CHAPTER IV
PARAGUAYAN PICCANINNIES
Our next visit is to the Republic of Paraguay, so, leaving Sao Paulo, we will travel in a westerly direction, though really, in order to reach Paraguay in the proper way we should make our way to Santos, and embark on a steamer for Buenos Aires, in Argentina, which is situated at the mouth of the Silver River, called by the Spanish-speaking people of Argentina “Rio de la Plata.”
From Buenos Aires all missionaries travel up this river to Paraguay, but as we are not ordinary travellers, but extraordinary, we make our way to the banks of the River Paraguay. Here we must pause for a moment. Behind us is civilization; before us is heathenism and the unknown. Across the river lies the “Gran Chaco” (Great Hunt), the Indian’s land, about which one hears all kinds of queer stories. There is something fascinating about “an unknown people in an unknown land,” and so curiosity prompts us to cross and explore.
But it was something more than mere curiosity which took Mr W. Barbrooke Grubb, of the South American Missionary Society, among the Lengua Indians—a burning desire to tell these dusky people of a God of Love. So one day this quiet, resolute Englishman, with a purposeful air which reminded one strangely of David Livingstone, walked into the Indian encampment, letting them know by his manner that he had come to stay.
Still it is with the little people we wish to make friends. So climbing into a bullock-cart—for we are now on the other side of the river—we make our way slowly across swampy plains until we come to a palm forest, where some Lengua Indians are encamped. Boys and girls with browny-red skin, black eyes, and long black hair are playing about just like English children—only they are not very merry or full of fun, but are, oh, so dirty!
The boys have one garment, a little blanket of many patterns and colours, which is twisted round the waist in the hot weather, but worn round the shoulders when cold. They deck themselves with ostrich feathers, bead necklaces, shells, and sheep’s teeth. The feathers are worn in the hair; also round the ankles, to protect them from the biting of the snakes which lurk in the long grass.
The girls also have one garment, a skirt made of deer skin. They, too, wear beads and other ornaments like their brothers, though they are not decked out like the boys.
Leaving our bullock-cart, we walk right into the camp. What queer houses the people live in! Just a few branches of trees stuck in the ground, with some palm leaves and a handful of grass on the top. There are no windows or doors, and no furniture inside, but just a few deer skins on the ground, which serve as beds. Everything is put on the ground, for there are no shelves or cupboards, and all looks dirty and untidy.
Presently the father comes in from the hunt, bringing an animal which he has killed with his bow and arrow. Sometimes he brings a deer, an ostrich, or a wild pig. To-night it is an ostrich. He drops his load a little way off, and the women and children go and bring it in. It is supper-time, and they are all hungry. First they take off the skin carefully, for that will make a new skirt for the little girl, or a bed for her brother.