Their principal weapon is the spear. It is about eighteen feet long, and they use it with great dexterity. When they assemble, either to attack their enemies or to invade the country of the Christians, they collect large troops of horses and mares, and then, uttering the wild shriek of war, they start at a gallop. As soon as the horses they ride are tired, they vault upon the bare backs of fresh ones, keeping the best until they see their enemies. The whole country affords pasture for their horses, and they kill the mares for their own provisions. The ground is their bed, and to that only have they been accustomed, so that they find no inconvenience in their long marches of thousands of miles. These Indians, with their red lances, at present are but little heeded; but, to quote Captain Head, “as soon as fire-arms shall be put into the hands of these brave, naked men, they will be elevated in the political scale as suddenly as though they had fallen from the moon.” It may not suit the politics of the whites to calculate upon such an event as the union of the Araucanian and the Pampas Indians—but who can venture to say that the hour may not be decreed, when these men, mounted upon the descendants of the very horses which were brought over the Atlantic to oppress their forefathers, shall rush with irresistible fury on their invaders, till the descendants of the Europeans are, in their turn, trampled under foot, and in agony and torture, in vain are asking mercy from the savage Indians?
It was the rude, wild and despised tribes of the old world, that, rushing from their mountains and forests, broke in pieces the mighty fabric of Roman power, and overturned and destroyed all their systems of civilized policy, and the refinements of luxurious taste.
It is only by the introduction of true Christianity, that any permanent improvement in the character of these Indians can be hoped; and the Araucanians are the nation which, if rightly instructed in the truths of the Bible, seem most likely to become the missionaries and teachers of the red race.
The Abipones,[6] resident in Paraguay, are also a nation of horsemen, but in many habits, are more like the Araucanians than the Pampas Indians. They wear clothing, and are very industrious in manufacturing cloth, and utensils of various kinds.
They are a very healthy race, and long-lived. They are temperate in eating, and the women never drink intoxicating liquors of any kind. They are also very modest in their behavior: the girls spend all their time with their mothers in domestic employments, and the young men, engrossed with the exercise of arms and horses, never attempt any acts of gallantry, though they are cheerful and fond of conversation.
Riding, hunting, and swimming are their daily employments. They climb trees to gather honey, make spears, bows and arrows, weave ropes of leather, dress saddles, practise everything, in short, fatiguing to the hands or feet. In the intermission of these employments, they race their horses for a sword, which is given to him who reaches the goal first.
The women, debarred from the sports and equestrian contests of the men, are occupied day and night with the management of domestic affairs. They are however very active on horseback. They must needs be, as all their journeyings are made in this manner. They carry all their household utensils, goods and chattels packed on the horses they ride, and frequently stow their little children in bags of skins, among the pots and pans; and there they ride very easily.
The Abipones, like most of the American savages, practised polygamy. But here, and also among the Araucanians, it is chiefly confined to the richest men among the tribe, the others not being able to support more than one wife. But the Abipones were guilty of another horrid crime, which was never practised in Araucania,—the mothers frequently destroyed their new-born infants. This awful sin was in consequence of polygamy being allowed: the mother was fearful that, if she devoted herself to taking care of her infant, her husband would marry another wife in the meantime. Here we see how wickedness increases itself, and thus causes sin to abound more and more.
Since the instruction of the missionaries, however, there has been a great change in the conduct of the Abipones. They have been taught that there was a divine law against this cruelty, though their nation did not punish it, and they now seldom put their infants to death. And it was wonderful to see the change wrought in the course of a few years, after polygamy, divorce, and infanticide had been, by Christian discipline, abolished. The nation seemed filled with happy little children; for religion makes earth, as well as heaven, a place where innocence may live in peace. But there is still a great reformation needed in this tribe. The men are intemperate; even those who profess to be Christians, and have been baptized, will join in their drunken frolics. True, neither the women nor the youth drink any intoxicating draught and the missionary,[7] from whose works we select, says, that if they did, the whole Abipone nation would soon come to destruction.
Their chief liquor is a kind of mead, made from honey and the alforba, a berry which abounds in the woods during four months of the year, from December to April. During these months a married man of the nation used seldom to be sober; but there is a change for the better. Yet, the missionary says that it is easier to eradicate any other vice from the minds of the Indians, than this of intemperance. They will sooner live content with one wife, abstain from slaughter and rapine, give up their ancient superstitions, or employ themselves in agriculture and other labors, notwithstanding their indolence. But it must be done; and if white Christians, or those who bear the name, would all practise temperance, as well as teach it, the red men might be made temperate.