THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 207 



whose forefathers fled in horror and dismay from the 

 fatal apparition of the Spanish horses, are now literally 

 * incorpsed and demi-natured with the brave beast.' 

 Many of the tribes, from being constantly on horse- 

 back from their infancy, can scarcely walk. Their 

 legs have become too weak, from long disuse, for that 

 kind of progression, and they loathe and despise it. 

 The proudest attitude of the human figure, as they 

 declare, is when a man, bending over his horse, lance 

 in hand, is riding at his enemy. The occupation of 

 their lives is war, especially against " the Christians," 

 and they pursue it for two objects, to steal cattle, 

 and for the pleasure of murdering the people ; and 

 they will even leave the cattle to massacre and torture 

 their enemies, such is their ferocity, and their heredi- 

 tary hatred to the descendants of the cruel oppressors 

 of their fathers. The Gauchos, who themselves ride 

 so beautifully, declare that it is impossible to vie with 

 a mounted Indian; for that the Indians' horses are 

 better than their own, and also that they have such a 

 way of urging them on by their cries, and by a pecu- 

 liar motion of their bodies, that even if they were to 

 change horses, the Indians would beat them. Mr. 

 Darwin related a case in which this fact was proved. 



At Cholechel, Bahia-Blanca, General Rosas' troops 

 encountered a tribe of Indians, of whom they killed 



