Aug. 1833. 



INDIAN 



123 



seen patting the horse's head^ and talking to him. The pur- 

 suers urged every effort in the chase ; the Commandant three 

 times changed his horse, but all in vain. The old Indian 

 father and his son escaped, and were free. What a fine 

 picture one can form in one's mind, — the naked bronze-like 

 figure of the old man with his little boy, riding like a 

 Mazeppa on the white horse, thus leaving far behind him the 

 host of his pursuers ! 



I saw one day a soldier striking fire with a piece of flint, 

 which I immediately recognised as having been a part of the 

 head of an arrow. He told me it was found near the island 

 of Choiechel, and that they are frequently picked up there. 

 It was between two and three inches long, and therefore 

 twice as large as those now used in Tierra del Fuego : it was 

 made of opake cream-coloured flint, but the point and barbs 

 had been intentionally broken ofl*. It is well known that no 

 Pampas Indians now use bows and arrows. I believe a smaU. 

 tribe in Banda Oriental must be excepted ; but they are 

 widely separated from the Pampas Indians, and border close 

 on those tribes that inhabit the forest, and live on foot. It 

 appears, therefore, that these arrow-heads are antiquarian* 

 relics of the Indians, before the great change in habits 

 consequent on the introduction of the horse into South 

 America. 



* Azara has even doubted whether the Pampas Indians ever used 

 bows. 



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