5* RIO COLORADO. [CHAI. iv. 



We stayed two days at the Colorado ; I had little to do, for the 

 surrounding country was a swamp, which in summer (December), when 

 the snow melts on the Cordillera, is overflowed by the river. My chief 

 amusement was watching the Indian families as they came to buy little 

 articles at the rancho where we stayed. It was supposed that General 

 Rosas had about six hundred Indian allies. The men were a tall, fine 

 race ; yet it was afterwards easy to see in the Fuegian savage the same 

 countenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, and less civiliza- 

 tion. Some authors, in defining the primary races of mankind, have 

 separated these Indians into two classes ; but this is certainly incorrect 

 Among the young women or chinas, some deserve to be called even 

 beautiful. Their hair was coarse, but bright and black ; and they wore 

 it in two plaits hanging down to the waist. They had a high colour, 

 and eyes that glistened with brilliancy ; their legs, feet, and arms were 

 small and elegantly formed ; their ankles, and sometimes their waists, 

 were ornamented by broad bracelets of blue beads. Nothing could be 

 more interesting than some of the family groups. A mother with one 

 or two daughters would often come to our rancho, mounted on the 

 same horse. They ride like men, but with their knees tucked up much 

 higher. This habit, perhaps, arises from their being accustomed, when 

 travelling, to ride the loaded horses. The duty of the women is to 

 load and unload the horses ; to make the tents for the night ; in short 

 to be, like the wives of all savages, useful slaves. The men fight, hunt, 

 take care of the horses, and make the riding gear. One of their chief 

 indoor occupations is to knock two stones together till they become 

 round, in order to make the bolas. With this important weapon the 

 Indian catches his game, and also his horse, which roams free over the 

 plain. In fighting, his first attempt is to throw down the horse of his 

 adversary with the bolas, and when entangled by the fall to kill him 

 with the chuzo. If the balls only catch the neck or body of an animal, 

 they are often carried away and lost. As the making the stones round 

 is the labour of two days, the manufacture of the balls is a very common 

 employment. Several of the men and women had their faces painted 

 red, but I never saw the horizontal bands which are so common among 

 the Fuegians. Their chief pride consists in having everything made 

 of silver ; I have seen a cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his 

 knife, and bridle made of this metal; the head-stall and reins being ol 

 wire, were not thicker than whipcord; and to see a fiery steed wheeling 

 about under the command of so light a chain, gave to the horsemanship 

 a remarkable character of elegance. 



General Rosas intimated a wish to see me ; a circumstance which I 

 was afterwards very glad of. He is a man of an extraordinary character, 

 and has a most predominant influence in the country, which it seems 

 probable he will use to its prosperity and advancement.* He is said 

 to be the owner of seventy-four square leagues of land, and to have 

 about three hundred thousand head of cattle. His estates are admirably 

 managed, and are far more productive of corn than those of others. 

 He first gained his celebrity by his laws for his own estancias, and by 

 * This prophecy has turned out entirely and miserably wrong, 1845. 



