THE PAMPAS INDIANS. 



115 



pace at which they can skim over the plains on 

 horseback is so swift, in comparison to the rate 

 they could crawl on foot, that the latter must seem 

 a cheerless exertion. 



As a military nation they are much to be 

 admired, and their system of warfare is more noble 

 and perfect in its nature than that of any nation in 

 the world. When they assemble, either to attack 

 their enemies, or to invade the country of the 

 Christians, with whom they are now at war, they 

 collect large troops of horses and mares, and then 

 uttering the wild shriek of war, they start at a 

 gallop. As soon as the horses they ride are tired, 

 they vault upon the bare backs of fresh ones, 

 keeping their best until they positively see their 

 enemies. The whole country affords pasture to 

 their horses, and whenever they choose to stop, they 

 have only to kill some mares. The ground is the 

 bed on which from their infancy they have always 

 slept, and they therefore meet their enemies with 

 light hearts and full stomachs, the only advantages 

 which they think men ought to desire. 



How different this style of warfare is to the 

 inarch of an army of our brave but limping, foot- 



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