416 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



boln, ' which they cover with leather and keep attached to the waist. " This 

 characteristic missile is of two kinds : the simplest, which is chiefly used for 

 catching ostriches, consists of two round stones, covered with leather and united 

 by a thin plaited thong about eight feet long. The other kind differs only in 

 having three balls united by the thongs to a common centre. The Gaucho holds 

 the smallest of the three in his hand, and whirls the other two round and round 

 his head ; then, taking aim, sends them like chain-shot revolving through the 

 air. The balls no sooner strike any object than, winding round it, they cross each 

 other and become firmly hitched. 



" The size and weight of the balls vary according to the purpose for which they 

 are made. When of stone, although not larger than an apple, they are sent with 

 such force as sometimes to break the leg even of a horse. I have seen the balls 

 made of wood, and as large as a turnip, for the sake of catching these animals 

 without injuring them. The balls are sometimes made of iron, and these can be 

 hurled to the greatest distance. The main difficulty in using either lazo or bolas 

 is to ride so well as to be able at full speed, and while suddenly turning about, 

 to whirl them so steadily round the head as to take aim ; on foot any person would 

 soon learn the art." * 



Some of the Patagonians still wear little silver bells suspended from the waist ; 

 all paint themselves in red, white, and deep blue, both for show and also for the 

 practical purpose of protecting the exposed parts of the body from the action of 

 the wind and from mosquitoes. Their only musical instrument is a sort of flute 

 made of the bone of a huanaco. 



Under new forms the old beliefs still persist. Sun and moon retain their 

 beneficent qualities as good spirits, while noxious influences are diffused by certain 

 animals such as the lizard, which have to be conjured by the sacrifice of living 

 beings, especially the horse. Probably through fear of similar baneful results 

 several of the Tehuel-che tribes will on no account eat fish. The women secrete 

 little figures, regarded perhaps as amulets or household gods, and the medicine- 

 men still continue, as in pagan times, to exorcise their patients, to summon or scare 

 away the demons. 



These j)aijé, as the medicine-men are called b}^ a name difiering but slightlv 

 from that current in the Amazonian and Guiana regions, have also the right of 

 interpreting at their pleasure all natural phenomena and incidents of all kinds. 

 Thus a long-established belief based on such interpretations assigns to the (janlichus, 

 or demons, the bodies of old women, as their ordinary dwelling-place. Hence 

 everyone had a right to kill any aged females crossing his path, and till recently 

 this right was frequently exercised. In order to escape from such a fate most of 

 the cronies attempted to render some service to the community in the character of 

 prophetesses announcing good tidings. But woe to those whose forecastings 

 turned out unfortunate. 



In certain cases custom even required the Tehuel-che to sacrifice some aged 



* Charles Darwin, Voij^r/e lîoiind the World, ch. iii. 



