THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



83 



Indian families as they came to buy little articles at the 

 rancho where we stayed. It was supposed that General 

 Rosas had about six hundred Indian allies. The men were 

 a tall, 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 this is certainly incor- 

 rect. 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 brilliancy; their legs, feet, and arms were 

 small and elegantly formed; their ankles, and sometimes 

 their wrists, were ornamented 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 occupa- 

 tions is to knock two stones together till they become round, 

 in order to make the bolas. With this important wcr.pon the 

 Indian catches his game, and also his horse, which roams 

 free over the plain. In fighting, his first attempt is to throw 

 down the horse of his adversary 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. Several of the men and women 

 had their faces painted red, but I never saw the horizontal 

 bands which are so common among the Fuegians. Their 

 chief pride consists in having everything made of silver; I 

 have seen a cacique with his spurs, stirrups, handle of his 

 knife, and bridle made of this metal: the head-stall and reins 



