ANTIQUARIAN RELIC. 



105 



old man with his little boy, riding like a Mazeppa on the white 

 horse, thus leaving far behind him the host of his pursuers ! 



I saw one day a soldier striking fire with a piece of flint, 

 which I immediately recognised as having been a part of the 

 head of an arrow. He told me it was found near the island of 

 Cholechel, and that they are frequently picked up there. It 

 was between two and three inches long, and therefore twice as 

 large as those now used in Tierra del Fuego : it was made of 

 opake cream-coloured flint, but the point and barbs had been 

 intentionally broken off. It is well known that no Pampas 

 Indians now use bows and arrows. I believe a small tribe in 

 Banda Oriental must be excepted ; but they are widely separated 

 from the Pampas Indians, and border ciose on those tribes that 

 mhabit the forest, and live on foot. It appears, therefore, that 

 these arrow-heads are antiquarian* relics of the Indians, before 

 the great change in habits consequent on the introduction of the 

 horse into South America. 



* Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used bows. 



