RELIGION. INFANTICIDE. 427 



They had no established form of government, nor any 

 ideas of religion. Azara makes this latter statement gene- 

 rally for all the Indians, and repeats it particularly for the 

 following tribes namely, the Charruas, Minuanas, Aucas, 

 Guaranys, Guayanas, Nalicuegas, Guasarapos, Guatos, Nina- 

 quiguilas, Guanas, Lenguas, Aguilots, Mocobys, Abissons, 

 and Paraguas. 



Azara describes the language of the Guaranys as being the 

 most copious, and yet it was in many respects very deficient ; 

 for instance, they could only count up to four, and had no 

 words for the higher numbers, not even for five or six. It 

 is quite unnecessary to say that the marriage tie was little 

 regarded among them ; they married when they liked, and 

 separated when they pleased. 



Infanticide was, in several of the tribes, the rule rather 

 than the exception ; the women brought up but one child 

 each, and as they spared only the one which they thought 

 likely to be the last, it often happened that they were left 

 without any at all. 



Patagonians. 



The inhabitants of the southern parts of South America, 

 although they are divided into numerous different tribes, 

 may be considered as falling into two great groups : the 

 Patagonians, or Horse Indians, on the east, who have horses 

 but no canoes ; and the Chonos and Fuegians, or Canoe 

 Indians, who have canoes, but no horses, and who inhabit 

 the tempestuous islands on the south and west. 



The Yacana-kunny who inhabit the north-eastern part of 

 Tierra del Fuego are, properly speaking, not Fuegians, but 

 Patagonians, and resemble them in color, stature, and 

 clothing, except the peculiar boots. They live now pretty 

 much as the mainlanders probably did before the introduc- 

 tion of horses, and feed principally on guanacoes, ostriches, 



