NO. 2275. USE OF SLINGS IN PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA— MEANS. 323 



means of a leather strap, a lance with a sharpened point, and a sling made 

 of reed. * * * ^ 



A hint as to the nature of the slings used in the mountains at the 

 time of the Inca dominion is given by Cobo : 



* * * Of their offensive arms some are for fighting at a distance and 

 others for hand-to-hand fighting. For fighting at a distance they used slings 

 made of wool or of Cabuya, with which they were great sharpshooters. Al- 

 most all the people of this kingdom used them, particularly the mountaineers, 

 who were very skillful slingers, * * * * 



It seems not to be unlikely that the slings of which Cobo speaks 

 were more or less like those on the coast. Cahuya is a kind of aloe.^ 



In the region about Lake Titicaca, also, the sling was used, and 

 still is.* 



Some notion as to the tactical significance of the sling is gained 

 from a passage from Xeres, who, speaking of the capture of Ata- 

 hualpa at Cajamarca by the Spaniards, says: 



* * * In this town of Caxamalca, * * * the arms they found, with 

 which they made war, and their manner of fighting were as follows: In the 

 van of their array came the sling-men, who hurled pebbles from slings. These 

 sling-men carry shields, which they make from narrow boards, very small. 

 They also wear .iackets of quilted cotton. Next came men armed with sticks 

 having large knobs at one end, and axes. The sticks are a braga and a half 

 in length, and the thickness of a lance. The knob at the end is of metal, with 

 five or six sharp points, each point being as thick as a man's thumb. They use 

 them with both hands. The axes were tlie same size or larger. The metal 

 blade was a palmo in width, like a halberd. Some of the axes and clubs, used 

 by the chiefs, were of gold and silver. Behind these came men armed with 

 hurling lances, like darts. In the rear were pikemen with lances 30 palmos 

 in length. * * * » 



ConcliLsion. — We have now seen that the sling was widely dis- 

 tributed over Mexico and Central America and in the northernmost 

 parts of South America. It can not, howe^•er, be said to have been 

 the most important offensive weapon in the greater part of this 

 region; it is, of course, possible that it was more important before 

 the more efficacious spear-thrower and bow attained the development 

 they possessed at the time of the Spanish conquest. In the more 

 southerly parts of Central America the sling has a formidable rival 

 in the blowgun, a weapon probably derived from the people of the 

 Amazon region. Nevertheless, the sling was of general occurrence; 

 it may well have been the chief long-range weapon in the earlier 

 periods. The sling is especially important in certain coastal regions 

 of Peru in pre-Inca times, and it is also one of the chief weapons of 

 the people in the mountains. By the Incas the sling was given a still 

 wider distribution. 



1 Garcilasso, vol. 2, p. 171. 



2 Cobo, 1802, vol. 4, p. 194. The translation Is mine. 

 sCieza, 1864, p. 14G. 



* Bandolier, 1910, p. 88. Beucliat, 1912. pp. 581 and 669. 

 ^ Xeres, Markliam's translation, Hakluyt Society, 1872, p. 60. 



