72 



valry is divided in the like manner, but the 

 number of horse is not always the same. They 

 have all their particular standards, but each 

 / bears a star, which is the national device. The 

 soldiers are not clothed in uniform, according 

 to the European custom, but all wear beneath 

 their usual dress cuirasses of leather, hardened 

 by a peculiar mode of dressing ; their shields 

 and helmets are also made of the same material. 



The cavalry is armed with swords and lances ; 



' the infantry with pikes or clubs pointed with 



iron. They formerly employed bows and slings, 



i^ in the use of which they were very dexterous, 



but since the arrival of the Spaniards, they have 



almost entirely relinquished them, experience 



having taught them to avoid the destructive 



effect of their musketry, by immediately closing 



in and fighting hand to hand with the enemy. 



The art of making gun-powder is as yet un- 

 known to these warlike people. Either they 

 regard it but little, or, what is more probable, 

 those Spaniards with whom they have sometimes 

 traded, would not, if they were themselves ac- 

 quainted with it, communicate to them the com- 

 position. It is, however, believed that they made 

 use at first of the greatest exertions to obtain 

 the knowledge of this secret so important in the 

 present system of warfare. The discovery of 

 powder is well ascertained to have been owing 

 more to accident than to the efforts of human in- 



; 



