreign Indian woman married to an Abipon appeared to him, from the representations of certain old women, who bore her a grudge, to be the perpetrator of the crime. Infuriated by the supposed injury, and the desire of vengeance, he fell upon the innocent unsuspecting woman at the approach of night, as she was spinning at the fire; he pierced her shoulder-blade with a spear with such force, that the point came out in the middle of her bosom, and stained the child she was suckling with its mother's blood. The woman was middle-aged, very fat, and full-breasted. She swam in her own blood, which spouted from every vein. The horrid nature of the wound threatening certain death, the heads of our holy religion, which she had formerly learnt, were briefly recalled to her memory; she received baptism, and was admonished to forgive her murderer. Having thus attended to the salvation of the poor woman's soul, we applied all our thoughts towards retarding her death, 225though we thought no medicine capable of saving her life. The blood which flowed, mixed with milk, being wiped up, the wound was washed with hot wine, and anointed with hen's fat. Numbers of people assembled to witness this mournful spectacle. Mixed with the crowd came a juggler physician, who gave the husband of the wounded woman a horn, desiring him to discharge his urine into it, and was immediately and plentifully obeyed. He gave the warm urine to the woman to drink, who made no hesitation, but swallowed it to the last drop. The juggling Hippocrates then turned to my companion and said: "Do you know why I prescribed fresh urine? In order that the wounded woman may vomit up the blood trickling from the wound to the inmost parts of the body, which would otherwise putrefy, and cause the lungs and other parts to putrefy also." The event verified his prediction. The woman was cleared by vomiting. The deep wound, being daily anointed with hen's fat, and having the leaves of the cabbage, which we call süsse kraut, applied to it to prevent inflammation, healed in a few days, and, excepting the scar, no inconvenience, trouble, or pain resulted from it. The surgeons of our country will doubtless laugh at the application of hen's fat, and perhaps question its efficacy in 226curing wounds; let them laugh, deride, doubt and despise, with my hearty good-will. I confidently oppose the experience of my own eyes, to their doubts and laughter. My arm, which was pierced with an arrow armed with five barbs, by the Natakebit savages, the nerve which directs the middle finger being injured at the same time, was happily cured in fourteen days by this remedy alone. With this fat I have cured men wounded both with arrows and spears; and with the same remedy I entirely healed an Abiponian woman whose leg had been wounded by an axe, in consequence of which, as all medicine had for some days been neglected, the foot was swelled in a dreadful manner. It would be endless to relate all the cures that have been worked with hen's fat.

The jugglers are commonly thought to be the authors of diseases, as well as of death, and the sick Abipones imagine that they shall recover as soon as ever those persons are removed. A tragic event will render this foolish persuasion more undoubted. An Abipon of the town of St. Jeronymo, called Ychohàke, elevated by the memory of his own great deeds, and those of his brother, the Cacique Ychoalay, wasted away with a slow disease. It never entered his head to seek the cause in the noxious humours in which he abounded. To 227discover which of the jugglers it was that had afflicted him with this sickness, was his daily and nightly endeavour. On this affair he consulted some old women, who pronounced a Toba, of the name of Napakainchin, to be the cause of the disease. The sick man immediately devotes the accused to death, for the preservation, as he thought, of his own life. In the dead of the night, he came upon him unawares, as he was sleeping in his tent; he plunged the iron point of his spear into his body, pierced his left side with a powerful blow, broke two of his ribs, and clove his shoulder with a weapon. At the cries of the wounded man, people assembled, whilst the assassin escaped by flight. We were called to the assistance of the poor wretch. Seeing him bathed in blood, and pierced with three wounds, we imagined that he would expire immediately. The bystanders told us that unless we removed him into our house, the person who put him in this condition would return to dispatch him with fresh wounds. According to their advice, he was conveyed into our house. Slipping by the way out of the hands of the carriers, he fell to the ground with fresh, and imminent danger of his life; for he was very large, and of weight proportionable to such great bulk. The place where he was laid in our house, as it had 228neither door nor fastening, was fortified by the Abipones with hides on every side, that Ychohàke might not gain access, if he came to complete the murder. And, in fact, as the Indians foretold, in half an hour, he came furnished with a dagger to hasten the death of the dying man; but being bravely repulsed by Father Joseph Brigniel, whose companion I then was, returned without accomplishing his purpose. The wounded man was baptized, and by means of our cares and medicines, amongst which hen's fat was the principal, happily recovered in the course of a few weeks. Napakainchin's wife and children gladly imitated his example, and embraced the Christian religion. A little after, the whole family, apprehending fresh danger from the same Ychohàke, removed to the neighbouring town of St. Xavier.

Do not imagine the history of the sick and crazy Ychohàke finished. After struggling with the disease for some months, with increased suspicions of some witchcraft being practised upon him, he took it into his head to accuse a woman, supposed to be acquainted with the black art, of his ill state of health. About mid-day, he attacked the unsuspecting female, and as he endeavoured to strike off her head, the weapon glanced aside, and cut her left cheek, which, falling to her breast with the 229ear hanging to it by a piece of skin, bathed the child at her breast with blood. The smiter was kept off by the people who crowded to the assistance of the woman. I could scarce refrain from tears at the cruel spectacle; but not having it in my power to punish the wretch who had committed the outrage, turned all my attention towards succouring the soul of the outraged. We had a negro somewhat skilled in the art of surgery; him I ordered to sew the cheek in three places to the head, the woman enduring the pricks of the needle without a groan, whilst the rest were filled with horror at the sight. The whole wound was washed with warm urine, anointed with hen's fat, and gently bound with a piece of linen dipped in a decoction of herbs. As no bandages to fasten the linen could be found, I used the girdle which I wore. The whole evening during which this passed, and the next night, the faithful Abipones watched diligently for the security of the woman that she might not sustain any further injury. For that Indian eagerly longed for her death, as the means of procuring the recovery of his own health. But the wound healing sooner than we had expected, the danger that the poor creature could not always remain concealed was removed, by her privately retreating 230to the town of St. Ferdinand. Divine Providence seems to have dictated her flight; for the Cacique Ychoalay, who was absent from the town at the time of the event, when informed by me of Ychohàke's cruelty, and requested to restrain his brother, replied that he should come immediately, not to restrain his brother, but to kill that woman, whom he had long thought infamous for her magic arts, and to be feared by all. And indeed, being very firm in his resolves, he would have put his threats into execution without a doubt, had he found the woman in the town. For, in former years, when they wandered up and down the plains, he turned out of his horde all women suspected of sorcery, and pierced many of them, though perhaps perfectly innocent, with a spear, that they might never deceive any one again; being often condemned both on the score of credulity and cruelty.

But this bloody tragedy, at length, had a happy termination. The Indian Ychohàke ceased at length to live and to be feared, and you will be surprised to hear that one, who, in his lifetime, had been so mad in his suspicions of sorcery, grew sane in his last moments. Having received baptism, at his own desire, conscious of approaching dissolution he delighted 231much in the presence of the priest, whom, as he came in the early part of the night, he persuaded to repose for a while at his own house, promising to let him know when he felt his death approach. He kept his word: he calmly expired the night before Trinity Sunday, whilst the priest was suggesting every thing consolatory to the dying man, and his relations were all weeping around him. He caused us to entertain great hopes of his obtaining a happy immortality on many accounts. For, indignant at the lamentations of his weeping domestics, he said they should remember he was going to visit the great house of the Creator of all things, the high father, the greatest captain. Ever intent on appeasing the Almighty, he testified sorrow and remorse for the many murders he had committed, of Christians and others. He repeatedly desired his wife not to follow the custom of their ancestors in slaying his horses and sheep at his grave; leaving them, and all his other property, to his little daughter. All this manifests that he held his ancient superstitions in abhorrence, and had embraced Christianity with his whole soul. I have related this to show you that all the misery resulting from deaths and disorders is attributed by the Abipones to the magical 232arts of the jugglers; whom, nevertheless, at other times they revere as physicians and saviours, of which more hereafter. Much remains to be said of diseases which ought not to be unknown to Europe.

CHAPTER XXII. OF A CERTAIN DISEASE PECULIAR TO THE ABIPONES.

During an eighteen years' acquaintance with Paraguay and its inhabitants, I discovered a disease amongst the Abipones Nakaiketergehes, entirely unknown elsewhere. This disease affects the mind more than the body, though I should think it occasioned by the bad temperature of the former. They sometimes begin to rave and storm like madmen. The credulous and superstitious crowd think them reduced to this state by the magic arts of jugglers, and call them Loapařaika. These persons, agitated, as I think, by the intemperature of black bile, and filled with gloomy ideas, betray their madness chiefly at sun-set. The distracted persons suddenly leap out of their tents, run into the country on foot, and direct their course straight to the burying-place of their family. In speed they equal ostriches, and those who pursue them on the swiftest horses can hardly overtake and bring them home. Seized with fury in the night, they burn with the desire of committing slaughter somewhere; and for this purpose 234snatch up any arms they can lay hold of. Hence, as soon as a report is spread through a town of any one's being seized with this kind of madness, every body takes up a spear. The hordesmen, as they can neither calm the furious man, nor keep him at home, suffer him to go out into the street, armed with a stick, and accompanied with as many people as possible. A crowd of boys assembling to behold the spectacle, they make a circuit about all the streets. The insane person strikes the roof and mats of every tent again and again with the stick, none of the inmates daring to utter a word. If through the negligence of his guards, or his own cunning, he gets possession of arms, Heavens! what a universal terror is excited! a terror not confined to women and unwarlike boys, but felt by men who account themselves heroes; for they say it is wrong and irrational to use arms against those who are not in possession of their senses. The women, therefore, with their children used to crowd to the court-yard of our house which was fortified with stakes against the assaults of savages, and through fear of the insane person, pass hours, nay whole nights there.

Persons seized with this madness take scarcely any food or sleep, and walk up and down pale with fasting and melancholy: you 235would imagine that they were contemplating some new system of the figure of the earth, or studying how to square the circle. By day, however, they betray no signs of alienation of mind, nor are they to be feared before evening. A person of this description, who was very turbulent at night, visited me in the middle of the day. In familiar conversation I asked him who it was that disturbed the rest by his furiousness every night. He replied with a calm countenance, that he did not know. The Spaniard, my companion, seeing him take his leave, said, "This is the man you have long wished to know. This is he that raves at night." Yet I could discover nothing indicative of derangement either in his countenance or manners. Another insane person of the kind, whom I knew, met me as we were both riding in the plain, and joined company with me. But, pretending business, I put spur to my horse and hastened home. Twice when I was shutting the door of my hut, and once when I was tying a horse to a stake to feed, I should have been destroyed by a madman, had not persons come to my succour and averted the danger. Sometimes many persons of both sexes began to rave at once; sometimes one, and often no one was in this deplorable state. This madness lasted eight, fourteen, or more days, before tranquillity 236and intellect were restored. All the Abipones subject to this malady, whom I have known, were uniformly of a melancholy turn of mind, always in a state of perturbation from their hypochondriac or choleric temper, and of a fierce, threatening countenance. When this bile was excited by bad air, or immoderate drinking, it is neither strange nor surprising, that derangement and raving madness ensued. The stupid or ignorant alone attribute that to magic art, which is solely to be ascribed to the fault or strength of nature.

We have found the fear of death a powerful antidote to the licence of raving amongst the Abipones. Within a few days the number of mad persons increased unusually: one of them in the dead of the night got through the fence, and was stealing into our house, but was carried away by people who came to our assistance. Alaykin, the chief Cacique, being informed of our danger, called all the people into the market-place next day, and declared, that if any one henceforward took to raving, he should immediately put to death all the female jugglers, as well as the insane themselves. From that time I never heard of any more tumults occasioned by these furious persons. Might not some of them have feigned madness in the first instance, because they 237loved to be objects of terror to their hordesmen, and to be pointed at with the finger? I never can believe with the savages, that a magical charm was the cause of their insanity.

CHAPTER XXIII. OF MEASLES, SMALL-POX, AND THE MURRAIN IN CATTLE.

The physician Roderigo Fonseca observes, "The plague was never seen either in the East or West Indies, but we know that in America a million Indians were destroyed by the small-pox not many years back, when no Spaniard took the infection. This disease was introduced amongst them by a Negro." I say nothing of the East Indies, being an utter stranger to them, but every one agrees that no plague ever raged in America: if you have read the contrary in any historian, remember that catarrh, ague, and diarrhea, if long and widely prevalent, are called the plague by the lower orders of Spaniards. The small-pox and measles too are not improperly denominated the plague by the Indians. We have also frequently experienced a murrain in cattle fatal to horses, oxen, and above all to mules; a disease induced not by the pestilence of the air, but by the badness of the pastures, or the scarcity of water. This sort of disorder may be truly called contagious, the mere contact with sick or dead bodies being infectious. Swelling of the head, and blood 239trickling from the nostrils were symptoms of the reigning disorder; the same signs too indicated the bites of serpents in animals. Mutilating the ear, and cutting the vein of the fore foot, were admirable remedies against the poison of that disease in mules, especially if salt were given them to lick. The paunches of the oxen slain to feed the Indians are daily thrown out, along with the bowels, into an open place, where all the horses and mules eagerly crowd to lick the garbage, because a sort of salt and nitre is created by the blood of which they are excessively fond. Therefore, whilst this dreadful murrain raged in our territories we daily sprinkled those entrails with salt, the salubrity of which is proved by the circumstance, that whilst numbers died in the neighbouring estates, very few sickened, and many recovered with us in the town of St. Joachim.

It is beyond all controversy, that small-pox is the true plague of the Americans, and that it has been lately introduced into America, either by Europeans or Negroes. Hence the just complaint of the Indians. "The Europeans are fine people, truly! They have made liberal compensation for the infinity of gold and silver they have taken from us, by leaving us the plague of the small-pox." Indeed it is a well known fact that the number of Indians who have died of this 240disease during the two last centuries, defy all calculation. In the thirty Guarany towns some thirty thousand persons died of the small-pox in the year 1734.

It is not true that the Spaniards and other Europeans in America are exempted from small-pox; but it cannot be doubted that the Indians take it sooner, and more frequently die of it. I am of opinion that their habit of body has less strength to repel or overcome that poison. They generally eat half-raw and unsalted meat; they always go with their heads and feet bare; they drink nothing but water, and that not of the best kind, except at a few festive drinking parties in the course of the year; all which tend to weaken the stomach. The heat of the sun, and the constant use of maize, cause a ferment in their blood which, on the accession of small-pox, very frequently proves fatal. This must be understood of the pedestrian Indians only, for the Abipones, and other equestrian Indians, who do not labour under those miseries to which the pedestrians are subject, generally have the small-pox in a milder form.

In the year 1765 this plague carried off great numbers in the Spanish colonies. Having swept away about twelve thousand persons in the thirty Guarany towns, it spread to the distant hordes of the savages scattered throughout Chaco, and 241though almost all took the infection, yet few died in proportion to the number of the sick. I speak of the equestrians, who were saved by the strength of their constitutions. In the town which I founded for the Abipones, one woman only escaped the contagion, yet out of the many hundreds that took the disease, twenty alone fell victims to it.

Often no mention is made of the small-pox for many years amongst the Indians; but this calm is the sure forerunner of an approaching storm. We have always found the small-pox break out first in the colonies of the Spaniards, and spread from thence to the farthest hordes of the Indians; who, having learnt from the experience of their ancestors, to dread this disease as their death, separate from their hordesmen as soon as ever they have the least suspicion of its approach, and fly, some one way, some another, in precipitate haste. Upon this occasion they travel not in a straight line, but by various meanders and windings. That this method is superstitiously observed by the Lules, Isistines, Vilelas, Homoampas, and Chunipies, I was told by Fathers who had resided long amongst them. Through fear of the contagion, fathers desert their sick sons, and sons their fathers. They leave a pitcher of water, and some roasted maize at the sick 242man's bed, and consult their own safety by flight. I should wrong the Abipones were I to say that they imitate them in these particulars. They do indeed turn their backs on the spot where the pestilence prevails, and crowd to their lurking-places in the woods; but on these occasions, they travel straight onwards, as usual, nor ever neglect their sick friends and relations, studiously performing the duties of humanity. Their endurance of pain and inconvenience at such times is likewise deserving of commendation. Even whilst the disorder rages with malignant heats I never heard them womanishly crying or complaining. They account the least groan a dishonour, and, to maintain the character for fortitude, endeavour to endure the bitterness of disease in silence.

I generally found this disorder most fatal to persons of a melancholy, choleric habit, or of advanced age, and to women in a state of pregnancy. To those upon whom, after a feverish heat, the small-pox slowly broke out, in whom it was blackish, thick, depressed, and spotted in the middle, or mixed with red and confluent, I presaged great danger and speedy death;—a prediction generally verified by the event. When the small-pox and swelling quickly disappear, all hope of the patient's recovery disappears likewise. I generally observed that persons 243of a cheerful disposition, fair complexion, and less advanced period of life, underwent little trouble and danger from this disease. The burning of the throat, occasioned by the small-pox breaking out there, together with the cough and sort of quinsy it produces, are highly dangerous, and frequently fatal to the Indians. Water, mixed with sugar and citron-juice, is very refreshing to persons afflicted in this manner; a decoction of plantane leaves is also of use to rinse the throat, and sometimes for the purpose of washing the eyes. The old physicians advised persons in the small-pox to stay within doors, and keep themselves well covered, lest the spots which are ready to come out should be repressed to the inward parts. The Abipones, on the contrary, after taking the small-pox, passed days and nights in the open air, or in huts half closed, and admitting the air on every side. Whilst flying to the recesses of the woods they received the cold air into their whole bodies: might not this be the reason why, out of so great a number of sick persons, so very few died of the small-pox? For I have since learnt that modern physicians think the open air wholesomer for persons in the small-pox than the heat of a room; therefore I now no longer wonder at this disease proving fatal to so many 244thousands of Guaranies, who, after being seized with it, always lie near the fire in a close room, almost smothered with blankets, and would have thought it fatally dangerous to breathe the fresh air even for a moment. The habits of the Abipones, in time of small-pox, were totally opposite, and it seldom proved fatal to them. To corroborate this assertion I will relate an event worthy the consideration and wonder of physicians.

One of my Abipones, who was burning with feverish heat, the forerunner of small-pox, secretly procured a horn full of brandy which he drank to the last drop. Mounting his horse, in a state of complete intoxication, he swam across a river in the night, and arrived in safety at a plain, three miles and a half distant, where his fellow-hordesmen were dwelling, for fear of the contagion. When informed of these things, I was in great apprehension of the immediate death of the imprudent savage, and flew to succour both his soul and body. Unexpectedly good news were announced: that same night the small-pox broke out upon him, neither thick nor malignant. In a very few days he recovered, and was at liberty to ride where he liked. He was about thirty years old, of a lively temper, strong constitution, and high fame amongst his countrymen, for the number 245of Spaniards he had slain. Here it may be observed that the Americans, who have had the genuine small-pox, do not fear the return of it. At five years of age I had the small-pox so slightly, that I was marked in ten places only, and was ill but two days. Yet that this short sickness is, by the law of nature, sufficient, I was fully persuaded, after living many months, day and night, with Indians who had the disorder, without taking the infection.

Almost the same observations may be made on measles as on small-pox. It rages at intervals, spreads, and cuts off vast numbers in America. Whilst I resided in the town of St. Joachim, out of two thousand Indians so many were laid up with this disorder, that often none were left to supply the sick with food, water, wood and medicines. The offices due to the minds and bodies of the sick kept Father Joseph Fleischauer and myself occupied day and night for some months. That pestilence carried off two hundred persons, out of which number there were very few infants, and no old men, most of them being persons in the flower of their age. The tertian ague sometimes spreads like a contagion amongst the Indians, but is more troublesome than dangerous, and prevails only in those places where stinking ditch water is in constant use. For the same reason tertian 246ague is very prevalent in many Spanish towns, especially in Tucuman. In the colony of Concepcion, on the banks of the river Inespin, which supplied the inhabitants with sweet and very wholesome water, no person was ever seized with the tertian ague. In the colonies of St. Ferdinand and the Rosary, which were surrounded with marshes and lakes, the Abipones were destitute of river water, and consequently hardly ever free from agues. In the colony of the Rosary the fever prevailed so much for the space of some months, that no one escaped it, not even myself, though at other times secure amidst persons infected with this disorder. That none of the savages might die suddenly without receiving baptism, I daily visited all the sick, and at length caught the quotidian ague, though the Indians only laboured under the tertian. The fever daily increased at sun-set, and did not leave me till morning. This feverish agitation, at the end of seven and twenty days, was succeeded by the tertian, after two fits of which I happily recovered. What I suffered, in my utter want of all necessaries, and what danger I underwent, need not be told here.

Just as I am about to conclude my discourse on contagious disorders, a circumstance occurs to my mind worthy the critical examination of 247physicians. Whilst I was at the Cordoban estate of St. Catharine belonging to the Jesuits, at the approach of night, we beheld a fiery meteor, which bore the appearance of a very wide beam, and rolled sparkling through the midst of heaven to the opposite horizon. The Spanish strangers afterwards declared that it was visible to the whole province, and judged it portentous. We, who had learnt a sounder philosophy, gazed at that sudden splendour as calmly as at a firework, though it did in reality prove calamitous, being either the cause or the sign, or, at any rate, the concomitant of a deadly catarrh which prevailed over the whole of Tucuman, and in two years carried off a great number of Spaniards and Negroes. Almost at the same time when the fiery exhalation was seen, this epidemic disease, as they say, began. Though this dangerous pestilence visited all the cities without distinction, yet I think it raged with particular violence in the estates. Travelling from Cordoba to Sta. Fè, I met crowds of Spaniards carrying horns filled with the urine of sick persons for the inspection of the Cordoba empirics; for there are no real physicians in the whole provinces. You would hardly believe what faith the lower orders of Spaniards place in the inspection of urine, and how much they are deceived in this matter.

CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE PHYSICIANS AND MEDICINES OF THE ABIPONES.

Restrain your laughter, friendly reader, when you hear that the Abipones honour their physicians with the title of Keebèt, which same word has the several significations of the devil, a physician, a prophet, and a malevolent sorcerer. From which it appears how widely the office of physician extends with them, and what various kinds of knowledge it embraces. They revere physicians as the representatives of their grandfather, the evil spirit, and, believing them gifted by him with the art of healing diseases, dignify them with his honourable title of Keebèt. But I openly pronounce these Abiponian physicians worthy of contempt and ridicule, for they never learnt even the rudiments of medical science, never entered a school of the kind, nor ever acquired the least smattering of pharmacy, botany, anatomy, or nosology. These knaves deserve to be flogged every day of their lives by the angry Galen, and spit upon by Æsculapius, Hippocrates, and the whole tribe of physicians. For they thrust frauds instead of medicines, words instead of deeds upon the credulous Abipones, 249and are as well able to create as cure diseases, as ignorant in preparing a medicine as in composing a charm, and better skilled in weaving deceits than in relieving pains.

It is remarkable in the Abiponian physicians that they cure every kind of disease with one and the same medicine. Let us examine their method of healing. They apply their lips to the part affected, and suck it, spitting after every suction. At intervals they draw up their breath from the very bottom of their breast, and blow upon that part of the body which is in pain. That blowing and sucking are alternately repeated. If the whole body languishes, if it burns with malignant heat, if it is seized with measles or small-pox, four or five of these harpies fly to suck and blow it, one fastening his lips on the arm, another on the side, a third and fourth on the feet. If a child cries, or refuses the breast, the mother gives him to a juggler to be sucked. This method of healing is in use amongst all the savages of Paraguay and Brazil, that I am acquainted with, and, according to Father Jean Grillet, amongst the Galibe Indians. I have known matter sucked from an ulcer and blood from a wound with utility, the materials of the corruption that would have ensued being by this means exhausted. Spaniards or Indians, when stung by 250a serpent, get some friend to suck the part affected, that the poison may be extracted before it spreads over the limbs. I do not therefore blame the Abipones for having their wounds, ulcers, and serpent-bites sucked: their superstition lies in suffering that office to be performed by none but the jugglers, and in believing the faculty of healing imparted to them by their grandfather. Though they at the same time believe that one excels another in the salubrity of his lips and breath, and in his healing powers. Another point in which this sucking is to be condemned is, that they use it as an universal remedy against every disease. I knew an European in Paraguay eminently versed in the medical art, who, from having made successful use of the herb fumitory, obtained the name of Doctor Fumitory. In the town of St. Thomas there was an Indian healer of the sick, who, when asked what medicine he gave to such or such a patient of his, uniformly replied, "I gave him vervain, Father." Having found this herb do good to one individual, he indiscriminately prescribed it to all sick persons under whatever disease they laboured. The Abipones, still more irrational, expect sucking and blowing to rid the body of whatever causes pain or inconvenience. This belief is constantly fostered by the jugglers with fresh artifices. For when 251they prepare to suck the sick man, they secretly put thorns, beetles, worms, &c. into their mouths, and spitting them out, after having sucked for some time, say to him, pointing to the worm or thorn, "See here the cause of your disorder." At this sight the sick man revives, when he thinks the enemy that has tormented him is at length expelled: for as imagination is often the origin of sickness, it may also be that of health. Moreover, it is not surprizing that after many days sucking the pain should be relieved, which would have ceased of its own accord, by the benefit of time alone. I do not deny that the Abipones generally recover; but for that they are indebted to their natural strength, not to the juggler who sucked them. To him, however, they religiously ascribe the praise and the glory of their recovered health; to him they give horses, arms, garments, or any thing belonging to the convalescent person. Neither is it from gratitude that they do this, but from fear; being firmly persuaded that the disease will return again unless they reward the physician to the utmost of their ability. Alas! how many infants have we seen fainting, pale, languid, dying, and soon dead from having their little bodies exhausted by constant sucking! The savage mothers must be certainly mad, since they still persist in this insane practice, 252after seeing so many children die in consequence of it.

Amongst the Payaguas there exists a law that if any of them dies of a disease, the physician who undertook his cure shall be put to death by the arrows of the assembled people; and being desperately addicted to revenge, they are steadfast in the execution of this cruel law. During my residence in the city of Asumpcion, an unhappy physician atoned for the death of his patient by his own. Were this law in force amongst the Abipones, fewer of them would profess themselves followers of Galen; they would shun the dangerous profession of medicine, and physicians would cease to grow like funguses in a night. Of this I am quite sure, that in every Abiponian horde there are more physicians than sick persons: deterred by no danger of loss of fame or life, and certain of reward, they besiege the beds of the sick, and suck away their strength in every disease. When questioned on the patient's danger, they make the happiest forebodings. If the event turn out contrary to their prognostics, they have always a ready excuse: the disease was a fatal one, or their skill was baffled by the magical arts of some other juggler; the matter rests here, for it would be a crime to doubt the excuse of a juggler.

253Though sucking is the chief and almost only cure in use amongst the Abipones, yet they have some dream-like ideas of our remedies. At times, when oppressed by the heat of the sun, or inflamed with a feverish burning, they will draw blood by piercing their arm or leg with a knife. Medicinal herbs, of which their country produces so great a variety, they scarce know by name, yet are desirous of being thought well skilled in the mysteries of nature. Hence, not so much in the desire of restoring the sick person, as of increasing their own reputation, they would sometimes prescribe the leaves of a tree, or the roots of some little known plant, on which the druggist might safely write quid pro quo, these remedies being generally of such a nature, that they are more likely to miss than be of any service. At the end of a fatiguing journey, I fell ill in the town of Concepcion. A woman, of high repute for skill in the healing art, comes and gives me a large dark root, promising me the complete restoration of my health, if I would drink it well boiled in water. I shuddered at the medicine, but still more at the old hag that prescribed it.

The Guarany tongue is as rich as the Abiponian is poor in the names of wholesome plants, and not a few of the Guaranies are well acquainted with the use of them. In the town 254of St. Joachim I knew an Indian named Ignacio Yaricà, eight years an attendant upon the sick, whose dexterity and success I could not but admire. He would set a broken limb, and entirely heal it in a very short time by means of swathes of reeds and four little herbs. The woods of America also produce a kind of dark green ivy, which twines itself round the branches of trees, and is called by the Spaniards suelda con suelda. This plant cut small, boiled in water, and bound with linen on to the limb, soon and happily consolidates it. In the city of Corrientes, a Spanish matron was cured of a sprained foot, by merely wrapping it in the fresh skin of a puppy. The Abipones are totally ignorant of medicines for purging the bowels, causing perspiration, removing bile, and dispelling noxious humours. They will not even bear the mention of an enema. In the town of St. Jeronymo, a Spanish soldier who professed the art of medicine, being requested by Father Brigniel to attend upon a sick Abipon, declared the necessity of an injection. No sooner did the sick man feel the syringe applied to him, than he started furiously out of bed, snatched up a lance, and would have slain the soldier physician, had he not saved himself by hasty flight. Sudden terror giving way to rage, the old Spaniard, whilst we were laughing, 255poured forth a volley of curses on his ungrateful patient. "You had better call up a devil from hell, Fathers," said he, "to cure this beast. When I offered him medicine, the savage tried to kill me: he opposes a lance to a syringe. Who could contend with such unequal arms?" The Guaranies have the same repugnance to the use of the syringe. The Indians use snuff as a medicine, stuffing it into their ears, when they find them badly affected by the rain or wind. The jugglers vauntingly affirm, that they have it in their power to perform cures by words alone. Sitting on the sick man's bed they sing extemporary verses, as magical charms, either to reconcile the evil spirit, or to call up the shades of the dead by whose assistance they hope to remove all diseases. But away with this superstitious nonsense. The Abiponian physicians show how little they confide in their own arts, when, on being seized with a disorder, they neglect to consult their colleagues, and prefer the aid of any European who will prescribe for them. At the time that I dwelt amongst the Abipones, the most famous in the art of medicine was Pariekaikin, the chief of the jugglers, who, on being seized with pleurisy, called on me to heal him in preference to any of his colleagues. Calcined hartshorn, boiled in barley-water, restored 256him to health, and gained me the reputation of a physician amongst the Abipones. Nothing will procure you the good-will of the savages so soon as skill in the healing art. They think that he who understands the natures and remedies of diseases can be ignorant of nothing. They will believe him in matters of religion, and be tractable and obedient to him. Our Saviour himself inspired mortals with wonder, by healing bodies as well as souls. In imitation of him, when we were employed in the instruction of the savages, we endeavoured to supply the want of physicians, surgeons, and druggists, by easily obtained remedies, by reading medical books, and by other means, in order to wean that miserable people from their jugglers, whom we accounted the chief obstacles to the propagation of the holy religion.

It is incredible how well the sick are taken care of in the Guarany towns. Indians are appointed to attend upon them, more or fewer, according to the number of inhabitants. These men have some knowledge of herbs and common remedies, though they are not allowed to use any medicine without consulting the missionary. They carry in their hands a staff marked with a cross, and are hence called crossbearers. It is their business to go about dawn to visit the sick in the district appointed to 257each, and to enquire whether any one has fallen ill lately. In the evening they make their report to the missionary in the presence of all, before he performs divine service, and are informed by him what remedies are to be used and what sacraments administered to each. At mid-day boiled meat with the best wheat bread is sent from his kitchen to the houses of all the sick, which are sometimes thirty, more or less, in number. All the sick are visited once every day, and sometimes oftener, by the missionary, accompanied by two boys. In short we never suffered any thing of use to the minds or bodies of the sick to be wanting. Moreover there resided amongst the Guaranies two or three lay-brothers of our order, European surgeons, tolerably skilled in the art of medicine; but on account of the great distance of the towns from one another, they were not always at hand to offer their assistance when it was needed.

Upon us, therefore, whose proper business it was to attend upon the minds of the sick, devolved the care of healing their bodies. We always ascribed it to the mercy of God when trifling remedies banished great diseases, for we had but a very scanty store of drugs. How useful to the sick in various ways were sulphur, alum, salt, tobacco, sugar, pepper, the fat of hens, tigers, oxen, sheep, &c. and gun-powder! scarce 258a day passed that the sick did not ask for one of these things. Three gourds were always in readiness filled with as many ointments: one green, made of suet, and thirty different herbs; the second black; the third yellow. Each of these was destined to a separate purpose. We also had at hand plenty of sanative herbs, and the barks of trees famed for medicinal virtues. Numerous animals, moreover, supply the Americans with medicine. I will mention a few. A cataplasm of crocodiles' fat heals bruises. The stomach of the same when dried, ground to powder, and drank with water, is said to relieve the pain of the stone. The Spaniards and Indians wear a crocodile's tooth suspended from their neck or arm, and believe that it will defend them from the bites of serpents. Persons bitten by serpents scrape some dust from a crocodile's tooth, and drink it mixed with water. The little stones found in the stomach of the crocodile when ground to powder, and drank, alleviate the pains of stone in the kidneys. Calcined tigers' claws, mixed with alum calcined also and reduced to powder, are a potent remedy for the tooth-ache. Tiger's fat instantly expels worms from the head or any other part of the body, if laid on the place where they attempt egress. Common house-flies often creep through the mouth or nose into the heads of 259sleeping persons, and there breed worms thick in the middle, terminating in a red point at each end, but white every where else, about as long as the nail of the little finger, and surrounded with circles like rings. Within a few hours they multiply to an incredible degree, and gnaw that part of the head where they lie. The inconvenience occasioned by their numbers, or want of food, obliges them to attempt an exit wherever it can be effected. A reddish spot on the surface of the skin is a mark of the intended eruption. The circumference of this spot must be anointed with tiger's fat, the detestable stench of which induces the worms to redouble their efforts, pierce through the bones and flesh, and break entirely out. I was astonished to see more worms than could be contained in my cap, proceed from the head of an Indian in the town of St. Joachim. Nor can I understand how one man's head is capable of receiving or supporting such a number of maggots. But from this we may conclude the incredible compression of the worms in so small a space. They make a passage between the eyebrows, but so narrow, that only one at a time can go out, and they succeed one another without interruption; the slender wound soon heals, a little gap in the flesh remaining like a scar. The Indian doubted not to attribute his recovery 260to tiger's fat, which I prescribed for other persons with equal success. You shall now hear a still more singular fact. That rattle which a certain poisonous serpent has annexed to its tail, is a noble medicine: for when reduced to powder, and placed on hollow teeth, it softens them so that they fall out of themselves without any sense of pain. It is also useful in other complaints.

In order to obtain a knowledge of the nature of diseases, and of medicinal herbs, we diligently studied the books of physicians and herbalists; by which means, as we often were of service to the sick, we wrought so far with the Abipones, that whenever they were seized with any disorder they placed all their hopes on our assistance, to the neglect of their jugglers. When I distrusted myself and felt anxious for the life of my patient, I never rashly prescribed any medicine. To defend him from the injuries of the air, and to prevent him from eating or drinking any thing improper in his situation, was my chief care. I afforded him as much wholesome food as I could, from my own provisions. If these regulations were of no avail, I gave him a medicine that had been tried by long use, and which, if it did no good, could at any rate do no harm. The savages, won by our courtesy and kindness, suffered themselves to be baptized; 261for at first, whenever they fell sick, the dread of baptism induced them to fly to the lurking-holes of the woods, or cause others to carry them there. During the latter years, almost all of them reposed the greatest confidence in us, and entertained the utmost good-will towards us, and if they remembered our having ever cured them with any medicine, desired to have it given to their hordesmen when they fell ill. From one instance you may judge of others. In the northern parts of Paraguay there grows a nut, called Piñon del Paraguay by the Spaniards, and by physicians nux cathartica, because it causes both vomiting and purging. It ridiculously deceived the first Spaniards who visited Paraguay. Delighted with its sweetness they eagerly ate this fruit, and to the great amusement of all, found what they had taken for food to be a medicine, which attacks the human body with double arms, and expels noxious or superfluous humours by two ways. We gave three or four of these nuts to the Abipones, for whom we thought purging necessary, and they all received great benefit from the use of them. Hence, whenever they felt any weight on their stomachs, they asked us for this medicine of their own accord. The same was the case with regard to other remedies. The old women, who obstinately adhered to 262former customs, raved when they found their medicines laughed at, and the fountain of their gains dried up. The jugglers, who had sucked the bodies, and drained the property of the sick, were despised by their countrymen as a set of worthless drones.

The Patagonians, and other southern savages, think the body of a sick person to be possessed of an evil demon. Their physicians carry about drums, with horrible forms depicted on them, which they strike by the sick man's bed, either to consult the demon concerning the nature of the disease, or to drive it from the body of their patient. If any one dies of a disease, the relations persecute the physician most terribly, as the author of his death. If a Cacique dies, they put all the physicians to death, that they may not fly elsewhere. Actuated by an irrational kind of pity, they bury the dying before they expire. Father Strobl pulled one man alive from the grave. The Guaycurùs call their physicians Nigienigis. A gourd filled with hard seeds, and a fan of dusky emu feathers are their chief insignia, and medical instruments, which they always carry in their hands that they may be known. I must not omit to speak of the physicians of the Chiquitos. A juggler physician, when he goes to visit the sick, fills his belly with the most exquisite dainties, chickens, hens, 263and partridges, that he may render his breath wholesomer and stronger to suck and blow the body of his patient. Whilst the physician feasts sumptuously, the sick man has insipid half-boiled maize given him to eat. If he dislikes this, no one will exhort the poor wretch to take food, so that more persons die of hunger than of the disease. At his first coming, the physician overwhelms the sick man with an hundred questions: "Where were you yesterday?" says he. "What roads did you tread? Did you overturn the jug, and spill the drink prepared from maize? What? Have you imprudently given the flesh of a tortoise, stag, or boar, to be devoured by dogs?" Should the sick man confess to having done any of these things, "It is well," replies the physician, "we have discovered the cause of your disorder. The soul of that beast having entered your body torments you even now, and is, alas! the origin of the pains you feel." The savage takes this for an oracle. The cure is immediately set about. The juggler sucks the afflicted part once, twice, and three times. Then muttering a doleful charm, he knocks the floor on which the sick man is lying, with a club, to frighten away the soul of that animal from his patient's body. A crueller method of curing was once customary amongst the Chiquitos.

264When a husband fell ill, they used to kill the wife, thinking her the cause of his sickness, and foolishly imagining that, when she was removed, he would be sure to recover. At other times they consulted their physicians, which of the female jugglers occasioned the disease. These men, actuated either by desire of vengeance or interested motives, named whomsoever they chose, and were not required to bring any proofs of the guilt of the accused. The sentence of a juggler was an oracle, and people assembled from all parts to put it in execution. Such were the Chiquitos before they were civilized by the Jesuits.

CHAPTER XXV. OF THE RITES WHICH ACCOMPANY AND SUCCEED THE DEATH OF AN ABIPONE.

Death is dreadful to most mortals, but particularly so to the Abipones. They cannot even bear the sight of a dying person. Hence, whenever any one's life is despaired of, his fellow inmates immediately forsake the house, or are driven away by the old women who remain to take care of the sick, lest they should be so affected by the mournful spectacle, that fear of death should make them shrink from endangering their lives in battle. They are, therefore, obliged to pass many nights in another person's tent, or in the open air. As they have very little experience of persons dying a natural death, they do not know the signs of it when it draws near. A short abstinence from food, unusual silence, or sleeplessness, makes them presage approaching dissolution. As soon as a report is spread that a man is dying, the old women, who are either related to the person, or famed for medical skill, flock to his house. They stand in a row round the sick man's bed, with dishevelled hair 266and bare shoulders, striking a gourd, the mournful sound of which they accompany with violent motion of the feet and arms, and loud vociferations. She who excels the rest in age, or fame for medical skill, stands nearest to the dying man's head, and strikes an immense military drum, which returns a horrible bellowing. Another, who is appointed to watch the sick man, removes every now and then the bull's hide with which he is covered, examines his face, and if he seems yet to breathe, sprinkles him plentifully with cold water, a jug of which is placed under the bed. When I first witnessed these things, I pitied the fate of the sick man, who, I feared, would be killed, if not by the disease, at any rate by the howling of the women and the noise of the drum, or else smothered by the weight of the hide, with which the whole body is covered, and which is as hard and as heavy as a board. Under the pretext of compassion, they use all this cruelty to the departing soul, that the women may be spared the sight of his last agonies, and the hearing of his groans.

If the respiration of the dying man be not heard at a distance like a pair of bellows in Vulcan's workshop, and if his breath stop even for a moment, they proclaim with a Stentorian voice, that he has given up the ghost. A great crowd assembles on all sides, exclaiming, he is dead, 267he is no more. All the married women and widows of the town crowd to the mourning, attired as I have described before, and whilst they are filling the streets with confused wailings, with the rattling of gourds and beating of pans covered with stags' skins, a sudden shout is often heard announcing, that the man whom they mourn for as dead is come to life again. The joyous exclamation, he is revived, is instantly substituted for the mournful howling of the women, some of whom return home, whilst others hasten to the miserable mortal on the confines of life and death, and torment him with their dreadful yellings, till at last they deprive him of life. After his death, the first business of the bystanders is to pull out the heart and tongue of the deceased, boil them, and give them to a dog to devour, that the author of his death may soon die also. The corpse, while yet warm, is clothed according to the fashion of his country, wrapped in a hide, and bound with leathern thongs, the head being covered with a cloth, or any garment at hand. The savage Abipones will not endure the body of a dead man to remain long in the house; while yet warm, it is conveyed on ready horses to the grave. Women are appointed to go forward on swift steeds, to dig the grave, and honour the funeral with lamentations. 268What, if we say that many of the Abipones are buried because they are thought dead, but that in reality they die, because they are buried? It is not unlikely that these poor wretches are suffocated, either by the hide with which they are bound, or by the earth which is heaped over them. But as they pull out the heart and tongue of the deceased, it cannot be doubted that they are dead when they are buried; though I strongly suspect that the heart is sometimes cut out when they are half alive, and would perhaps revive were they not prematurely deprived of this necessary instrument of life. The savages, who hasten the burying of their dead so much, presumed to censure us for keeping the Christian Indians out of their graves many hours after their decease.

The Abipones think it a great happiness to be buried in a wood under the shade of trees, and grieve for the fate of those that are interred in a chapel, calling them captives of the Father. In the dread of such sepulture, they at first shunned baptism. They dig a very shallow pit to place the body in, that it may not be pressed by too great a weight of earth heaped over it. They fill the surface of the grave with thorny boughs, to keep off tigers, which delight in carcasses. On the top of the sepulchre, 269they place an inverted pan, that if the dead man should stand in need of water, he may not want a vessel to hold it in. They hang a garment from a tree near the place of interment, for him to put on if he chooses to come out of the grave. They also fix a spear near the graves of men, that an instrument of war and the chase may be in readiness for them. For the same purpose, beside the graves of their Caciques, and men distinguished for military fame, they place horses, slain with many ceremonies; a custom common to most of the equestrian savages in Paraguay. The best horses, those which the deceased used and delighted in most, are generally slain at the grave.

Laugh as much as you please at the sepulchral rites of the Abipones; you cannot deny them to be a proof of their believing in the immortality of the soul. They know that something of them will survive after death, which will last to all eternity, and never die; but what becomes of that immortal thing, which we call the soul, and they the image, shade, or echo, when it is separated from the body, and whether it will enjoy pleasures or receive punishments, they never think of enquiring. The southern savages believe that it dwells under the earth in tents, and employs itself in hunting, and that the spirits of dead emus descend 270along with it to the same subterranean abode. The Abipones, who do not credit such idle tales, believe that some part of them survives the death of the body, and that it exists somewhere, but they openly confess themselves ignorant of the place and other circumstances. They fear the manes or shades of the defunct, and believe that they become visible to the living when invoked by a magic incantation, to be interrogated concerning future things. As I was passing the night on the banks of the Parana, the Abipones, my companions, hearing their voices re-echoed against the trees, and windings of the shores, attributed the circumstance to ghosts and disembodied spirits wandering in these solitudes, till I explained to them the nature of an echo. They call little ducks, which fly about in flocks at night uttering a mournful hiss, the shades of the dead. These, and other circumstances, which I have related elsewhere, prove that the Abipones believe in the immortality of the soul.

It is incredible how religiously the Abipones perform the sepulchral honours of their friends. If they see one of their comrades fall in battle they snatch the lifeless body from the midst of the enemies to bury it properly in its native soil. To lessen the burden, they strip off the flesh and bury it in the ground; the bones they put 271into a hide, and carry home on a horse, a journey not unfrequently of two hundred leagues. But if the enemy presses on them, and they are forced to leave the body on the field of battle, the relations seek for the bones on the first opportunity, and take no rest till they find them, however much risk and labour must be encountered in accomplishing this. Moreover, the Abipones are not content with any sepulchre, but take especial care that fathers may lie with their sons, wives with their husbands, grandchildren with their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and that every family should have its own burying-place. This nation, having formerly inhabited more towards the north, know that their ancestors' monuments exist there, and venerate them as something divine. They feel the most lively pleasure in mingling the bones of their countrymen, wherever, amidst their perpetual peregrinations, they may have been buried, with the bones of their ancestors. Hence it is that they dig them up and remove them so often, and carry them over immense tracts of land, till at length they repose in the ancient and woody mausoleum of their forefathers; which they distinguish by certain marks cut in the trees, and by other signs taught them by their ancestors. The Brazilians and Guaranies formerly disliked the 272trouble of digging pits for sepulchres. These hungry anthropophagi buried within their own bowels the flesh of those that yielded to fate. It must be confessed however that the Guaranies of after-times, more humane than their ancestors, placed dead bodies in clay pitchers. Seeking the savages in Mbaeverà in the midst of the woods, I met with a plain artificially made, the trees being cut down for the purpose, and there I found three pitchers of this kind, each of which would contain a man, but all empty. The bottoms of the pitchers were placed toward the sky, the mouth towards the ground. But from sepulchres, let us hasten to funeral obsequies.

CHAPTER XXVI. OF THE MOURNING, THE EXEQUIES, AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE ABIPONES.

Of those things which the Abipones do to testify their grief, according to the customs established by their ancestors, some tend to obliterate the memory of the defunct, others to perpetuate it. All the utensils belonging to the lately deceased are burnt on a pile. Besides the horses killed at the tomb, they slay his small cattle if he have any. The house which he inhabited they pull entirely to pieces. His widow, children, and the rest of his family remove elsewhere; and having no house of their own, reside for a time in that of some other person, or lodge miserably under mats. They had rather endure the injuries of the weather, than, contrary to the laws of their countrymen, inhabit a commodious house that has been saddened by the death of the dear master of it. To utter the name of a lately deceased person is reckoned a nefarious offence amongst the Abipones; if, however occasion requires that mention should be made of that person, they say, "The man that does not now exist," 274making use of a paraphrase. But if the name of the defunct be derived from an appellative noun, the word is abolished by proclamation, and a new one substituted. It is the prerogative of the old women to invent these new names, which are quickly divulgated amongst the widely-scattered hordes of the Abipones, and are so firmly imprinted on their minds, that no one individual is ever heard to utter a proscribed word.

All the friends and relations of the deceased change the names they formerly bore. In the colony of the Rosary, the wife of the chief Cacique dying of the small-pox, her husband changed his name of Revachigi to that of Oahari. His mother and brother and captive, as well as all the brothers of the deceased, had new names given them with various ceremonies. The old mother of the Cacique was extremely fond of a lank, scraggy dog, unworthy of the very air it breathed. When this change of names was made, I asked the old woman what name would be given her dog, to show them that we held their absurd rites in ridicule, though unable at that time to prevent them. On the death of a Cacique, all the men under his authority shave their long hair as a sign of grief. Widows also have their hair shaven, and wear a kind of cloak made of the caraquatà, 275stained black and red, which covers the head like a hood, and flows down from the shoulders to the breast. Widows use this cloak all their lives, unless a new marriage frees them from the unpleasant law of perpetual mourning. An Abiponian husband when he loses his wife shaves his hair in like manner, and wears a small woollen cap, which he publicly receives from the hands of an old woman, the priestess of the ceremonies, whilst the other women are engaged in lamenting, and the men in drinking together, and which he throws off when his hair begins to grow.

But let me now discourse upon what entirely consoles the Abipones for the loss of their friends, and renders the very necessity of mourning so pleasant to them. Leaving the care of inhuming the body and lamenting for it to the women, they seek for honey in the woods to serve as materials for the public drinking-party, to which they all flock at sun-set. At any report of the death of an Abipon we always pitied the women, upon whom devolved all the trouble of the exequies, the care of the funeral, and the labour of making the grave, and of mourning. For besides that the corpse was to be carried to the grave, and inhumed by them, all standing in a row, and uttering repeated lamentations, the widowers were to be shaved, the widows veiled, 276the names of the relations of the deceased to be changed, the funeral drinking-party to be attended, and the houses to be demolished; in short, they had to go through the trouble of a public mourning of nine days' continuance. This is of two kinds. One which is held by day in the streets by all but the unmarried women, and another carried on at night in houses appointed for the purpose, and which none but those that are specially invited attend. At stated hours, both in the forenoon and afternoon, all the women in the town assemble in the market-place, with their hair scattered about their shoulders, their breast and back naked, and a skin hanging from their loins. The expression of their faces inspires I can hardly tell whether most of melancholy or terror. Picture to yourself a set of Bacchanals or infernal furies, and you will have a good idea of them. They do not lament in one place by day. They go up and down the whole market-place, like supplicants, walking separately but all in one very long row. You may sometimes count as many as two hundred. They go leaping like frogs. The motion of their feet is accompanied by a continual tossing about of their arms. Each strikes a gourd containing various seeds to the measure of her voice; but some, instead of a gourd, beat a pan covered with 277does' skins, which makes the most ridiculous noise you can conceive. To every three or four gourds one of these drums answers. But what offends the ear most is the shouting of the mourners. They modulate their voices, like singers, and make trills and quavers mingled with groans. After chaunting some mournful staves in this manner they all cease at intervals, and, changing their voices from the highest to the lowest key, suddenly utter a very shrill hissing. You would swear that a knife had been laid to their throats. By this sudden howl they signify that they are seized with rage, uttering all sorts of imprecations on the author of the death, whoever he be. Sometimes, intermitting this chaunt, they recite a few verses in a declamatory tone, in which they extol the good qualities and deeds of the deceased, and in a querulous voice endeavour to excite the compassion and vengeance of the survivors. At other times they mingle tears with their wailings, tears extorted not by grief, but by habit, or, perhaps, by exhaustion. Most of them carry about some little gift or remembrance of the deceased, as emu feathers, glass-beads, a knife, or a dagger. I will now describe their method of lamenting by night. About evening, all the women that are invited 278assemble in a hut, one of the female jugglers presiding over the party, and regulating the chaunting and other rites. It is her business to strike two large drums alternately, and to sing the doleful funeral song, the rest observing the same measure of voice. This infernal elegy, accompanied with the rattling of gourds and bellowing of drums, lasts till morning. The same method is observed for eight days without variation; on the ninth night, if they be mourning for a woman, the pans are broken, not without proper ceremonies. The tragic howl, which they uttered on the preceding nights, now gives place to a more festive chaunt, which the old female drummeress interrupts at intervals with out-stretched jaws and a deep, and, as it were, threatening voice, seemingly to exhort her singing companions to hilarity and louder notes. These nocturnal lamentations, which continue nine days, are commenced at the setting and concluded at the rising of the sun. The patience displayed by the women in enduring so many sleepless nights is truly astonishing, but still more so is that of the men who can sleep soundly whilst the air is filled with confused shouts, and the noise of gourds and drums. Nor are funeral rites alone conducted in this manner. The sacred anniversaries to 279the memory of their ancestors are religiously celebrated with the same rites and ceremonies. Should the memory of her dead mother enter a woman's mind, she immediately loosens her hair, seizes a gourd, paces up and down the street with some women whom she calls to partake in her mourning, and fills the air with lamentation. Few nights pass that you do not hear women mourning. This they do upon their feet, with their bodies turned towards the spot where the deceased is buried, always accompanying their lamentations with the sound of gourds. Women find weeping easier than silence, and this is the reason why the nights are so seldom passed in quietness. The vociferation, however, always grows more violent as the day approaches; for when one begins to lament another follows her example, then a third comes, and then a fourth, till, by day-break, the number of mourners seems greater than that of sleepers. The men meantime are by no means idle. The grief which the women express with tears and shrieks, they testify by shedding the blood of enemies or their own. The nearest of kin to the deceased immediately assembles all the fellow-soldiers he can raise, and leads them against the foreign foes by whose hands his relation perished. It is 280his business to make the first attack against the author of the death, and not to return home till he has fully revenged it; though these savage heroes sometimes make an inglorious retreat, without obtaining vengeance on their enemies.

CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE CUSTOMARY REMOVAL OF THE BONES.

A few things remain to be said of the ceremonies with which the bones of the dead are honoured by the Abipones when they are removed to their native land, and thence to the family burying-places. Many translations of this kind have I witnessed: I will briefly relate that of the Cacique Ychamenraikin, who was killed in battle by the savages at a place full forty leagues distant from the town of St. Jeronymo. A drummer came announcing that the bones of the deceased leader would be carried into the town next day about evening. After the flesh had been stripped off and buried by his companions, they were put into a hide and conveyed on a horse. To receive these bones with due honour, preparations were made by Hanetrain, the chief of the jugglers, and his companion Lamamin, and a house to place the sad remains in appointed and properly furnished. The whole company of the women hastened to meet the funeral at three leagues distance. At the entrance of the town the order of the funeral profession was this: the mournful train was led by 282two jugglers, mounted on horses ornamented with bells, horse-cloths and ostrich feathers. They brandished in their hands a spear, to which was affixed a brazen bell. They did not keep with the rest, but galloping forwards, rode up and down as if they were skirmishing, then returned into the path like persons making an assault, and rejoined the rest of the company. These were followed by a train of women lamenting in the manner I have described. Six Abipones in place of an umbrella held up at the end of their spears an elegant square cloth woven like a carpet, under which they carried the sack of bones. The company was closed by the troop of the other Abipones, all mounted on horses, furnished with a spear, a bow, and a quiver, and with their heads shaven. The victors were followed by a band of women and children lately taken in war, so that this otherwise mournful spectacle bore more the appearance of a triumph than of a funeral. On each side was seen a multitude of horses hastening to their pastures after the military expedition. All the ways were crowded with boys and girls careless of the lamentations, but struck with the novelty of the spectacle. The bones being placed in a house prepared for their reception, the regular mourning was carried on for nine days. Nocturnal wailings were as usual added to those of 283the day. That the lamentations might be carried on without intermission, the jugglers, carrying a spear with a bell at the end of it, visited all the houses to admonish the women at what hours to mourn. The funeral compotation, meantime, and the conducting of it as magnificently as was due to the memory of so great a leader, was the sole care of the men—a care admirably calculated to abate the poignancy of their grief; and indeed it would be difficult to decide whether the men drank, or the women mourned most pertinaciously. Whilst this was going on at home, persons of both sexes were chosen to accompany the bones of Ychamenraikin to his family burying-place, and there inter them agreeably to the rites of their country. These ceremonies were observed by the savages before they were instructed in the Christian religion only. Other removals of bones were conducted in exactly the same manner, with the exception of the canopy, which was reserved exclusively for their leaders. The bones of seven Abipones, who had been slain by the Spaniards, were brought home on one day, and skilfully constructed into as many images; hats being placed on their skulls, and clothes on their bodies. These seven skeletons were placed in a savage hut, honoured for nine successive 284days with mourning and drinking, and thence transported to their graves.

Should there be any European who makes little account of sepulture, saying with Virgil,

that man is of a very different way of thinking from the Abipones, who esteem it the greatest misfortune to be left to rot in the open air. Hence amongst them, persons inflamed with the desire of revenge contemptuously cast away the carcasses of their enemies, making fifes and trumpets of their bones, and using their skulls for cups. On the other hand, they honourably inter the smallest bone of one of their friends, paying it every possible mark of respect. We have known savage Guaranies, who, in all their migrations, carried with them little boxes containing the relics of their jugglers, and in them, as in holy preservatives, placed all their hopes. These monuments of savage superstition were at length taken away by the missionaries, and burnt by them in the presence of all. The Guaranies newly brought from the woods to our colonies had no stronger inducement to embrace the Catholic religion than the seeing their countrymen buried by us with honourable ceremonies and a solemn chaunt. But now, after I have discoursed with prolixity on the diseases, 285physicians, medicines, death, and sepulture of the Abipones, it cannot be thought foreign to the course of my history to treat of the serpents and noxious insects which inflict death on many, and threaten it to all: it will also be agreeable to Europeans to know by what means the Americans defend themselves against serpents, or expel the poison of their wounds.

CHAPTER XXVIII. OF THE MORE REMARKABLE SERPENTS.

Paraguay contains full twenty kinds of serpents, all differing in name, colour, size, form, and the nature of their poison. Those most commonly known are the Mboy̆tiñi, or Mboy̆chiñi, the Quiririò, the Yacaninà, the Mboy̆hobĭ, the Mboy̆quatia, the Mboy̆pe-guazù, or Cucurucù, the Mboy̆pe-mir̂i, the Yboyà, the Tarey̆mboyà, the Mboy̆guazù, or Yboyà, the Mboy̆roy̆, the Curiyù, the Ybibobocà, the Yacapecoayà, the Yararacà, the Cacaboyà, &c. The Mboy̆chiñi, or Rattle-snake, which is remarkable for its venom and the tinkling appendage to its tail, is about the thickness of a man's arm at the elbow, and often as much as five feet in length. It has a forked tongue, a flat head, little blackish eyes, four teeth in the upper jaw, besides other unusually acute and incurvated ones, from the hollows of which it darts poison at all it meets. Some lesser teeth are visible when the animal opens its mouth. The colour of the back, which is much deeper at the sides, is a dusky yellow, varied with yellow lines intersecting one another at the spine. It is covered with dusky 287scales, like those of a crocodile, but softer. The belly is of a yellowish colour, with rather large and almost parallelogram scales: at the extremity of the tail is situated that rattle from which it takes its name, and which is composed of a smooth, dry, cinereous material, the breadth of a man's thumb. Here and there it has a small hollow cell divided in the midst by a thin membrane, containing a little ball not perfectly round, which, being agitated by every motion of the serpent, and shaken against its receptacle, makes a sound like the wooden rattle which children use. Every year a fresh joint grows on to the rattle, as in stags-horns, connected with vertebræ, like the chains of a ring. From the joints of the rattle you may tell the age of the serpent, as you may that of a stag from the branches of his horns. Hence the older the serpent the more it rattles. This snake when angry coils itself up; when purposing an attack it moves along the ground so swiftly that it almost seems to fly. Providence has fastened that tinkling appendage to its tail in order to warn others from approaching it, for its poison is justly accounted the most virulent of any; the remedies which prove efficacious against the bites of other serpents, have been found unavailing against those of the rattle-snake, which causes certain but slow death, the deadly poison 288gradually diffusing itself through all the members. It takes away the use of the foot, arm, ear, and eye on that side which has been bitten, and presently, passing to the other, causes extreme torture, continual delirium, and acute pains, especially at the extremity of the feet and hands, which contract a cadaverous paleness from being deserted by the blood, which is rendered torpid by the coldness of the venom. All this I observed in two Guarany youths who were bitten by a rattle-snake. Both were under eighteen years of age, both were robust and of strong constitutions. The first struggled with his pains twelve days, the other fourteen, at the expiration of which period they both died, the strength of the poison baffling the virtue of the most established remedies. Whenever I heard of any person's being bitten by a rattle-snake I immediately prepared him for death, by administering the sacrament to him, before the delirium began. An Indian woman, in the flower of her age and strength, was reduced to the last extremity by the pestilential bite of one of these rattle-snakes. However, to the astonishment of all, she escaped death, but having lost the use of her limbs, dragged on a miserable existence for many years.

A letter dated Williamsburg, a town of Virginia, 289September the 28th, 1769, and published in the German newspapers of the 6th of Jan. 1770, tends greatly to confirm the virulence of the poison of the rattle-snake: the contents are as follows. "In Johnston county, North Carolina, at the latter end of June, a rattle-snake crept into a house, where four children were lying on the ground, the youngest of which it bit with its poisoned teeth. The father, awakened by the screams of the child, ran to render it assistance, and was at the same moment wounded by it himself. Meantime, whilst he was seeking some weapon to slay the deadly animal, the other three children were also wounded. With the utmost haste and diligence all sorts of remedies were applied to the wounded, but in vain, for the father and his four children expired next day." Has not then nature, you ask me, supplied a remedy powerful enough to expel this deadly poison? She may perhaps have afforded many which human ingenuity has not yet discovered, but which are at any rate unknown to the Paraguayrians. I am not ignorant that books do speak of medicines for this purpose, which they extol as divine, but all who have used them have found them of no avail. The Brazilians make use of little gourds, by which the poisoned 290wound is enlarged and dried. Sometimes they bind the wounded member with the rush Jacapè to prevent the poison from spreading. They sometimes cauterize the wounded part. Before the poison reaches the heart the sick man is induced to sweat by drinking Tipioca. Some Indians place much faith in the bruised head of a noxious serpent applied to the wound, which they also bathe in fasting saliva. But whether these remedies ever saved the life of any one who has been bitten by this most venomous snake I must be allowed to doubt. However destructive the teeth of these serpents are when employed to bite, they become salutary when used as medicine: for they say that the Brazilians prick their necks with them to ease the pain of the head-ache. They think it useful to anoint the loins, and other parts of a sick person's body, as well as swellings, with the fat of this snake. Its head also, when tied to the neck of the sick man, is said to cure pains in the throat. This method of healing was unknown to us in Paraguay.

The next to this in noxious qualities is a snake twelve, and sometimes fifteen feet long, with a large body the colour of ashes, varied with little black spots, yellowish under the belly, and formidable on account of a peculiar 291poison it contains and introduces with its bite. The Brazilians call it Cucurucù, the Guaranies Mboy̆pè guazù; and from its effects I guess it to be the same as that which Pliny calls Hæmorrhoam, and others Hæmorrhoida. This snake is most abundant where heat and moisture, the generators of serpents, predominate. Its poison heats the veins, and expels the ebullient blood from the mouth, nose, ears, eyes, finger-nails, in a word from all the outlets and pores of the body. This is related by Patricio Fernandez, who asserts that few persons are killed by this serpent, because most part of the poison flows out with the blood itself. For my part I never saw any serpent of that kind, nor any person that had been bitten by one, though I understand that they are not unfrequent in Brazil, where the Indians apply the head of the serpent to the wound it has inflicted, by way of a cataplasm; fresh tobacco leaves slightly burnt are used for a cautery. The roots also of the Caapia, Jurepeba, Urucù, Jaborandy̆, &c. are used to create perspiration. They say that, when the head of this serpent, in which greatest part of the poison lies, is cut off, the flesh is eaten by the savages of Brazil. In Paraguay, besides the Mboy̆pè guazù, you meet with the Mboy̆pè mir̂i, which is scarce thicker than a quill. Though 292smaller, it is more poisonous than the larger serpent of the same name.

The Yacaninà is to be reckoned amongst the larger and more dangerous serpents. It is two, sometimes three ells long, and as thick as a man's arm. It raises itself upon the last joint of its tail, and leaps upon people almost as if it were flying. The Quiririô terrifies the bravest with its very aspect. The size and colours of its body, and the strong poison it contains, are the occasion of this terror. The Mboy̆hobĭ, of a dark green colour, spotted with black, very large both as to length and breadth, and pregnant with the most noxious poison, infests all the plain country. On the other hand, the Mboy̆quatia is chiefly found within the walls of houses. It has obtained its name from the beautiful variety of its colours. It is middle-sized, but of a very virulent poison. In the rivers and lakes water-snakes of various shapes and monstrous size wander in great numbers. They are thought not to be venomous, though formidable to swimmers; for their horrid teeth never leave loose of any thing they have once got hold of. They squeeze animals to death with the folds of their bodies. Of the number of these is the Mboy̆roy̆, called by the Guaranies the cold serpent, because it loves cold 293places and shade. Another is the Curiyù, eight, and often nine ells long, and of breadth corresponding to such great length. This water-snake affords the Indians a dainty repast. Remarkable above the rest is a serpent of enormous size, but perfectly innocent in its nature. The Ampalaba is thicker than a man's breast, and larger than any water-snake. It is of a light reddish colour, and resembles the trunk of a very large tree covered with moss. As I was travelling through the territory of St. Iago, at the banks of a lake near the river Dulce, my horse suddenly took fright. Upon my enquiring of my companion the occasion of the animal's terror, he replied, "What, Father! did you not see the Ampalaba snake lying on the shore?" I had seen him, but had taken him for the trunk of a tree. Fearing that the horse would be alarmed and throw me, I did not think proper to stay and examine the great sparkling eyes, short but very acute teeth, horrid head, and many-coloured scales of the monster. These serpents live under water, but come frequently on shore, and even climb lofty trees. They never attack men, and it is most likely that they are devoid of poison. All however agree that Ampalabas are fond of rabbits, goats and does, which they attract with their breath, and swallow whole. 294As it must require an enormous throat to swallow a doe, you will perhaps think an equal facility of mind necessary to believe the fact. I candidly own that I never saw it done, but should not venture to doubt the truth of a thing that has been affirmed by creditable authors, and eye-witnesses.

CHAPTER XXIX. MORE ON THE SAME SUBJECT; AND RESPECTING OTHER INSECTS.

The Jesuit Eusebius Nierenberg speaks of a stupid snake, which, from the description, I take to be the same as the Ampalaba. "It is the thickness of a man," says he, "and twice as long. It inhabits rocks and caves, (perhaps when rivers and pools are wanting,) and feeds upon animals, which it attracts with its breath. Some Indians, in travelling, sat down upon it, taking it for the trunk of a tree; and it was not till the snake began to move that they perceived what an unstable and terrific seat they had chosen. It is however reputed harmless. These snakes are of such vast size, that eighteen soldiers sat down upon one, thinking it to be a log of wood. They lie in wait for stags, which they attract by the force of their breath, a power they do not possess over men. After squeezing the stag to death, they lick it all over from head to foot, in order that they may swallow it more easily; but suffer the head, which the horns prevent them from swallowing, to remain in their mouth till it putrefies. Ants sometimes 296enter the open mouth of this snake and kill it."

I must not omit to mention an immense snake, which the Guaranies call Moñay̆. In its vast size, wide mouth, sparkling eyes, row of threatening teeth, and spotted scaly skin, it resembles a dragon. Father Manuel Guttierrez, when he travelled through the Tarumensian wilds, saw a monster of that kind in passing the banks of the river Yuquiry̆. An Indian, his companion, threw a thong used for catching horses round the animal's neck and strangled it. The Indians of St. Joachim were not so courageous, for when sent forwards by me to prepare the way for the royal governour, who was coming that day, they returned home in great trepidation, because they had seen the Moñay̆ snake lurking in a very thick grove at the banks of a rivulet. Being asked the cause of their alarm, they described the horrible spectacle they had seen. A few days after I had an opportunity of witnessing the truth of the matter myself. A report being spread that the governour was coming next day, we went out to meet him, and as soon as ever I approached the rivulet where the snake had lately been seen, my horse suddenly began to foam, kick, and run away. The Indians were all of opinion that he perceived the monster lurking in its cave by the scent. The reason 297why the Moñay̆ does so little mischief is because it generally inhabits hidden groves, solitary shores, or caves far from human sight.

Though serpents of every kind wander up and down, yet some seek lurking-places under the water, some amongst grass and trees, and others only within the walls of houses and hollow places. The Mboy̆quatia inhabits the chinks of ruinous walls. Numbers of these snakes were killed in the church at St. Joachim, but as fresh ones grew up, they were never entirely got rid of. I would advise you never to sit down incautiously in fields, woods, and banks of lakes, without first examining the place. The Indians, who neglect this precaution, are often bitten by lurking serpents. Fatigued by a journey which I and my companions had taken on foot through the woods of Mbaeverà, they had lain down at evening in a place where I observed decayed posts of palms, and the remains of huts scattered up and down the ground. I advised them to examine the spot with care, and to remove the hewn palms, the receptacles of noxious reptiles, for the safety of their lives. They followed my injunctions. Under the first stake they discovered an immense serpent sitting upon seventeen eggs, and on that account the more dangerous. Presently another, and then more, appeared in sight. The eggs consist 298of a thin white skin, instead of a shell, and resemble an acorn in shape, though larger.

I have often wondered that certain of the ancients recommended fire to keep off serpents, having found them, on the contrary, to be attracted by it. We continually see them creep to the fire, and steal into warm apartments for the sake of the heat. Virgil has justly given snakes the epithet of frigid. The more copious and virulent their poison is, the intenser is the cold they labour under. Hence, in persons bitten by serpents, the blood congeals, and the extremities of the body stiffen and grow cold, as the circulation cannot reach them. That serpents love heat we know from daily experience. In the deserts we often were obliged to pass the night in the open air: on these occasions, no sooner was the fire kindled than we saw the snakes concealed in the vicinity approach to warm themselves. Whenever the south wind renders the nights rather cold, they creep under the horse-cloths lying on the ground. When the earth is chill, serpents climb on to the roofs of houses to bask in the sun, and thence are induced by the sharp night-air to slip into the apartments below, to the imminent danger of the occupants. When lights are brought into a room of an evening, the doors should be carefully shut; for the serpents in the neighbourhood, spying the light, 299immediately enter the house. These animals suddenly make their appearance in apartments built of brick or stone, and covered with tiles, when the door and windows are close shut, and not a chink is left unstopped. One of my companions had such a dread of serpents, that he never dared take any sleep till he had examined every corner of his apartment. There are some snakes which leap at all they meet, and bite ferociously. Paraguay also produces some harmless ones, which are either devoid of poison, or the desire to use it, unless they be offended.

Who does not know that some serpents lay eggs, whilst others produce a numerous living offspring? The Americans believe that young serpents grow from the dead bodies of the old ones. Hence, whenever they kill any serpents they remove them to a great distance from their houses, and do not throw them on the ground, but hang them on trees or hedges. In Brazil, two Jesuit missionaries found a horrid-looking dead snake to which a young live one was clinging, and, on their shaking the carcass with sticks, eleven little serpents crawled from it. This account of serpents is closed by three insects, akin to each other in the quality of their venom. The Scolopendra, which has a smooth cylindrical body a span long, twice as thick as a man's thumb, and covered with a hard, cinereous 300skin, approaching to a cartilage, abounds with legs from head to foot, which I neither had power nor inclination to count. It contains a poison almost equal to that of a serpent, and its bite causes much both of pain and danger. After spending eighteen years in Paraguay, I at length saw and felt an animal till then known to me only by name. It bit me as I was asleep, and on waking, I perceived that the space between the little and ring-finger, first looked red, and afterwards began to swell and grow painful. The tumour and inflammation hourly increasing, I could no longer doubt but that some venomous little animal had bitten me. Early in the night I heard an unusual noise amongst some tools that were lying under a bench in my room. Bringing a light, I discovered and killed the Scolopendra which had bitten me, and next day suspended it in our court-yard, and showed it to the Indians, who all declared that they had often seen and dreaded that animal in houses, fields, and banks of rivers. Do not confound the Scolopendra with the Oniscus, which is a dusky round worm, two inches in length, and scarce thicker than a goose's quill. The body is covered with rough yellow hairs. On the head you see here and there a double row of white spots. It has eight short thick feet. Whichever part of the body it touches it violently inflames, 301which certainly proves it to be venomous. The Paraguayrian scorpions are said to differ nothing from those of Europe in appearance, but their poison is milder and more easily cured. I think that scorpions must be very rare in Paraguay, since, after spending eighteen years there, and traversing greatest part of the province, I never saw one, nor heard of any person's being bitten by one. I remember that a Spaniard appointed to guard the cattle in the town of Concepcion, when lying sick at our house, was frightened by a scorpion, which put out its head two or three times from the wall, and that he passed a sleepless night in consequence, always keeping a knife in his hand against the threatening animal. Spiders of various forms and sizes are every where to be met with. Venomous ones with flat bodies may be seen creeping along the walls. You should take the greatest care to avoid that very large kind, which the Spaniards call arañas peludas, hairy spiders. The body of this insect, which is about three inches in length, is composed of two parts. The fore-part is larger than the other, almost two inches long, an inch and a half wide, and somewhat compressed. The hind-part is more spherical, and in size and form resembles a nutmeg. A hole in the back supplies the place of a navel. It has two sparkling eyes: its long, 302and very sharp teeth, on account of their beauty, are set in gold by many persons, and used as toothpicks. The whole skin of this spider is covered with short blackish hairs, but as smooth and soft as silk. It has ten long legs divided by more or fewer joints, and entirely hairy, each of which ends in a forceps, like that of a crab. When angry, the insect bites. The bite, though scarce visible to the eye, is discovered by a certain moisture, a livid tumour, and the severe pain it causes. We have found the venom of spiders prove not only dangerous but mortal: remedies efficacious in cases of serpent-wounds have scarce saved the lives of persons bitten by this large spider. These insects lurk chiefly in hedges, hollow trees, and ruined walls.

CHAPTER XXX. OF REMEDIES FOR THE POISONOUS BITES OF INSECTS.

Old books suggest various methods of keeping away serpents: but who that is acquainted with America would not despise the prescriptions of the old writers, adapted to fill pages only, not to be of any real use? In preference to these ancient recipes I recommend the American ones, both because they are more expeditious and readier, and because their utility has been proved by long experience. The Christian Guaranies, whenever they accompanied me to seek the savages in the woods, carried fresh garlick in their girdles, and, notwithstanding the abundance of serpents we met, not one of my companions was ever bitten by one. Following the example of the Indians, I always kept a string of garlick suspended near my bed, after being attacked by a serpent in my sleep. That serpents dislike the smell of garlick is well known both to the ancients and to country people, who rub the milk-pans with the juice of that herb, lest serpents, who are extremely fond of milk, should get into them. My faith, however, in the efficacy of garlick was not a little 304shaken by one of my companions, who found a snake in the garden close to a plant of it. But the leaves of a plant are endued with different properties from its roots and fruit. May not the garlick alone, and not the leaves, be the object of the serpent's abhorrence? The Abipones and Mocobios suspend a crocodile's tooth from their neck or arm, thinking it a powerful amulet against snakes of every kind. In this they are imitated by many Missionaries and Spaniards, who often purchase the teeth of these animals at a high price. I have known Spaniards who thought themselves secure from the bites of serpents when they had a bit of deer's skin about their body. There are persons who rub their feet and hands with the juice of a radish, and believe themselves fortified against poisons. I should not take upon me to despise these safeguards, because they are approved by the experience of the Americans; but it is the part of a prudent person never to place such entire confidence in them as to lay aside caution, and lose sight of danger, which, in regard to serpents, lurks where none appears.

For this reason I constantly exhorted the Americans to circumspection; when they had to rest in the plain at night or mid-day, to choose a situation free from bushes, reeds, and caverns, and at a distance from the banks of 305pools and rivers; to take a survey of the spot; to examine the tall grass, decayed trunks, and recesses of shrubs and rocks, before they sat or lay down. The Indians, who neglect these precautions, are constantly liable to the bites of serpents. Throwing themselves carelessly on the ground, they sleep soundly without a fear or a thought about serpents, and are often awakened with a scream by the bite of one. When travelling bare-footed they employ their eyes in watching birds in the air and monkeys in the trees, when they ought, at every step, to examine the dangerous ground they are treading. The Abipones, from being an equestrian people, and more circumspect, seldomer suffer from serpents than the Guaranies, who always walk on foot, and use less caution. In the town of St. Joachim, where the climate is very hot, and the land is surrounded with marshes, rivers, and woods, venomous animals are unusually numerous. Scarce a week passes that some Indians are not bitten by serpents. During the eight years that I spent in this town a vast number of persons were bitten by various serpents, but, with the exception of two youths who were killed by a rattle-snake, not a single individual died: all were healed by the use of one and the same remedy. Now listen attentively whilst I make you acquainted with that 306celestial, and almost miraculous, medicine, which is as unknown out of Paraguay, as it is useful to the Paraguayrians. It is a very white flower, extremely like a lily in its leaves, stalk, blossom, and scent, except that it is smaller. The Spaniards call it nard. It grows in all soils, flourishes at every part of the year, and is neither destroyed by long drought, nor by hoar frost. I never could meet with this flower either in European gardens, or in books treating of flowers, and have found the most scientific herbalists utterly unacquainted with it. After diligently examining every species of nard, I perceived that the Paraguayrian nard could not be referred to any of them. The root of this flower, either dried or fresh, is cut into small pieces and steeped in brandy. Part of this infusion, together with the root, is applied to the wound, and the rest taken inwardly by the patient. It is generally sufficient to do this once. But if it be necessary to repeat it a second and a third time, the force of the poison is destroyed, the swelling subsides, and the wound heals. The sooner you apply this remedy, the quicker and more certainly you will repress the progress of the poison. Taught by the experience of eighteen years, I affirm it to be superior to all other remedies. With it we have triumphed over the poison of every snake 307but the rattle-snake. I cannot count the number of Indians I have healed with this precious root. An Indian Guarany, as he was lying on the ground out of doors, was bitten by a serpent. When the poor wretch crawled to my town I prepared him for death with sacred rites, which the violent pain of the swelled wound, and the cries extorted by it from the wounded man seemed to presage. I had only a few drops of brandy remaining: these, with the root of the nard, I applied to the wound. Afterwards, as the extreme pain indicated that the poison was not yet expelled from his body, I saw him recover in three days by the use of the root with wine, which I substituted for brandy.

No one will deny that tobacco leaves possess much virtue against the bites of serpents. A Guarany was wounded in the right foot in two places by a snake, as he was reposing at noon on a journey. I was asked for medicine, and as no nard was at hand, and we were many leagues from the town, I advised the father of the wounded man to put a tobacco leaf into his mouth, and to suck both the wounds. He replied that he had already done so; I then told him to burn tobacco leaves, letting the smoke enter the wounds, and to apply a cataplasm of chewed tobacco to the same; I also desired the wounded man himself to chew tobacco, 308swallow its juice, and smoke it through a reed, giving him likewise a vial of brandy to drink. The poison at length was so much repressed by these trifling remedies that the sick man recovered his strength sufficiently to pursue his journey to the town. The warmth of the brandy counteracts the cold of the poison, and restores the heat of the stomach and of the blood. Father Gumilla declares that serpents will die if a tobacco leaf be thrust into their mouths. We learn from the same author that, in the new kingdom of Granada, the Americans drink gun-powder mixed with brandy to cure the bites of serpents, and that it produces the desired effect. The Abipones, Mocobios, and Tobas, as soon as they feel themselves bitten by a serpent, cover the wound with virgin wax, which is thought to absorb the poison. At another time they have it sucked out by their physicians. They sometimes scrape a crocodile's tooth, drink the dust in water, and at the same time bind a whole crocodile's tooth very tight on to the open wound. Our druggist at Cordoba, wishing to try the virtue of this remedy, gave an equal quantity of violent poison to two dogs, tying a crocodile's tooth round the neck of one, and not round that of the other, and they say that, whilst the latter died in a very few hours, the former recovered by means of the tooth. 309The Abipones surround the neck of a dog that has been bitten by a serpent with ostrich feathers, and they told me that their ancestors looked upon that as a remedy.

The Portugueze extol the piedra de cobra, which is of a grey, and sometimes of a black colour, and of various sizes, as the magnet of poisons: for in the same manner that loadstone attracts iron, this stone, when applied to a wound, absorbs all the venom. That it may serve again for the same purpose it is immersed in milk, into which the poison is discharged. The ancient physicians thought garlick an excellent remedy for venomous bites. The efficacy of this plant against poisons was proved by an experiment of my own. A Guarany, as he was working in the garden, was bitten in the foot by a hairy spider, such as I have described, and imprudently neglected to mention the circumstance. The poison beginning to operate, he felt his thigh swell, with pain in the stomach, and suspecting his danger, came to me for advice. I ordered a little beef broth to be boiled with plenty of garlick, which taken by the sick man immediately repressed the poison, the swelling, and the pain. Nor am I averse to the prescription of Dioscorides, who thinks that radish juice should be drunk on these occasions. The ancients have advised washing the hands 310with the same, to keep off the attacks of serpents. For it appears, both from the authority of physicians and from experience, that not only the juice but the very smell of a radish is of use against serpents. Some bind a live hen, or pigeon, cut open, to the wound, thinking that the poison is absorbed by them. In place of a hen some substitute a kid, or the belly of a goat newly slain. Some wash the wounded part with goat's milk, and they say that a countryman cured a serpent wound in the foot by dipping it often into goat's milk. They also say that cheese made of this milk, when applied to the wound, will have the same effect. To these old remedies America adds new ones, a few of which I will mention. They apply the unripe fruit of the anana, when bruised, to poisoned wounds by way of a cataplasm. The Indian physicians give the herb taropè, (which the Spaniards call contra yerba, or higuerilla, the little fig, because its roots have both the odour and the milk of the fig,) to their patient to eat or drink, to counteract the effects of poisons. The leaves of the herb mboỹ-caà are chewed, and the juice swallowed, whilst part of the chewed leaves are placed on the wound. The macângua caà is celebrated for possessing a virtue of the same kind. This herb is named from the duck macângua, which, using its wings 311as a shield, pursues and kills serpents, but if it be wounded in the contest eats this herb as a medicine. The yçipo moroti, and bejuco de Guayaquil, have the same property. The roots of the urucuȳ, jurepeba, jaborandi, &c. are highly conducive to excite perspiration, by which the poison is expelled. I do not deny the validity of these remedies, but, with the leave of physicians, ancient as well as modern, I still think nard root preferable to them all, for it has been the salvation of numbers, not only of men, but of beasts. As the cattle feed in the open air, day and night, every part of the year, they are not unfrequently bitten by serpents, scolopendras, and spiders. Blood dropping from the nostrils is the sign of a poisonous wound. Brandy mixed with nard root poured in time down their throats was of great use, but after the poison had diffused itself over all the members of animals we generally found medicine unavailing.

CHAPTER XXXI. OF OTHER NOXIOUS INSECTS, AND THEIR REMEDIES.

You might swear that Egypt, and the whole plague of insects with which divine vengeance afflicted that land, had removed into Paraguay; nay, you will find many here more mischievous and troublesome than Egypt ever beheld. I have always thought common house-flies, resembling ours in external appearance, more to be dreaded and shunned than serpents, scorpions, scolopendras, hairy spiders, &c. Do not imagine this to be an hyperbole: I declare it as my serious opinion. Swarms of these insects are always flying up and down. At home and abroad you will see yourself surrounded by these hungry little animals, which, though a hundred times repulsed, will return as often. They enter the ears of persons when they are asleep, and creeping to the interior of the head, lay great numbers of eggs, which breed quantities of worms; these insects hourly increase in number, and gnaw all the flesh and moisture in the head, so that delirium and final death are the inevitable consequence, unless a remedy be applied. I knew a Spaniard whose whole face 313together with the nostrils was consumed, the forepart of his head being made as hollow as a gourd by worms. One fly, which had crept into his nose whilst he slept, was the origin of the worms and of his misfortune. This is no rare occurrence. That worms are expelled by the application of tiger's fat you have already learnt from the twenty-second chapter of this history: but hear further. In the town of the Rosary, one of the Abipones swarmed with worms to a shocking degree; but these insects, unable to endure the tiger's fat which I applied to them, gnawed open two outlets, and all burst away, leaving the sick man in perfect health, and ascribing his recovery to this potent medicine; by the aid of which I cured a female captive of the Spaniards, whose head had been grazed by a bullet. The bloody and lacerated skin as usual attracted these flies, which, making a passage to the interior of the head, greatly endangered the poor woman's life, but were soon dislodged by the application of tiger's fat. We have benefited other persons, at various times, with the same remedy. I took care always to have a good supply of a medicine so important, and in such constant request. At the first news of a tiger being slain I hastened to get its fat, which I kept melted in a little vessel; for if raw, it would soon putrefy in so 314hot a climate. Though the fat of these animals, even when fresh, like the rest of the flesh, exhales a most abominable odour, yet when mixed in water, it is drank by the Abipones with the utmost avidity. In some of the Guarany Reductions, peach leaves are used to expel worms bred by flies.

The natives of northern regions will hardly conceive, and natural historians scarce credit the breeding of such dangerous worms from flies; but the Americans witness it daily, and deplore its fatal effects not only on themselves, but on cattle. When we killed a cow or a sheep at sun-rise, the flies have been seen swarming round the flesh; soon after we have found it covered with a kind of whitish seed, and by sun-set the meat became stinking, full of worms, and unfit to be eaten. Those who wish to preserve meat uninjured, should either cut it into very small pieces and dry it in the air, or hang it up in the shade in a net, or wicker basket, so that it may be exposed to the air, without being accessible to flies. Should a horse's back be injured by the hardness of the saddle, or by long riding, the flies will swarm thither as if bidden to a feast, and breed innumerable worms, which mangle the horse, and in a few days destroy him. Blood bursting from an ulcer is a sign that worms are within. In 315order to remedy this they tie the animal's feet and throw him on the ground, then dig out the worms and matter with a slender stick, and fill up the hole of the ulcer with chewed tobacco-leaves, and cow-dung. This must be repeated for many days. If the animal can lick himself the cure will be surer and quicker. But as this method of healing is accompanied with much trouble and some danger, the Indians, and half Spaniards, who are more lazy than the Indians, had rather see the plain strewed with carcasses, than exert themselves either with their hands or feet. The slothfulness of the shepherds who take care of the estates yearly occasions the loss of many thousand horses, oxen, calves, sheep and mules in Paraguay. New born calves should be examined and rid of the worms, with which they are generally infested; for the flies immediately attack the navel string, and miserably kill them. On which account, if, out of ten thousand calves born yearly on your estate, four thousand remain alive, you have great reason to congratulate yourself, and return thanks to your shepherds.

I should not omit to mention another worm medicine. Szentivan advises you to give a drench of olive oil and water to oxen labouring under this disease, as it causes them to void the worms along with their excrement. I had formerly 316read of this, and remembering the prescription, adopted it in America with success, before I was acquainted with the virtues of tiger's fat. I had a great mastiff dog, remarkable for beauty, strength, and courage, my faithful guard both at home and abroad, but somewhat quarrelsome. He provoked daily battles, and was constantly victorious, till one day when he was attacked by a number of hounds at once; the wound which they made was infested by worms, so that, as he would not suffer it to be touched, we had no hopes of his recovery. After applying a very few drops of oil to the wound, I beheld the whole brood of worms issuing forth, and caught hold of them as they protruded themselves from the skin, with a pair of compasses. When the worms ceased to break out, I poured on oil again and again, till none remained in the hollow of the wound, and by this art the dog recovered in two days. The same oil, in a lukewarm state, is poured into the ears, to get away any gnat, flea, or fly, which may have crept into them. I will tell you of a false alarm I once had on this account. As I was dressing in the morning, I heard a continual humming so near me, that I thought a fly must have entered my head; a suspicion which gave me much anxiety. Every thing was tried, without success, to 317expel the fly, which still continued its deadly hum. At last, oil heated in a shell was poured into my ear by a boy, but, from being too hot, it caused me extreme pain. Yet still greater was my consternation at finding that the humming was not discontinued. "Come," said I to the boy, "put your ear close to me, and listen attentively to the buzzing of this wretched insect." The boy listened for some time, and then said with a smile: "you need be under no apprehension, Father; the fly is in your clothes, not in your ear." Immediately undoing the buttons, I pulled away the coat from my neck, and the fly, which had been confined in the fold, joyfully flew away. I cannot express the delight I felt at finding myself free from this danger. It was a long time, however, before I could forget it; the obstinate pain in my ear, occasioned by the hot oil, every now and then reminding me of the captive fly. I must here mention another remedy. If ever you feel any insect enter your ear, you should make some other person syringe it well with cold water; for the little insects, oppressed by the wet, will either come out, or perish immediately.

In certain parts of Paraguay, especially in the Tarumensian territory, you meet with another species of fly. In size and shape they 318differ little from our common flies, but are of a white colour, and have a formidable sting, which, when inserted into the flesh of man or beast, elicits a quantity of blood. I scarce ever remember seeing them in houses; they chiefly infest the roads, where they are excessively troublesome to horse travellers. There is a great number and variety of gad-flies, in plains adjacent to woods, but these insects attack beasts only. I am not surprized at the fable of Io being driven mad by a gad-fly, having so often seen horses and mules, tractable at other times, tormented by gad-flies adhering to their skin like leeches, till they grew quite furious, and lost all control over themselves, and regard for their riders. Still greater danger is experienced in the woods from certain large wasps, the sting of which perfectly infuriates the horses. To free themselves from these cruel tormentors, they often refuse to obey the bridle, and throw their rider, rushing onwards, and rolling themselves on the ground; a circumstance which occasions many broken legs, and bruised heads, and much bloodshed. I, myself, though riding on a very gentle mule, should have been killed once owing to this circumstance, had not an Indian come to my assistance. These insects attack men also. Their sting occasions violent pain and great 319swelling. A piece of fresh turf is generally applied to the wounded part, by way of remedy, but it never did me any good, as my cheek may testify. In my absence, a great number of wasps flew into the yard of our house, and settled upon a stake, forming themselves into a large round ball. Lest passers-by should disperse them, and they should fly into our apartment, I fired a gun into the ball of wasps. Terrified at the sudden report, they all flew away except one, which pitched upon my face, and inserting its sting into the flesh, caused it to swell dreadfully. The tumour was succeeded by a corresponding degree of pain. On my complaining the next day, and mentioning the remedies I had used, an old Abipon said, "Why did you not anoint the swelling with beef fat, Father? that is an old and certain remedy amongst us." I complied with this advice, in consequence of which the swelling and pain both ceased. Take notice that I do not mean suet, but the fat of the animal, which is used in Paraguay in the place of melted butter. How dangerous it is to provoke hornets, we have often found in travelling. A nest of these insects concealed under the leaves had perhaps been disturbed unintentionally by the Indians, who preceded me as we were walking in the woods; but they did not escape with impunity, 320not a few being stung by the hornets dispersed in this manner. Most of them, however, rushed under my clothes, and would have stung me all over, had I not given my garment to the Indians to examine and shake.

No arithmetic is sufficient to reckon the number of gnats that torment this country, as no patience is equal to enduring them. Wherever you go, they afflict your ears with their noise, and your flesh with their stings, making you wish for a hundred arms to drive them away. During cold weather, they remain quietly in their lurking-holes, but when the sun is hot and the air tranquil, they fly out in search of food, and are never more ferocious than at dawn or twilight. Where the grass is high, where bushes, pools, rivers, or marshes are near at hand, and where there are thick woods which exclude the air, there you will be plagued by vast numbers of serpents, and swarms of gnats. If you have to pass the night in such a situation as I have described, never dream of sleeping. After the fatigue of riding or walking the whole day, you will fruitlessly weary both hands at night with driving away gnats. Unable to sleep, how often have I reproached the sun with returning too slowly! I pitied the horses which, after being debilitated with toil and fasting, were surrounded by such a swarm 321of hungry gnats, that, as they could neither take any rest, nor graze the herb, they stood round the fire to inhale the smoke, which, if rather sharp, will keep off those trumpeting insects. Gnats cannot endure the smoke of cow-dung; but besides that it will have the same unpleasant effect upon your own nostrils, if your sense of smelling be not very dull indeed; you will hardly meet with cow-dung in the woods, where there is not so much as the shadow of a cow, and travellers through these deserts are too much laden with provisions, water, and fuel, to be able to carry bundles of it with them. I was much pleased with the ingenuity of a Negro, who, when he slept on a journey, always had at his side some resinous material from rotten wood, which glistens at night, smokes gently without any unpleasant smell, and, as I observed, always defended him from gnats. Incredible is the annoyance caused by these insects in a long journey. We have often returned home mangled, swollen, and bloody, in short, so unlike ourselves, that we could hardly know one another. Even in the house, if you do not wish to pass a sleepless night, you should not suffer the door or window to remain open at sun-set, especially when you light a candle; for they fly by swarms to any light, whenever they can find access to it. There is 322a species of gnats which are smaller, but more mischievous than the common kind; for though they have not the disagreeable hum of the others, they creep into the mouth, ears, and nose, and sting violently.

The most famous gnat in Paraguay, the mbarigué, is of the smallest size. Its extreme diminutiveness renders it invisible to the acutest eye, yet its sting is intolerably painful. These insects infest the thicker woods and the banks of streams, and are most to be feared in the evening, when the air is still. Their sting is like the point of a weapon, with which they pierce the flesh, not only when it is naked, but when defended with a slight covering. After passing some time in the woods, we returned to the town so covered with red spots, that we looked like persons in the small-pox. When in this state, the skin cannot be safely scratched with the nails, or washed with cold water. From the repeated stings of this gnat, large worms are often bred, whether originating in the pestilent sting, the poisoned humour, or some seed left by the insect, or in the gnat itself, converted into a worm within the flesh, I cannot tell. That more than one worm is never bred in one place, I know, the proof of which you shall now hear. I had observed my dog howl every now and then, scratching himself and 323appearing very uneasy. The Indians, when consulted on the matter, answered that he was swarming with worms. Under my inspection, they tied the dog's mouth and feet, laid him on the ground, and pressing the flesh where it appeared swelled with both hands, squeezed out the worm concealed underneath. Seventeen worms were thus taken from as many different places, all of a white colour, thicker than the seed of an apple, and about the length of a man's thumb nail. Astonished at the circumstance, I was told by the Indians that it frequently happened to themselves. And, indeed, all Paraguay knows that the minutest worms and flies have been the death of many persons. Father Felix Villa-Garzia, during his long search for the Ytatinguas in the Tarumensian woods, contracted a disorder in his eye, and was tormented by a fistula and the worms engendered therein for the rest of his life: that the heat of the sun, and various kinds of gnats were the occasion of this disorder, is well known.

CHAPTER XXXII. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

The hotter parts both of North and South America breed a little worm, the daily cause of many groans, and not a few deaths. In appearance, and in its manner of skipping, it resembles the smallest of all possible fleas, and is hardly visible to the keenest eye, except in a very strong light, but so pungent that it must be felt by every one that is not made of stone or iron. This insect has so sharp a proboscis that it will pierce shoes, boots, gaiters, and every kind of clothing. It adheres a little while to the skin, and then penetrates the flesh, causing an intense itching: concealed there, as under a burrow, it surrounds itself with a round whitish little bladder, which it fills with eggs like the smallest nits. If this bladder remain many days under the skin, it increases to the size of a pea. This is a common sight. The longer the bladder adheres to the body, the more is the sense of pain deadened. Children are much the fittest to rout this enemy from his station, for the strong sight they possess enables them immediately to discover the little red 325spot which denotes the place where the worm has entered the flesh. The circumference of that spot they prick with a needle, gradually open the skin and flesh, and at length pluck out the whole bladder with the little worm buried amongst its nits. When this is put to a candle, it goes off with a noise like gunpowder. But if the bladder be broken in the operation, the humour effused from thence will occasion further pain, and the nits, by being scattered, will breed fresh worms in the same place. That this gnat teems with poisonous matter is evident from the circumstance that the hollow from which it has been eradicated, not unfrequently inflames, swells, and, unless quickly remedied, becomes gangrenous. The nails of the feet, which they frequently attack, always decay and fall off, and, to preserve life, it is often necessary to amputate the toes. Those who wish to guard against this inconvenience, should study cleanliness in their houses, for the said worms derive their origin from dust, excrement, and urine in a hot climate, and are bred in places which are seldom swept, which have been long uninhabited, and where the cold air has no access to dry the moisture. The stalls of oxen, horses, and mules, though in the open air, and without a roof, swarm with them. In the southern parts of Paraguay, 326where the air is not so hot, this noxious insect is unknown; indeed it is seen no where but in the territories of Buenos-Ayres, and Cordoba of the Tucumans. After passing six years in Paraguay, I was only acquainted with it by name, and it was not till my removal to the colony of St. Ferdinand, that I began to see, to suffer and to execrate this pest. Persons who live in a place infested by these insects, should have their feet daily examined; for however troublesome this inspection may be, much greater inconvenience will be incurred by the neglect of it. At one sitting a boy will often take out twenty or more worms, and when your fingers and nails are almost all filled with holes, and the soles of your feet so lacerated as to prevent you from walking a step without difficulty, you will yourself deplore your neglect and procrastination. I have known many persons confined to their beds for weeks, and others entirely deprived of the use of their feet on this account. Though these worms chiefly attack the feet, yet they sometimes, with still greater danger, creep to the other parts of the body, and make their nest in the arm or knee. Dogs, from their always lying on the ground, are most troubled with these insects; but they dexterously remove them from their flesh with their tongues, and heal the wound by licking it. 327Sows, tame monkeys, cats, goats, and sheep, are dreadfully tormented by them; but horses, asses, mules, and oxen, are protected against the common enemy by the hardness of their hoofs. The Americans should take care to fill up the hollow left by the bladder with tobacco-powder, ashes, or soap, otherwise the wound made by the needle, and infected with the poison of the insect, will become ulcerous, conceive matter, and, on occasion of inflammation, or violent motion of the feet, will end in a gangrene, or St. Anthony's fire. Hen's fat and a cabbage leaf applied to the feet, to allay the inflammation, have often been found of service. They write that the Brazilians, to keep off these worms, anoint their feet with an oil expressed from the unripe acorns of the acaju. Sailors daub themselves with pitch for the same purpose. All of us, in the fear of these and other insects, wore sheepskin leggings, but we found them weak and inefficient defences.

The common fleas of Europe, diffused like æther throughout every part of the air, are not only bred in Paraguay, but domineer most insolently here, as in their native soil. It is a remarkable circumstance that the plain itself, which is covered with grass, swarms with fleas. Persons sailing on the Paraguay, when they leave the vessel to pass the night or noon on 328the shore, though they lie on a green turf, where no man or dog ever trod, will return to the ship blackened with fleas. If this occurs in the green plain, what must we expect in the dry floors of an apartment, covered neither with brick, stone, nor board? In apartments of this kind have I dwelt seven years amongst the Abipones, during which time I had to contend with countless swarms of fleas. Do you enquire the remedy for fleas in America? There is but one, namely, patience. Columella, Kircher, and others, are indeed of opinion that these insects are not only driven away but destroyed by a decoction of odoriferous herbs scattered on the floor; and the Guaranies do certainly boil for this purpose a strong-scented herb, sprinkling the chamber with the water when boiling hot, and sweeping it once or twice. But if the fleas are destroyed by this means, I attribute it, not to the strong smell of the herbs, but to the water in which they are boiled, and to the mops by which they are swept away. Let the houses be cleared of dust and dogs, and rendered pervious to frequent winds; these are the best precautions against the smaller insects. Lice are never to be met with amongst the Abipones, except in the hair. The Spanish colonies abound in bugs, but I never beheld one in the 329towns of the Indians. Flying bugs, called binchuccas, are common in Cordoba, and other parts of Tucuman. By day they lurk in the chinks of roofs and chests, but fly out at night and make bloody war upon sleepers. They affect the part upon which they fasten with an intolerable heat, seeming rather to burn than bite the body. The red spots caused by the pain appear as if they had been raised by a caustic. Fatigued with fifteen days hard riding, through a continuous desert, and amid unceasing showers, I reached the town of Salabina, where repose was not only desirable, but almost indispensable for me; yet the whole night passed away without my being able to obtain a wink of sound sleep. I felt all my limbs pricked and heated, but was unable to discover the cause of this unusual pain. When day-light appeared, all who saw me covered with red spots pitied my misfortune, and assured me that the flying bugs were the cause of it. In another journey I passed the night in company with a noble priest, who, after we had partaken of a light supper, set out with me and his domestics to sleep in a neighbouring field. In that part of the country this is both customary and necessary, for in hot nights the houses swarm with bugs to such a degree that it is impossible to get any sleep in them.

330Amongst pernicious insects no inconsiderable place should be assigned to the garrapata, which is about the size of a lentil, and in form resembles a land tortoise, except that it is more spherical, wearing on its back a mail like that animal. It is of a dark tawny colour, partly variegated, has a flat body, eight little feet, and a prominent head or proboscis, which it inserts into the skin, fastening, at the same time, the hooks of its feet into it, and whilst it sucks blood from every part of the body, creates an itching and inflammation, followed by swelling and matter, which often lasts four days or more, while the ulcer will hardly heal within a fortnight. When the insect has fixed its head deep into the flesh, it is very difficult to pull it out entire; and if it remain sticking in the flesh you will be in a bad condition; for the venom will not be got rid of till matter has flowed for a long time from that itching ulcer. The plains and woods are filled with this insect, so hostile both to man and beast. Where you see rotten leaves, or reeds, there you will find swarms of this little animal. When we travelled in the woods to discover the hordes of the savages, we disregarded tigers, serpents, and caruguàs, in comparison with these noxious insects: it was our constant complaint that we had not eyes enough to avoid them, nor hands 331sufficient to drive them away. The Spaniards employed in seeking the herb of Paraguay, when they daily return to their hut, lay down the bundles of boughs with which they are laden, and hasten to the next lake or river to bathe, where, having stripped themselves naked, they examine one another's bodies, and pluck out the garrapatas sticking in their flesh; unless this precaution were adopted, they would be killed in a few days with the superabundance of matter, and of ulcers. Goats, does, monkeys, tamanduas, dogs, and every wild animal that inhabits the plains or woods, all swarm with these insects. The lesser garrapatas are much more mischievous than the larger ones.

There are many species and incredible numbers both of creeping and flying ants in Paraguay. The worst and most stinging kind are the least in size, and of a red colour. They carry off sugar, honey, and every thing sweet, so that you have need of much ingenuity to defend provision of this kind from them. From eating sweet things they increase their bile, and acquire a subtle venom. As soon as they get upon the skin, they create a pustule, which lasts many days, and causes severe pain. To this very small species of ants, I subjoin the largest I had an opportunity of seeing, which are formidable on account of their undermining buildings. 332They make burrows with infinite labour, under churches and houses, digging deep sinuous meanders in the earth, and exerting their utmost strength to throw out the loosened sods. Having got wings they fly off in all directions, on the approach of heavy showers, with the same ill fortune as Icarus, but with this difference, that he perished in the sea, they on the ground, to which they fall when their wings are wetted by the rain. Moreover those holes in the earth, by which the ants used first to pass, admit the rain water, which inundates the caves of the ants, and undermines the building, causing the wooden beams that uphold the wall and roof, first to give way, and unless immediately supported, to fall along with the house. This is a common spectacle in Paraguay. The whole hill on which St. Joachim was built was covered with ant-hills, and full of subterranean cavities. Our house, and the one adjoining, suffered much from these insects. The chief altar was rendered useless for many days: for, it being rainy weather, the lurking ants flew in swarms from their caves, and not being able to support a long flight, fell upon the priest, the altar, and sacred utensils, defiling every thing. Ten outlets by which they broke from their caves being closed up, next day they opened twenty more. One evening there arose a violent 333storm, with horrible thunder and lightning. A heavy shower seemed to have converted our court-yard into a sloping lake, the wall itself withstanding the course of the waters. My companion betook himself to my apartment. Mean time an Indian, the churchwarden, arrives, announcing that the floor of the church was beginning to gape, and the wall to open and be inclined. I snatched up a lamp and ran to the place, but had hardly quitted the threshold of my door, when I perceived a gap in the earth; and before I was aware of any danger, sunk up to the shoulders in a pit, in the very place of the chief altar, but scrambled out of it by the help of the churchwarden, as quickly as I had got in, for under that altar the ants seemed to have made their metropolis: the cavern was many feet long and wide, so that it had the appearance of a wine-cellar. As often as earth was thrown in by the Indians to fill it, so often was it dug out by the ants. In this universal trepidation, all the Indians were called to prop the gaping wall of the church with rafters and planks. The greatness of the danger rendered it impossible to remain quiet, whatever arts were adopted. That same night I removed from my apartment, which was joined to the church with the same beams and rafters in 334such a manner, that if one fell, the other could not avoid being involved in the ruin. I have read, that in Guayana, rocks and mountains have been undermined, walls thrown down, and people turned out of their habitations by ants, which I can easily believe, having myself witnessed similar, or even more incredible events.

In Paraguay I was made thoroughly acquainted with the powers of ants. They are weak, and, compared with many other insects, diminutive, but numbers, labour, and unanimity render them formidable, and endow them with strength superior to their size. In the plains, especially those near the Paraguay, I have seen ant-hills, like stone pyramids, three or more ells high, with a broad base, and composed of a solid material as hard as stone: these are the store-houses and castles of the ants, from the summits of which they discern sudden inundations, and safely behold the floating carcasses of less industrious animals. Elsewhere I have seen an immense plain, so covered with low ant-hills that the horse could not move a step without stumbling. In the plains you may often observe a broad path, through which you would swear the legions of Xerxes might have passed. The Spaniards hollow out these pyramidal heaps, and use them for ovens, or reduce them to a powder, 335which, mixed with water, serves admirably to floor houses. Pavements of this kind resemble stone in appearance and hardness, and are said to prevent the breeding of fleas, and other insects. But hear what mischief ants commit within doors. They flock in a long and almost endless company to the sacks of wheat, and in a journey uninterrupted by day or night, (if there be a moon,) carry off, by degrees, some bushels. They will entirely strip fruit trees of their leaves, unless you twist a cow's tail round the trunk to hinder their ascent, and eat away the crops so completely that you would think they had been cut with a sickle. Moreover, ants of various kinds are extremely destructive both to vineyards and gardens, devouring vegetables and pulse to the very root. Set a young plant in the ground and the next day you will seek it in vain. They refrain from pepper, on account of its pungency. If you leave meat, either dressed or raw, in your apartment, you will soon find it blackened with swarms of ants. They devour all sorts of trash, the very carcasses of beetles, toads, and snakes. On returning to my apartment, I found a little bird which I kept in a cage devoured by ants. Nor do they abstain from the bodies of sleeping persons. In the dead of the night an army of ants will issue from the wall or pavement, get upon 336the bed, and unless you instantly make your escape, sting you all over. This happened so frequently in the Guarany colonies, that we were obliged to burn a candle at night: for lighted sheets of paper thrown upon the swarm, are the only means of driving them away. The Portugueze have an old saying, that the ants are queens of Brazil. Certainly we have found them the sovereigns of Paraguay. There may be said to be more trouble in conquering these insects, than all the savages put together; for every contrivance hitherto devised serves only to put them to flight, not banish them effectually. Should you hire workmen at a great expense to throw fire upon the caves of the ants, and destroy their eggs, fresh ones will be found next day in other parts of the garden. If swine's dung, chalk, urine, or wild marjoram be put into their cave, they will depart, but only to dig themselves fresh habitations in the neighbourhood. Sulphur is superior to other remedies, and the way in which it is to be used we learnt from the Portugueze. You seek out the principal lurking-place of the ants, lay a chafing dish of lighted coals in the largest opening by which they enter the earth, blow them into a flame, and add sulphur to make a smoke. You carefully stop up the other openings, through which you perceive the smoke issue, with mud, 337that the sulphureous smoke may not be permitted to escape. You then light all the sulphur you have at hand, by means of bellows, and the smoke filling the whole cave will suffocate all the ants that lurk there. This has been successfully practised by many persons in Paraguay. But if sulphur be wanting in these solitudes, or patience to use it, then grapes and the productions of the trees and plains must fail also. The ants will devastate every thing, and elude all the arts of the cultivator, unless destroyed by the smoke of sulphur.

It were to wrong the Paraguayrian ants, if, after having so minutely described all the mischief they commit, I were to be silent on their benefits. Some of the larger sort have a little ball in the hind part of their bodies full of very white fat, which, when collected, and melted like butter, is eaten with pleasure both by Indians and Spaniards. Other very small ants, in those shrubs which bear the quabyra-miri, deposit a wax naturally white, and consisting of small particles, which is used to make candles for the use of the altar, and when lighted exhales an odour sweeter than frankincense, but quickly melts, and though double the price of any other wax is sooner consumed. There are also ants that convey to their caves particles of fragrant rosin, which serve for frankincense. In 338certain parts of Asia small particles of gold are collected by the ants, from mountains which produce that metal. The inhabitants, in order to get possession of the gold, attack their caves, the repositories of this treasure, especially in the heat of the sun; but the ants stoutly defending their riches, they often return empty-handed, and sometimes are obliged to make a precipitate retreat. I have long wished that those Europeans who have to feed larks and nightingales would come to this country, and load their ships with ant-eggs: they would certainly return with great profit, and at the same time do a signal service to America.

There are also incredible numbers of very large toads, especially in deserted, or but lately inhabited places. In the town of Concepcion, removed to the banks of the Salado, about evening all the streets were so covered with toads, that they were rendered as slippery as ice. They filled the chapel, our house, every place. They not unfrequently fell from the roof on to the floor, bed, or table. They could creep along the wall, and ascend and descend like flies. When the kitchen fire is kindled on the ground toads sometimes creep into the pans and kettles. Once, as I was pouring boiling water from a brass vessel into a gourd, to mix with the herb of Paraguay, I perceived that the 339water was bad, and of a black colour; and, on inspecting the vessel, found a toad boiled with the water, which had given it that dark hue, and was so swelled that it entirely choked up the mouth of the vessel. In the colony of the Rosary, which I founded on the banks of a lake, there was the same abundance of toads. Whilst I performed divine service the chapel swarmed with them, and though many were slain every hour of the day, for two years, their numbers seemed rather to increase than diminish. A species of toad, called by the Spaniards escuerzos, and much larger than European ones, are not only troublesome, but, when provoked, dangerous: for by way of revenge they squirt their urine at those by whom they are offended, and if the least drop of this liquid enter the eye it will immediately produce blindness. It is moreover indubitable that not only their urine, but their saliva, blood, and gall possess a poisonous property. We learn from creditable authors that the Brazilian savages roast toads, and then reduce them to a powder, which they infuse into the meat or drink of their enemies to cause their death; for it occasions a dryness and inflammation of the throat, together with vomiting, hiccups, sudden fainting, delirium, severe pains in the joints and stomach, and sometimes dysentery. Persons 340afflicted in this manner, if the force of the poison admit of medicine, should immediately have recourse to purging and vomiting, with repeated walking, or the bath, to produce perspiration. For the same purpose the sick man is sometimes put into a tolerably hot oven, or placed inside a beast that has been newly slain. Various herbs and roots are also made use of to dissipate the poison, the chief of which is one called nhambi. If the juice of this herb be thrown on the back or head of the toad, after those parts have been rubbed a little on the ground, it will instantly kill the pestilent animal. This also is effected by means of tobacco. American toads are of a cinereous or light red colour, sometimes variegated, covered with warts, and bristly like a hedgehog. I have read that certain savages feed on a species of toad, but never witnessed it myself. European physicians say that toads, properly prepared by druggists, are useful as diuretics in dropsy, plague, and fevers, and they advise a bruised toad to be applied to the back, about the kidneys, by way of a cataplasm, in cases of dropsy. The oil of toads is useful for curing warts, according to Woytz. River crabs, hartshorn, the flowers of the vine, and other things, are recommended by the same authors as remedies for the poison of toads. There is also a great variety 341and abundance of frogs, which croak away in the mud, equally annoying to the inhabitants and to travellers. In other respects they are neither useful nor prejudicial, though in Europe they are employed both as medicine and food; but there is nothing to which you would not sooner persuade an American than to eat frogs, or make any other use of them.

Leeches are always to be found in pools supplied solely with rain water; but I never saw any so large as ours. In the town of the Rosary, after a heavy shower the streets seemed full of leeches, and the Abipones, who always go barefoot, complained that they clung to their feet wherever they went; but in the space of an hour these troublesome guests all disappeared, having betaken themselves, most probably, to the adjoining lake. Of bats I have spoken in a former part of my history.

Paraguay may be called the Paradise of mice and dormice. From the number of oxen daily slain, such abundance of offal is every where to be had, that dormice, which in our country can hardly find anything to eat, here feast day and night, which, of course, must wonderfully increase their numbers. At Buenos-Ayres, to my astonishment, I beheld dormice, larger than our squirrels, issue by crowds out of the old walls into the court, about sun-set. At Cordoba in 342Tucuman, an ox, stripped of its hide and entrails, but entire in every other respect, was suspended from a beam in the clerk's office. The lay-brothers, on entering the office, beheld the ox entirely covered with dormice, and drew near to see how much they had devoured in the night. On handling the flesh, they found it completely hollowed, and three hundred dormice lurking within. Upon hearing this, I conceived such a disgust of meat gnawed by these animals, that for two days I carefully avoided the eating-room, and contented myself with bread alone. The fruit of my abstinence was, that the meat was thenceforward kept cleaner, and in a more appropriate place. An innumerable host of dormice not unfrequently came thronging from the southern parts of Buenos-Ayres, filled the fields, garners, and houses of Tucuman, and laid waste every thing. They swam across rivers without fear. They left the immense tract of plain country through which they took their way beaten and pressed as if by waggons. The Paraguayrian countrymen, frightened by their multitudes, chose rather to quit their huts, which were exposed on all sides, than take up arms against the foe. Nor should you imagine the Paraguayrian dormice are fond of nothing but beef; they delight in human flesh, for they frequently bite you when you are 343sound asleep, and that with no sluggish tooth. Moreover, there is no kind of trash which they will not steal and hide in their store-houses, to serve either for food or bed. They tear the silken markers out of the prayer-books to make their nests. They run off with aprons, bandages, stockings, linen and woollen articles of every kind, carrying them to their holes for bed-clothes and cushions. These troublesome pilferers not only commit daily thefts upon the inhabitants, but frequently set fire to the houses themselves. For they carry away burning tallow candles in their mouths, and in hastening to their caves, often set fire to the cottages of the Spanish peasants. They occasioned us much trouble in the colony of the Rosary. A light was forced to be kept up at night there on several accounts. When tallow was not to be had, I used oil expressed from cows' feet for this purpose. Almost every night the dormice snatched up the iron plate with the burning wick, in order to suck the oil when it cooled. To restrain their audacity, it was found necessary to bind the plate of the match to the lamp with a little brass chain, a weight of iron being added.

A most frequent, and almost annual calamity to Paraguay are the locusts, which are horrible to the sight and of immense size, being longer 344than a man's middle finger. When an infinite swarm of them approaches, a terrible darkness breaks from the farthest horizon, and you would swear that a black cloud pregnant with rain, wind, and lightning was drawing nigh. My Abipones, on such occasions, often snatched up arms, and placed themselves in battle array; for the locusts, beheld from a distance, looked like a cloud of dust stirred up by a troop of hostile savages. Wherever the locusts settle, they deprive the fields of their productions, the trees of their leaves, the plain of grass, and men and cattle of food; while the numerous offspring which they leave behind continue the devastation to another year, and create further misery. The army of locusts is prevented from flying to the ground, and feeding in the fields sowed with various kinds of grain, by the sound of drums, the shouting of voices, the firing of guns, and continual rustling of boughs in the air; if these methods fail of driving them away, all the men in the Guarany towns are employed in collecting and killing them. In one day we have often with pleasure beheld many bushels full of these insects, and have condemned them either to the fire or the water. The Abipones had rather eat locusts than drown or burn them; on which account, as they are flying, they knock them down to the ground with long sticks, roast 345them at the fire on the same, or on spits, and devour them with as much avidity as we do partridges or beccaficos, rejecting however the males. It has been my intention to treat here of all the noxious insects that occasion death, disease, or damage: but what a field should I have, were I also to describe the harmless ones both of the land and water. Good Heavens! what an abundance is there of flies, worms, bees, hornets, drones, and grasshoppers! What an immense diversity of glow-worms, shining here and there by night like stars! Some, which are about the size of a grass-worm, by moving their wings, others from their eyes alone, emit a light strong enough for one to read by. Some glow only behind, others in every part of their bodies. Wood, reeds, leaves, and roots of plants, when putrefied, scatter at night, particularly in moist places, a green, red, yellow, or blue radiance, resembling diamonds, emeralds, chrysolites, rubies, &c. This was a nightly spectacle to us in the woods between the rivers Acaray̆ and Monday̆. I carried some rubbish which I had observed to glitter in this manner, to my town, where it shone as long as it continued moist; when wetted, it regained its former splendour, which, however, ceased at last, in spite of fresh supplies of water. I never perceived phosphoric lights of this nature in 346any other part of Paraguay. Innumerable butterflies, of a beautiful variety of colours, adorn the sides of the rivers and woods, as flowers the meadows; but of these and other insects, many and accurate accounts have been already written, which are now in the hands of all. We must return to the Abipones, more destructive to Paraguay than any insect, who, though looked upon by the Spaniards in the light of robbers and murderers, do nevertheless profess themselves warriors and heroes; whether justly or no, I leave to the arbitration of my readers, to whom I shall proceed to describe their military discipline and method of warfare.

CHAPTER XXXIII. OF THE MILITARY DISPOSITIONS OF THE ABIPONES.

I am at a loss in what colours to paint the military dispositions of the Abipones; no word corresponds to the idea which long acquaintance with these savages has impressed on my mind. That the Abipones are warlike, prompt, and active, none even of the Spaniards ever doubted, but I should hesitate to call them valiant and intrepid. Cicero himself distinguishes an active from a brave man, in these words, 2. Philipp. Ut cognosceret te, si minus fortem, attamen strenuum. It is my purpose to write the history not the panegyric of the Abipones: I must therefore be sincere, and declare my real opinion, whatever it be.

Military fame is the principal object of the ambition of the Abipones. Their whole souls are bent upon arms. They can manage a spear, bow, and every kind of weapon with great dexterity, and ride on horseback with peculiar swiftness. No people with greater fortitude endures the hardships of war, the inclemencies of the sky, want of food, and the fatigues of travelling. They fearlessly swim across rivers formidable to 348sailors and ships. They look upon their wounds without a groan, and with as much indifference as they would upon those of another person. They are acquainted with all those arts which every European soldier admires, but which so very few practise. This alone is unknown to the Abipones, to despise death, and gain glory by encountering danger. They boast of martial souls, but are too unwilling to resign their lives. They are active, but can by no means be called brave, for a brave man would remain unterrified were the globe itself to fall in ruins, and would choose either to conquer or die. The Abipones always desire to conquer, but are never willing to die. They will curse a victory obtained at the expense of one of their countrymen's lives. They abhor triumphal hymns if mingled with funeral lamentations, and would reject a victory accompanied by the sighs of one mourning widow or orphan.

Certainly no one can accuse the Abipones of rashness in venturing their lives. Their chief adorations are paid to the goddess Security, the arbitress of their battles, without whose approving sanction they will never risk an engagement. They carefully avoid a contest of uncertain issue. They always threaten others, always fear for themselves, and trust nothing to chance. Before they undertake a warlike 349expedition, they carefully consider the nature of the place, the numbers of their enemies, and the opportunity of the time. Any danger, or the least suspicion of it, will strike the spear from their hands, and extinguish all their ardour. Agis, King of Sparta, boasted that his soldiers, in the heat of war, did not enquire the number and strength of their antagonists, but where they were, that they might attack and put them to flight. The Abipones are never hurried into a combat with such blind impetuosity as this. They proceed cautiously, nor do the trumpets sound till all things have been diligently examined. When assured of their safety, they rush on like thunder, imitating now the cunning of Hannibal, now the delays of Fabius. They know that the daring are favoured by fortune, but not unless they exercise a sagacious foresight with regard to dangers. As persons about to cross a threatening river, try the ford that they may not be carried away by the current; so they never approach their enemies till after mature deliberation, that they may secure an unimperilled victory. The timidity of the Americans gives the name of rashness to what Europeans call courage. They think long and often upon what is to be done once. They never strike a blow which they have not previously contemplated, 350and then it is with a hand trembling at every noise. They seldom attack openly, but do it in general unawares. They dare little against the bold who front assailants, and are accustomed to keep strict watch. They never fear less than when they perceive themselves the objects of fear. Craft, and the swiftness of their horses, more than strength, were what gave them the power to commit so many slaughters. Though you may object to their cowardice, yet that method of warfare is surely admirable, and agreeable to military tactics, which enabled them, with no loss, or a very trifling one of their own soldiers, to return home victorious, laden with the heads of the Spaniards, and triumphantly displaying crowds of captives, cattle, and other spoils taken from the enemy. Hæc ars, says Vegetius, dimicaturis est necessaria, per quam vitam retineant, et victoriam consequantur. For this purpose, heroes themselves have used a sword, and a shield, with the one to offend the enemy, with the other to defend themselves. Cunning, agility, and the swiftness of their horses, were a shield, nay, better than any shield, to the Abipones. If they see one or two of their fellow-soldiers fall, they immediately fly. When straitened, and deprived of all means of escape, fear is converted into rage, 351and they fight with the utmost obstinacy. I shall now proceed to treat of their arms, scouts, councils of war, military provisions, hostile expeditions, various modes of fighting, customs on obtaining a victory, and lastly, of the slaughters committed by them in every part of the province.

CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES.

No man can obtain celebrity amongst the Abipones except by warlike prowess. Hence to have their arms properly made, in good order, and ready when needed, is their chief care. To defend themselves, and offend their enemies, they principally make use of the bow and spear. Their native soil produces a kind of wood not to be met with in any other part of Paraguay, called neterge, which is of a red colour while fresh, and as hard as steel. They cleave this tree, cut out an oblong piece of wood, and shape it with a knife or a sharp stone. You would think it had been made by a turner. To straighten it they heat it every now and then by fire, and twirl it about between two logs of wood. By this method the Abipones make spears scarce smaller than the Macedonian pikes; for they are more than five or six ells in length, pointed at both ends, that if one end gets blunt, the other may still be of service, and also for the convenience of sticking the spear into the ground when they pass the night in the plain. Formerly when they were 353unacquainted with the very name of iron, they fought with wooden spears, fixing a cow's or stag's horn to the end of them by way of a point. But when the Abipones obtained iron points from the Spaniards, they dexterously inserted them into their spears, and used them to slaughter those from whom they had received them. When going to fight they grease the point of the spear with tallow, that it may enter more readily and deeper into the flesh. We have sometimes seen spears four palms deep in hostile blood, with such force had the Abipones driven them into the sides of the savages who attacked our colony. As their tents and huts are in general rather low, they fix their spears at the threshold of the door to have them always in readiness. By the number of spears you may know the number of warriors which the horde contains. As European generals, to conceal the scanty number of their forces, and to supply the want of warlike instruments, have sometimes placed machines of painted wood, on mounds, to frighten their more numerous adversary; we, in like manner, availing ourselves of the same species of cunning, fixed spears hastily made of reeds or wood, in the houses of the absent Abipones; deluded by which the enemies' scouts reported to their countrymen that the town was full of 354defenders. The Abipones are commendable not only for their skill in making their weapons, but also for their assiduity, in cleaning and polishing them. The points of their spears always shine like silver. I was often ashamed for the Spaniards, when I saw them furnished with mean, dirty, and incommodious arms, in the presence of the Abipones, who ridiculed their poverty and laziness. Most of them make use of a reed, a rude stake, a knotty club, the bough of a tree, or a twisted piece of wood, with a broken sword or knife tied to the end of it. The richer sort have guns, but generally bad ones, fitter to terrify than to slay the enemy; and moreover, you will find few able to handle them properly. Remember that I am speaking of the Spanish husbandmen who are ordered to fight against the savages; for you never see the regular troops without the cities of Buenos-Ayres and Monte-Video.

Bows as well as spears are made of the neterge. They are equal to a man's stature in length. When unbent, they are like a very straight stick, not being curved like the bows of the Turks and Tartars. The string of the bow is generally made of the entrails of foxes, or of very strong threads supplied by a species of palm. When about to shoot off their arrows, that they may be able to bend the cord forcibly without hurting their hands, they wear a kind 355of wooden gauntlet. The quiver is made of rushes, and adorned with woollen threads of various colours. The arrows, which are an ell and a palm in length, consist of a reed, to which a sharp point of bone, very hard wood, or iron is prefixed. Wooden points are more formidable than iron ones, but those of bone, which are made of a fox's leg, are the most to be dreaded of all; for they break in being extracted, and the part remaining in the body causes a swelling, and a very virulent ulcer, which leaves the wounded person no rest. Any wood, from being imbued with a kind of native poison, causes more pain and tumour than iron. The Abipones never poison their arrows, as is usual amongst many other people of America. The Chiquitos are dreaded by the neighbouring savages on this account, that if an arrow of theirs wound the outermost skin, and bring the least drop of blood, all the limbs will swell, and in the course of a few hours death will ensue. The deadly poison in which they dip their arrows, the Chiquitos, alone know how to prepare from the bark of an unknown tree, and to this day they reserve to themselves the knowledge of the cruel mystery. In hunting too they kill wild animals with arrows dipped in the same poison, and cutting out the wounded part of the body, eat them with safety, 356like the Guaranies, who fear not to feed on oxen stung to death by serpents, rejecting that part only which has been infected by the animal's tooth. Father Gumilla relates that the savages of the Orinoco prepare a most fatal poison to dip their arrows in.

The feathers which expedite the flight of the arrows are taken from the wings of crows, so that when the Abipones went out to shoot these birds we guessed that war was at hand. Each feather is tied on both sides, to the extremity of the reed, by a fibre of very slender thread. The Vilelas excite the admiration of all Paraguay by their skill in archery. They dexterously fasten the feathers to the arrow with a glue made from the bladder of the fish vagre, inserting the point very lightly into the reed; an artifice which renders their arrows extremely dangerous, because whilst the reed is extracted the point remains sticking in the flesh. The Guaranies, less curious in these matters, apply the feathers of parrots, or other birds, to their arrows. When more than four hundred shoot at a mark, at the same moment, and they go to gather them up, each knows his own by the colour of the feathers. Every nation, in short, has a peculiar fashion in forming bows and arrows. The shorter are more dangerous than the longer ones, inasmuch as they are more difficult to be seen and avoided; but the longer have the advantage 357of going to a greater distance, and striking with more force. It is certain that the Abipones are very skilful archers: they are accustomed to the bow from children, and even in infancy can shoot little birds on the wing. In sportive contests, when a reward was proposed to each of the winners, a citron placed at a considerable distance served for a mark. Considering the number of archers, very few missed their aim, to the astonishment of the Spaniards who witnessed such dexterity. The Guaranies are also reckoned very expert in this art.

The Abipones have a great variety of arrows. Some are longer and thicker, as being intended to kill larger beasts. The form of the points is also various. Some are plain and have a straight point; some are barbed either on one or both sides, and others armed with a double row of barbs. You can never extract an arrow of this kind from the flesh, unless you turn it about with both hands, by which means you will open a way to extricate the barbs, but with what pain! When the Abipones see the remains of an arrow occupying any fleshy part of the body, as the thigh, or arm, they cut out the piece of flesh with the inherent particle themselves. The Cacique Ychoalay, in a sharp contest with his rival Oaherkaikin, was dangerously wounded with a bone arrow, which stuck in the back 358part of his head, and breaking in being extracted, remained fixed there as firm as a nail. At our advice he visited Sta. Fè, to obtain the aid of a surgeon, who found it necessary to make an incision before he could lay hold of the bony arrow point with his forceps. The operation was successfully performed, but not without severe pain, which the Indian bore with the utmost fortitude, not allowing a single expression of pain to escape him; he even exhorted the surgeon, who, unwilling to inflict so much torture, was hesitating in his task, to proceed; "Do you see me shrink?" said he: "fear nothing, I beseech you; cut, pierce, do what ever you like with confidence. I have long been accustomed to pain, wounded as I have so often been with different weapons." At length when the bony point was extracted, such a quantity of blood gushed out, you would have thought an artery had been opened. The Indian beheld this with a calm countenance, and thanked his deliverer in the best terms he was master of.

Before entering a battle, they lay aside their finest arrows to be employed on the blow which they think of most importance, generally having one of tried virtue in readiness to defend themselves in urgent peril, or to slay some one whose death they particularly desire. When they wish not to kill, but to take alive, birds 359and other small animals, they use arrows furnished with a little ball of wood or wax, instead of a point: with this they stun and knock down the animal, but do not kill it. Whenever they are unable to direct the weapon straight to the mark, on account of some intervening obstacle, they shoot it archwise, giving it a curved direction, in the same manner as in besieging camps, balls of fire are cast from mortars. The Abipones stand in no need of these to set fire to houses; for they fasten burning cotton or tow to the ends of their arrows, and casting them against roofs of wood or straw, set fire to whatever they like, from ever so great a distance. Many towns of the Spaniards were reduced to ashes by this fatal artifice. In the town of the Rosary, I had the thatch of my house plastered over with thick mud to protect it from the flames cast by the arrows of the neighbouring savages. With the same view, I covered a wooden observatory, constructed for the purpose of watching the motions of the savages, with hides; nor did the contrivance disappoint my hopes.

The spear and the bow, though the chief arms of the Abipones, are not the only ones. They have a weapon composed of three stone balls, covered with leather, and fastened together by as many thongs meeting in one: this 360they whirl round, and then cast, with a sure aim, at men and beasts; by which means they are either killed or so noosed, as to prevent them from moving. This formidable weapon, which the Spaniards call las bolas, is much used by the southern savages. The lower orders of Spaniards, and all the Indians and Negroes, whenever they ride out are constantly seen with these balls hanging at their saddle or girth; indeed they are in very general use. I have spoken at large in the seventh chapter, of the wooden club macana, which they use at home for amusement, and abroad for killing men and beasts. The sling, in the use of which the Guaranies are so expert, is thought little of by the Abipones; amongst them it is only used by boys to knock down small birds with. They have a bow which, instead of a string, is furnished with a piece of cloth, three inches wide, and made of a material very like hemp; stretching this with the hand, they shoot off small clay balls, instead of arrows, to kill birds and other small animals. That wooden tube from which little balls or nails, furnished with silken or linen threads to aid their flight, are blown by the mouth, is unknown to the Abipones, but I am informed that it is used by certain Peruvian Indians dwelling amongst the Moxos and Baures. These people, not being provided with iron nails, put thick 361thorns imbued with a poisonous juice into a wooden tube, and blowing hard into it, aim them against wild beasts, and their enemies, by which means they slay them with impunity.

The Abipones are unacquainted with shields and targets, but they cover greatest part of their bodies with a sort of defence, made of an undressed anta's hide, a tiger's skin being sewed either in the in or outside; it is open in the middle, that the head may come through, and extended on each side as far as the elbows and middle; it is impenetrable to common arrows, but not to spears and bullets, though it somewhat diminishes their force. To this coat of mail they added a girth wider than a man's hand, of the dressed hide of the same animal, when they saw their leader Debayakaikin wounded in the belly with a spear. They make use of this armour when they have to fight with the other Indians. Most of them, however, expose their bodies entirely naked to the weapons of their enemies, and seem the more secure, as they are more expeditious in avoiding the fatal blow. For the weight and hardness of such armour prevents that agility, which, in their method of fighting, is of such importance to their safety, as much as its thickness protects the body. When they engage with the Spaniards they neglect their bow and wooden 362breastplates, which would be of little service against leaden bullets. In a strong spear, a swift horse, and a crafty ambuscade, they then place all their hopes of victory, and seldom engage on foot, unless absolutely obliged. They had rather combat the enemy from a distance, than close at hand, when they fear for their lives. They oftener kill piecemeal than with downright blows. Though the major part have either purchased swords from the Spaniards, or taken them in war, they seldom make use of them in skirmishing.

CHAPTER XXXV. OF THE SCOUTS, AND WAR COUNCILS OF THE ABIPONES.

Their method of warfare varies according to the adversaries they have to deal with. They adopt one mode of fighting against the Spaniards, another against savages like themselves. This, however, may be observed in general, that they are never precipitate in taking up arms against any one, nor ever hazard an attack unless confident of victory; though, like European generals, they are often deceived. Where they had looked for laurels, they reap deadly cypresses—they go out to seek wool, and return home shorn themselves. The fortune of war is always uncertain. After having determined upon a hostile expedition, they usually send out scouts to discover which way they are to go, and at what place begin the attack; to learn every particular respecting the number of their neighbours who might send supplies to their adversaries, and concerning the access to houses; carefully to examine the situation most convenient for an ambuscade, the places by which they might approach undiscovered, and whither, if need required, they might betake themselves 364for safety, together with the pastures of cattle, the number of guards, and other particulars of that kind. And so cunningly do these emissaries discharge their office, that they contrive to see all things, and be seen by none.

Leaving their horses for a while, either on the inaccessible bank of a river, or in the recesses of the woods, that they may not be betrayed by their means, they crawl along on their hands and feet, and lurking amongst boughs and bushes observe all things, both at a distance and close at hand. Concealed by the shades of night, they sometimes approach the very houses of the Spaniards, and listening, catch part of the conversation of the persons within; those even that are ignorant of the Spanish tongue, can at least discover, from the tone of the voices, whether the house contain more men or women. That their footsteps may not betray them, they fasten pieces of skin to their feet, by which artifice the marks of human tread are either disguised or destroyed. To obtain a view of distant objects, they frequently climb trees, or stand upright on their horses' backs. They generally send out two or three of these scouts, who separate at night, one taking one road, one another, first fixing upon a time and place to meet together again. That they may be able with the more certainty to 365keep their appointment, they imitate the voice of some bird or beast, as agreed upon beforehand, from which one may know and discover the other. But this artifice must be warily adopted; for if at night-time they imitate the note of a bird which is only heard by day, the Spaniards know it to be uttered by the scouts of the savages, and by timely cautions elude the hostile attack. Often one companion signifies to another that he has arrived beforehand by broken boughs of trees, or high grass knotted in various ways. None perform the office of spy with more success than those Abipones who in their childhood have been taken in war, and bred up by the Spaniards, and who have returned to their countrymen when grown up; for, besides that they are actuated by a stronger hatred to the Spaniards, and a keener thirst for vengeance, from their acquaintance with places, and with the Spanish tongue, they dwell for a time with impunity in the Spanish towns, and as they use the same dress and language, are universally taken for Spaniards. Secure by this artifice, even in mid-day, and in the public market-place, they survey every thing, and enquire about whatever it is their interest to know; learn what military men are absent, or preparing for departure; what waggons are laden with 366merchandise, and whither they are bound, so that they are afterwards easily plundered by the savages in those immense deserts; not one of the waggoners or guards being able to prevent the slaughter, as men of this description are in general but ill provided with arms, and still worse with courage.

The scouts, after having finished their journey and made an accurate report to their employers of all they have seen and heard, a council of war, and at the same time a drinking-party is appointed; for the Abipones think themselves ill fitted for deliberation with dry lips. The Cacique, the promoter of the expedition, in the course of the drinking, delivers his opinion on the affair, and enquires that of the rest. He animates his companions to carry on the thing with vigour, either by the example of their ancestors, or by the hope of glory or booty. Repeated draughts inflame both the bodies and minds of the drinkers: for the meed which they make of honey, or the alfaroba, immediately disorders the brain, like the strongest wine, an effect which is powerfully increased by the shouts of the intoxicated, by singing, and the noise of drums and gourds. The heroic deeds of their ancestors, and former victories, are generally the subjects of these savage songs. The spectacle is as ridiculous 367as it is possible to conceive. In every one of the Abipones, you would behold a thunderbolt of war. Each thinks himself a Hector, an Epaminondas, a Hannibal; and such they might be believed by all who beheld their faces covered with blood-red stains to render them more terrific, their arms and breasts full of scars, and their threatening eyes, and who listened to their ferocious and slaughter-breathing words. But could we look into their breasts, we should perceive that they were different within from what they appeared without. We should discover a shell without a kernel, an ass in a lion's skin, an ignis fatuus under thundering words, and vain rage unsupported by strength. Though, no longer masters of themselves, they crawl on the ground in a state of intoxication, at your bidding they will climb to Heaven itself, they will tear away the hinges of the globe, and had all the human race but one neck, like Caligula, they would end it at a blow. Were they as courageous in battle, as vaunting in their cups, they would long since have extinguished the race of Spaniards in Paraguay. But as some one has observed, drunken bullies are better trumpeters than soldiers. They are all empty sound. Amidst their cups and their songs they are bold as lions, but in battle more cowardly than hares.

368Whenever an Abipon dies by the hand of an enemy, the nearest relation of the deceased takes upon him to avenge his death. It is his business to invite his countrymen and hordesmen, or even the inhabitants of another horde, to join their arms with his, to lead them against the enemy, and, when the attack is made, to go first into battle. As they lend assistance to friendly nations, they seek it in turn from them, either when they are preparing for war, or when they apprehend it from others whom they deem themselves unequal to contend with alone. But, as Europe so often experiences, little confidence is to be placed in auxiliary forces. The friendship of the Indians is notoriously fickle and unsteady; for, as they enter into alliance merely with a view to their own advantage, they will suddenly turn their backs on their greatest friends, should the hope of the smallest emolument preponderate.

CHAPTER XXXVI. OF THE HOSTILE EXPEDITIONS, PROVISIONS, AND CAMPS OF THE ABIPONES.

It is a remarkable circumstance that the military expeditions which they conclude upon when intoxicated, they faithfully execute, at the appointed time, when sober. Not only are they destitute of almanacs, they even have no names for the days and months. They know, however, without the danger of mistake, on what day the moon will begin, when it will be at full, and when it will be on the wane. They use these changes of the moon as a measure of time to determine expeditions, so that though distant many days' journey the parties assemble at the appointed day, and even meet at the very precise hour that had been agreed upon. For though they have no names for the hours, and no machine to point them out, they supply these deficiencies by their fingers, with which they point to that part of the sky which the sun or moon or some nightly star will occupy at the period of meeting. When the moon is on the wane, they generally judge it a fit time for a journey, that they may set out under the cover 370of darkness, and incur less risk of detection: on their return, if they are obliged to make it in haste, they wish that luminary to be on the increase. They generally begin a journey about mid-day, and in different companies, meeting together in the evening at some appointed place.

A European prince, when about to engage in a war, wants more than lead and iron: he stands in need of gold and silver wherewith to procure provisions, and pay his troops. The chieftain of the Abipones has no care of this kind: every one of his soldiers is furnished with plenty of horses, a formidable spear, a bow, and a bundle of arrows. These are their only instruments of war. The severed heads of the Spaniards, thousands of horses and mules taken from their estates, children torn from their mothers' bosoms, and the glory derived from these, serve both for the rewards and trophies of the fighting Abipones. Though the colony which they purpose to attack be more than two hundred leagues distant, they each drive but two horses before them, and ride upon a third. They do not judge it expedient to begin a journey laden with provisions. They carry nothing either for meat or drink. Formerly they are said to have had roasted rabbits for provisions, but that was when they were less exercised in hunting, being unprovided with horses. Now the Abipones 371kill any animal they meet for food, with the spear they carry in their hands. That each may hunt more expeditiously, and obtain more booty, they separate their ranks, unless suspicious of the enemy's being close upon them, and disperse themselves over the plain, afterwards assembling to pass the night or mid-day together. For they know what situations afford the best opportunities of getting wood and water, and where they may safely lurk without fear of secret hostilities.

They think gourds and horns, which are used for flaggons and drinking-cups in Paraguay, a superfluous burden: for they can either take up water in the hollow of their hands, or stoop, and drink it like dogs. Pools and deep rivers are often at hand, but their salt and bitter waters are fitter to torture the stomach, than quench the thirst. They consider an iron knife, and a pebble to sharpen it, necessary instruments on a journey; as also two sticks, by the mutual attrition of which they can elicit fire even while sitting on horseback. Of these trifles consists the whole furniture of the Abipones, happy in being able to dispense with all that luggage and those waggons which in Europe are justly called the impediments of the army, and leeches of the treasury. Our Abipones pass the day and night in the open air, and are either parched 372with heat, or drenched with rain of many days' continuance. They expose their bare heads to the burning sun; they strip their shoulders, breasts, and arms of the garment of sheep's or otters' skins, and had rather endure the stings of gnats, than the perspiration caused by the fervid heat of the air. A turf is their bed at night, a saddle their pillow, and the sky their covering. Every one waits upon himself, nor does the leader employ any one else to prepare his food, or saddle his horse. If they have to cross wide rivers or vast lakes, they need neither bridge nor boat. When it is no longer fordable they leap from their horses into the water, strip themselves, hold up their clothes at the end of their spear in the left hand, and using the right, with which they grasp the reins of their horse, for an oar, struggle to the opposite bank.

In the commencement of a journey they daily send out scouts in all directions, who, if they discover any traces of a foreign nation or any mark of hostile designs, immediately announce it to their fellow-soldiers. They generally choose a situation to pass the night in, which, being guarded behind, and on both sides by a lake, river, or thick wood, renders access difficult; where they cannot be surrounded on a sudden; and where a few can repel or elude the attacks of a great many. They lie down in a semicircular 373form. Each has his spear fixed at his head, and four or five keep up a fire burning in the midst, unless fear of the enemy obliges them to refrain from this comfort, lest the blaze or the smoke should betray them: though on some occasions, it was of use to multiply fires, in order to deceive the enemy; for from the number of them the number of men passing the night thereabout is usually argued. By this artifice Cortez is said to have imposed upon the Mexicans. Whilst some are indulging in sleep, others, appointed to keep watch, scour the plain on horseback, both for the purpose of bringing back the scattered horses, and, on the approach of danger of admonishing their sleepy comrades by sound of trumpet. I have been astonished to see with what activity and fidelity they performed all the offices of watchmen in our colonies. Whole nights have they spent in riding up and down the plains adjacent to the town, even in very boisterous weather, whenever the slightest rumours were spread of the approach of the enemy. By the nightly sound of horns and trumpets they signified that they were on the alert, and, by showing the enemy that their intentions were discovered, prevented them from making the attack: for it is usual with the savages never to attempt any thing except against the unprepared. During the whole 374seven years that I spent amongst the Abipones, I regularly found that whenever we passed sleepless nights in arms, for fear of an enemy, not so much as the shadow of one ever approached; and that when none of us suspected any thing hostile, a formidable swarm of savages fell upon our colony. An enemy is never more to be dreaded than when he is feared the least.

CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE ASSAULT, AND THE MEASURES PRECEDING IT.

Highly to be admired are the anxious precautions with which they precede an attack. They minutely premeditate whatever is likely to befall them. That they may not be deceived in their opinions, they make one of their jugglers the ruler of the expedition, whom, as endued with the knowledge of things future and absent, they consult on all occasions, and, madly credulous, revere as the Delphic Apollo. Should the event prove contrary to the juggler's predictions, not one of them will blame or even distrust him. Though he were to commit blunders every day, he would still carry home a considerable portion of the spoils, the reward of his mendacity. If an attack is to be made next day, they contemplate the situation of affairs in every point of view, nor ever apply their minds to the execution of a project, till convinced of its being devoid of danger. They leave the drove of superfluous horses with persons to guard them, in a place out of sight. They stain their faces with various colours, to excite terror, 376and for the same purpose some wear a crown of parrots' feathers, others a red cap sparkling with beads of glass, or snails' shells, and others again place an enormous vulture's wing on their heads. I knew an Abipon who wore the skin of a stag's head, branching with horns, by way of a helmet, whenever he was going to fight, and another who tied the beak of a tuncà to his nose before he entered into an engagement. I always observed that those persons who were most solicitous about rendering their persons terrible to others, had the least courage themselves. The most intrepid, neglecting these precautions, await the weapons of the enemy quite undefended, though they always paint their faces. All sit half naked on the bare back of the best horse they possess, and, in place of a bridle, use a thong fastened to the animal's jaws. They throw away all heavy things, and whatever may retard the speed of the horse, that they may be able to make or avoid an attack with more celerity.

The most favourable time for an assault, in their apprehension, is either the beginning or end of the day, when there is just light sufficient to enable them to distinguish all objects. For at dawn or twilight they find more men at home to slay, and those oppressed with sleep: whereas in the day they are generally absent on business. 377But as the morning or evening have generally been chosen for committing slaughters, the Spaniards began to account those times dangerous, and by vigilant care to defeat the machinations of the savages. Perceiving which, the Abipones thought proper to depart from their usual custom, and often fell upon us at noon, when we were suspecting nothing of the matter. The Mocobios and Tobas followed their example, so that, in the Abiponian colonies, we could reckon no part of the day secure from hostile designs. They scarcely ever venture to make an attack at night, however, for in dark places they fear that some person may be concealed to kill them. Entering my apartment to pay me a friendly visit, when it happened to be destitute of light, they were immediately alarmed, and fearfully exclaimed, Kemen nenegin greërigi! How black your house is! But they are not afraid of the dark in the open plain, when they want to drive away horses, watch, explore the country, or do any thing else there. It is peculiar to the Guaycurùs to break into the colonies and commit their ravages by night; they secretly send forward some of their people to pluck up the stakes fixed in the ground for the security of the place, that the rest of the company may obtain access while the inhabitants are fast asleep, and dreaming 378of any thing but the impending slaughter. It is on this account that the Guaycurù nation has been so universally formidable. Moreover, the Abipones do not always conduct their assaults in the same manner. If a colony of Christians is to be attacked, they approach secretly by some unknown way, and without noise. They block up all the ways with many rows of horse, that no place of escape may be left to the inhabitants. Others on foot break open the doors of houses; but if they judge this perilous they set fire to the buildings from a distance by shooting arrows headed with burning cotton or tow against them, and if the roofs be covered with straw or any material of that kind, they immediately burn, and wrap the inhabitants in flames; thus, all who rush out are slain by the savages, and all who remain within are burnt to death; and it is as certain as it is incredible, that the weapons of the savages are more dreaded than the fire. In the town of Iago Sanchez, near Corrientes, a church, with the priest officiating at the altar, some Indian women and children, and a few men, was burnt to ashes. At other times the Abipones, having slain or captivated all the inhabitants, carry off whatever may be of service to them; they even take away many things, with the use of which they are unacquainted, that the Christians may derive 379no benefit from them, though they soon after break them to pieces, or throw them into some river.

Whenever the Abipones think fit to attack the bands of the Spaniards, they rush upon them on their horses, not in close ranks, like the Europeans, but in various parties, so that they can attack their adversaries at once in front, behind, and on both sides, and extending their spears above their horses' heads, kill all they meet. They strike a blow, but that they may not receive one in turn, leap back as quick as they came, and presently resuming courage, return again and again into the ranks. Every one is his own leader; every one follows his own impulse. They can turn their horses round in various circles, with the utmost swiftness, having them wonderfully under their command. They can suspend their bodies from the horse's back, and twist them about like a tumbler, or, to prevent themselves from being wounded, conceal them entirely under the horse's belly. It is by this art chiefly that they escape the leaden bullets of the Spaniards; for by continually changing their position, they deceive and weary the eye of him that is taking aim at them with a gun. They condemn the stationary fighting of the European soldier, and call it madness in a man to stand and expose his 380breast as a mark to the flying balls. They boast that their quickness in assaulting and evading the blow, is the most useful part of the art of war. Whoever is aware of the volubility of the savages, will never fire till quite sure of hitting them; for after hearing a harmless report, without seeing any of their comrades fall, they will cast away their dread of European arms, and grow more daring than ever; but as long as they see you threatening them with a gun, they will continue to fear, more anxious to save themselves than to kill others.

The examples of our own age show that rashness in firing has been the destruction of many,—circumspect and provident delay the salvation of no fewer. It may be as well to give a few instances of this. In the territory of St. Iago del Estero, about dawn a troop of Abiponian horse descended from a steep and precipitous rock, and attacked a town of the Spaniards, called Las Barrancas; nor was it any difficult matter for them to slay the sleeping inhabitants. The Captain, Hilario, awakened by the yelling of the savages, and the groans of the dying, occupied the threshold of his house, keeping a gun always pointed at the enemies. Not one of them dared approach him. By this threatening action alone, he preserved himself and his little daughter alive amidst the deaths of so many of his neighbours. 381Another Spaniard, in the territory of Corrientes, seeing the court-yard of his house, which was but slightly fortified with stakes, surrounded by Abipones, turned his gun, perhaps not loaded, towards them, threatening first one, then another, by turns. This was more than sufficient to frustrate the intended assault of the Abipones. I knew a captain named Gorosito, who did much service amongst the soldiers of St. Iago. He made use of a gun from which you could not expect a single spark of fire, and on being asked why he did not have it repaired, replied that he thought that unnecessary. "It is sufficient," said he, "to show even a useless gun to the savages, who, not knowing it to be defective, are terrified at the very sight of it. Furnished with this gun, I have gained not only security, but glory, in many skirmishes." But I have no occasion for the testimonies and experience of others, having myself so often frightened away troops of assaulting savages, armed with a gun which I never once fired.

On the other hand, how dangerous a thing it is to fire guns inconsiderately, we have often found on various occasions, but above all in a new Indian colony, where a few garrison soldiers guarded the borders of Tucuman, on account of the frequent incursions of the savages. 382This little town, the rebellious Mataguayos attacked about evening with all sorts of weapons. The soldiers, seized with a sudden trepidation, discharged all the fire-arms they could lay hands on at the savage band, but to their own injury, not that of the enemy, who, leaving their adversaries no time to load afresh, set fire to the houses with arrows headed with burning tow, and pierced the soldiers, who fled from thence into the court-yard, with barbed darts. Two Jesuit priests, who officiated there, Fathers Francisco Ugalde and Romano Harto, whilst attending to the salvation of the dying soldiers, underwent the fury of the savages within the palisadoes of the house. The first was mortally wounded with arrows, and buried in the ruins of the burning chapel, where he was entirely reduced to ashes, one little bone alone remaining, to which funeral honours were afterwards paid elsewhere. That his soul was received into Heaven is the opinion of all who are acquainted with his exceeding piety and mild integrity of conduct. Father Romano Harto, his companion, though wounded with two arrows which pierced deep into his side, crept under cover of night from the palings of his house into a neighbouring wood, and escaped the eyes and murderous hands of the savages. Weltering 383in blood, and tortured by the pain of his wounds and the burning thirst it occasioned, he passed the night out, of doors amongst the trees, during a furious tempest of rain, wind, and thunder. No one was at hand to lend him any aid. At day-break, crawling out into the plain, by God's mercy he espied a soldier who had fled from the massacre of the day before, and who carried him on his horse to the Spaniards at a very great distance, where he was completely healed. What, let me ask, was the occasion of so many deaths, and of so tragic an event? The unseasonable haste of a few soldiers in discharging their guns. The empty noise struck the air alone, and gave such courage to the Indians, that, laying aside fear, they rushed on more boldly, and denied the Spaniards the necessary time for loading their guns afresh. It was said, moreover, that many were destitute of gunpowder, and all certainly were so of courage, panic-struck at the sudden arrival of the savages, the burning of the houses, and the sight of so many deaths. The assaults of the savages must be repelled promptly but providently. Arms must be immediately resorted to, but something must always be reserved for the sudden chances of war: as the Indians, intent upon every opportunity of committing mischief, easily overcome the unarmed or those that 384manage arms unskilfully. Thus, if thirty artillery soldiers should undertake the defence of a station, they ought to be divided into three ranks, so that ten might fire their guns upon the enemy, ten load, and the others reserve an equal number loaded. By which means they would always have time to load their guns, and the Indians would never want cause for fear. By the careful observance of this method, thirty artillery soldiers might be found sufficient to rout and put to flight three hundred Americans. But if three hundred artillery-men were to fire all their guns at once, without killing any of the enemy, they, on the other hand, might be overcome by thirty savages. For the Abipones, like most of the Americans, are intimidated by the most trifling slaughter of their companions: if but one or two of them fall, the rest instantly take to flight, esteeming life far above the honour of victory. How comes it then that they are so dreaded by other nations? I will explain this in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. BY WHAT MEANS THE ABIPONES RENDER THEMSELVES FORMIDABLE, AND WHEN THEY ARE JUSTLY TO BE DREADED.

Naturally fearful, they render themselves formidable by art. They make up for the want of native bravery by the noise of their trumpets, the craftiness of their ambuscades, by their astonishing swiftness, their painted faces, and many-coloured plumes. They adorn their heads with feathers of various birds, either erected like a crest, or bearing the appearance of a crown. They paint their faces sometimes white or red, but more commonly black. Soot, scraped from pans and kettles, is generally used for this purpose. In travelling, when soot is not to be got, they make a fire, and use its smoke and ashes to paint themselves with. The fruit of the tree Urucuy̆ furnishes them with materials for a red paint: but on sudden occasions they prick their tongues with a thorn, and daub their faces with the blood that flows plenteously from the wound. They do not all paint in the same pattern. Some darken the forehead only, some one cheek, and some both. Some streak the whole face with 386spiral lines; others only make two circles round the eyes; and others again blacken the whole of the face. This custom is common to many other nations of Paraguay, especially the equestrian ones.

The Abipones render themselves formidable to the eyes, as well as to the ears of their enemies; for they prelude every battle with trumpets, flutes, horns, and clarions, differing in sound, materials, and form. The horn instruments bellow, the wooden ones clatter, and those of bone, which are made of the leg of some large bird or quadruped, emit a very shrill whistle, while those of reeds have a ridiculous creaking sound. Others again, consisting of the tail of the armadillo, to which a reed is prefixed, fill the whole air, to a great distance, with a horrible roaring. I want words to describe the construction and use of all the different trumpets. This is very certain, that the Abipones have more trumpeters than soldiers in their armies. These terrible-sounding instruments they accompany with a savage howl, made by striking their lips with their hands. When rushing to battle they cry aloud, Laharàlk! Laharàlk! Let us go, let us go; as the Guaranies say, Yahà! Yahà! and the Mocobios, Zokolák! Zokolák! Whilst the Abipones are in battle, they carry their eyes to every side of the 387field, to aim, or avoid weapons, and with a hoarse and tremulous voice threateningly repeat Hò-Hò-Hò, by which they endeavour to provoke the enemy, and excite themselves to anger. In European camps also, trumpets, pipes, and drums are doubtless used to animate and govern the army, and to inspire fear into the enemy. But no one will deny that more victories have been gained by silence than by noise. Would that the Spaniards of Paraguay would bear this in mind! for they, like the savages, begin the attack with loud vociferations. Barreda, General of the St. Iagans, often complained to me that he could never induce his soldiers to refrain from shouting when they attacked the hordes of the savages, and to approach them in silence and by stealth, that being caught unawares, they might be prevented from taking either to flight or arms.

It is much to be lamented that the terrific appearance and horrid clamours of the savages are dreaded so greatly by the Spanish countrymen of Paraguay. We have often seen not only their ears and eyes struck, but their minds disturbed to such a degree, that losing all self-possession, they thought no longer of methods whereby to repel force by force, but eagerly watched for an opportunity of flight to provide for their lives, though not for their fame or 388security: for the savages grow more daring the more they are feared and fled from. In the towns themselves how often has a trepidation arisen, when the inhabitants, frequently from mere report alone, understood that the Abipones, rendered terrible by their blackened faces and their whole accoutrement, were flying thither on swift horses, shouting to the deadly sound of trumpets, brandishing an enormous spear in their right hands, laden with bundles of arrows, breathing fire and slaughter, and with their ferocious eyes threatening an hundred deaths, captivity, and wounds. You might have seen crowds pacing up and down, and lamenting approaching death, before they had even from a distance beheld the enemy from whom they were to receive it. Not only the unwarlike sex, but men distinguished with military titles, flew to the stone churches, and to the most hidden retreats; while, had they dared to show their faces, and present a gun to the enemy, the savages would easily have been put to flight, and their panic terror would have ended in laughter. Not many years ago it was reported one Sunday afternoon in the city of Buenos Ayres, that a numerous company of Southern savages had rushed into some street of the city. The fear excited by this false rumour so occupied the minds of all, that they ran up and down 389the streets almost distracted, uttering the most mournful cries. In hurrying to a place of more security, one lost his wig, another his hat or cloak, from the violence of his haste. Meantime the garrison troops, who had been sent to search the whole city, announced that not a shadow or vestige of the enemy was to be found; tidings which restored serenity to the disturbed minds of the inhabitants, and filled them with shame for their foolish alarm. Scenes of this kind were extremely frequent in the cities of Sta. Fè, Cordoba, Asumpcion, Salta, &c. whilst the savages were overrunning the province with impunity. A ridiculous event that took place in the city of Corrientes is peculiarly worthy of relation. About evening a report was spread that a troop of Abipones had burst into one of the streets, and was employed in slaughtering the inhabitants. Upon this news numbers crowded to the church, which was furnished with strong stone walls. The head captain himself, an old man, mingled with the crowd of lamenting females, and gave himself up to groans and prayers. "Here, here," said he, "in the house of the Lord, and in the presence of Jesus Christ, must we die." Indignant at words so unbecoming a soldier, the secular priest, a brave man in the prime of his years, exclaimed as he arrived, "I swear by Christ 390that we shall not die. The enemies must be sought and slain." So saying he leapt upon a horse, and armed with a gun hastened to succour that part of the city where the enemies were said to be raging. But lo and behold! when he arrives there, he finds the inhabitants all sound asleep, not even dreaming of the Abipones! Such was the terror excited in the Paraguayrians, not merely by the figures and presence of the Abipones, but by the very report of them.

Two things which long experience has taught me, I greatly wish impressed on the minds of all. The first is, that the Indians are never less to be dreaded than when they present themselves most terrible, and with the greatest noise. For all that frightful preparation only betrays the fears of the savages. Distrusting their courage, strength, and arms, they think that paint of various colours, feathers, shouting, trumpets, and other instruments of terror, will forward their success. But any one with a very moderate share of courage, and stock of armour, will despise all this as unworthy of fear. This is my first maxim. My second is, that the Indians are never more to be feared than when they seem most afraid. They sometimes lurk concealed, uttering no sound, and giving no intimation of their presence; but this silence is 391as sure a prognostic of an attack, as a calm is, in the ocean, of an impending storm. They arrive on a sudden, and surprize the self-secure. They imitate death, whose ministers they are, by coming when least expected. In the heat of battle, the Abipones often take to flight, in the design of enticing the Spaniards to pursue them, that they may slay them, when they are separated and their ranks disturbed, though unable to do so as long as they are in order. Hence it not unfrequently happens, that they who thought themselves the victors are vanquished by the fugitives. They fly to marshes, woods, winding-ways, defiles of mountains, rocks, or bushes, which places the excellence of their steeds, and their skill in riding and swimming enable them quickly to cross; while the pursuing Spaniards, incumbered by their clothes and baggage, and often destitute of proper horses, are easily pierced with spears whilst separated from one another, and struggling with the water, the mud, and the other difficulties of the way. Not to mention other artifices, after committing slaughters, plundering houses, and killing the inhabitants, the Abipones feign departure, and seem to be hastening their flight; but when they are supposed many leagues distant, renew the assault, surprize the surviving Spaniards, and kill all they can. So that it is a certain fact, 392that the Indians are never more formidable than when they seem most afraid.

A very small number of Abipones are to be feared by the Spaniards, however numerous, if they be reduced to straits, surrounded on every side, and left no way of escape; for then they dare the utmost in their own defence. They convert every thing they lay their hands on into weapons. Terror inspires them with sagacity and courage, and consequently is more to be dreaded than the most magnanimous spirit. I have many instances of this in my mind, but it will be sufficient to relate three. An Abipon, with arrows, and, when these were consumed, with sticks, supplied him by his wife, did so much execution against the soldiers of St. Iago, by whom he was surrounded, that he maintained his post, and when, after many wounds inflicted and received, he fell at length, was highly extolled for his valour by the very Spaniards against whom he had fought. Nachiralar̂in, Chief of the Yaaucaniga Abipones, spread the terror of his name throughout the colonies of Paraguay. Accompanied by a crowd of his followers, called Los Sarcos, or more properly Garzos, from their grey or blue eyes, Nachiralar̂in afflicted the country of Cordoba, Sta. Fè, Corrientes, and Paraguay, for many years, with slaughter and pillage, till he was at length taken 393and slain at the shores of the Tebiguary̆, by two hundred soldiers from Asumpcion. Shut up and besieged in a wood with fourteen Abipones, he fought with such obstinacy against the company of Spaniards, that he did not fall till after a contest of several hours. Some of his fellow-soldiers could not be prevented from escaping. It was never without disgust that I heard this victory boasted of by those present at the engagement; you would have thought they were speaking of the bloody battles of Thrasymene, Caudinæ Furculæ, Blenheim, &c. Certainly the leader Fulgentio de Yegros obtained great celebrity at that expedition, and was afterwards raised to the highest honours in the army, and to the government of the province itself. Add to these instances, that twenty wood-Abipones when attacked in the open plain by three hundred Christian Mocobios and Abiponian catechumens, chose to lose their lives before they would quit their station. Incredible is the obstinacy with which these few contended against numbers. The place which they had chosen at the beginning of the fight they every one occupied in death. From this it is evident, that a few, though inferior in number, arms, and strength, may prove formidable to a multitude, if, besieged by a surrounding company, and confined by the narrowness of the place, they 394have no room left them for escape. Scipio judged wisely that a flying enemy should be allowed a passage. This precept is generally obeyed by the Paraguayrian Spaniards, who often yielded the savages more liberty of escape than need required. This Barreda found in an hundred expeditions which he headed against the Abipones and Mocobios. These savages display much prudence in the choice of the situation of their hordes. They generally choose a place which has a wood close behind, a lake, river, or marsh in front, and pasture for their horses on both sides. Barreda told me that whenever hordes so situated were to be attacked, he ordered his men to besiege them on the part towards the wood, that the savages might not, as usual, find their security there; but that the soldiers never obeyed his orders, well knowing that if they deprived the enemy of an opportunity of escape they should have a most dangerous conflict, and a very doubtful victory.

CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THOSE WHO GO UNDER THE NAME OF SPANISH SOLDIERS IN PARAGUAY.

Whenever I make mention of the Paraguayrian soldiers, do not imagine that I am speaking of the regular disciplined troops, which are quartered no where but on the shores of the Plata, to guard the cities of Buenos-Ayres, and Monte-Video. The cavalry are often ordered out against the southern savages, while the infantry are employed in ships to hinder the contraband trade on the river Plata. In all the other colonies throughout Paraguay, the colonists themselves take up arms, whenever the hostile incursions of the savages are to be repelled, or others made against them. The territory belonging to every city contains some companies of undisciplined soldiery, each of which is commanded by a master of the camp (maestre de campo,) and a chief captain of the watch, (sargento mayor.) The commander-in-chief is the Vice-Governour, who is likewise the head Judge. Moreover, there is in every city a company of what are called reformed captains, whose business it is to accompany the Vice-Governour, 396in every expedition, in the capacity of life-guards. Many of these are merely honorary, never having discharged the duties of captains, or even of soldiers. They purchase the title, that they may be exempted from the burden of war, being only called out to attend the Vice-Governour. All the rest are summoned to warlike expeditions either by the Governour, or Vice-Governour. They receive neither pay nor clothing from the King, and are obliged to furnish their own arms, horses, and food, whenever, and as long as the military commander thinks fit.

Every age and every country has found the soldiers of Spain abundantly brave and active. To deny this would be to wrong that most noble and glorious nation. That the Spanish name, therefore, may receive no blemish from what I am going to write of the Paraguayrian soldiers, it must be observed that all those who boast of a Spanish name in Paraguay, are not in reality Spaniards. Amid such a diversity of nations, very many are born of Moors, Indians, and a Spanish mother; of an Indian or Moorish mother, and a Spanish father; or of a mixed race of them all. A yellow or darkish complexion, a beardless chin, and a mat of woolly, curling black hair, plainly denote very many to be of African or American origin. 397The other European Spaniards born in Paraguay say, by way of contempt, O es del Inga, ò del Mandinga, you are sprung either from Indians or Negroes: for the King of Peru was formerly called the Inga, or Inca, and Mandinga is a province of Negroland, beyond the river Niger in Africa.

Of such various kinds of men are the military forces composed in Paraguay. As most of them, though ennobled by a Spanish name, are very far remote both from Spain and from Spanish intrepidity and love of arms, what wonder if these unwarlike and beardless soldiers are slaughtered by the savages like so many barrow-pigs? They are worthy both of excuse and pity, for, besides being unprovided with proper arms, they have no skill in handling them. Except the arts of swimming and riding, they are entirely ignorant of the laws of war, and of military discipline. Moreover, the Cordoban soldiers are unable even to swim. The major part of them, when called out against the savages, for spears, make use of the rude knotty stakes which the woods afford, and if to these be added the remains of a broken dagger, or knife, then, indeed, they think themselves as well armed as Mars or Hercules. None but the richer sort have guns, which are generally very dear, sometimes not to be 398purchased. I have often seen carbines sold at Buenos-Ayres for five-and-twenty Spanish crowns, or fifty German florins a-piece. The more distant the colonies are from the market of Buenos-Ayres, the higher their price becomes; in the cities of St. Iago, Asumpcion, Corrientes, &c. not very handsome guns have been sold for forty, or even sixty crowns. If any part of the gun get out of order, you will rarely find a smith to repair it: hence the guns which many of the soldiers carry, are often in such a condition, that you would sooner obtain water from a flint than a spark of fire from them. They are liable to be spoiled in various ways; for, in long journeys, they get knocked against trees and stones, or wetted by the rain, or injured in some way or other, as the nights are always to be passed in the open air, often in rainy weather; vast rivers and marshes to be swam across, and rugged woods and rocks to be ridden over: in consequence of which the fire-arms, from not being well taken care of, are frequently spoiled. Add to this the frequent scarcity or damage of the various articles required for loading and charging them, and that the flint very often proves useless. Paraguay produces plenty of excellent flint, but you can never meet with any one who knows how to split it properly, and fit it for use. In our 399times even, whenever some hundreds of soldiers fiercely approached the stations of the savages, either the steel was rusty and would not explode, or the gunpowder so moist as to prevent its blazing, so that very few were able to discharge their guns. I could fill pages with facts of this kind, but will only relate two of the more recent ones. A handful of Abipones were overrunning the territory of St. Iago. Thirty soldiers were sent to observe their motions, but being suddenly attacked by the savages, who had lain in wait for them, were every one miserably slain. They had passed the night in the open air, and as the guns were very badly taken care of, the copious dew so moistened the gunpowder, that Vesuvius itself would not have been able to kindle it. This slaughter was effected by twenty Abiponian youths. Two hundred soldiers, headed by Fulgentio de Yegros, attacked the hordes of the Tobas. I was astonished to hear the captains, on their return from this expedition, lamenting that at the very moment of the savages' assault, they had found their muskets unmanageable, and quite useless, either from rust or wet. They had spent greatest part of the night in a field, amongst trees dropping with plenteous dew, that at day-break they might steal unobserved to the enemy's station.

It is well known to us, and can be surprizing 400to no one, that the undisciplined, and temporary soldiers of Paraguay, are accustomed neither to the keeping, nor handling of weapons. They have been employed all their lives in different arts and occupations. Unless a man be previously instructed in military discipline, who can expect him to prove a proper soldier in the camp? Many go out against the savages who are soldiers and Spaniards in name only. If any of the colonists, more respectable by birth and fortune, and better furnished with arms and skill to use them, are summoned to attend an expedition, they usually hire very bad substitutes. Others, that they may not be separated from their families, and exposed to the weapons of the enemy, bribe the captains to pass them over; in consequence of which, those who are worst provided with arms, and most ignorant of the military art, principally feel the burden of the war, and are sent to oppose the savages, to the great detriment of the province, and disgrace of the Spanish name. Because the lower orders are poor, they are ordered to fight, while the more opulent are left at home to take care of their estates: and as they are forced out to the service again and again, and obliged to spend many months from home, they grow daily poorer and poorer, and, together with their families, are overwhelmed with misery.

401If the head of the expedition ever furnish them with guns, they generally return them, at the end of it, entirely spoiled, without having killed so much as a gnat. Two hundred excellent guns, each furnished with a bayonet, were procured on one occasion at the public expense, from the city of Asumpcion. In less than three years, out of the two hundred there only remained six, and those in such a condition that they could be made no possible use of. The bayonets were either lost or broken, having been used on the journey either for roasting meat, or chopping wood. The Viceroy of Cordoba, suspecting the savage Pampas of hostile designs, went out as far as the river Tercero. Having collected soldiers in the country he gave them six portions of gunpowder, intended for so many charges, wrapped up in paper. One of these heroes immediately stuffed all the six portions into his gun, and perceiving that the tube was not filled to the top complained to his captain that he had not gunpowder enough given him, for that the barrel of his gun was not filled. Another thrust three charges into his gun, and as the paper in which they were wrapped obstructed the touch-hole, found it was not possible to fire it: the mistake of this martial Dametas afforded his fellow-soldiers a subject for hearty laughter. Many of them, being 402unprovided with a pouch, take very bad care of their charges of gunpowder, which are wrapped in paper; for they tear and wet them, and often scatter them on the ground. The greater number of them carry gunpowder in a horn, and bullets, or pieces of lead, in a bag. Instead of paper for ramming down the powder and ball, some use cotton, others moss, tow, or any thing they can lay their hands upon. Many to this purpose apply the wool out of their horse-cloths. As all these necessary articles are kept in so many different places, it is incredible how much time is consumed in loading a gun. As, to all this delay, but very little dexterity in aiming is added, the consequence is that the European fire-arms are now as much despised by the Abipones as they were formerly dreaded. These innocuous soldiers think they have performed a great feat if, for a wonder, they see their gun smoking, and hear the report, though they have not hurt a hair of one of the enemies' heads. I have no sort of doubt that the Paraguayrian soldiers would perform better with a sword and spear than with a gun. If they ever do any execution amongst the savages, it is owing to iron, not to lead.

Why then, it may be asked, are not these ignorant peasants instructed in the handling of arms? This has long been vainly desired by 403all good men. The endeavours of many persons to this effect have constantly proved unavailing. There are none able to teach, and none willing to learn the arts of war. Whilst I was in Paraguay, Francisco Gonzalez, lieutenant of the horse, with other military commanders, was sent by the King's order from Spain to Buenos-Ayres to instruct the people of that land in military discipline; but none were willing to become his scholars. The richer Spaniards, who reside in the more respectable cities and colonies, generally shun the hardships of the militia, and the rest are scattered up and down the distant estates, where they employ themselves in the breeding of cattle. It is a difficult matter for persons so many leagues apart, and separated by rivers, woods, and an immense tract of plain country, to be collected into one place, for the purpose of being instructed in the arts of war. The first time many will attend the military school, attracted by the novelty of the European horsemen, more than by the desire of learning. The next day, when their curiosity is satisfied, you will reckon far fewer, the next scarce ten. Should they be ordered to attend in the King's name, even if the command were accompanied with threats, it would be of no avail. They would all excuse their absence on some account or other. One would adduce illness as a pretext; 404another would accuse the weather, another would allege the necessity of a journey or business that admits of no delay. Others would frowardly say they did not choose to come. This my friend Gonzalez found, when, much against his will, he was passing his time unemployed in the city of Buenos-Ayres.

Why, you will say, did not regular troops from Spain keep watch in the colonies to repress the savages? I should not approve of this either. A whole army would scarce suffice to such an extensive province, and, divided into so many parts, what could it effect against a multitude of enemies? The soldiers would indeed be superior to the Americans in the skilful management of fire-arms, but very far inferior in the arts of swimming and riding, and in tolerance of fatigue, heat, hunger, and thirst. Incumbered with tents, waggons, boats, or pontoons, which they could not dispense with, they would be unable to pursue the flying horsemen of the savages, still less to reach their hordes, which are sometimes two hundred leagues distant from the cities. Certain it is that the Spanish dragoons appointed to guard the city of Buenos-Ayres were very unwilling to go out against the southern savages, from whom they oftener gained wounds than victory. Every one knows that the regiment of foot sent 405as supplies to the city of Sta. Fè, when it was almost destroyed by the Abipones and Mocobios, were of no service whatever, as the savages always cunningly evaded a stationary fight with them. I do not deny that, under Pizarro and Cortez, the Europeans slew, routed, and subjugated innumerable Indians, but not equestrian Indians. Were these same heroes to return at this day to fight the Abipones, Mocobios, Tobas, and other equestrian people of Paraguay, I should augur them more trouble and less glory. Those first Spaniards who entered America, mounted on horses, emitting lightning from their swords, and thunder from their fire-arms, and furnished with whiskers, appeared to the beardless, unarmed Americans, a new race of men, exempted from death, whom they either avoided by flight, or, if that were impracticable, conciliated by submission. The savages, who now make war against the Spaniards, daily see how possible it is for them both to be conquered, and to die, and can make use of iron spears, and swift horses, to elude attacks, or make them themselves.

Taught by long experience in the affairs of Paraguay, I declare it as my opinion, that the Americans, were they instructed in the arts of war, and furnished with arms, and all the necessary 406apparatus, by reason of their natural abilities for riding, swimming, and enduring the hardships of weather and of warfare, would be of more service against the incursions of the savages than any European soldiers. In every part of Paraguay you may see youths truly Spaniards in origin, name, and disposition; intelligent, agile, intrepid, remarkable for strength and stature, and astonishingly dexterous in horsemanship; of such were one company formed in every territory, commanded by able captains, and furnished with a regular stipend, I think that the Indians, when foes, might easily be induced to embrace the friendship of the Spaniards, and when friends, kept in their duty; and thus the colonies would be freed from their afflictions. But if, on urgent danger, a regiment were formed out of four or five of these companies, none of the savage hordes, however numerous, would be invincible to them, were a leader of tried valour and experience at the head of the expedition. About fifty horsemen of this description, supported at the public expense by the city of Sta. Fè, and called Blandenges, have shown much conduct on many occasions. A troop of these horsemen might watch in each of the Spanish colonies, and be easily supported, partly out of 407the royal treasury, partly at the expense of the more opulent Spaniards, whom it chiefly interests to preserve the security of the estates and of commerce from the incursions of the savages.

CHAPTER XL. WHAT IS THE FATE OF THE SLAIN AMONGST THE ABIPONIAN VICTORS.

As soon as the Abipones see any one fall in battle under their hands, their first care is to cut off the head of the dying man, which they perform with such celerity that they would win the palm from the most experienced anatomists. They lay the knife not to the throat, but to the back of the neck, with a sure and speedy blow. When they were destitute of iron, a shell, the jaw of the palometa, a split reed, or a stone carefully sharpened, served them for a knife. Now with a very small knife they can lop off a man's head, like that of a poppy, more dexterously than European executioners can with an axe. Long use and daily practice give the savages this dexterity. For they cut off the heads of all the enemies they kill, and bring them home tied to their saddles or girths by the hair. When apprehension of approaching hostilities obliges them to remove to places of greater security, they strip the heads of the skin, cutting it from ear to ear beneath the nose, and dexterously pulling it off along with the 409hair. The skin thus drawn from the skull, and stuffed with grass, after being dried a little in the air, looks like a wig, and is preserved as a trophy. That Abipon who has most of these skins at home, excels the rest in military renown. The skull too is sometimes kept to be used as a cup at their festive drinking-parties.

Though you cannot fail to execrate the barbarity of the Abipones, in cutting off and flaying the heads of their enemies, yet I think you will judge these ignorant savages worthy of a little excuse, on reflecting that they do it from the example of their ancestors, and that of very many nations throughout the world, which, whenever they have an opportunity of venting their rage upon their enemies, seem to cast away all sense of humanity, and to think that the victors have a right to practise any outrage upon the vanquished. Innumerable are the forms of cruelty which the other savages throughout America exercise towards their slain and captive enemies. The Iroquois in Canada flay the heads of their enemies before they are dead. The Jesuit Lafitau, in his book intitled Mœurs des Sauvages Américains, &c. declares that he saw a woman of French extraction, who lived in good health for many years after having her head scalped by the Iroquois, and that she went by the name of La Tête Pelée. Many are 410said to have survived this scalping. Some of the Canadian Indians flay the whole body of the enemy they have killed, and exhibit his skin as a testimonial of their victory and valour. Sometimes the skin of the hand is converted into a tobacco-pouch. Although such treatment awaits the bodies of the dead, yet it is preferable to fall in battle than to be taken in captivity by the Iroquois. The more warlike of their captives whom they stand in fear of, along with the women, children, and old men, whom they consider incumbrances, are burnt the first day on the field of battle; others share the same fate the succeeding days, to expedite their return. If the fear of pursuers impose the necessity of haste, they bind their captives to trees, and set fire to those next them, that they may either be roasted by a slow fire, or if the flame should grow languid, be destroyed by hunger. The other captives, whom they think likely to be useful to them at home, they bind and carry away. At night, that they may not take advantage of the darkness, and flee, they stretch out their legs and arms in the form of the letter X, and bind them with a cord to a stake, to which they fasten two longer ropes one to tie the neck, the other the breast. The extremity of these the savage master holds in 411his hand, that if the captive endeavours to extricate himself he may be awakened. Painful indeed must the night be to these wretches, for as they are entirely naked, their bodies are bitten by swarms of ants and wasps, from which, being bound hand and foot, they cannot defend themselves. At the end of a miserable journey they are either condemned to wretched slavery, or to the pile. Similar barbarity is practised by the savages of South America towards their captives. The Brazilians fatten them for some time, and then publicly kill them by knocking them on the head with a club. The limbs are dissected and afford a feast to the whole horde; for they are cannibals, and engaged in perpetual wars with their neighbours. I cannot forbear mentioning a strange piece of cruelty practised by the Southern savages towards their captives. If they catch one of the enemy in the plain they do not kill him, but cut off both his feet and leave him there, so that unable to prosecute his journey, he dies a lingering death amidst the bitterest torments.

This wicked system of cruelty towards captives and enemies is abhorred by the Abipones, who never torture the dying. After taking a village of Spaniards or Indians, they do not promiscuously slay all the inhabitants. Unless highly irritated by some previous injury, they 412always spare the women and children. They pull the skins off the heads of the slain, and carry them home as testimonies of their warlike achievements, but never use them to cover themselves or their horses with, as some do. They show the utmost kindness towards their captives, as I have declared in the thirteenth chapter, on the Manners and Customs of the Abipones. According to Lafitau, the Hurons and Iroquois, though very savage in other respects, never ill-treat their captives at home, except they be of the number of those that are condemned to be burnt, by the sentence of the chiefs.

CHAPTER XLI. CONCERNING THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES, AND THEIR BATTLE-ARRAY IN FIGHTING WITH OTHER SAVAGES.

Different enemies must be combated with different arms. The Abipones, when they go out against the Spaniards, lay aside their breastplates of antas' skins, and their bows, and place their chief dependence in a swift horse and a strong lance; but when attacked at home by a foreign foe, whoever it may be, they make successful use of the bow, for, from the constant exercise of war and hunting, they acquire so much skill in the use of that weapon that they take a more certain aim with it than the Spaniards do with a gun.

Let us suppose that a rumour is spread throughout the hordes of the Abipones that the savages are speedily coming to attack them. If they have strength and courage sufficient to repel the enemy, trusty scouts are sent out in every direction to learn their route. The rest, meantime, make it their chief care to prepare a drink of honey, or the alfaroba, for a public drinking-party. For the Abipones think that they are never more acute in counsel, or braver 414in fight, than when they are drunk. Famiano Strada, in his history of the Belgic war, writes thus of Schenck, a celebrated general of the Belgians: "He never handled arms better than when he had drank profusely, and was intoxicated with wine." I have often found the same to be the case with the Abipones as with Schenck. In the colony of St. Ferdinand we learnt that a hostile troop of Mocobios and Tobas were advancing toward us by hasty marches, and were only two days' journey distant. The Abipones, astonished, not alarmed at this news, though very few, awaited the assault of numbers amidst drinking and songs of triumph. They spent two days with their horses shut up in stalls within the town, that they might be always in readiness, with their faces painted to excite terror, holding a cup in one hand, and a quiver in the other. Quinquagesima Sunday came. At three o'clock in the afternoon the troop of savage horse appeared in sight. The Abipones, though after such long drinking hardly in possession of their senses, or able to stand upon their legs, snatched up their spears, leaped upon their horses, which were made ready by the women, and, scattered in a disorderly manner up and down the plain, rushed full speed upon their enemies, amid the discordant bray of trumpets, with such good 415fortune, that, abandoning their project of plundering the colony, they sought security in the adjacent woods. But being prevented from this by the Abipones, they rushed off on all sides. The enemies hurried away at full gallop; the Abipones endeavoured to overtake them. It was not a fight, but a race between the fugitives and their pursuers. The contest consisted more in the swiftness of their steeds than in weapons, which were sent backwards and forwards, but, because badly aimed, without injuring very many. Our victors returned to the colony when the night was far advanced, some not till the morning, all safe and sound, (except one, whose head was bruised with a club,) and, what was very surprizing, quite sober, having exhaled the effects of the liquor, not with sleeping, but with riding and fighting. How many of the enemies were killed and wounded I do not know: but that more than two hundred were put to flight by seventy drunken men was a noble victory for us. Let us now treat of the other preparations which the Abipones make previous to a fight.

Every thing being in readiness for the drinking-party, which is held before a battle, their chief anxiety is to conceal their droves of horses from the eyes and hands of the enemy. Reserving the best within the neighbouring 416stalls, that they may be ready for the uses of war, they place the remainder in stations, access to which is rendered difficult to the enemy either by the high bank of a river, the intervention of a wood, or their ignorance of the way. They also look out for places of concealment for their wives and children, and all that are unable to defend themselves. The Spaniards told me they had often seen whole Indian families plunged up to the neck in lakes and rivers. As soon as ever a report is spread amongst the Abipones of the approach of an enemy, they immediately stain their faces, and carry about bundles of weapons, and a military trumpet, which they blow chiefly in the dead of the night, that the enemies may know from their scouts that they have shaken off all fear, and are vigilant and desirous of the conflict. When certified of the approach of the enemy's forces, they provide for their safety in various ways. If they are few in comparison with their adversaries, they make up for the want of strength by craft. That they may not be obliged to join in open battle, they use various artifices to prevent the enemy from gaining access to their stations. They set out on the road, and surprize them by an ambuscade, or make themselves appear more numerous by redoubled tumult of military trumpets, or leaving a number 417of drummers and trumpeters at a distance behind, pretend that they are only the part of a company that is to come after; or putting Spanish dresses on some of their men, make it appear as if they had Spanish soldiers at hand to give them aid. Misled by these artifices, the enemies not unfrequently give up their intention of fighting, and make the best of their way back again. Often, however, no opportunity is left them for stratagems. Compelled by a sudden inroad of the enemy, or allured by confidence of victory to resolve upon a combat, a piece of ground opposite the approaching enemy, and near the horde, is selected for the purpose, that they may be near their wives and children should they be in danger. Heralds are sometimes sent forward by the enemy to explain the causes of the war, and challenge the inhabitants to fight. But the bellowing of drums and trumpets, and horrid vociferations, are generally the only answer they obtain. Every thing preceding and accompanying a battle, is a spectacle worthy to be seen, and laughed at by Europeans. About the beginning of the conflict you may see jugglers mounted on horseback, who, making ridiculous gestures, and whirling round palm boughs in their hands, utter the direst imprecations on the hostile army: whilst old female 418jugglers are observed crawling on the ground, or leaping in the streets, and with sullen eyes and a hoarse voice, uttering some omen or curse. You may see the Abipones with their faces stained, with many-coloured feathers in their heads, and arms in their hands, some wearing breastplates, others entirely naked, enter the field with a marching gait, and appearing to threaten the whole world. You may see mountains in labour bring forth ridiculous mice. These heroes, when placed in order of battle, wish to be counted by the Father, as they cannot count themselves. As I walked up and down the ranks, I was frequently asked, "Are we many?" to which I constantly replied, "You are very many;" lest they should be disheartened at their want of numbers. Experience taught me that the towns were mostly attacked by a numerous enemy when very few of the inhabitants were left at home—the rest being dispersed far and wide for the sake of hunting. The sagacious savages make the assault when they have learnt from their spies that the colony is bare of defenders. They form themselves into a square, if the place will admit of it. I observed that they sometimes placed the archers in the midst, and the spearmen on each wing; at others, the archers and spearmen ranged themselves promiscuously. 419The Mocobios, Tobas, and Guaycurùs leave their horses a little way off, in sight, and join battle on foot. The Cacique, or any other person in authority, sits on horseback in the front of the army; but when the battle commences he dismounts and fights among the rest. The leaders of the Abipones are generally great fighters, as their example has more weight than words amongst the soldiers, who follow their leader with greater willingness when he is bravely fighting, than when he is exhorting them from a distance.

At first they stand in close ranks, but afterwards, when the enemy is to be attacked or repelled, in such loose ones that each soldier has a space of four or six cubits on every side. In fighting they never stand erect, or quietly on their feet. They run up and down with their bodies bent to the ground, and their eyes fixed on their adversaries, for the sake either of avoiding or aiming a blow. With a threatening voice they provoke the enemy by continually exclaiming hò, hò, hò, raising their voices from the lowest to the very highest tones. They rub their right hand every now and then on the ground, lest the string of the bow should slip from their fingers when they are moistened with perspiration. The Indians do not imitate the Europeans, who send a shower of darts at 420the same moment at the enemy. Each takes aim at his adversary with his arrow, so that one diligently watches the eyes and motions of the other, and, when he perceives himself aimed at, changes his situation by leaping to the right or left. Many weapons are cast, though seldom with impunity, at the leader of the army, and the most distinguished warriors. When one is often aimed at by many, had he more eyes than Argus, and were he more agile than the wind, no one can dare to promise him security; so that if he leave the field of battle unhurt, it is often to be attributed to good fortune, seldom to dexterity, and still seldomer to his leathern breastplate, which I myself have seen yield not only to spears, but even to the stronger arrows.

If their own arrows fail them they will send back those shot by the enemy. However, when their quivers are exhausted, as sometimes happens, and their souls fired by the combat, after having fought for some time, at a distance with a bow, they will come to close fighting with a spear. Neither then, however, will the plain be inundated with human blood. The savages have, indeed, great power in dealing blows, but they have still greater swiftness in eluding them. The whole combat is often confined to threats and vociferations. Sometimes many are wounded, but very few die in proportion to the number of wounds; for unless the head or breast 421be pierced they never despair of the man's life. They are used to consider broken ribs and immense gashes in the other members, as attended with little danger; they calmly look upon them without any expression of pain, and, half alive, reluctantly suffer themselves to be borne from the fight on other persons' arms. This I learnt, that these savages, unless flight be denied them, seldom dare the worst. Terrified at the slaughter of a very few of their fellow-soldiers, they desert their leader, and escape how they can. There is no need to sound a retreat. Should ten or twenty take to flight, the rest, freed from all restraint of shame, trust their lives to their horses, and rush along with the impetuosity of a river that has burst its banks. On urgent occasions you will see two or three seated on one horse. At the beginning of an engagement on foot, they take care that the means of flight may not fail them: behind the backs of the combatants, and out of reach of the weapons, they station horses, upon which young men sit, and safely watch the vicissitudes of the fight.

But if the enemy, finding the fortune of war against them, betake themselves to flight, they scarce have to fear a very obstinate pursuit from their adversaries, as the conquerors are very cautious not to forfeit their glory; they 422are unwilling, by a doubtful contest, to experience a change of fortune, and to undergo a new danger. A spear, or garment, taken from them in battle by their enemies, the Abipones consider a terrible disgrace to their nation, regarding the loss of it with as much grief as Europeans do that of their drums or standards. The Abipones never attribute victories, and the fortunate events of battles, to their own skill, but to the arts of their jugglers. Although they hold the other Paraguayrian nations in contempt, yet they allow the Guaycurùs to be formidable; they say that they are cut down like funguses by the spears of these savages, not because they excel them in goodness of arms, strength of body, or courage of mind, but because they enter the fight attended by far more skilful jugglers. The Cacique Alaykin affirmed to me, that persons blown upon by their breath fell to the ground, as if struck with thunder.

But now let us contemplate the Abipones triumphing after a successful fight. If the event has answered to their wishes they fill the country with joyful rumours of victory, and generally exaggerated accounts of the slaughter of the enemy. They who have behaved with distinguished valour have the ears and eyes of all directed towards them. They who have received 423wounds in the battle deliver themselves to be sucked to a crowd of juggler physicians, a multitude of spectators admiring and extolling their constancy and fortitude. Great numbers flock to behold the spoils and trophies taken from the enemy. The women, giving way to an excess of gladness, seem mad with joy; they would make no end of singing, leaping, and applauding, were they not obliged to turn their attention towards making preparations for the public drinking-party of their husbands; who, at the same time that they wash the horrible colours from their faces, endeavour to clear from their minds, with wine, their past anxiety respecting the conflict. In the assembly of drinkers, where the victory is celebrated amidst confused clamours, and songs accompanied with the sound of gourds and drums; when all are heated with liberal draughts of mead, each begins to relate his own brave actions, and to laugh at the errors, cowardice, and flight of others; which not being endured by any of the Abipones, the warriors contend furiously amongst themselves, first with fists, and then, growing more enraged, with spears and arrows. Did not the women interpose to effect a reconciliation, and employ themselves in snatching away their weapons, and leading their husbands 424home, it is beyond a doubt that more would be killed after the battle than in the battle.

If a battle be fought at a distance from the town, a horseman is sent forward to announce the success of it to the hordesmen. As soon as this messenger is espied from a distance, a crowd come out to meet him, striking their lips with their right hands, and accompany him to his house. Having preserved the profoundest silence he leaps down from his horse on to a bed; whence, as from a rostrum, he announces the event of the battle, with a grave voice, to the surrounding multitude. If a few of the enemy are killed and wounded, he begins his story with Nalamichiriñi; they are all slaughtered, which he utters with a severe countenance and declamatory tone, and receives the applauses of the by-standers. He then enumerates those that he himself has slain in battle, and to enhance the merit of the victory, affirms of many, Eknam Capitan; he was a captain. At every name that is mentioned of an enemy slain in battle the air resounds with Kem ékemat? Ta Yeegàm! an exclamation of surprize. The number of captives, waggons, and horses, that have been taken, are then detailed with infinite exaggeration, for of each he asserts that they are innumerable; Chik Leyé 425kalipì; at which the auditors burst forth into an exclamation of Ndře, by which they express a strange and unheard-of thing. Having minutely recounted every circumstance tending to set forth this arduous fight and splendid victory, he proceeds to discover those of his fellow-soldiers that have been wounded in the battle. At every name the by-standers groan, and utter the word Tayretà! Poor little thing! As the Abipones think it a crime to utter the name of a dead person, the narrator makes use of a paraphrase, thus, Yoalè eknam oanerma Hamelèn laneuek là chit kaekà: The man, the husband of the woman Hamelèn, is now no more. The mention of the death of one of their countrymen entirely destroys all the pleasure which the news of the victory had excited; so that the announcer immediately finds himself deserted by his late attentive listeners, as soon as ever he begins to touch upon this melancholy subject. All the women unloose their hair, snatch up gourds and drums, and lament in the manner that I have described in the twenty-fourth chapter.

The Abipones, when returned from an expedition, enter their horde, not in one company, but separately, without ostentation, if victorious, and without signification of sorrow, if conquered, or even if desperately wounded, unless 426they have lost their leader. Then indeed they return with their hair partially shaven, to attest their grief, and convey the bones of their deceased Cacique home, not without funeral apparatus. The anxiously expected return of the warriors engages the eyes, ears, tongues, and hands of all; some surveying the droves of cattle, the captives, and spoils; others enquiring for the safety of their relations; others examining the wounds of the soldiers; and all the women lamenting. Each retains the captives, horses, mules, and other things that he has taken, unless, as usual amongst them, he chooses to share them with his friends. From one journey they often bring home many thousand horses, which they divide amongst themselves, with what regulations I know not, but without any disputes. On the succeeding days every one is eager to make trial of the horses which have fallen to his share in the partition of the spoils; they value swiftness alone, disregarding every beauty which adorns a horse. You may daily see a crowd of young men riding races with one another, and at the same time contending with words, each extolling his own above his neighbour's horse. The remembrance of the victory obtained over the enemy, disturbs as much as it delights their minds; for they live in continual fear that the enemy will 427speedily come to avenge the death of their people and loss of their property. Hence, in order to tranquillize their minds, and devise some method to keep off the foe, their chief care is to prepare a public drinking-party, that sure quickener, as they think, of the wit and exciter of valour.

CHAPTER XLIV. OF THE ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL OF VICTORIES, AND THE RITES OF A PUBLIC DRINKING-PARTY.

The Abipones, not satisfied with celebrating their victory, as soon as they return, and whilst their hands are yet bloody, renew the memory of it by public festivities every year. The whole of these festivities consists in singing, dancing, and extravagancies. When they have all collected plenty of honey in the woods, a day is appointed for this anniversary ceremony, and a large house equal to the number of guests fixed upon. The last three days before that appointed for the drinking-party, one of the public criers, covered with an elegant cloak, goes up and down all the tents; at the entrance of each he is saluted by the women with a festive percussion of the lips; his spear, to which a little brass bell is affixed, the mother of the family receives, by way of honour, from the hands of the comer, and restores to him again on his departure. The crier, on entering the house, sits down upon a cushion prepared for him, of saddles, or some wild animal's skin. He then, in a set speech, invites the father of 429the family to the public celebration of victories. On his departure, he is dismissed by the women with the usual percussion of the lips. In the same manner he enters the dwellings of the other hordesmen, always accompanied by a crowd of boys. The office of crier, which the noble Abipones despise, is generally performed by some juggler of advanced age and low birth. Meantime they furnish the house, appointed for the meeting, with a hasty apparatus. The floor is covered with the skins of tigers and of kine, upon which the guests sit. A temporary erection is made of reeds, upon which they place the hairy scalps of their slain enemies, as trophies. When they prefer celebrating the victory without the tent in the open air, they hang these trophies upon spears fixed upright in the circle in which they sit. At sun-set, the persons invited all flock to the appointed place, where they sit down on the ground, having leathern vessels of mead set in the midst of them, though the drinking does not commence till about morning, the whole night being spent in chaunting their victories.

They never sing all at once, but only two at a time, always greatly varying their voices from high to low, one either taking up, or following, or interrupting the other, and sometimes accompanying him. Now one, now the other 430is silent for a short interval. The tones vary according to the subject of the song, with many inflexions of the sound, and, if I may so express myself, a good deal of shaking. He who, by a quicker motion of the throat, can now suspend the song for a while, now protract, and now interrupt it with groans, or laughter, or can imitate the bellowing of a bull, or the tremulous voice of a kid,—he will gain universal applause. No European would deny that these savage singers inspired him with a kind of melancholy and horror, so much are the ears, and even the mind affected by that deadly chaunting, the darkness adding greatly to the mournful effect. One of the singers rattles a gourd filled with maize seeds, to the time of the music. Sometimes the gourd alone preludes the singing, as in a band of musicians; at others, it follows the voice of the singer, and very seldom rests for ever so little a while. When two are singing at a time, it is wonderful to hear so much concord in such discordant voices. You never observe them hesitate or pause: for they do not sing extemporaneously, but what has been long studied beforehand. The songs are restricted by no metrical laws, but sometimes have a rhythmical sound. The number of verses is regulated, not according to the pleasure of the singer, but according to the variety of the 431subject. Nothing but warlike expeditions, slaughters, and spoils of the enemy, taking of towns, plundering of waggons and estates, burning and depopulating colonies of the Spaniards, and other tragedies of that kind furnish the savages with subjects for singing and rejoicing. These events, together with the place, and time, where, and when they happened, they describe; not rudely, but with considerable elegance. Struck, as it were, with poetic rage, by appropriate words, and modulations of the voice, they contrive to express indignation, fear, threatening, or joy. Though, in order not to damp the hilarity, they scarce make any mention of the deaths, and wounds of the Abipones, and employ themselves exclusively in exaggerating the slaughter of the enemy. During the time that these songs are chaunted, a period of many hours, not one of the auditors dares utter a word, and though night itself persuades sleep, you will not see one of them even yawn.

As all singers have the fault which Horace complains of in them, namely, that when they once begin, they will never leave off; the two chaunters are admonished to conclude their song, by women who stand around, separated from the men, and who signify to the vocal pair, after they have sung about a quarter of 432an hour, that it is time to desist, by repeated percussion of their lips, and by pronouncing the little words Kla leyà, it is enough. With this admonition, they immediately comply, and conclude the magnificent commemoration of their mighty deeds with Gramackka aka`m: Such then we are. Another pair then succeeds to the former, and in this manner the singing is protracted till the morning. Then, indeed, the scene is changed, the drinking commences, and their dry and weary throats are refreshed with that American nectar made either of honey, or the alfaroba. The women, and the unmarried men are excluded from these drinking-parties, though the latter are allowed to drink mead in private, as the women to drink pure honey, and eat the raw alfaroba.

To seek honey in the woods for making this drink, is the business of the men, but the whole labour of preparing it falls upon the women, who have to knock down the alfarobas from the trees, to carry them home on horseback, to pound them in mortars, to pour water on them, and to dress the hides which serve to hold the liquor. The method of their construction is this: the feet are cut off, the hide is made square; its four sides are then raised to the height of two spans, so that it receives at the bottom any liquor that you may pour in, and 433holds it without spilling a drop. Honey, or the alfaroba steeped in water, obtains the desirable degree of acidity quicker, or slower, according to the state of the atmosphere, and ferments, in a certain way, without the addition of any thing else. The Abipones approach those vessels every now and then, and ascertain, by the smell, whether that honeyed beverage has attained its proper state. Layam ycham; It will soon ferment, they cry as they go away. Till at length some one comes, who, judging by his nose, declares that it has gained the necessary acidity. This being given out, they all flock to the appointed place. Those leathern vessels, full of foaming mead, are each brought by the hands of six or eight girls, who lay down their burden, and return home without speaking a word to the drinkers. Before the first vessel is quite exhausted, another is brought, to that is added a third, then a fourth, and so on. I did not in the least wonder to see the women so alert and industrious in performing these useful offices, because the more diligent they are, the higher character they obtain amongst their countrymen, and the greater favour do they gain from their husbands. It must be confessed, however, that the Abipones, when they sup and dine in private, drink nothing but water. I have known Abipones 434who abstained from fermented liquors altogether; but these persons were contemned by the rest as cowardly, degenerate, and stupid; and indeed, I observed that they who excelled the rest in birth, military glory, and authority, were generally the most given to drinking. You can scarce see a circle of drinkers, at which the chiefs of the Abipones do not attend and preside.

For cups they use either the skulls of their slain enemies, or gourds, or horns. They are unacquainted with the European fashion of drinking healths. When any one suggests the idea of a warlike expedition, they cry Là, now; and snatching up their cups, express that they have ratified his proposal by a hearty draught. It is also remarkable, that, though extremely voracious at other times, they take scarce any food when they pass the day and night in drinking; from which it is evident that honey and the alfaroba possess great nutritive qualities. For my part, I never could prevail upon myself to taste that nectar of the Abipones, having often observed them chew the alfaroba, or honeycomb with their teeth, put it out of their mouths, and keep it to mix with the future beverage; for they think that, being mixed with saliva, it will serve for a ferment, to make the rest of the mass obtain a grateful 435acid more quickly. On the same account, the Indians and Paraguayrian Spaniards have their maize, which is intended for drink, chewed by old women; they will not intrust this office to the younger ones, who, they say, abound in bad humours. Could any person, aware of this circumstance, though of no very delicate stomach, swallow the beverage without nausea? Yet this filthy drink has more lovers amongst the Americans, than Helen had amongst the Greeks.

They always have many causes for celebrating a public drinking-party; the most frequent are, the gaining of a victory, an impending fight, funeral rites, festivities on the birth of a Cacique's son, the shaving of widowers or widows, the changing of a name, the proclamation of a lately appointed captain, the arrival of a guest of consideration, a wedding, and, what is most common, a council of war. If materials for preparing the liquor be at hand, occasion, and inclination for drinking, will never be wanting. As honey is always to be had, they are never, at any part of the year, in want of mead; but as it is seldom to be got in sufficient quantities, for the number of partakers, parties of this kind are generally of short duration. From December to April, when the woods abound with the ripe alfaroba, is the 436chief season for drinking. During these months they drink without pause or intermission. They join the night to the day, with scarce any interval for brief meals, or sleep: before they have slept themselves sober they stagger back to the party of drinkers. During all that time you scarce ever find them in possession of their senses; to live, with them, is to drink, and you would say that the more they drank the more thirsty they grew. To show that they do not tremble at the sight of blood, and that they take pleasure in wounds, they emulously prick their breast and arms, and not unfrequently their tongue, with crocodiles' bones, and the sharpest thorns. Disputes too are frequent among them concerning pre-eminence in valour, which produce confused clamours, fighting, wounds, and slaughter. "In that skirmish you basely turned your back on the enemy," one perhaps will say to the other; who, not choosing to endure the reproach, replies "What? What do you say?" till from words they proceed to blows, to arrows, and to spears, unless other persons interfere. It often happens that a contention between two implicates and incites them all, so that snatching up arms, and taking the part, some of one, some of the other, they furiously rush to attack and slay one another. This is no uncommon occurrence in drinking-parties, 437and is sometimes carried on for many hours with much vociferation of the combatants, and no less effusion of blood.

Intoxication affects the Abipones in various ways. Some laugh violently, merrier than hilarity itself; others seem oppressed with melancholy; others, inflated with the remembrance of their mighty deeds, grow more threatening and boastful than the Thraso of Terence, or the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus. I knew a man, who, whenever he was drunk, threatened to kill his little son, and as he lay stretched upon the ground, spoke in such loud and angry tones to his wife, that he was heard throughout the whole neighbourhood. There was one man, who, when he was drunk, always requested to be baptized, continually exclaiming, "Make haste, Father, and wash my head!" though, when sober, he never thought anything about baptism. An Abipon, of no reputation amongst his countrymen, entered our house furnished with a bow and arrows, and demanded of me, in a threatening tone, whether I did not think him a captain, that is, a man distinguished for great actions; alarmed at the fierce countenance of the interrogator, and at the bundle of arrows which he bore, I made him a fine panegyric by way of reply, though he was a man universally 438despised for his cowardice. An old man in the town of St. Ferdinand, inglorious alike in birth and actions, on being called by his drinking associates, Lanařaik, plebeian, vainly endeavoured with arms, and absurd clamours, to avenge the insult; for his wife, a sturdy old woman, always watched over her infuriated husband, that he might not fall by the fists or weapons of his companions. On this occasion she caught hold of him by the legs, or girdle, dragged him through the street, and when got home, vainly exhorted him to sleep and silence; for he, ever recurring to the flouts of his comrades, could take no rest, constantly ejaculating with a hoarse voice, Tà yeega`m! Aym Lanařaik? Tà yeega`m! Là rihè lahè! "What! I a plebeian? I ignoble? I demand vengeance." Enraged by these reflections, he endeavours again and again to raise himself on his feet, and snatch up a spear, when his angry wife as often knocks him down upon the floor. This sport continued for many hours, to the incredible annoyance of all that dwelt in the neighbourhood. Few could repress indignation, none laughter. Almost all the women have the same task when they labour to disarm their husbands, and take them out of the hands of their drunken comrades. The whole Abiponian nation would come to destruction, if the women and youths attended 439these drinking-parties, as well as the married men.

You will sooner eradicate from the minds of the Americans any vice belonging to them, than this wicked and pernicious intemperance in drinking. You will sooner persuade them to live content with one wife, to abstain from slaughter and rapine, to scorn their ancient superstitions, or to employ themselves in agriculture and building houses, notwithstanding their aversion to labour. To abolish the custom of drinking-parties is indeed a most arduous work, a labour of many years, and a business to perfect which no eloquence or industry of those whose care and wish it was to convert the savage nations to Christianity, and conform them to the divine laws, was ever equal. At length, however, we have had the satisfaction of beholding this wicked custom of drinking yield to our unwearied toils, and almost all the savages submit to the law of God.

CHAPTER XLIII. OF THE ABIPONIAN RITES ON OCCASION OF ANY ONE'S BEING DECLARED CAPTAIN. — END OF VOL. II.

Even amongst savage nations, virtue has its reward. Though almost ignorant that they are men, they delight in honourable titles. The Abipones do not account that the best nobility which is inherited as a patrimony, but that which is obtained by their own merits. Amongst them, as no one is distinguished by his father's name, in like manner no one is ennobled by the famous deeds of his father, grandfather, or great grandfather. The nobility of valour and probity, not that of birth, is what they prize and honour. By a kind of natural propensity they respect the sons and grandsons of their Caciques and Captains; yet if they be stupid, cowardly, of unpleasant manners, or a foolish understanding, they make them of no account, and never prefer them to the government of the horde, or of military expeditions. They choose for rulers and leaders others of the common people, whom they know to be active, sagacious, brave, and modest. Whoever has given proofs of warlike 441valour is initiated into warlike honours with ceremonies which I shall presently describe.

The names of the Abipones who are not distinguished by military rank, end in various letters; but when, on account of their services in war, they are admitted into the rank of the nobles, they drop the name which they bore in youth, and receive another which always terminates in the syllable In. They who are solemnly inaugurated, according to the custom of their ancestors, are called Höcheri, and have a dialect of their own; for though they use the common words, yet, by insertion and addition of various syllables, they transform and obscure them in such a manner that they can hardly be understood. I shall now briefly describe the rites by which they are promoted to this dignity. When, by the arbitration of the rest, such an honour has been decreed to any one, they make a previous trial of his fortitude, by an experiment common to all. A black bead being placed upon his tongue, he is ordered to sit down at home for three days, and during that time to abstain from speaking, eating, and drinking. This is indeed a harsh law, but it appears mild in comparison with the torments endured by certain Indians at the river Orinoco, when candidates for military honours. They are laid on a hurdle, beneath which are placed burning 442coals, and, that the heat and smoke may be the more intolerable, the poor wretches are completely overwhelmed with palm leaves. They anoint the whole of the body of others with honey, tie them to a tree, and expose them to the stings of bees, wasps, drones, and hornets. But let me now return to the Abipon who is fasting and keeping silence at home. On the evening preceding this military function all the women flock to the threshold of his tent. Pulling off their clothes from the shoulder to the middle, and dishevelling their hair, they stand in a long row, and with confused shouts, accompanied with the sound of gourds, and with the continual agitation of their arms and legs, lament for the ancestors of him, who is, next day, to be adorned with a military dignity. These lamentations continue till it is dark. As soon as morning dawns, our candidate, elegantly dressed in the fashion of his nation, and holding a spear in his hand, leaps upon a horse laden with feathers, small bells, and trappings, and gallops northward, followed by a great troop of Abipones. Presently, returning with equal speed, he approaches the tent, where sits an old female juggler, the priestess of the ceremonies, who is afterwards to inaugurate the candidate with solemn rites. Some woman of noble birth officiously holds his spear and the bridles of his 443horse, while he dismounts, the rest of the matrons continuing to strike their lips, and applaud; when the candidate listens to a short address from the old woman seated on a hide, with as much veneration as if it was an oracle from a Delphic tripod. Then mounting fresh horses, he rides out in the same manner as before, first to the South, then to the East, and then to the West, and after each journey alights at the same tent, where that Pythian, like a female Apollo, pours forth her eloquence. The four excursions being performed, and the horses dismissed, they all betake themselves to that sacred tent, to witness the usual ceremony of the inauguration. This ceremony consists of three things: first the hair of the candidate is shaven by an old woman, so that from the forehead to the back part of the head she leaves a baldness or streak, three inches wide, which they call Nalemřa. The business of the hair being finished, the old woman pronounces a panegyric, setting forth the noble actions of the candidate, his warlike disposition, knowledge of arms and horses, intrepidity in difficulties, the enemies that he has slaughtered, the spoils that he has taken, the military fame of his ancestors, and so on; in order that he may appear, on many accounts, worthy to be declared 444a captain and a noble warrior, and to enjoy the rights and privileges of the Höcheri. His new name is immediately promulgated, and festively pronounced by a band of women striking their lips with their hands. The male spectators do not like dry ceremonies to be protracted to a great length, but joyfully fly to skins full of honeyed liquor, and conclude the business with a famous drinking-match.

It is remarkable that many of the women arrive at this degree of honour, and nobility, enjoy the privileges of the Höcheri, and use their dialect. The names of these females end in En, as those of the men in In. What circumstances entitle women of low birth to this degree of honour, I do not know, but it appears to me most probable that the merits of their parents, husbands, or brothers, not age, or beauty, bestow this prerogative upon females. I have often heard very young women conversing in the language of the nobles, and matrons remarkable for years and wrinkles speaking the vulgar tongue.

The Abipones think it a sin to utter their own name. When either of them knocked by night at my door, though I asked him a hundred times, "Who are you?" he would answer nothing but, "It is I." Unknown persons, 445when I enquired their name, would jog their neighbour with their elbow that he might answer for them. It is also reckoned a crime to utter the name of a person lately dead. If any one in his cups forgets the law, and utters the name of the deceased, he will give occasion to a bloody quarrel. Many women have no name at all. When I was making out a list of the inhabitants of a town, I used to call upon all the men who were best acquainted with their hordesmen to give me information on the subject, and when interrogated respecting women, they used often to say: "This woman has no name."

Moreover, the Abipones change their names as Europeans do their clothes. The reasons of this alteration are either some famous action, or the death of a father, son, wife, &c. when all the relations, to signify their grief, change their old name for a new one. I have known persons, who, in process of time, changed their names six or more times. Others are named from some quality of mind or body; as Kauirin, lascivious, Oaherkaikin, mendacious. Children have names quite different from their parents. Amongst the Christian Guaranies, sons generally took the names of their fathers, and daughters of their mothers. In the third part of this history, which is yet to come, we shall relate the 446slaughters committed, and undergone by the Abipones, the progress and vicissitudes of the colonies which we founded for them, and the advantages which the Spaniards derived from those colonies.

1. Variations in hyphenation, accentuation and punctuation have been retained as they were in the original publication.

2. Variations in the spelling of proper nouns have been retained as they appear in the original publication.

3. Possible printer and typographical errors have been changed silently.