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 civilisation.

Some authors, in defining the primary races of mankind, have
separated these Indians into two classes; but this is certainly
incorrect. 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 waists, 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 occupations is to
knock two stones together till they become round, in order to make
the bolas. With this important weapon 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 being of wire, were not thicker than whipcord;
and to see a fiery steed wheeling about under the command of so
light a chain, gave to the horsemanship a remarkable character of
elegance.

(PLATE 19. BRAZILIAN WHIPS, HOBBLES, AND SPURS.)