44 MEMOIR OP 



engage in war, and never appear in military array 

 except to demand peace. It is said that the whole 

 of this people swim naturally : though we must add, 

 for the benefit of our younger readers, not more 

 than others might do, and many individuals have 

 done. This, sometimes most important feat, is best 

 accomplished by keeping the body nearly erect in 

 the water, throwing the head back, and keeping 

 tjie mouth and nose only above the surface, and 

 then treading along with the feet, and pawing with 

 the hands under water as a dog does/' But hear 

 Azara. " I should not omit what my companion in 

 travel, a curate, once told me. c I took,' said he, 

 4 this Guarany youth when only four years of age, 

 and have had him ever since : he is now fourteen. 

 He has never seen a river, nor any sheet of water 

 where he could swim ; for there is no such in my 

 parish, from which he has never moved, and I have 

 never lost sight of him for a single day. I shall 

 notwithstanding tell him to swim across the river 

 (which was as broad and deep as the Seine at Paris), 

 and you will find that he will do it at once.' It 

 was no sooner said than done ; and I witnessed the 

 boy do it, without either hesitation or difficulty." 



Of the Guasarapoes, Azara informs us that men 

 and women go quite naked. They cut their hair so 

 close, that they appear as if shaven. They have 

 neither religion, laws, obligatory customs, nor chiefs. 

 They have no domestic animals, nor agriculture, nor 

 do they huVit. They live on wild rice and fish ; and 

 are full of energy, pride, and courage. The Guanas 



