372 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



social and rural usages did not prevent the Chiquitos from occasionally engaging 

 in wars ; which, however, were soon over. The temporary chiefs chosen for such 

 emergencies merely retained an empty title, without any personal authority 

 maintained by force. The Chiquito warriors even made captives, who received 

 the name of slaves, but who none the less married into their master's families. 



Before the arrival of the Spaniards the Chiquitos were certainly a numerous 

 nation. But then came the first conqueror, Alvarez, Cabeza de Yaca, " Cow- 

 Head," who, after his long and marvellous adventures in unknown lands and 

 amongst barbarous tribes, undertaken in quest of Mexico, arrived at the head of 

 armed bands on the banks of the Paraguay, and set to butchering the natives, as 

 if to indemnify himself for his previous sufferings. 



In the seventeenth century the so-called " Maraelucos" of the province of Sao 

 Paulo raided the country in search of slaves, and they found imitators in the 

 Spanish traders of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Then the Jesuit missionaries, in their 

 eagerness to save the remnants of numerous broken tribes, unwittingly brought 

 them death in the form of small-pox and other contagious maladies. Nevertheless, 

 the race has survived, and every year not marked by the visitation of some epi- 

 demic scourge the population has even increased, for the Chiquito women are 

 most prolific. According to the statistical report prepared by D'Orbigny in 1831, 

 they numbered nearly 20,000 at that time, without reckoning the kindred tribes 

 dwelling in Brazil on the opposite side of the Paraguay. 



Of this number the Chiquitos, properly so called, represented about 15,000» 

 all converted to the Catholic religion. Nearly all, even those who had a distinct 

 mother-tongue, spoke the soft and melodious Chiquito language, which was 

 methodically taught by the Jesuits amongst all the surrounding tribes. It was, 

 however, supplemented by Spanish for all purposes connected with public worship, 

 the industries and calculation, for the Chiquito arithmetic got no farther than 

 the number ten. Some of the old heathen practices still survive under the 

 outward form of Christianity, although those Indians who, after the departure of 

 the Jesuits, reverted to the wild state have not revived their former primitive 

 usages. Thus, while discarding the European clothes, they no longer paint their 

 bodies, or perforate certain parts of the face, as did their pagan forefathers. 



The Mojos. 



Dwelling in a land of hills, glens and brooks, the Chiquitos have no know- 

 ledge of navigation. The Mojos, on the contrary, who have their camping- 

 grounds along the banks of large rivers or on frequently- flooded plains, are all 

 skilful boatmen. Nevertheless, they depend for their sustenance chiefly on 

 agriculture. The periodical floods occur at regular seasons, leaving the crops full 

 time to ripen between sowing and harvest tides. 



Physically the Mojos closely resemble the Chiquitos ; but they are more 

 robust, and rather taller, while the women have somewhat less massive figures. 

 Without possessing the overflowing spirits of their neighbours, they are dis- 



