﻿704 
  

  

  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  INDIANS 
  

  

  [B. 
  A. 
  E. 
  Bull. 
  143 
  

  

  meat 
  was 
  highly 
  relished, 
  but 
  was 
  not 
  eaten 
  except 
  at 
  important 
  social 
  

   or 
  religious 
  feasts. 
  

  

  The 
  horse 
  was 
  adopted 
  very 
  shortly 
  after 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  16th 
  cen- 
  

   tury. 
  Some 
  horses 
  were 
  stolen 
  from 
  Pedro 
  de 
  Valdivia 
  ; 
  10 
  others 
  were 
  

   gotten 
  as 
  spoils 
  of 
  war 
  at 
  the 
  defeat 
  of 
  Alvarado 
  in 
  1555. 
  Lautaro 
  

   was 
  seen 
  on 
  horseback 
  in 
  1556. 
  By 
  1562, 
  the 
  more 
  general 
  use 
  of 
  

   horses 
  was 
  under 
  way. 
  Thefts 
  of 
  horses 
  thereafter 
  were 
  common. 
  

   By 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  17th 
  century, 
  the 
  Mapuche 
  were 
  making 
  

  

  Figure 
  71. 
  — 
  A 
  Mapuche 
  saddletree, 
  saddlecloth, 
  and 
  stirrups. 
  (After 
  Smith, 
  

  

  1855, 
  p. 
  200.) 
  

  

  much 
  use 
  of 
  cavalry 
  in 
  warfare, 
  although 
  many 
  were 
  as 
  yet 
  not 
  such 
  

   expert 
  riders, 
  and 
  many 
  were 
  thrown 
  from 
  their 
  mounts 
  in 
  actual 
  

   fighting. 
  Saddles 
  were 
  earlier 
  made 
  of 
  light 
  wood, 
  saddle 
  cushions 
  

   of 
  wool, 
  stirrups 
  and 
  spurs 
  of 
  wood, 
  bits 
  of 
  wood 
  or 
  whalebone, 
  and 
  

   reins 
  and 
  headstalls 
  of 
  hide 
  or 
  hemp 
  (Gonzalez 
  de 
  Najera, 
  1889, 
  pp. 
  

   114-15). 
  As 
  time 
  went 
  on, 
  the 
  Mapuche-Huilliche 
  became 
  accom- 
  

   plished 
  and 
  habitual 
  horsemen, 
  as 
  they 
  are 
  today 
  (McClafferty, 
  

   1932, 
  pp. 
  44-49). 
  The 
  triangular 
  great-toe 
  stirrup 
  (fig. 
  71) 
  of 
  cane 
  

   was 
  also 
  used 
  (Smith, 
  1855, 
  p. 
  199). 
  The 
  lasso, 
  used 
  with 
  great 
  dex- 
  

   terity 
  by 
  the 
  modern 
  Araucanian, 
  was 
  probably 
  introduced 
  and 
  spread 
  

  

  