84 RIO COLORADO. Aug. 1833. 



the surrounding country was a swamp^ which in summer^ 

 (December) when the snow melts on the Cordillera^, is over- 

 flowed by the river. My chief amusement was watching 

 the Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the 

 rancho, where we staid. It was supposed that General Rosas 

 had about six hundred Indian allies. The men were a taU^ 

 fine race^ yet it was afterwards easy to see in the Fuegian 

 savage the same countenance rendered hideous by cold^ want 

 of food^ and less civilization. Some authors, in defining the 

 primary races of mankind, have separated these Indians into 

 two classes ; but I cannot think this is correct. Among the 

 young women or chinas, some deserve to be called even 

 beautiful. Their hair was coarse, but bright and black ; 

 and they wore it in two plaits hanging down to the waist. 

 They had a high colour, and eyes that glistened with bril- 

 liancy ; their legs, feet, and arms were small and elegantly 

 formed ; their ankles, and sometimes their waists, were orna- 

 mented by broad bracelets of blue beads. Nothing could be 

 more interesting than some of the family groups. A mother 

 with one or two daughters would often come to our rancho, 

 mounted on the same horse. They ride like men, but with 

 their knees tucked up much higher. This habit, perhaps, 

 arises from their being accustomed, when travelling, to ride 

 the loaded horses. The duty of the women is to load and 

 unload the horses ; to make the tents for the night ; in short 

 to be, like the wives of all savages, useful slaves. The men 

 fight, hunt, take care of the horses, and make the riding gear. 

 One of their chief indoor occupations is to knock two stones 

 together till they become round. The bolas is a very im- 

 portant weapon to the Indian ; for with it he catches his 

 game, and also his horse which roams free over the plain. In 

 fighting, his first attempt is to throw the horse of his adver- 

 sary with the bolas, and when entangled by the fall to kill him 

 with the chuzo. If the balls only catch the neck or body of 

 an animal, they are often carried away and lost. As the 

 making the stones round is the labour of two days, the 

 manufacture of the balls is a very common employment. 



