IV 



INDIAN WEAPONS 



75 



make the riding gear. One of their chief indoor occupations 

 is to knock two stones together till they become round, in 

 order to make the bolas. With this important weapon the 

 Indian catches his game, and also his 

 horse, which roams free over the plain. 

 In fighting, his first attempt is to throw 

 down the horse of his adversary with the 

 bolas, and when entangled by the fall to 

 kill him with the chuzo. If the balls only 

 catch the neck or body of an animal, they 

 are often carried away and lost. As the 

 making the stones round is the labour of 

 two days, the manufacture of the balls is a 

 very common employment. Several of the 

 men and women had their faces painted red, 

 but I never saw the horizontal bands which 

 are so common among the Fuegians. Their 

 ^ W/ chief pride consists in having everything 

 v^ W made of silver ; I have seen a cacique with 



his spurs, stirrups, handle of his knife, and 

 bridle made of this metal : the head -stall 

 and reilis^^ing of wire, were not thicker 

 than whipcord ; and to see a fiery steed 

 wheeling about under the command of so 

 light a chain, gave to the horsemanship a 

 remarkable character of elegance. 



General Rosas intimated a wish to see 

 me ; a circumstance which I was afterwards 

 very glad of. He is a man of an extra- 

 ordinary character, and has a 

 most predominant influence 

 in the country, which it 

 seems probable he will use 



BRAZILIAN WHIl'S, HOIiBLES, ANU SPURS, 



