72 RIO COLORADO. [chap. it. 



rated these Indians into two classes ; but this is certainly incoi- 

 rect. 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 orna- 

 mented 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 wheij 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 of 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 extra- 

 ordinary character, and has a most predominant influence in the 

 country, which it seems probable he will use to its prosperity 



