Aboriginal Race of America. 135 



the Spaniards, their boats appear not to have been the least im- 

 proved from their original model. The padre Gonzalez de Agueros, 

 who resided many years among these islanders, describes their canoes 

 as composed of five or six boards narrowed at the ends and lashed 

 together with cords, the seams being filled with moss. They have 

 sails, but neither keel nor deck ; and in these frail and primitive 

 vessels the inhabitants commit themselves to a tempestuous sea in 

 search of their daily food. The same miserable vessels are found in 

 exclusive use in the yet more southern archipelago of Guaitecas, in 

 which a spare population is distributed over eight hundred islands, 

 and depends solely on the sea for subsistence. The mechanical 

 ingenuity of these people, therefore, is not greater than that of the 

 other Indians ; but from constant practice with their wretched boats, 

 they have acquired a dexterity in the use of them unknown to any 

 other tribe, and in some instances, under the direction of the Spani- 

 ards, have become comparatively good sailors. 



De Azara mentions a curious fact in illustration of the present in- 

 quiry. He declares that when his countrymen discovered the Rio 

 de la Plata, they found its shores inhabited by two distinct Indian 

 nations, the Charruas on the north, and the Patagonians on the 

 south ; yet strange to say, these restless people had never commu- 

 nicated with each other for war or for peace, for good or for evil, 

 because they had neither boats or canoes in which to cross the river. 



The Indian is not defective in courage even on the water ; but he 

 lacks invention to construct better vessels, and tact to manage them. 

 When he has been compelled to defend himself in his frail canoe, he 

 has done so with the indomitable spirit of his race ; yet with all 

 their love of war and stratagem, I cannot find any account of a naval 

 combat in which Europeans have borne no part. 



The Payaguas Indians at one period took revenge on the Spani- 

 ards by infesting the rivers of Paraguay in canoes which they ma- 

 naged with much adroitness ; and darting from their lurking places, 

 they intercepted the trading vessels going to and from Buenos 

 Ayres, robbing them of their goods, and destroying their crews 

 without mercy. Such was their success in these river piracies that 

 it required years of war and stratagem on the part of the Spaniards 

 to subdue them. 



