When he goes to attack a village inhabited by white men, he does so in a very ingenious manner. Usually he fights exclusively on horseback, being so admirable a rider that he can even stand on the withers of his horse when at full speed, and feeling himself out of his element when dismounted. But when he has to attack so formidable an enemy as the white man, he begins after a different fashion. He takes with him an enormous bow, far too strong to be drawn in the usual manner, and a number of long arrows. Dismounting at some distance from the village, he creeps to some spot within range of his arrows, and then prepares for action.
He begins by wrapping a quantity of cotton wool round the arrows just behind the head, and when he has treated them all in this way, he strikes a light and sets fire to the cotton wool on one of the arrows. Lying on his back, he holds the bow with the toes of both feet, and, laying the blazing arrow in its place, he is able to use both his hands to draw the powerful weapon. He shoots with a wonderfully good aim and great rapidity, so that when a number of Indians surround a village, and pour their fiery missiles into it from all directions, the houses are sure to take fire.
In the midst of the confusion caused by the flames that arise on all sides, the warriors leap on their horses, dash at the village, kill all whom they can reach, carry off as much plunder as possible, and then gallop back to their own districts, where no one dares to follow.
Retaliation is never feared, as the Gran Chaco Indians have no fixed habitation, and nothing that can be called even a village. The hut or rather tent of these people is a very simple affair. Two upright posts are driven firmly into the earth, and another is laid horizontally across them. Over the horizontal pole is hung a large mat, the ends of which are pegged to the ground, and the tent is then complete. The mat is made of the epidermis of young palm leaves. In order to prevent water from flooding the tent in rainy weather, a trench is dug around it. The only furniture is the hammock in which the inhabitant sleeps, and in fine weather, this is much more often slung between two palm trees than between the upright posts of the tent. In fact, the only use of the tent is as a shelter in rainy weather, the whole of the life being passed in the open air.
As may be imagined from this mode of life, the Gran Chaco Indian is essentially a rover, passing from one part of the country to another when game begins to be scarce in that district which he temporarily inhabits. [Illustration No. 1], on the 1218th page shows the manner in which a community of these natives cross rivers. Swimming with perfect ease themselves, they merely with one hand guide their horses in the water without caring to get on their backs, while with the other hand they paddle themselves across the stream, or hold the spear with its light burden of ornaments.
ARROWS AND ARROW-CAP.
(See [page 1229].)
The children and household goods are conveyed easily enough. Square boats or tubs made of bull’s hide are launched, and in them are placed the children, the puppies, of which there are always plenty, and the heavier goods, such as the kettles and cooking vessels. A rope is tied to the “pelota,” as this primitive boat is called, and the cargo is towed across the stream either by being attached to the tail of a horse, or held in the mouth of a good swimmer. The lighter articles, such as dress and ornaments, are fastened to the head of the spear, which is held upright, so as to keep them out of the water.
The dogs which have just been mentioned are extremely useful to the Gran Chaco Indians, who employ them in the chase. They give but little trouble to their masters, living for the most part in holes which they scratch in the ground, and feeding contentedly on the offal and scraps of food, which in an uncivilized community are more than scanty. Without the dogs the hunter could scarcely bring to bay the jaguar, the peccary, and similar animals, which are so annoyed by the perpetual and noisy attacks of the little curs that they stop in their flight in order to revenge themselves, and so give the hunter time to come up with them.
Although so essentially a warrior, and living much upon the proceeds of his plunder, the Gran Chaco Indian is in one respect far superior to the North American tribes. He does not torture the prisoners whom he takes in war, and the women and children he treats kindly, and adopts into his own tribe.