INHABITANTS OF AEGENTINA. 407 



Spaniards near the present site of Buenos Ayres, may have been a Guarani 

 people, although Moreno and others regard them as the probable ancestors of 

 the Puel-che, since driven farther inland. 



Between the civilised Calchaquis and the Guarani the plains were occupied by 

 nomad groups, presenting no kind o£ national cohesion, but resembling each 

 other in their usages, warlike character, and often also in speech. Many doubtless 

 belonged to a common stock, which in the absence of any collective name 

 might be called the Tuba race, from the most powerful nation by whom they are 

 now represented. 



Farther south the terminal peninsula of the Continent was occupied by the 

 Araucanians and Patagonians, who constitute a sub-race very distinct from the 

 northern Indians. Lastly, the eastern section of Fuegia is still roamed by a 

 few Onas, who are Patagonian intruders from the mainland. 



With the arrival of the Europeans began the massacres and steady exter- 

 mination of the aborigines under diverse pretexts. Some were distributed in the 

 so-called encoiuicndas for their " spiritual welfare," while others were simply 

 enslaved, or else classed as mitai/os, "hirelings." But the result was the same, 

 and whole groups disappeared in the mines or died out on the plantations. 

 Those gathered by the Jesuits into their reductions increased in peaceful times 

 and in healthy years, but only to be eventually swept away by the Mamelucos 

 and epidemics. Most of the missions have disappeared with all their inhabitants, 

 either extirpated or assimilated to the surrounding Hi-pano-American mixed 

 populations. 



This process of assimilation, has been extended to the north-western Calchaquis, 

 to the Guarani of Corrientes, to the agricultural Indians of Tucuman, Santiago 

 del Estero, San Luis, and Cordoba. The Coraachigones of the Central province, 

 the Michilengues of San Luis, the Giyones and Calingastas of Mendoza, having 

 lost their Indian names and speech, fancy themselves full-blood Spaniards. In 

 usages, language, and political life they have become gradually assimilated to the 

 other Argentine populations. 



On the other hand, the wild Indians themselves, who have never ceased to 

 kidnap the women and children of their white neighbours, belong in great 

 measure, at least in blood, to the race of the conquerors. But the racial struggle 

 is still carried on, fierce and brutal as ever, between the Argentines and the 

 warlike Toba tribes of the northern plains. In the south the rapid decrease of 

 the Pampean aborigines has at last put an end to the border warfare, which had 

 till recently been waged with relentless cruelty on both sides. Possibly SjJanish 

 influence had rendered these natives more savage than they had been originally. 

 At least a bad effect could not fail to be produced by the servitude of the 

 civilised tribes, and by the introduction of the horse and of firearms, which 

 naturally gave a stimulus to the inborn taste for rapine and plunder. 



Little has been heard in Europe of these border troubles ; but the horrors 

 and atrocities that were associated with the sudden raids of the Pampas Indians 

 almost pass the limits of credibility. " It is now but twelve years," writes 



