THE INDIAN OF THE PAMPAS. 105 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



greater than it really is, from their large guanaco mantles, 

 their long flowing hair, and general figure : on an average 

 their height is about six feet, with some men taller, and only 

 a few shorter ; and the women are also tall. Altogether they 

 are certainly the tallest race that we anywhere saw. In feat- 

 ures they strikingly resemble the more northern Indians 

 whom I saw with Rosas, but they have a wilder and more 

 formidable appearance: their faces were much painted with 

 red and black, and one man was ringed and dotted with 

 white, like a Fuegian. Captain Fitz Roy offered to take any 

 three of them on board, and all seemed determined to be of 

 the three: it was long before we could clear the boat. At 

 last we got on board with our three giants, who dined with 

 the captain and behaved quite like gentlemen, helping them- 

 selves with knives, forks, and spoons : nothing was so much 

 relished as sugar. The tribe spend the greater part of the 

 year here, but in summer they hunt along the foot of the 

 Cordillera; sometimes they travel as far as the Rio Negro, 

 seven hundred and fifty miles to the north. They are well 

 stocked with horses, each man having, according to Mr. Low, 

 six or seven, and all the women, and even the children, their 

 one own horse. Mr. Low informs me that a neighboring tribe 

 of foot-Indians is now (1834) changing into horse-Indians. 



THE INDIAN OF THE PAMPAS. 



WE stayed two days at the Colorado, near the encamp- 

 ment of General Rosas. My chief amusement was watching 

 the Indian families, as they came to buy little articles at the 



