THE PAMPAS. 



93 



are idols, by whom even the merciless hand of the 

 savage is arrested. Whether the poor girls can 

 ride or not, they are instantly placed upon horses, 

 and when the hasty plunder of the hut is con- 

 cluded, they are driven away from its smoking 

 ruins, and from the horrid scene which surrounds it. 



At a pace which in Europe is unknown, they 

 gallop over the trackless regions before them, fed 

 upon mare's flesh, sleeping on the ground, until 

 they arrive in the Indians' territory, when they 

 have instantly to adopt the wild life of their 

 captors. 



I was informed by a very intelligent French Of- 

 ficer, who was of high rank in the Peruvian army, 

 that, on friendly terms, he had once passed through 

 part of the territory of these Pampas Indians, in 

 order to attack a tribe who were at war with them, 

 and that he had met several of the young women 

 who had been thus carried off by the Indians. 



He told me that he had offered to obtain permis- 

 sion for them to return to their country, and that 

 he had, in addition, offered them large sums of 

 money if they would, in the mean while, act as 

 interpreters ; but they all replied, that no induce- 



