MOURNING WAR— KXERCISK. 159 



far as I am aware,* and leaving it for better-informed persons 

 to decide upon the particular habits of each subdivision. Would 

 any one tribe bury each of the five following persons in a simi- 

 lar manner, and in the same place ? A powerful cacique — a 

 wizard — a woman — an ordinary man — a child ? 



" The widow or widows of the dead are obliged to mourn 

 and fast for a Avhole year after the death of their husband. 

 This consists in keeping themselves close shut up in their huts, 

 without having communication with any one, or stirring out, 

 except for the common necessaries of life ; in not washing their 

 faces or hands, but being blackened with soot, and having their 

 garments of a mournful appearance ; in abstaining from horse's 

 and cow's flesh, and, within land where they are plenty, from 

 the flesh of ostriches and guanacoes ; but they may eat any 

 thing else. During the year of mourning, they are forbidden 

 to marry, and if, within this time, a widow is discovered to 

 have had any communication with a man, the relations of her 

 dead husband will kill them both, unless it appears that there 

 has been violence. But I did not discover that the men were 

 obliged to any such kind of mourning on the death of their 

 wives." (Falkner, p. 119.) 



Manslaughter is not infrequent. When quarrels arise, the 

 parties draw their knives, or take such weapons as are at 

 hand, and fight, if not parted, till one is killed. War often 

 occurs between the smaller tribes, but does not last long. 

 When the small tribes unite against another nation, such 

 as the Molu-che, or the Puel-che of the north, their pre- 

 parations are more serious, and their hostilities of far longer 

 duration. 



When at war, or expecting an attack, the Patagonians exer- 

 cise on horseback, in their armour, every other evening. Fre- 

 quently the occasion of hostility is an encroachment upon the 

 territories of a neighbouring tribe, either for hunting or plun- 

 der. War is, in such case, instantly declared by the insulted 



* Except about the tomb which is described by Captain King in the 

 first volume. 



