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BAHIA BLANCA. 



Aug. 1833. 



taken or killed^ for the soldiers sabre every man. The 

 Indians are now so terrified^ that they offer no resistance in 

 a body^ but each flies^ neglecting even his wife and chil- 

 dren; but when overtaken^ like wild animals^ they fight 

 against any number to the last moment. One dying Indian 

 seized with his teeth the thumb of his adversary^ and allowed 

 his own eye to be forced out^ sooner than relinquish his hold. 

 Another^ who was wounded^ feigned deaths keeping a knife 

 ready to strike one more fatal blow. My informer said, when 

 he was pursuing an Indian, the man cried out for mercy, at 

 the same time that he was covertly loosing the bolas from his 

 waist, meaning to whirl it round his head and so strike his 

 pursuer. I however struck him with my sabre to the 

 ground, and then got off my horse, and cut his throat with 

 my knife.^^ This is a dark picture ; but how much more 

 shocking is the unquestionable fact, that all the women who 

 appear above twenty years old, are massacred in cold blood. 

 When I exclaimed that this appeared rather inhuman, he 

 answered, " Why, what can be done ? they breed so 



Every one here is fully convinced that this is the most just 

 war because it is against barbarians. Who would believe in 

 this age, in a Christian civilized country, that such atrocities 

 were committed ? The children of the Indians are saved, to 

 be sold or given away as servants, or rather slaves, for as 

 long a time as the owners can deceive them ; but I believe in 

 this respect there is little to complain of. 



In the battle four men ran away together. They were pur- 

 sued, and one was killed, but the other three were taken 

 alive. They turned out to be messengers or ambassadors 

 from a large body of Indians, united in the common cause of 

 defence, near the Cordillera. The tribe to which they had 

 been sent was on the point of holding a grand council ; the 

 feast of mare's flesh was ready, and the dance prepared : in 

 the morning the ambassadors were to have returned tb the 

 Cordillera. They were remarkably fine men, very fair, above 

 six feet high, and all under thirty years of age. The three 

 survivors of course possessed very valuable information; and 



