Aboriginal Race of America. 209 



two distinct Indian nations, the^Charruas on the north, and 

 the Patagonians on the south ; yet strange to say, these rest- 

 less people had never communicated with each other for war 

 or for peace, for good or for evil, because they had neither 

 boats or canoes in which to cross the river. 



The Indian is not defective in courage even on the water ; 

 but he lacks invention to construct better vessels, and tact to 

 manage them. When he has been compelled to defend him- 

 self in his frail canoe, he has done so with the indomitable 

 spirit of his race ; yet with all their love of war and strata- 

 gem, I cannot find any account of a naval combat in which 

 Europeans have borne no part. 



The Payaguas Indians at one period took revenge on the 

 Spaniards by infesting the rivers of Paraguay, in canoes 

 which they managed with much adroitness ; and darting from 

 their lurking places, they intercepted the trading vessels going 

 to and from Buenos Ayres, robbing them of their goods, and 

 destroying their crews without mercy. Such was their suc- 

 cess in these river piracies that it required yea.s of war and 

 stratagem on the part of the Spaniards to subdue them. 



The only example of a naval contest that I have met with, 

 is described by Dobrizhoffer, to have taken place between the 

 so-called Mamalukes of St. Paulo, in Brazil, and their enemies 

 the Guaranies. The former were a banditti derived from the 

 intermarriage of the dregs of Europeans of all nations with 

 the surrounding Indians ; and assisted by two thousand of 

 their native allies, they came forth to battle in three hundred 

 boats. The Guaranies, on the other hand, had five ships 

 armed with cannon. But it is obvious from this statement, 

 that European vessels and European tactics gave the battle all 

 its importance. It took place on the river Mborore, in Para- 

 guay ; but after all, both parties finding themselves out of 

 their element on the water, at length abandoned their vessels 

 by mutual agreement, and fought to desperation on shore. 



It is said of the inhabitants of New Holland, that their only 

 substitute for a boat is a short and solid log, on which they 

 place themselves astride, and thus venture upon the water. 

 Even this, the humblest of all human contrivances, was in 



S7 



