90 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



horse. The bolas is the weapon of the Tehuelche. With it he 

 kills his game, and with it also he catches wild colts, and finds it 

 useful in his simple process of training. The bolas is made up of 

 three thongs of raw hide fastened together at one end, the other 

 free ends having attached to them stones or bits of pot-iron sewn 

 up in skin. The Indian throws his weapon with marvellous 

 accuracy at any animal he may be pursuing, and the thongs coiling 

 instandy round the legs or neck of the creature, bring it to the 

 ground, or, at any rate, entangle it hopelessly. 



It may well be judged that this race have no history. They 

 remain in touch with the methods and customs according to which 

 their forefathers were wont to live centuries ago, and who in their 

 turn had derived them from still older generations. Though most 

 of the men now possess cheap store knives of steel, I have seen, as 

 I said before, many a quarry skinned with the prehistoric flint 

 knife. They are an intelligent people, indeed keen where bar- 

 gaining is concerned, as long as they are sober ; yet they seem to 

 be entirely lacking in that quality which would enable them to 

 forget the past with its traditional usages and methods, and to 

 follow even remotely the sweeping onward rush that, like a tornado, 

 carries with it the lagging races of mankind. Although the men 

 possess unusual strength, they do not in the least know how to 

 apply it. Their faces are somewhat flat, although the features are 

 more or less cast in the aquiline mould, and fairly regular. The 

 hair is coarse and lustreless, its blackness relieved by a fillet or 

 hindkerchief of scarlet. Their teeth are excellent, toothache being 

 almost unknown in their tents. Although they bathe, I have 

 never observed among them any article that would in any way 

 correspond to the tooth-stick of other nomadic peoples. Their 

 beautiful teeth are perhaps due to their habit of chewing a gummy 

 substance that exudes from the incensio bush. Musters, in his 

 book, says they use this as a dentifrice. 



The women are not, according to our European ideas, beautiful, 

 and such comeliness as they may sometimes possess in youth 

 blossoms and fades quickly. They are, however, strong, and 

 much of the camp work falls to their share. The older women can 

 boast of a brand of ugliness all their own. Age to these ladies 



