534 WEAPONS. FOOD. 



made of thick hide, and strong enough to resist either arrows 

 or lances. 



Bows and arrows have been abandoned by most of the 

 Patagonian tribes. "Where used, the bows are small, and 

 the arrows, which are pointed with stone or bone, are said to 

 be sometimes poisoned. They have also clubs and long cane 

 lances, most of which are now tipped with iron. But the 

 weapons which are most characteristic of the Patagonians, 

 and which are indeed almost peculiar to them, are the bolas,* 

 of which there are two or three sorts. That used in war is 

 a single rounded stone or ball of hardened clay, weighing 

 about a pound, and fastened to a short rope or sinew of skin. 

 This they sometimes throw at their adversary, rope and all, 

 but generally they prefer to strike at his head with it. For 

 hunting they use two similar stones fastened together by a 

 rope, which is generally three or four yards long. One of 

 the stones they take in their hand, and then whirling the 

 other round their head, throw both at the object they wish 

 to entangle. Sometimes several balls are used, but two ap- 

 pear to be the usual number. They do not try to strike their 

 victim with the balls themselves, but with the rope, "and 

 then of course the balls swing round in different directions, 

 and the thongs become so ' laid up,' or twisted, that struggling 

 only makes the captive more secure." -f- It is said that a man 

 on horseback can use the "bolas" effectually at a distance of 

 eighty yards. + They also use the lasso. 



On the coast their food consists principally of fish, which 

 they kill either by diving or striking them with their darts. 

 Guanacoes and ostriches they catch with the bolas, and they 

 also eat mare's flesh, as well as various sorts of small game, 

 and at least two kinds of wild roots. They have no fermented 

 liquor, and the only prepared drink which they use is a de- 



* Falkner, 1. c. p. 130. J Darwin's Journal, p. 129. 



t Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. ii. p. 148. 



