For cups they use either the skulls of their slain enemies, or gourds, or horns. They are unacquainted with the European fashion of drinking healths. When any one suggests the idea of a warlike expedition, they cry Là, now; and snatching up their cups, express that they have ratified his proposal by a hearty draught. It is also remarkable, that, though extremely voracious at other times, they take scarce any food when they pass the day and night in drinking; from which it is evident that honey and the alfaroba possess great nutritive qualities. For my part, I never could prevail upon myself to taste that nectar of the Abipones, having often observed them chew the alfaroba, or honeycomb with their teeth, put it out of their mouths, and keep it to mix with the future beverage; for they think that, being mixed with saliva, it will serve for a ferment, to make the rest of the mass obtain a grateful acid more quickly. On the same account, the Indians and Paraguayrian Spaniards have their maize, which is intended for drink, chewed by old women; they will not intrust this office to the younger ones, who, they say, abound in bad humours. Could any person, aware of this circumstance, though of no very delicate stomach, swallow the beverage without nausea? Yet this filthy drink has more lovers amongst the Americans, than Helen had amongst the Greeks.
They always have many causes for celebrating a public drinking-party; the most frequent are, the gaining of a victory, an impending fight, funeral rites, festivities on the birth of a Cacique's son, the shaving of widowers or widows, the changing of a name, the proclamation of a lately appointed captain, the arrival of a guest of consideration, a wedding, and, what is most common, a council of war. If materials for preparing the liquor be at hand, occasion, and inclination for drinking, will never be wanting. As honey is always to be had, they are never, at any part of the year, in want of mead; but as it is seldom to be got in sufficient quantities, for the number of partakers, parties of this kind are generally of short duration. From December to April, when the woods abound with the ripe alfaroba, is the chief season for drinking. During these months they drink without pause or intermission. They join the night to the day, with scarce any interval for brief meals, or sleep: before they have slept themselves sober they stagger back to the party of drinkers. During all that time you scarce ever find them in possession of their senses; to live, with them, is to drink, and you would say that the more they drank the more thirsty they grew. To show that they do not tremble at the sight of blood, and that they take pleasure in wounds, they emulously prick their breast and arms, and not unfrequently their tongue, with crocodiles' bones, and the sharpest thorns. Disputes too are frequent among them concerning pre-eminence in valour, which produce confused clamours, fighting, wounds, and slaughter. "In that skirmish you basely turned your back on the enemy," one perhaps will say to the other; who, not choosing to endure the reproach, replies "What? What do you say?" till from words they proceed to blows, to arrows, and to spears, unless other persons interfere. It often happens that a contention between two implicates and incites them all, so that snatching up arms, and taking the part, some of one, some of the other, they furiously rush to attack and slay one another. This is no uncommon occurrence in drinking-parties, and is sometimes carried on for many hours with much vociferation of the combatants, and no less effusion of blood.
Intoxication affects the Abipones in various ways. Some laugh violently, merrier than hilarity itself; others seem oppressed with melancholy; others, inflated with the remembrance of their mighty deeds, grow more threatening and boastful than the Thraso of Terence, or the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus. I knew a man, who, whenever he was drunk, threatened to kill his little son, and as he lay stretched upon the ground, spoke in such loud and angry tones to his wife, that he was heard throughout the whole neighbourhood. There was one man, who, when he was drunk, always requested to be baptized, continually exclaiming, "Make haste, Father, and wash my head!" though, when sober, he never thought anything about baptism. An Abipon, of no reputation amongst his countrymen, entered our house furnished with a bow and arrows, and demanded of me, in a threatening tone, whether I did not think him a captain, that is, a man distinguished for great actions; alarmed at the fierce countenance of the interrogator, and at the bundle of arrows which he bore, I made him a fine panegyric by way of reply, though he was a man universally despised for his cowardice. An old man in the town of St. Ferdinand, inglorious alike in birth and actions, on being called by his drinking associates, Lanařaik, plebeian, vainly endeavoured with arms, and absurd clamours, to avenge the insult; for his wife, a sturdy old woman, always watched over her infuriated husband, that he might not fall by the fists or weapons of his companions. On this occasion she caught hold of him by the legs, or girdle, dragged him through the street, and when got home, vainly exhorted him to sleep and silence; for he, ever recurring to the flouts of his comrades, could take no rest, constantly ejaculating with a hoarse voice, Tà yeega`m! Aym Lanařaik? Tà yeega`m! Là rihè lahè! "What! I a plebeian? I ignoble? I demand vengeance." Enraged by these reflections, he endeavours again and again to raise himself on his feet, and snatch up a spear, when his angry wife as often knocks him down upon the floor. This sport continued for many hours, to the incredible annoyance of all that dwelt in the neighbourhood. Few could repress indignation, none laughter. Almost all the women have the same task when they labour to disarm their husbands, and take them out of the hands of their drunken comrades. The whole Abiponian nation would come to destruction, if the women and youths attended these drinking-parties, as well as the married men.
You will sooner eradicate from the minds of the Americans any vice belonging to them, than this wicked and pernicious intemperance in drinking. You will sooner persuade them to live content with one wife, to abstain from slaughter and rapine, to scorn their ancient superstitions, or to employ themselves in agriculture and building houses, notwithstanding their aversion to labour. To abolish the custom of drinking-parties is indeed a most arduous work, a labour of many years, and a business to perfect which no eloquence or industry of those whose care and wish it was to convert the savage nations to Christianity, and conform them to the divine laws, was ever equal. At length, however, we have had the satisfaction of beholding this wicked custom of drinking yield to our unwearied toils, and almost all the savages submit to the law of God.
CHAPTER XLIII.
OF THE ABIPONIAN RITES ON OCCASION OF ANY ONE'S
BEING DECLARED CAPTAIN.
Even amongst savage nations, virtue has its reward. Though almost ignorant that they are men, they delight in honourable titles. The Abipones do not account that the best nobility which is inherited as a patrimony, but that which is obtained by their own merits. Amongst them, as no one is distinguished by his father's name, in like manner no one is ennobled by the famous deeds of his father, grandfather, or great grandfather. The nobility of valour and probity, not that of birth, is what they prize and honour. By a kind of natural propensity they respect the sons and grandsons of their Caciques and Captains; yet if they be stupid, cowardly, of unpleasant manners, or a foolish understanding, they make them of no account, and never prefer them to the government of the horde, or of military expeditions. They choose for rulers and leaders others of the common people, whom they know to be active, sagacious, brave, and modest. Whoever has given proofs of warlike valour is initiated into warlike honours with ceremonies which I shall presently describe.
The names of the Abipones who are not distinguished by military rank, end in various letters; but when, on account of their services in war, they are admitted into the rank of the nobles, they drop the name which they bore in youth, and receive another which always terminates in the syllable In. They who are solemnly inaugurated, according to the custom of their ancestors, are called Höcheri, and have a dialect of their own; for though they use the common words, yet, by insertion and addition of various syllables, they transform and obscure them in such a manner that they can hardly be understood. I shall now briefly describe the rites by which they are promoted to this dignity. When, by the arbitration of the rest, such an honour has been decreed to any one, they make a previous trial of his fortitude, by an experiment common to all. A black bead being placed upon his tongue, he is ordered to sit down at home for three days, and during that time to abstain from speaking, eating, and drinking. This is indeed a harsh law, but it appears mild in comparison with the torments endured by certain Indians at the river Orinoco, when candidates for military honours. They are laid on a hurdle, beneath which are placed burning coals, and, that the heat and smoke may be the more intolerable, the poor wretches are completely overwhelmed with palm leaves. They anoint the whole of the body of others with honey, tie them to a tree, and expose them to the stings of bees, wasps, drones, and hornets. But let me now return to the Abipon who is fasting and keeping silence at home. On the evening preceding this military function all the women flock to the threshold of his tent. Pulling off their clothes from the shoulder to the middle, and dishevelling their hair, they stand in a long row, and with confused shouts, accompanied with the sound of gourds, and with the continual agitation of their arms and legs, lament for the ancestors of him, who is, next day, to be adorned with a military dignity. These lamentations continue till it is dark. As soon as morning dawns, our candidate, elegantly dressed in the fashion of his nation, and holding a spear in his hand, leaps upon a horse laden with feathers, small bells, and trappings, and gallops northward, followed by a great troop of Abipones. Presently, returning with equal speed, he approaches the tent, where sits an old female juggler, the priestess of the ceremonies, who is afterwards to inaugurate the candidate with solemn rites. Some woman of noble birth officiously holds his spear and the bridles of his horse, while he dismounts, the rest of the matrons continuing to strike their lips, and applaud; when the candidate listens to a short address from the old woman seated on a hide, with as much veneration as if it was an oracle from a Delphic tripod. Then mounting fresh horses, he rides out in the same manner as before, first to the South, then to the East, and then to the West, and after each journey alights at the same tent, where that Pythian, like a female Apollo, pours forth her eloquence. The four excursions being performed, and the horses dismissed, they all betake themselves to that sacred tent, to witness the usual ceremony of the inauguration. This ceremony consists of three things: first the hair of the candidate is shaven by an old woman, so that from the forehead to the back part of the head she leaves a baldness or streak, three inches wide, which they call Nalemřa. The business of the hair being finished, the old woman pronounces a panegyric, setting forth the noble actions of the candidate, his warlike disposition, knowledge of arms and horses, intrepidity in difficulties, the enemies that he has slaughtered, the spoils that he has taken, the military fame of his ancestors, and so on; in order that he may appear, on many accounts, worthy to be declared a captain and a noble warrior, and to enjoy the rights and privileges of the Höcheri. His new name is immediately promulgated, and festively pronounced by a band of women striking their lips with their hands. The male spectators do not like dry ceremonies to be protracted to a great length, but joyfully fly to skins full of honeyed liquor, and conclude the business with a famous drinking-match.
It is remarkable that many of the women arrive at this degree of honour, and nobility, enjoy the privileges of the Höcheri, and use their dialect. The names of these females end in En, as those of the men in In. What circumstances entitle women of low birth to this degree of honour, I do not know, but it appears to me most probable that the merits of their parents, husbands, or brothers, not age, or beauty, bestow this prerogative upon females. I have often heard very young women conversing in the language of the nobles, and matrons remarkable for years and wrinkles speaking the vulgar tongue.
The Abipones think it a sin to utter their own name. When either of them knocked by night at my door, though I asked him a hundred times, "Who are you?" he would answer nothing but, "It is I." Unknown persons, when I enquired their name, would jog their neighbour with their elbow that he might answer for them. It is also reckoned a crime to utter the name of a person lately dead. If any one in his cups forgets the law, and utters the name of the deceased, he will give occasion to a bloody quarrel. Many women have no name at all. When I was making out a list of the inhabitants of a town, I used to call upon all the men who were best acquainted with their hordesmen to give me information on the subject, and when interrogated respecting women, they used often to say: "This woman has no name."
Moreover, the Abipones change their names as Europeans do their clothes. The reasons of this alteration are either some famous action, or the death of a father, son, wife, &c. when all the relations, to signify their grief, change their old name for a new one. I have known persons, who, in process of time, changed their names six or more times. Others are named from some quality of mind or body; as Kauirin, lascivious, Oaherkaikin, mendacious. Children have names quite different from their parents. Amongst the Christian Guaranies, sons generally took the names of their fathers, and daughters of their mothers. In the third part of this history, which is yet to come, we shall relate the slaughters committed, and undergone by the Abipones, the progress and vicissitudes of the colonies which we founded for them, and the advantages which the Spaniards derived from those colonies.