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ESCAPE OF INDIANS 
109 
containing two and three thousand inhabitants. Even in 
Falconer’s time (1750) the Indians made inroads as far as 
Luxan, Areco, and Arrecife, but now they are driven beyond 
the Salado. Not only have whole tribes been exterminated, 
but the remaining Indians have become more barbarous : 
instead of living in large villages, and being employed in 
the arts of fishing, as well as of the chase, they now wander 
about the open plains, without home or fixed occupation. 
I heard also some account of an engagement which took 
place, a few weeks previously to the one mentioned, at Cholechel. 
This is a very important station on account of being a pass for 
horses ; and it was, in consequence, for some time the head¬ 
quarters of a division of the army. When the troops first 
arrived there they found a tribe of Indians, of whom they killed 
twenty or thirty. The cacique escaped in a manner which 
astonished every one. The chief Indians always have one or 
two picked horses, which they keep ready for any urgent 
occasion. On one of these, an old white horse, the cacique 
sprung, taking with him his little son. The horse had neither 
saddle nor bridle. To avoid the shots, the Indian rode in the 
peculiar method of his nation ; namely, with an arm round the 
horse’s neck, and one leg only on its back. Thus hanging on 
one side, he was seen patting the horse’s head, and talking to him. 
The pursuers 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 Cholechel, 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 opaque cream-coloured flint, but the point and barbs 
had been intentionally broken off. It is well known that 
no Pampas Indians now use bows and arrows. I believe 
a small tribe in Banda Oriental must be excepted; but 
