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EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

OF  THE 

ARGENTINE  EEPUBLIC. 


2  vols.,  Crown  8vo,  Illustrations  and  Maps,  24s. 


THE  CRUISE  OF  THE  FALCON 

A  VOYAGE  TO  SOUTH  AMERICA  AND  UP  THE 
RIVER   PLATE  IN  A  30-TON  YACHT. 

By  E.  F.  KNIGHT,  Barristeb-at-Law. 


London:  SAMPSON  LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE,  &  RIVINGTON, 
Crown  Buildings,  188,  Fleet  Street,  E.G. 


EIGHT  MONTHS 


ON    THE 


GMN  OHACO  OF  THE  ARGENTINE 
EEPUBLIO 


BY    . 

GIOVANNI  PELLESCHI. 


IContfon : 
SAMPSON    LOW,    MARSTON,  SEARLE,   &  RIYINGTON, 

CROWN  BUILDINGS,  188,  FLEET  STREET. 

1886. 

[^All  rights  reserved.'] 


7 

hi 


LOITDON  : 

PBINIED   BY   GILBEBT  AND   BIVIXGTOIT,   LIMITED, 

ST.   JOHJS'S   SQUAEE. 

((      MAR  3  01866     ^^ 
1062468 


TO 


MY   MOTHEK, 
Edfemia  Pelleschi  DEI  Taeuffi. 


TO  THE  READER. 


The  present  work  is  neither  literary  nor  scientific.  It  is  a  plain 
account  of  what  I  saw,  or  believed  I  saw,  in  the  Chaco,  and  of 
some  of  the  feelings  I  experienced.  I  would  not  seek  to  em- 
bellish my  tale,  even  had  I  the  power,  for  fear  of  diminishing 
the  faith  of  the  reading  public,  which  already  seems  to  be 
small,  in  the  narratives  of  travellers. 

It  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  excusing  the  many  defects  of  the 
book  that  I  add  that  every  page  has  been  written  in  snatches, 
if  I  may  so  express  myself,  in  the  rare  intervals  of  leisure 
afforded  me  by  the  exercise  of  my  profession,  and  almost  always 
in  country  places,  where,  all  the  world  over,  there  are  few 
conveniences  for  writing.  Hence  a  polished  style  was  my  least 
consideration.  I  therefore  rely  on  the  reader's  indulgence,  and 
I  shall  feel  rewarded,  if  he  thinks  me  an  attentive  observer 
and  a  faithfuF  narrator. 

On  the  one  hand  he  must  bear  in  mind  the  vastness  and 
novelty  of  the  scene.  I  use  the  word  novelty,  because  travellers 
and  writers  of  travels,  of  whom  there  have  been  many  of 
late  years,  in  this  part  of  South  America,  have  hitherto  con- 
lined  themselves  almost  exclusively  to  the  southern  territories 
of  the  Argentine  Republic.  That  is  to  say,  they  have  concerned 
themselves  with  that  part  of  the  Pampas  which,  until  re- 
cently, was  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  with  those  portions 
of  Patagonia  still  remaining  in  their  possession.  On  the  other 
hand,  very  few  have  dealt — and  those  not  in  any  detail — with 
the  Gran  Chaco,  which  is  the  northern  portion  of  the  same 
Eepublic,  and  is  of  immense  extent ;  the  greater  part  being  still 


Viu  TO   THE   READER. 

in  the  possession  of  wild  and  independent  Indian  tribes.  This 
I  traversed  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  an  official  of  the 
Civil  Engineers'  Service  in  the  Argentine  Republic. 

Although  in  the  course  of  the  book  I  shall  place  the  fact 
in  a  clear  light,  it  is  well,  nevertheless,  to  state  in  this  place 
that  the  Argentine  Eepublic  must  not  be  judged  from  the  state 
of  the  Chaco.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  country, 
thirteen  times  the  size  of  Italy,  and  with  one-thirteenth  of 
its  population,  exhibits  the  most  opposite  extremes,  from  the 
wealthy  cities  of  the  littoral,  such  as  Buenos  Ayres,  in  which  a 
more  splendid  life  can  be  enjoyed  than  in  most  Italian  capital?, 
to  the  estancias  and  ranclios  on  the  Indian  frontiers,  and  the 
tolderias  of  the  Indians.  But  I  will  treat  of  this  in  another 
work,  if  readers  and  the  Fates  are  propitious  to  me. 

GIOVANNI  PELLESCHI. 

Buenos  Ayres,  March,  1880. 


CONTENTS, 
lart  I. 

FROM  CORRIENTES  TO  THE  FRONTIER. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 

Parana — Cojirientes 1 

CHAPTEE,  II. 
HuiiAiTA — The  Vermejo  (or  Veemilion  River)— The  Tobas       .      6 

CHAPTER  III. 
First  Impressions — The  Landscape — The  Primitive  Indians       .     11 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Philological  Discussion  on  the  Name  of  the  Tobas.        .        .     16 

CHAPTER  V. 

The    Catastrophe    of  the  "Rio   de  las  Piedras" — The  Mouth 
OF  the  Teuco— Wind  and  Rain 19 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Encounter  avith  the  Toba  Indians 23 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Pbysical  Characteristics  of  the  Mattaccos  and  other  Indians    30 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAGB 

At  Cangagliis— a  Hunting-Paety — A  Tolderia   .        .        .        .35 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Chen  as .        .        .43 

CHAPTER  X. 
A  Desperate  Attempt 48 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Succour — Eighti-five  Leagues  on  Horseback      .        .        .        .52 

CHAPTER  XII. 

A  Frontier   Fort— Argentine  Soldiers — Indians  and    Civili- 
zation          59 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Marriage  Customs 64 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Fermented  Drinks — Natural  Products  for  Domestic  Use  .        .    70 

CHAPTER  XV. 
War 77 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Religion 84 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Religion.     (Continued.) 91 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
The  Indians  and  their  Dead 93 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Medicine 105 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTEE  XX. 

PAGE 

Social  Condition— Philological  Remarks 109 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Social  Condition.     (Continued.) 115 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Social  Condition.     {Continued.) 121 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Social  Condition.     {Continued.) 130 


i3art  a 
FROM  THE  FRONTIER  TO  ORAN. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Frontier— Abrival 137 

CHAPTER  II. 

RlVADAVIA 140 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Elections. 145 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Poblaciones — Missions — Civic  Government 153 

CHAPTER  V. 
Departure  trom  Eivadavia — Features  of  the  Country      .        .  159 

CHAPTER  VI. 
On  our  Way  to  Gran — The  Rains  and  Agriculture— A  Leper  .  163 


XU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 

Diseases    op    Animals— Forage— Distribution    of    Herbaceous 
Flora  in  Pasture-Lands 169 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  Night  at  the  Mouth  of  the  Chapapa 178 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The    Passage    of    the    Vermejo    (or    Vermilion)    River— The 
Delta — Erosions  and  Flora II 


CHAPTER  X. 

At    Fort    Sarmiento— Hospitality — Two    Bibliographical  Opi- 
nions   191 


CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Chuqcho — Reptiles,  Birds,  Quadrupeds        ....  205 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Change  of  Landscape— Progress  of  the    Republic — Irrigation  218 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Oran .225 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Mendoza 228 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Basin  of  La  Plata— The  Pampas  and  Forest  Regions — 
Their  Relation  to  Climate  and  Agriculture  in  the 
Argentines 231 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Forest  Flora  of  the  Plain— Its  Distribution — Conclusions 

CONCBBNING  THE  SoiL,   THE    ClIMATE,    AND    AGRICULTURE    .  J  237 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  XYII. 

PAGB 

Forest    Flora   of    the   Mountain — Its   Distribution — Contrast 

BETWEEN   THIS    AND    THE    PRECEDING     FlOEA — CONCLUSIONS    RE- 
SPECTING Altitudes,  Climate,  and  Soil 243 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Forest  Flora  of  the    Mountain — Nomenclature  of  the   Aliso 

Zone— Future  Destiny  of  certain  Flowers  ....  249 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Pucaea  Country 255 

CHAPTER  XX. 
TucuMAN 259 


ON  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  MATTACCO  INDIANS  OF  THE 
GRAN  CHACO. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Juan  M.  Guttierrez's  Advice — Dedication  to  his  Memory— My 
FIRST  Lessons  in  Mattacco  and  the  Speech  of  the  Toba 
Cacique  make  me  despair  of  Success — How  I  tried  to 
PLUCK  AT  the  Fruit — Faustino  is  my  Mattacco  Master — 
Experiment  with  Natalio  Roldan — The  Opinion  of  the 
Missionary  Fathers  is  confirmed — How  I  discovered  one 
of  the  Fundamental  Characteristics  of  the  Language — 
Functions  of  the  Prepositive  Particles  nu,  a,  lu — Greater 
Facility  following  on  this — Advice  to  Students  of 
Philology 265 

CHAPTER  II. 

Names    given    by   the   Mattaccos   to   Importrd   Animals — How 

I     FOUiND      out     THEIB      EtYMOLOGY — IMPORTANCE      OF      THIS— 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

AlTGMEXTATlVBS       AND        DIMINUTIVES  —  CHANGES       IDENTICAL 
"WITH    THOSE     IN    ITALIAN  —  ThEIE     COLLOCATION  —  NEGATIVES 

— Their  Examples — Abbreviations — Analogy  with  Italian.  271 


CHAPTEE  III. 
The  Use  of  Postpositions  instead  of  Prepositions  was  perhaps 

GENERAL     IN      THE     ArYAN     LANGUAGES     AND     THE     INDIGENOUS 

Languages  of  South  Amkrica — Logical  Priority  of  some 
— Why  the  Chiqchua  is  a  Typical  Language — Conjunc- 
tions— Analogy  between  Mattacco  Words  and  our  own      .  278 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Adverbs — Rational  Form  of  Adverbs  of  Time — Sun  and  Earth, 
Day  and  Night— The  Heavens — Adverbs  of  Place— Appeal 
TO  THE  Reader — Adjectives— Comparatives  and  Supekla- 
tives — Forms  for  contrary  Significations— Foreigner  and 
Stranger — Etymology  of  Ciguele 282 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Indians  of  the  Chaco  can  count  only  up  to  Four — The 
Opinion  of  M.  Quatrefaoes — The  Valiant  Dei<ds  of  a 
Cacique  related  by  himself  —  Slaughter  near  Fort 
Aguirre — Incompatibility  between  Civilization  and  Bar- 
barism—Mattacco  Method   of  Counting — Analogies    .        .  288 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Declensions  —  Substantives  —  Personal  Pronouns  —  Apostro- 
phic  Particles  plackd  before  Inames  in  Mattacco,  Gua- 
rani,  and  Akka— Genders— Common  and  Abstract  Nouns 
— Observations 292 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Curious  Examples  of  the  Formation  of  New  Words— Etymology 
op  luccuds,  Tobacco  —Hair,  Wool,  Leaves— The  Tree  and 
its  Fruit — Names  of  Kindred— Analogies— Remarks — De- 
monstrative  Pronouns  —  Intellectual  Harmonies  —  No, 
Nothing,  Nobody- Composite  Names  for  Offices- Verbs — 
Thbir  difficulties— Examples 


297 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  Vlir. 

PAGE 

Conjugations — Various  Foems  op  Past  Tenses — Reflective  Verbs 
— Retention  of  the  Roots — Postpositions  and  Verbs — 
Verbal  Possessive  Form — The  Verb  to  he — Table  of  an 
Indicative  Mood — Passive  Verbs 302 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  r  of  the  Mattaccos  and  other  Indians — Lab(Als  and  the 
I,  ua,  ue,  ui,  &c. — Articulation  of  the  Mattaccos  and  the 
Chinese— Curious  Analogies— Predominating  Sounds  in  the 
Two  Languages — Mattacco  Alveabet— Onomatopic  Words 
— Resemblance  between  Mattacco  and  Aryan  Words— I 
take  my  Leave 306 


EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

OF   THE 

AEGENTINE  EEPUBLIC. 


fart  h 

FROM  CORRIENTES  TO  THE  FRONTIER. 

CHAPTER   I. 

PARANA — CORRIENTES. 

Among  the  numerous  causes  that  induce  men  to  ahandon  their 
native  country  and  their  homes  for  a  foreign  land,  perhaps  the 
strongest  is  a  longing  for  novelty  and  the  wish  to  say.  "  I  have 
seen."  The  fancies  of  youth  and  the  restlessness  of  eager 
minds  are  fed  by  reading  accounts  of  the  adventures  of  travel- 
lers, which  are  all  the  more  fascinating  when  they  occur  at 
great  distances. 

It  may  be  imagined,  therefore,  that  to  me,  who  claim,  like 
Terence's  Chremes,  that  nothing  in  humanity  is  alien  to  me, 
the  chance  of  being  transferred  from  opulent  Buenos  Ayres  to 
the  midst  of  a  wild  community  and  a  virgin  country,  and  of 
observing  on  the  spot  the  contrast  between  civilization  and 
barbarism,  between  art  and  nature,  was  most  delightful. 

We  are,  then,  on  our  way  up  the  Yermejo  river,  that  runs 
through  the  heart  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  a  territory  four-fifths 
of  which  at  least  are  still  in  the  hands  of  the  independent 
Indians,  and  continuing  our  way  by  the  river  Parana  after 
travelling  1500  kilometers  north  of  Buenos  Ayres,  we  reach  a 
spot  where  this  river  makes  a  sharp  turn  to  the  east.  Near  the 
angle  of  this  the  city  of  Corrientes  is  situated,  and  is  there 
joined  by  the  Paraguay,  flowing  straight  from  the  Equator. 


2  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

The  Parana. 

Although,  for  many  persons  the  Parana  possesses  no  great 
attraction,  to  me  it  is  most  interesting.  I  will  say  nothing  of 
the  charm  of  what  seems  to  be  an  artificial  canal  from  the 
Tigre  to  the  Parana,  its  banks  shaded  with  thickly  planted 
willows  that  gently  fan  the  sides  of  the  ship,  or  of  the  houses 
and  cottages  built  on  piles,  for  fear  of  inundation ;  or  of  the 
islands  surrounded  by  a  labyrinth  of  narrow  canals,  and  of 
flourishing  plantations  of  peach-trees,  orange-trees,  and  seihi 
that  cover  the  ground,  perfuming  the  air  and  delighting  the  eyes 
with  their  graceful  white  and  red  flowers. 

I  will  say  nothing  of  the  feeling  experienced  by  the  un- 
accustomed traveller  at  the  sight  of  the  boundless  pampas, 
which  in  almost  an  unbroken  plain  stretch  westward,  bounded 
by  a  high  barranca  (perpendicular  bank)  on  the  right  of  the 
,  river,  nor  of  the  submerged  islands  on  the  east,  now  covered 
;  with  rushes,  anon  with  young  shrubs ;  nor  of  the  interest 
excited  by  a  curve  in  the  shore,  or  an  undulation  in  the  land- 
scape, or  the  whiteness  of  some  house  breaking  the  monotony 
of  the  horizon.  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  intercourse  between 
fellow-passengers  as  yet  unacquainted  with  each  other,  carried 
on  at  first  with  formal  reserve,  and  afterwards  with  ease  and 
confidence.  Nor  will  I  describe  the  setting  of  the  sun  over 
j  the  flat  country,  or  his  rising,  or  yet  the  brightness  of  the 
moon  reflected  in  the  rippling  waters  as  the  sharp  prow  swiftly 
divides  them.  These  are  poetical  feelings  appreciated  in  my 
own  country,  but  considered  foolish  in  others,  where  the  only 
occupation  worthy  of  human  faculties  seems  to  be  that  of 
acquiring  and  laying  up  money. 

To  me  the  Parana  is  admirable  for  the  immense  masses  of 
its  waters  poured  through  its  numerous  mouths  into  the  Rio 
della  Plata,  and  corresponding  with  an  equal  number  of  canals, 
once,  twice,  and  three  times  as  wide  as  our  river  Po,  and 
navigable  even  by  large  ships  for  hundreds  of  kilometers.  I 
am  struck  with  admiration  at  its  vast  bed,  as  large  as  a  great 
European  State,  with  its  numerous  grassy  and  wooded  islands, 
submerged  in  the  time  of  floods,  thus  converting  Tt  into  a  sea. 
I  marvel  at  its  course  for  300  leagues  in  a  channel  that  would 
seem  limitless  were  it  not  for  the  islands  which  succeed  each 
other  without  intermission  on  right,  left,  and  centre,  and  which 
still  flows  on,  always  deep,  always  navigable  in  some  fashion 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  3 

for  hundreds  of  leagues  farther,  receiving  on  its  right  the 
Paraguay,  which  is  also  navigable  for  hundreds  of  kilometers. 

That  the  immense  river  and  its  islands,  which  from  their 
extent  would  be  capable  of  supporting  millions  of  inhabitants 
and  producing  provisions  for  the  whole  of  Europe,  should  lie 
absolutely  waste  and  useless  by  reason  of  the  depth  of  waters 
under  which  they  are  submerged  during  part  of  the  year; 
that  the  vast  western  plain,  with  its  pasturage,  its  forest,  its 
sand-dunes,  and  its  salt-mines,  should,  for  the  most  part,  and 
during  the  greater  portion  of  the  year  deny  one  drop  of  water 
to  man,  beast,  or  plant,  when  it  greedily  absorbs  all  the  treasure 
of  the  rivers  and  tori-ents  flowing  from  the  ridges  of  the  cen- 
tral Cordillera  and  their  dependent  ranges,  thus  by  an  oppo- 
site excess  rendering  it  uninhabitable  to  millions,  adds  to  the 
impression  produced  on  the  senses,  reflections  which  strengthen 
on  conviction,  that  ISTature  proceeds  by  laws  uninfluenced  by  care 
for  that  accident  of  her  manifestations,  Man,  who  nevertheless 
presumes  himself  to  be  the  end  for  which  all  material  creation 
has  existed  and  does  exist — was  and  is. 

For  half  our  voyage  we  coasted  the  province  of  Corrientes 
which  lay  on  our  right  as  we  ascended  the  river,  and  we 
anchored  at  the  water-gate  of  its  capital  of  the  same  name. 
Let  us  take  the  opportunity  of  casting  a  rapid  glance  on  the 
city  and  the  province. 

The  latter  is  one  of  the  richest  of  the  Argentine  provinces. 
It  is  watered  by  the  Parana  and  the  Uruguay,  which  enclose  it 
on  three  sides  and  form  harbours  to  be  cities  in  the  future. 
These  two  rivers  are  navigable  almost  all  the  year  by  vessels  of 
heavy  tonnage. 

On  its  territory,  bordering  on  Paraguay,  Brazil,  Banda  Oriental 
and  Entrerios,  yerha-mate,  the  tobacco  plant,  mandioca,  and 
sugar-cane,  grow  in  various  degrees  of  abundance,  and  five  mil- 
lion cattle  find  pasturage.  In  the  interior  are  great  lakes, 
including  the  vast  and  renowned  Lake  Ibera,  which  pours  its 
waters  into  the  above-named  rivers  on  three  opposite  sides.  In 
the  extreme  north  there  are  dense  forests  of  various  kinds 
which  gradually  diminish  in  size  and  variety  as  they  npproach 
the  south,  where  they  consist  almost  exclusively  of  handuhay 
about  three  yards  in  height,  an  excellent  wood  for  fences,  sheep- 
folds  and  garden  palings,  and  largely  exported  throughout  the 
M'hole  Eepublic  and  elsewhere.  The  shores  of  the  rivers  and 
the  islands  are  covered  with  willows,  seibo,  and  other  woods. 

B    2 


4  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

The  population  amounts  to  150,000,  about  a  fifth  of  whom 
are  white — the  remainder  being  Indians  of  the  Guarani  tribe, 
who  still  speak  their  own  language,  as  well  as  Spanish,  which 
is  understood  by  most  of  them.  But  it  is  very  degenerate,  not 
only  in  the  vocabulary  but  still  more  in  the  construction,  which 
constitutes  the  character  of  the  language,  and  it  is  extremely 
complicated. 

The  climate  is  hot  in  summer,  very  mild  in  winter. 

Rain  falls  principally  in  autumn  aud  frequently  in  summer, 
and  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  not  impaired  by  the  long  droughts 
of  eight  and  ten  months'  duration  that  occur  in  the  centre  and 
north  of  the  Republic. 

On  this  account  and  because  of  the  nature  of  the  soil,  I 
believe  the  province  of  Corrientes  to  be  well  adapted  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  and  capable  of  great  development  through 
its  rivers.  A  favourable  law  regarding  public  lands  was  put 
in  force  at  the  end  of  1869.  It  was  framed  by  Dr.  Justo,  an 
eminent  member  of  the  Nadonalista  party,  who  was  subse- 
quently, in  1872,  made  Governor.  By  this  law,  the  land  is 
divided  into  four  zones,  which  are  again  subdivided.  These 
are  sold  for  payments  spread  over  ten  years  at  an  equal  annual 
rate,  no  interest  being  charged  on  the  remaining  purchase- 
money,  and  with  a  discount  of  five  per  cent,  on  what  is  already 
paid.  If  the  purchaser  is  behindhand,  for  six  months  he  pays 
interest  at  five  per  cent.,  after  which,  if  still  defaulting,  the 
contract  is  annulled,  and  the  sums  he  has  already  paid  are 
returned  to  him,  less  eight  per  cent. 

But  the  high  price  of  land,  and  the  fact  that  it  cannot  be 
obtained  without  special  concession  from  the  Government, 
throws  difficulties  in  the  way  of  poor  immigrants,  and  of  specu- 
lators on  a  vast  scale. 

Corrientes,  the  capital,  is  a  port  on  the  Parana,  a  few  leagues 
from  its  confluence  with  the  Paraguay  and  about  300  from 
Buenos  Ayres.  It  is  situated  in  an  undulating  plain,  a  good 
deal  above  the  level  of  the  river,  which  is  enclosed  by  a  harranca 
composed  of  a  soft  sandstone  called  tosca^  the  upper  part  being 
apparently  a  stratum  of  clay.  The  soil,  therefore,  is  artificial. 
The  streets  of  the  city  are  laid  out  in  squares,  the  houses  are 
seldom  of  regular  elevation,  and  are  usually  built  with  por- 
ticoes. Many  have  roofs  of  extremely  light  and  durable  palm 
trunk. 

This,  together  with  the  undulation  of  the  soil,  makes  Cor- 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  5 

rientes  much  less  monotonous  in  appearance  than  the  other 
cities.  Not  are  ruined  houses  wanting,  and  others  relatively 
ancient,  with  some  remains  of  former  buildings,  and  this  gives 
the  city  an  air  of  antique  respectability,  not  displeasing  to 
foreigners  in  whose  own  native  land  every  ancient  building  has 
a  history. 

There  is  a  national  college  and  a  club,  and  to  judge  by  the 
number  of  members  whom  I  met  at  the  latter,  the  cultured 
class  must  be  numerous. 

There  is  a  market ;  that  is  to  say,  a  market-place,  where  tl  e 
^\  Corrientine  women  squat  on  the  ground  selling  oranges,  nu.  - 
goes,  bananas,  sago,  cakes,  and  soap,  while  they  smoke  thick 
and  ill-made  cigars,  whose  leaves  peel  off  in  the  process.  Their 
heads  are  muffled  in  small  shawls  that  cover  the  breast,  aln  .  b 
always  nude  as  far  as  the  waist,  especially  in  summer,  in 
general  they  are  extremely  ugly. 

In  the  centre  of  the  market-place  is  a  shed  where  meat  is 
sold  by  men ;  this  shed  is  about  to  be  replaced  by  a  regular 
market-house. 

The  Indians  of  the  Chaco  come  into  the  harbour  opposite 
the  town,  in  canoes  rowed  by  their  women.  Women  are  the 
labourers  among  Indians,  and  also  among  the  lower  classes  of 
the  Paraguayans  ;  in  Paraguay,  however,  this  is  of  necessity  on 
account  of  the  destruction  of  the  male  population  in  the  pro- 
longed wars  of  the  allies.  Nearly  all  Indian  women  are  ugly, 
the  men  are  repulsive,  and  the  whole  race  filthy.  They 
crack  the  vermin  infesting  their  tangled  hair  between  their 
teeth  coram  publico  ;  a  disgusting  habit  that  also  prevails  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Santiago  and  the  neighbouring  country. 

The  City  of  Corrientes  should  be  called  "  San  Juan  de  las 
siete  Corrientes." 


EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER   II. 


HUMAITA THE    VERMEJO THE    TOBAS. 

To  proceed. 

We  are  not  yet  at  the  Yermejo,^  but  in  the  Paraguay ;  a 
red  streak  on  our  right  tells  us  at  twenty  leagues  distance  that 
we  are  approaching  it.  As  we  advance  we  pass  by  Curupaity, 
memorable  for  its  vigorous  defence  in  the  last  war,  and  we 
touch  at  the  village  of  Humaita — ranking  as  a  city  in  the  very 
poor  Republic  of  Paraguay — with  its  church,  formerly  a  solid 
building,  but  now  shattered  to  pieces  by  the  shells  of  the 
besiegers. 

Here  we  came  suddenly  on  a  crowd  of  women  muffled  in 
tipoySf  M'ho  soHcited  our  custom,  offering  cigars  made  of  chipa. 
They  addressed  us  in  the  second  person  singular  with  "  thee  "  and 
"  thou."  I  must  confess  that  it  is  pleasant  to  be  so  addressed. 
They  have  transferred  this  form  of  locution  from  Guarani, 
their  mother  tongue,  to  the  Castilian  language.  There  is  a 
classic  and  poetic  savour  about  it,  suitable  to  a  sovereign  people 
and  to  the  passion  of  love,  and  it  carries  tlie  mind  back  to 
Arcadian  ages  and  to  the  Republicans  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
who,  I  may  inform  such  of  my  readers  as  are  unaware  of  the  fact, 
always  used  "  thou  "  in  every  class  of  society,  as  the  Arabs,  the 
Turks,  and  the  Indian  races  in  all  parts  of  the  world  do  at  the 
present  day.  With  regard  to  the  Guarani  language,  w^hen  first 
heard  it  seems  like  music  itself,  so  full  is  it  of  cadence,  remind- 
ing the  hearer  of  the  rhythm  of  Latin  verse,  but  afterwards  it 
becomes  monotonous  and  fatiguing.  This  pronunciation  pre- 
vails not  only  in  Paraguay,  but  also  in  the  Argentine  missions, 
where  I  heard  it,  and  such  cadence  or  rhythm  is  an  integral 
part  of  the  language,  which  takes  numberless  variations  in 
order  to  retain  it,  thus  making  it  extremely  difficult  to  acquire. 

^  Vermejo — vermilion.  The  town  receives  its  name  from  the  colour 
of  its  river,  especially  in  the  shallows.  S 


i 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  7 

If  the  traveller  spends  a  night  in  Humaita,  he  will  be  struck 
by  a  blaze  of  light,  which  is  quite  dazzling  in  the  midst  of  the 
prevailing  obscurity,  and  by  a  clamour  of  harsh  sounds,  added 
to  the  barking  of  dogs,  who  rush  threateningly  from  all  sides 
so  soon  as  he  appears.  The  light  and  the  clamour  come  from 
a  shed,  on  which  the  following  words  are  inscribed  in  capital 
letters :  Baile,  almacen,  restaurant  de  la  marina^  ala  de  billar 
y  cafe  ;  and  they  invite  the  public,  both  native  and  foreign,  to 
follow  their  lengthily-worded  programme  all  night  long. 

The  public  accepts  the  invitation.  There  you  will  find 
Paraguayan  women  muffled  in  tipoys,  and  the  inevitable  cigar 
between  their  lips,  squatting  round  their  baskets  by  the  light  of 
little  hand-lanterns.  They  sell  cana^  tobacco  ;  cMpaSj  oranges  ; 
sweetmeats  of  mani  and  honey  ;  cigars ;  and  I  know  not  what 
besides.  Inside  you  will  see  a  crowd  of  senoras  and  cahalleros  of 
every  colour  and  every  costume ;  from  the  fair  Scandinavian  to 
the  copper-coloured  native  and  African  negro ;  from  the  black 
overcoat  to  the  poncho  of  the  Creole,  and  to  the  sailor's  jersey  ; 
from  immensely  high  boots  to  bare  feet.  Here  you  may  take 
part  in  a  French  quadrille,  or  in  a  Milanese  schottische  waltz, 
or  in  the  national  gato  or  zamba,  or  you  may  watch  the  ballet- 
dancers,  still  wearing  their  hoods,  as  first  they  fiy  down  the 
room,  rushing,  swaying  to  and  fro,  perspiring  from  every  pore, 
and  then  quite  gravely  wave  their  handkerchief  in  each  other's 
faces,  pirouette  on  their  heels,  and  bound  away  on  the  points  of 
their  toes,  simulating  entreaty,  refusal,  disdain,  and  reconcilia- 
tion. After  this,  you  may  see  them  bounding,  like  the  agile  sons 
of  the  north,  and  concluding  with  compliments  and  caresses, 
as  they  go  through  the  changez  mains,  and  saluez  la  dame  ;  then, 
in  return  for  their  kindness,  you  invite  them  to  take  a  copita 
of  brandy  and  a  ^j?^ro ;  the  cost  of  these  constitutes  the  per- 
quisites of  the  liberal  Amphitryon.  The  latter  gives  the 
use  of  the  large  room  adjoining  the  drinking-bar.  He  has 
it  whitewashed,  and  the  sides  painted  with  representations 
of  a  Garibaldian  with  sword  drawn  in  the  act  of  pursuing  a 
Savoyard  army  with  two  flags,  of  an  Italian  officer  and  private 
also  carrying  a  flag,  of  a  many-coloured  Amazon  on  a  prancing 
steed,  a  Paraguayan  woman,  with  her  basket,  her  tipoy,  and  her 
bare  feet,  and  lastly,  pictures  of  scenes  from  the  cancan. 

I  do  not  wish  to  speak  unfavourably  of  this  establishment, 
because  six  years  ago,  in  my  own  country,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Tiber,   near  San  Sapolcro  at  the  foot  of  the  Appenines,  they 


8  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

danced  thus,  only  it  was  the  trescone  and  not  the  zamha,  and  with 
the  charge  of  a  halfpenny  for  every  dance,  and  a  small  glass  of 
zoppa  for  the  lady.  And  there,  as  here,  every  one  enjoyed  himself, 
and  every  one  paid  separately  for  his  own  amusement,  regard- 
less of  those  who  would  insist  on  finding  the  habits  of  Paris  or 
Buenos  Ayres  in  every  corner  of  the  earth. 

But  with  a  westerly  wind  we  have  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Vermejo,  and  we  are  in  Indian  territory. 

The  Vermejo  is  a  river,  whose  level  course  runs  for  a  distance 
of  about  2000  kilometers  over  a  geographical  distance  of  about 
700.  It  is  extremely  tortuous.  At  the  foot  of  the  mountains 
it  receives  affluents  which  come  from  distances  of  500  to  1000 
kilometers,  and  descend  from  heights  of  four  to  five  thousand 
yards.  In  its  level  course  it  traverses  ;e  centre  of  the  Gran 
Chaco  obliquely,  from  S.E  to  N.W.  This  river  runs  in  a 
deep  channel,  is  between  banks  fifteen  yards  above  the  surface 
of  its  shallows,  and  from  eight  to  ten  above  the  surface  in  the 
central  and  upper  part  of  its  course,  except,  however,  when  it 
flows  over  its  own  deposit,  as  is  the  case  in  the  greater  part  of 
the  central  portion.  It  is  abundant  in  water  and  dangerous  in 
seasons  of  flood,  but  scanty  in  the  dry  season.  It  flows  at  the 
rate  of  fifty  or  sixty  cubic  yards  a  second,  is  navigable  for 
part  of  the  year,  and  would  be  so  at  all  times  with  proper 
steamers  to  do  the  works  in  the  river  that  would  prevent  the 
subdivision  of  its  waters. 

The  flat  country  is  rich  in  forests  of  hardwood,  thickly  cloth- 
ing the  banks  of  the  river  with  trees,  whose  trunks  are  large 
and  high,  but  their  branches  few  and  poor.  Towards  the 
mountains  the  woods  assume  all  the  splendour  of  an  almost 
tropical  region.  For  a  distance  of  500  kilometers  along  the 
Vermejo,  as  it  runs  from  Paraguay,  the  country  is  inhabited  by 
the  Tobas  and  Guaicurii  Indians  and  a  few  tribes  of  the  Chiulipos 
and  Vilelas.  Then  for  about  1000  kilometers,  measuring  by  the 
winding  of  the  stream,  these  are  succeeded  by  the  Mattaccos  as 
far  as  the  frontier,  beyond  which  they  have  also  penetrated, 
constructing  small  tolderias  attached  to  some  estancia,^  or  estate 
devoted  principally  to  the  raising  of  live  stock.  Farther  on 
towards  the  north,  are,  besides,  the  Mattacco  and  Toba  tribes, 
the  Chiriguas  and  the  Chirionossos,  and  to  the  south,  between 
S.  Fe  and  Santiago,  the  Mocovito  Indians. 

2  lEstancia  signifies  a  large  tract  of  land  used  for  raising  oxen,  shepp, 
and  horses. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  9 

There  is  a  story  concerning  the  Gnaicuru  tn'be,  first  told,  I 
believe,  by  Azara,  repeated  by  Arenales,  and  proclaimed  at  last 
in  the  churches.  It  is  to  the  efifect  that  they  are  becoming  extinct 
through  their  custom  of  destroying  their  children,  sparing  onl 
the  youngest,  so  that  in  after  years  there  would  exist  but  one 
man,  the  last  representative  and  champion  of  their  race,  as  being 
of  beautiful  proportions.  But  this  appears  to  me  to  be  merely  a 
legend  or  fable.  The  Indians  are,  in  fact,  much  attached  to 
their  families,  and  especially  to  children,  whom  they  spare  when 
taken  prisoners,  without  however  reducing  them  to  slavery, 
while  they  kill  the  adults  in  war,  and  even  the  women  whom 
they  have  taken. 

And  why  should  they  thus  seek  to  become  extinct  ?  In  order 
to  avoid  the  loss  of  their  independence  ?  But  if  so,  it  would  be 
simpler  to  destroy  all  the  male  children,  instead  of  reducing 
themselves  to  ever-increasing  weakness,  and  condemning  their 
few  descendants  to  a  slavery  more  and  more  wretched,  accord- 
ing as  they  become  weaker  and  fewer  in  number. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  also  that  among  these  Indians  slavery  or 
anything  approaching  it  is  unknown,  they  are  free  as  air,  and 
the  Guaicuru,  even  when  conquered,  can  ally  themselves  with 
new  friends  and  go  and  live  among  them,  as  the  Chiulipos,  who 
withdrew  from  the  frontier,  and  made  their  home  among  the 
Tobas  at  the  opposite  extremity  have  done. 

The  story  must  also  be  untra«,  because,  in  fact,  the  Guaicuru 
are  the  Tobas.  The  Tobas  axe  a  splendid  race,  tall,  well-built, 
active,  and  courageous.  I  have  seen  and  personally  observed 
these  facts. 

On  one  occasion,  after  two  months  of  difficult  navigation,  we 
reached  a  spot  where  a  numerous  Indiada^  were  gathered 
together. 

A  ladino  (interpreter),  whom  we  happened  to  meet,  named 
Faustino,  a  deserter  from  the  army,  was  gladly  welcomed  by 
us.  He  told  us  that  these  Indians  were  of  various  nationalities, 
and  had  met  together  in  order  to  celebrate  peace  on  the  same 
spot  where  they  had  fought  a  few  days  before.  We  asked  to 
what  nation  they  belonged,  and  he  replied  that  some  of  them 
were  Tobas,  or  Guaicuru,  and  Chiulipos,  and  the  others  Mat- 
taccos,  among  whom  he  himself  was  living. 

On  that  occasion  I  saw  an  enormous  Toba  woman.     "We  had 

■  Indiada,  a  large  company  of  Indians. 


lO  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

made  Faustino's  friends  draw  up  in  a  line,  in  order  to  present 
them  with  tobacco,  and  among  them  stood  this  giantess.  She 
wore  a  mantle  of  beaver-fur,  and  was  tattooed  all  over  in  patterns 
of  a  blue  colour.  This  thick  tattooing  had  the  same  effect  as 
pittings  of  small-pox.  She  must  have  been  nearly  seven  feet 
high.  She  remained  silent  and  motionless,  but  became  animated 
and  almost  smiling  when  she  received  attention,  and  seized  after- 
wards on  the  little  articles  I  gave  her  with  covetous  and  ludicrous 


The  Indians  who  were  not  friends  of  Faustino  remained  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  would  not  approach  nearer. 

To  return  to  the  Guaicuru  :  they  must  have  been  a  parzialiia,^ 
as  they  say  here,  of  the  same  family  as  the  Tobas,  with  whom 
they  share  a  common  language,  and  perhaps  they  gave  the  name 
to  the  Indiadas  nearer  to  Paraguay.  Afterwards,  from  the  mix- 
ture of  races,  or  from  moving  away,  they  were  believed  to  be 
extinct,  and  in  order  to  explain  this,  the  exceptional  case  of 
destroying  some  children  who  have  no  recognized  father  was 
assumed  to  be  the  general  rule.  The  custom  alluded  to  prevails 
also  among  the  Mattaccos,  when  the  mother  has  neither  kinsfolk, 
nor  friend,  nor  tribe  who  will  provide  for  the  child. 

In  the  same  way,  the  Chiulipos  and  the  Vilelas,  who  speak 
the  same  dialect,  are  no  longer  distinguishable,  while,  on  the 
contrary,  the  Mattaccos,  on  contact  with  the  Tobas,  become 
enemies  of  the  Mattaccos  near  the  Christian  frontiers  ;  nor  will 
they  be  called  Mattaccos,  though  they  speak  the  same  language, 
with  very  slight  variations  in  pronunciation. 

*  Parzialita  also  signifies /amiZy. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  II 


CHAPTER  III. 

FIRST    IMPRESSIONS THE    LANDSCAPE THE    PRIMITIVE    INDIANS. 

We  are  still  at  the  mouth,  of  the  Vermejo. 

To  find  ourselves  in  the  roidst  of  savages,  in  an  obscure  region 
where  the  hand  of  civilization  has  never  penetrated,  and  to  know 
that  hundreds  of  leagues  lie  before  us,  while  we  are  ignorant  of 
what,  at  any  moment,  a  further  step  may  bring  forth,  such 
conditions  compel  thought  and  reflection,  and  we  watch  anxiously, 
at  every  turn  and  at  every  instant,  for  some  fresh  feature  of 
this  new  and  strange  life. 

At  one  moment  we  see  a  bed  of  tacuara  reeds  8  or  10 
metres  in  height,  and  with  a  diameter  of  10  or  15  centi- 
metres ;  at  another  a  palm-tree  with  shoots  15  to  20  metres  in 
length,  a  crest  of  fan-like  leaves,  and  lofty,  upright,  polished 
stems,  around  which  the  growth- marks  of  the  fallen  leaves 
show  by  the  number  of  their  rings  the  age  of  the  tree.  Its 
clusters  of  cocchi  are  unpleasant  to  the  taste.  These  trees  are 
few  in  number,  inimical  to  all  other  vegetable  growth,  mono- 
tonous and  sepulchral-looking.  Another  time  we  are  struck  by 
one  solitary  palm-tree,  the  pale  green  of  its  splendid  curved 
leaves  standing  out  against  the  deep  gloom  of  the  wood ;  or  a 
dense  forest  of  various  growths  crowning  the  edge  of  the  high 
perpendicular  bank,  at  the  foot  of  which,  on  a  narrow  margin  of 
shore,  there  is  a  straight  row  of  the  gnarled  ceibos,  with  its 
crimson  clusters  of  gracefully  pendant  flowers,  the  wayward 
nuptial  bed  of  silent  passions ;  and  opposite  these,  a  green 
shore  which,  surmounted  by  verdant  meadows,  recedes  into  the 
distant  forests.  These  well  deserve  their  name  of  Monti.^ 
Meanwhile  from  a  cave,  excavated  on  the  height  of  the  bank, 
a  water-wolf  splashes  through  the  current.  The  skin  of  this 
creature  is  of  a  dark  green  colour  speckled  with  yellow,  the 

1  In  the  Argentine  Republic  woods  are  called  Monti. 


12  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON    THE  GRAN   CHACO 

legs  are  short  and  web-footed,  and  the  tail  terminates  in  a 
flapper  or  rudder  which  is  often  raised  high,  and  the  intelligent 
head  lifted  up  from  the  water  in  the  presence  of  danger.  The 
sluggish  carpinclio  also  plunges  under  water  when  surprised  in 
its  hole,  on  a  level  with  the  surface. 

An  untrained  eye  is  apt  to  confound  the  latter  with  the 
suinOj  whose  bristles  are  white,  thick,  horny,  and  pointed,  and 
which  can  be  tamed  with  time  and  kindness.  Its  hide  is 
excessively  hard,  the  flesh,  like  that  of  the  carpinclio^  is  a  most 
welc  one  change  to  sailors  who  are  tired  of  dry,  salt  food  At 
ano^-'  r  time  we  come  to  a  long  grove  of  willows  and  aspens, 
overshadowing  the  river  for  long  spaces,  or  to  a  thick  growth  of 
hohoi>  a  shrub  yielding  abundance  of  potash,  and  ra|)idly  cover- 
ing \e  ground  from  which  the  neighbouring  waters  have 
receded.  Suddenly  at  a  turn  of  the  river  we  come  upon  a  tiger 
who,  for  size,  beauty  and  courage,  is  little  inferior  to  his 
African  brethren.  He  watches  the  unusual  apparition  and 
slowly  retraces  his  steps,  or  dashes  boldly  into  the  river,  defying 
the  shots  of  his  enemies,  rendered  harmless  by  his  speed.  In 
another  place  is  a  monstrous  yacare,  sunning  himself  on  the 
shore,  and  careless  of  the  bullets  from  our  carbines  that  glance 
harmlessly  off  his  scaly  armour,  unless  successfully  aimed  by  a 
good  shot  at  the  orbit  of  the  eye,  after  which,  if  he  seeks  to 
drag  himself  under  the  water,  he  is  drowned. 

On  a  pleasant  strand,  we  caught  sight  of  a  doe,  which, 
surprised  at  the  novel  sight,  fled  swiftly  across  the  country, 
while  a  stag  who  stayed  to  admire  the  reflection  of  his  antlers 
in  the  clear  water,  fell  a  victim  to  his  contempt  of  danger  and 
furnished  a  sumptuous  feast  to  the  explorers.  A  pleasant 
morsel  was  added  in  the  shape  of  the  shining- skinned  otter. 
His  four  front  teeth  are  adapted  by  their  length  to  secure 
his  prey,  when  struggling  in  the  sand,  where  with  numerous 
companions  he  excavates  his  subterranean  lair.  He  is  merry 
and  lithe  in  the  water,  and  shows  his  enjoyment  by  bounding 
and  splashing  about. 

From  some  distance  otf  we  can  distinguish  under  a  palm-tree 
a  tapir,  a  heavy  and  slow  pachydermatous  beast,  not  much 
unlike  a  horse,  to  which  he  is  compared  in  the  Indian  dialect, 
as  the  hippopotamus  was  formerly  compared  by  the  Greeks. 
On  spying  us  out  he  raised  his  snout,  forming  a  short  proboscis, 
into  the  air,  and  shrilly  summoning  liis  inseparable  mate,  toge- 
ther they  plunge  into  the  river,  for  the  accustomed  bath,  that 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 3 

is  necessary  to  them  several  times  a  day,  in  order  to  cool  their 
natural  heat.  The  wild  boar  and  wild  pig,  though  they  may 
appear  somewhat  similar  to  the  tapir,  are  very  unlike  him  in 
habits.  They  rush  in  large  troops  through  the  thickest  part  of 
the  woods,  a  terrifying  apparition  to  the  traveller  or  to  the 
native  who  finds  himself  in  their  way. 

We  are  now  in  the  beautiful  season  of  flowers,  our  souls 
refreshed  and  our  senses  gladdened  with  the  sight  and  fragrance 
of  thousands  of  orange  flowers,  that  are  blossoming  even  before 
the  bursting  of  the  leaves.  Here  also  is  the  yellow- spiked 
arome  ;  the  jessamine  clothing  the  palo-santo  and  the  guayacan 
with  its  white  mantle ;  the  amenti  of  the  algarroho^  and  the 
various  flowers  of  a  thousand  different  kinds  of  cactus,  some  of 
which  surpass  both  in  colour  and  shape  the  white  and  the  red 
camellia.  Others  are  pale  yellow,  others  again  have  their  calyx 
curved,  containing  the  corolla  which  envelopes  a  popoloso 
genecco,  in  which  the  seeds  are  fertilized  that  afterwards  fill 
the  succulent  figs. 

Nor  is  the  chaguar  or  wild  pine-apple  absent ;  it  frequently 
extends  over  wide  spaces  of  ground,  and  is  protected  by  plants 
of  old  growth.  From  the  centre  of  the  parent  trunk  of  all  this 
wealth  of  foliage  that  flings  itself  about  curving  and  climbing, 
with  leaves  of  every  shape,  long,  narrow,  large,  or  dentelated, 
each  point  furnished  with  a  spike,  there  rises  a  short  and  thick 
stem,  crowned  by  a  white  cone,  which  is  generally  encircled 
with  horizontally  disposed  spears  of  a  waxen  red.  These 
drop  off  when  fecundation  is  accomplished.  The  fruit  is  eaten 
by  the  natives,  and  the  leaf  furnishes  their  only  but  admirable 
'textile  material.  It  supplies  them  with  string,  with  which  they 
manufacture  nets,  bags,  hammocks,  or  hanging  baskets,  and 
lastly  shirts. 

Your  greatest  desire,  however,  is  to  see  the  Indians,  and  at 
first  you  are  divided  between  the  hope  of  discovering  dark  spots 
in  the  distance  which  the  man  on  watch  will  tell  you  are  they, 
and  the  fear  of  finding  yourself  unexpectedly  the  aim  of  a 
dozen  arrows  shot  from  the  nearest  wood — and  if  it  were  only 
arrows !  This  feeling  is  succeeded  by  a  delusive  confidence, 
when  suddenly  a  shout  of  "The  Indians!"  makes  your  heart 
beat  with  various  emotions. 

The  first  seen  by  us  were  partly  clothed,  and  some  of  them 
wore  hats,  which  they  raised  formally  on  our  approach.  They 
followed  us  for  a  while,  asking  for  tobacco  and  other  things, 


14  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN  CnACO 

and  continually  appearing  and  disappearing  at  the  openings  of 
short  cuts  on  the  farther  side  of  the  bends  in  the  river.  They 
offered  us  skins  and  feathers,  and  when  we  stopped  in  some 
safe  place,  they  even  ventured  on  the  boat,  as  if  wanting  to 
take  possession  of  it.  But  there  were  only  a  few  of  them. 
Amongst  them  was  a  young  and  very  pretty  girl  who  brought 
a  deerskin  for  sale.  Her  face  was  rather  artistically  tattooed  in 
blue.  There  was  also  an  Indian,  with  his  hair  drawn  up  behind 
like  a  horse-tail,  and  with  the  true  savage  look  in  his  eyes  and 
face.  He  was  naked,  and  seemed  covetous,  gesticulating  with 
energy.  On  throwing  them  tobacco,  they  rolled  down  the  bank 
and  swam  to  fetch  it. 

Two  days  later  we  met  with  another  party  of  Indians  who 
were  fishing  with  a  sort  of  palisade  two  or  three  yards  long 
jutting  out  from  the  bank  into  the  river ;  boughs  were  care- 
fully arranged  against  it  so  that  the  fish,  meeting  with  re- 
sistance, are  unable  to  escape.  The  locality  of  these  is  admir- 
ably selected.  These  enclosures  point  to  the  presence,  or  at 
least  to  the  proximity,  of  Indians,  and  do  not  increase  our 
sense  of  personal  security. 

They  continued  to  follow  us,  but  we  did  not  stop  our  course, 
as  already  we  were  beginning  to  be  suspicious  of  them.  Some 
of  them  articulated  a  few  words  of  Spanish  and  Guarani,  and 
being  questioned  in  those  two  languages  as  to  the  whereabouts 
of  their  companions,  they  shouted  out,  "  Peleanno,  peleanno 
....  mucho  ....  alia,"  and  pointed  in  the  direction  they 
had  taken. 

These  Indians,  besides  being  absolutely  ignorant,  are  unable 
even  to  pronounce  certain  combinations  of  letters,  such  as  n 
with  r?,  and  therefore,  almost  always  make  use  of  the  gerunds 
of  verbs,  saying  peleanno  for  peleando  (fighting).  The  question 
arises  amongst  us,  what  is  their  real  meaning  ?  Do  they  intend 
us  to  understand  that  higher  up  there  are  many  more  of  them 
ready  to  attack  us,  or  that  they  are  fighting  among  themselves  ? 
But  we  are  all  agreed  that  there  must  be  a  large  number  of 
them,  that  they  are  armed,  and  that  we  may  expect  some  ugly 
trick  to  be  played  on  us,  because  for  almost  another  100 
leagues  we  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  the  Tobas,  the  declared 
enemies  of  Christians,  an  indomitable,  courageous,  numerous, 
and,  worst  of  all,  a  well-armed  people.  The  word  "  Christian  " 
must  be  understood  as  meaning  conquerors,  for  the  Indians 
<;oncern  themselves  neither  with  Christ  nor  Mahomet,  but  onl^r 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 5 

with  those  who  try  to  drive  them  from  their  land.  Nor  did 
they  adopt  the  name  in  order  to  distinguish  us  from  their 
other  enemies ;  but  it  is  in  fact  we  who  use  it  to  describe  our- 
selves by  a  name  of  more  general  application  and  of  a  wider 
meaning,  which  whether,  for  good  or  for  evil,  is  no  longer  of 
these  times. 

We  have  frequently  mentioned  the  Tobas,  but  whence  is  the 
derivation  of  the  word  1  I  have  questioned  the  Mattaccos,  the 
Chiulipos,  the  Chiriguanos,  the  Mocovitos,  and  the  Tobas  them- 
selves, who  never  use  the  name.  How,  then,  did  they  acquire 
it  ?     I  often  put  this  question  to  myself. 

1  believe  I  may  say  that  I  have  elucidated  the  mystery,  and 
that  I  am  the  first  to  have  discovered  it.  Tohai  in  Guarani 
means  opposite,  and  is  composed  of  Toha,  a  noun,  and  i,  a  post- 
position (there  are  no  prepositions  in  Guarani).  The  Guaranis 
live,  and  have  always  lived,  on  the  left  banks  of  the  Paraguay 
and  the  Parana  rivers,  and  the  Tobas  dwell  on  the  right  bank, 
or  just  opposite  them.  They  were  therefore  described  by  the 
Guaranis  to  the  Spaniards  as  being  Toha  or  opposite.  And 
the  name  remained  among  the  Spanish  conquerors  of  the 
Guaranis  as  a  geographical  designation  derived  from  a  proper 
name,     1  consider  this  a  satisfactory  solution.** 

2  In  confirmation  of  the  above,  I  was  told  by  Colonel  Napoleon 
Uribrine,  an  Argentine  oflBcer  who  is  slightly  acquainted  with  the 
Guarani  language  as  spoken  by  the  Chiriguans,  that,  at  the  time  of 
M.  Crevaux's  fatal  expedition,  in  which  almost  every  soul  perished  on 
the  banks  of  the  Viloomayo,  a  river  running  parallel  to  the  Yerraejo,  he 
was  informed  that  all  the  Indians  of  the  Gran  Chaco  are  called  Tohas  by 
the  Chiriguans;  Now,  as  the  Chiriguans,  whether  Christians  or  still 
living  in  a  savage  state,  belong  to  the  northern  and  western  frontiers 
towards  Bolivia,  my  contention  is  strengthened  by  their  testimony. 

The  fact  that  so  short  a  time  elapsed  apparently  between  the  depar- 
ture of  M.  Crevaux  froni  Bolivia  and  his  deplorable  fate,  leads  me  to 
the  conclusion  that  his  murderers  were  not  true  Tobas,  but  some  other 
Indiada  called  Tobas  by  the  Chiriguan  Indian  converts  who  accompanied 
the  expedition. 

The  real  Tobas  inhabit  the  banks  of  the  Parana  and  Paraguay,  from 
the  frontiers  of  the  Argentines  and  Santa  Fe  to  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn, 
which  measured  in  a  straight  line  from  N.  to  W.  comprises  an  area  of 
from  100  to  200  kilometers. 


l6  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PHILOLOGICAL   DISCUSSION    ON    THE   NAME   OF   THE   TOBAS. 

The  preceding  etymology  of  the  name  Toba,  as  given  "by  me, 
produced  a  dissentient  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Governor 
of  the  Chaco.  The  authority  of  the  writer,^  and  of  La 
Tribuna,  the  newspaper,  in  which  his  letter  appeared,  induced 
me  to  forward  a  reply  to  that  journal,  in  which  I  alluded  to 
several  peculiarities  of  the  Guarani  language,  some  acquaint- 
ance with  which  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  the  reader. 

I  will  give,  therefore,  a  summary  of  my  reply,  of  which  a 
translation  also  appeared  in  the  Patria^  a  large-sized  Italian 
newspaper  published  in  Buenos  Ayres.  For  the  sake  of  brevity 
I  will  omit  the  arguments  of  my  honourable  opponent  and  that 
part  of  my  reply  relating  to  certain  ethnical  considerations 
without  interest  to  the  European  reader. 

La  Patria  says : — 

"  Signor  Pelleschi  derives  the  name  Toba  from  the  word  Tobai, 
which  means  opposite^  or  in  front  of,  and  i,  in  a  postposition, 
there  being  no  prepositions  either  in  Guarani  or  in  Chicciua. 

*'  The  Secretary  of  the  Chaco  writes  in  correction  that  Tobai 
means  fronte  piccolar,  or  a  small  forehead,  and  that  opposite 
would  be  rendered  by  clierobai  (cerobdi).  Signor  Pelleschi 
replies  as  follows : 

" '  I  do  not  deny  that  Tobai  means  a  small  forehead  or  face  ; 
or   its   equivalent   would    rather    be   the   Italian    diminutive 

^  This  was  Colonel  Fontana,  who,  two  years  after  the  author's 
journey,  crossed  the  Gran  Chaco  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Vermejo 
to  the  Christian  frontier,  following  by  land  the  banks  of  the  river.  He 
was  wounded  by  the  Indians,  and  lost  an  arm,  and  several  of  his  party 
were  killed  in  an  attack  made  by  the  Indians  on  or  near  the  same  spot 
where  they  attacked  the  expedition  to  which  the  author  was  attached. 
See  Chapter  X.,  Part  I.  The  same  Colonel  Fontana  was  despatched  by 
the  Argentine  Government  and  the  Argentine  Geographical  Institute  in 
search  of  the  remains  of  the  unfortunate  M.  Crevaux. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I7 

frontinaj  from  Toha  forehead,  and  the  diminishing  particle  ?*, 
which  may  be  pronounced  either  nasally  or  non-nasally  ;  but  I 
contend  that  Tobai  means  in  front^  from  Toba  front  or  forehead, 
with  the  postposition  i,  which  when  pronounced  nasally,  signifies 
in. 

"  '  In  order  to  prove  this  statement,  I  will  make  use  of  the 
very  same  example  put  forward  by  my  opponents.  They  say 
that  in  front  or  opposite  is  rendered  by  cherohai.  I  contend 
that  cherohai  is  a  word  composed  of  three  words,  viz.  of  che, 
meaning  my  when  joined  to  a  noun,  but  signifying  /  when  used 
alone  ;  roha^  which  is  identical  with  Toha,  the  t  being  changed 
into  r,  a  very  usual  change  in  the  Guarani  language ;  i 
represents  in ;  and  it  means,  strictly  speaking,  in  front  of  me,  in 
the  same  way  that  tuha  in  the  Correntine  or  Guarani  language, 
becomes  tuhe  in  Ciriguano  (both  meaning  father),  and  change 
respectively  into  cheruha  and  cherube  and  even  into  cherii.  in 
order  to  express  mi/ father.  Changes  of  this  nature  are  frequent 
in  Guarani,  and,  together  with  the  complicated  conjugation  of 
the  verbs,  offer  almost  insuperable  difficulties  to  the  foreign 
student  of  the  language.  For  example,  in  front  of  him  would 
be  gohai,  and  guha  means  his  father.  Now  who  would  imagine 
that  gohai  contains  Toha  and  a  relation  and  a  postposition 
besides  1  Yet  such  is  the  case,  and  these  variations,  together 
with  certain  subtractions,  obey  laws  in  the  language,  but  laws 
so  full  of  exceptions  that  they  escape  our  observation  and  our 
memory. 

"  '  A  noun  is  rarely  used  without  its  relation,  because  in  fact 
the  thing  spoken  of  is  seldom  without  relation  either  to  the 
speaker,  or  the  person  addressed  or  some  third  person.  The 
same  rule  obtains  in  Mattacco,  the  language  of  the  independent 
Indians  dwelling  in  the  heart  of  the  Gran  Chaco.  In  my 
opinion  this  dialect  belongs  to  the  Guarani  family,  and  is 
consequently  very  difficult  to  learn. 

"  '  This  is  not  the  case  with  Chiccina  and  Arancano,  which 
therefore,  and  also  by  reason  of  the  simple  conjugation  of  the 
verbs,  appears  to  me  comparatively  easy.  (Chiccina  is  still 
spoken  in  Peru,  Bolivia,  and  in  some  parts  of  the  Pampas  and 
Argentine  Paraguay;  Guarani  in  the  Argentine  province  of 
Corrientes,  in  parts  of  Brazil,  and  in  Paraguay.) 

" '  It  must  be  remarked  that  the  Toba  Indians  never  speak  of 
themselves  under  that  name.  The  Mattaccos  call  them  Uane- 
loi,  the    plural    form   probably  of    Uanc-loc,   an   ostrich ;    an 

c 


1 8  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

appropriate  designation  for  a  tall,  lithe  race,  while  the  Mattaccos 
are  relatively  short  and  stout.  The  Mocovitos,  whose  language 
includes  many  Toba  words,  call  them  Ntocuit ;  the  Vilelas  and 
Chiulipos  call  them  Huanicane  and  also  Notoeoit,  Now  these 
Indians  live  on  the  other  borders  of  the  Tobas'  territories. 
Moreover,  it  is  well  known  that  the  names  of  peoples  are  gene- 
rally given  them  by  their  neighbours.  For  example  :  the  Gafri 
and  the  Seres  (Chinese)  actually  do  not  possess  in  their  language 
the  letter  i\  which  nevertheless  forms  part  of  the  name  by  which 
they  are  distinguished,  and  the  Mohawks  have  no  m.  Nor- 
manni,  meaning  Northmen^  and  Austria,  a  southern  country,  are 
simply  names  given  by  neighbours  from  the  relative  position  of 
the  tribes.  Thus  Toba  will  have  been  so  called  by  the  Guaranis 
who  dwelt  opposite,  and  the  word  had  the  good  fortune  (for 
even  words  have  their  destinies)  to  be  received  and  established 
by  the  Spaniards.' " 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  19 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    CATASTROPHE  ON  THE    "RIO    DE    LAS  PIEDRAS.    THE    MOUTH 

OF   THE    TEUCO. — WIND    AND    RAIN. 

Forty  leagues  from  the  mouth,  at  a  bend  of  the  river,  where 
on  one  side  is  a  perpendicular  bank,  and  on  the  other  a  charm- 
ing grassy  country,  we  saw  two  crosses,  and  a  little  farther 
on,  a  third ;  pious  mementoes  of  two  unhappy  incidents ! 
About  three  years  ago  a  small  steamer,  the  Bio  de  las  Piedras, 
Captain  Wilken,  with  a  crew  of  fourteen  men,  was  attacked 
and  plundered  by  the  Indians,  who  killed  the  captain  and  half 
the  crew,  the  remainder  finding  safety  in  flight  while  their 
enemies  were  engaged  in  pillaging.  Relying  in  the  beginning 
on  the  friendliness  shown  by  the  Indians  and  on  the  effect  to 
be  produced  by  treating  them  with  kindness  and  liberality,  he 
imprudently  attempted  to  break  through  their  lines,  although 
they  were  assembled  in  large  numbers  and  consequently  em- 
boldened for  the  attack.  He  and  seven  of  his  companions  were 
despatched  with  clubs,  while  defending  themselves  on  the  deck, 
the  Indians  seizing  on  the  merchandise,  arms,  and  ammunition. 
Moreover,  an  ensign  of  the  Argentine  army,  who  some  weeks 
later  was  sent  to  punish  the  murderers,  met  with  an  unhonoured 
death  in  the  waters,  being  either  sucked  down  by  a  whirlpool, 
or  snatched  by  a  yacare,  while  bathing  after  the  heat  of  the 
day.  We  left  these  mementoes  of  the  dead  with  sad  hearts ; 
the  circumstances  under  which  we  found  ourselves  contributed 
to  deepen  the  impression,  and  bidding  a  solemn  adieu  to  the 
spot  which  afforded  us  so  impressive  a  warning,  we  continued 
on  our  way. 

We  had  now  been  travelling  seven  days,  and  had  made  ninety 
leagues  without  having  caught  sight  of  the  Indians,  although 
signs  of  their  proximity  were  not  wanting.  On  one  occasion 
we  saw  an  Indian  in  the  distance.  He  watched  us  from  a 
path  in  the  wood  and  then  disappeared.     Our  isolation  seemed 

c  2 


20  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

alarming,  and  made  us  somewhat  anxious.  On  reaching,  how- 
ever, a  point  where  the  two  arms  of  the  river  that  branch  off  200 
leagues  higher  up  are  reunited,  we  came  upon  some  Indians 
fishing,  who  appeared  to  be  taken  by  surprise ;  we  saw  them 
gather  together  and  cross  the  river  in  their  canoe,  leaving  behind 
them  part  of  their  booty,  on  which  the  caranci  and  other  birds 
of  prey  descended  greedily.  Meanwhile  a  flock  of  red  flamin- 
goes, piscivorous  birds,  rose  near  them,  skimming  the  water  with 
their  spoon-bills,  and  describing  a  semicircle  with  their  long 
necks  as  they  advanced. 

Our  little  steamer  has  come  to  a  difficult  bit  in  the  river,  and 
we  are  obliged  to  tack ;  this  retards  our  progress.  We  fear 
that  the  Indians  will  think  we  are  frightened  ;  they  continually 
appear,  vanish  and  reappear ;  they  glance  at  us  and  then  dis- 
appear once  more.  We  advance,  find  just  at  a  turning  they 
show  themselves  among  the  trees  and  bushes,  either  lying  at 
full  length  or  sitting  on  their  heels,  some  hidden  and  some  half 
hidden.  At  first  a  few,  and  then  on  finding  themselves  dis- 
covered many  more,  take  to  flight,  or  rise  to  their  feet,  in 
uncertainty.  We  shout  to  them :  ^'Amicco,  amicco"  and  persuade 
seven  or  eight  to  draw  near,  some  of  whom  know  a  few  words 
of  Guarani. 

We  throw  them  tobacco,  and  explain  that  we  want  to  navi- 
gate the  arm  of  the  river,  and  we  understand  them  to  say  in 
reply  that  a  few  leagues  farther  up  there  is  a  waterfall  and  then  a 
lake.  I  wish  to  go  thither,  but  the  river  runs  with  a  strong 
current  in  an  extremely  tortuous  course,  and  resists  our  weak 
steam  power.  Meanwhile  the  Indians  becoming  suspicious, 
retire  backwards  a  few  steps,  occasionally  stopping,  then  fly 
out  of  sight,  and  from  the  bank  we  can  see  them  further  up, 
assembled  beside  a  tolderia  '^  at  a  bend  of  the  stream.  And  I  had 
armed  myself  for  fear  of  them  ! 

Being  unable  to  stem  the  current^  and  there  being  on  the 
other  hand  no  object  in  so  doing,  we  turned  back  and  entered  the 
other  arm  of  the  river.  We  cast  anchor  shortly  and  enjoyed  a 
peaceful  bath  in  place  of  the  expected  combat. 

On  the  following  day  we  came  to  another  arm  of  the  river  a 
few  leagues  further  up,  and  tried  to  explore  it,  but  after  about 
thirty  kilometers  we  could  proceed  no  farther  in  the  steamer. 
Six  of  us,  therefore,  well  armed,  got  into  the  canoe,  and  started 

*  Tolderia^  an  assemblage  oitoldoSy  or  huts  of  the  Indians.*, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.         21 

up  the  little  stream.  The  silence  about  us  was  profound,  un-^i 
broken  even  by  the  fluttering  of  a  bird  ;  only  a  white  yulo  more  \ 
than  a  yard  high,  and,  as  it  were,  impaled  on  a  pair  of  legs  like  ' 
stilts,  with  a  long  beak  thicker  than  its  head,  was  to  be  seen 
standing  motionless,  watching  the  water  for  its  prey.  The 
brackish  waters ;  the  banks  with  moisture  oozing  between  each 
stratum,  thus  indicating  the  proximity  of  lakes  and  probably 
some  Indian  dwellings  ;  the  muddy  bed  of  the  river ;  the  land 
covered  with  thick  grasses  and  reeds,  with  a  few  tall  withered 
trees, — all  these  things  completed  a  picture  of  desolation.  At  a 
sudden  turn  we  came  upon  a  tiger  ^  gazing  at  his  reflection  in 
the  water.  He  turned  away,  and  was  lost  to  sight  in  the  woods. 
Now  and  then  we  saw  the  smouldering  ashes  of  a  fire,  some 
remnants  of  victuals,  a  few  stakes  and  branches  that  had  served 
as  a  hut,  footprints  on  the  ground,  or  some  posts,  mark  to  show 
the  middle  of  the  channel,  which  becomes  more  and  more 
shallow,  until  at  last  we  are  forced  to  turn  back.  We  land 
first,  however,  and  get  ankle  deep  in  mud,  then  we  climb  a 
tree,  and  see  forests  in  the  distance,  and  the  smoke  of  a  tolderia. 

But  already  we  had  not  even  a  foot  of  water  ....  and  a 
few  hours  later  we  were  back  on  board  the  steamer,  and  all  of 
us  glad  to  meet  again  in  safety. 

But  alas  !  the  arm  of  the  river  that  we  intended  to  navigate 
contained  only  a  third  of  its  waters  at  that  moment,  and  a  little 
later  would  contain  only  a  fifth.  And  if  hitherto  our  navigation 
has  been  impeded,  what  will  it  not  be  in  the  200  leagues  that 
remain  1  We  are  provisioned  for  two  months,  while  the  rainy 
season  will  not  begin  for  seven'!  and  we  are  in  the  heart  of 
the  €haco  and  in  the  midst  of  the  Tobas  ! 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  here  in  the  Chaco,  and 
generally  throughout  all  the  northern  portion  of  the  Kepublic, 
and  I  may  say  in  all  that  part  of  this  southern  continent  com- 
prised between  40°  and  30°  lat.,  the  rainfall  lasts  from  December 
to  April,  viz.  during  the  summer;  occasionally  it  begins  in 
November,  and  may  last  until  May,  but  this  is  exceptional  and 
depends  on  the  direction  of  the  winds.  The  damp,  cold  winds 
blowing  from  the  N.  or  N.E.  or  from  the  Equator  fill  the 
atmosphere  with  vapour,  while  those  that  bring  the  rains  are 
dry  and  cold  from  the  S.  and  S.E.,  or  else  come  direct  from 

'y,        2  The  animal  called  a  tiger  in  South  America  is  really  the  jaguar.— 
Translator's  Note. 


22  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

the  Antarctic  Pole,  passing  over  the  cold  and  arid  tracts  of 
Patagonia  on  their  way,  or  they  rise  at  the  Pole  itself,  driving  in 
heights  above  our  atmosphere  for  forty  or  fifty  degrees,  and  then 
rushing  down  towards  the  earth's  surface  until  they  reach  the 
Equator  as  superficial  currents  of  air.  This  is  my  opinion,  and 
it  accords  with  the  theory  of  the  general  circulation  of  the 
atmosphere.  I  reject  the  theory  that  would  assign  a  purely 
local  cause  to  these  winds^  although  based  on  the  fact  that  south 
of  the  Eepublic  the  rainy  season  occurs  in  summer. 

Nor  can  I  think  those  writers  correct  who  affirm  that  the 
south  winds  are  laden  with  rain,  because,  even  were  they  so  in 
the  beginning,  they  pass  through  an  atmosphere  continually  in- 
creasing in  heat  towards  the  north,  and  thus  acquire  a  hygro- 
metrical  strength  so  great  as  at  last  to  render  them  dry.  Whereas 
in  these  parts,  for  three  or  six  days  before  the  rains  begin,  a 
hot  and  cutting  wind,  impeding  the  respiration,  blows  on  us 
from  the  Equator.  The  temperature  rises  to  42°  or  45°  Reaumur, 
and  produces  abundant  perspiration  even  when  we  remain  per- 
fectly still.  It  becomes  impossible  to  rest,  whether  in  bed,  or 
seated  or  walking,  until,  generally  speaking  towards  the  middle 
of  the  day,  the  north  wind  begins  to  veer  first  to  the  east, 
then  towards  the  south,  and,  blowing  chill  and  strong,  drives 
before  it  clouds  of  dust,  darkening  the  very  sky.  Then  comes  the 
storm,  the  temperature  sinks  to  25°  or  less,  and  by  condensing 
the  vapours  in  the  air  brings  on  the  rain.  Whirlpools  occur 
at  times.  On  one  occasion,  on  a  December  night,  there  was  a 
shower  of  fish,  the  larger  ones,  although  they  were  mostly  of 
a  size,  weighing  four  ounces.  The  biggest  and  smallest  had 
probably  been  deposited  in  various  localities  during  the  passage 
of  the  wind.     These  fish  were  from  the  neighbouring  lakes. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  23 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AN    ENCOUNTER    WITH    THE    TOBA    INDIANS. 

We  have  continued  to  progress  slowly,  making  only  a  few 
kilometers  daily,  with  frequent  pauses  while  we  extricated 
the  screw  of  our  steamer  from  the  sandbanks  that  barred 
our  way.  At  the  end  of  a  fortnight  we  perceived  something 
white  and  motionless  on  the  edge  of  the  shore  and  near  it  a 
swarm  of  black  objects.  "  Indians  "  was  the  cry,  and  *'  Tobas," 
as  we  approached  nearer.  The  Tobas  are  recognized  by  a 
bandage  or  turban  made  of  any  sort  of  material  and  worn  round 
the  head,  and  also  by  their  fine  forms. 

These  men  are  beautifully  proportioned.  They  are  nearly  all 
of  tall  stature  and  of  a  build  that  would  make  a  man  and  a 
half  among  us,  and  bear  themselves  with  a  lofty  air  that  is 
not  displeasing.  Their  faces  are  not  ugly,  but  of  a  kind  that 
if  placed  over  a  figure  in  modern  dress  would  extinguish  any 
feeling  of  sentiment  or  love.  They  are  at  times  insolent  and 
rude.  The  white  spot  we  had  seen  on  the  bank  was  the  ladino 
or  interpreter.  He  was  dressed  in  linen  trousers,  and  wore  a 
military  cap  and  brass  buttons  to  match ;  the  black  moving 
points  were  the  Indians.  After  exchanging  some  courtesies, 
four  of  us  landed,  and  went  among  them  in  order  to  buy  skins 
and  curiosities.  Among  their  number  was  a  fine  youth,  with  a 
pair  of  eyes  of  unmistakable  strength  and  fire.  He  held  a 
tiger-skin,  with  the  claws  intact.  We  wished  to  buy  it,  but 
he  would  not  agree,  and  in  the  end  the  boy,  imitating  the 
spring  of  a  tiger,  thrust  the  claws  in  the  face  of  one  of  our  men. 
We  smiled  out  of  policy,  but  his  companions  burst  into  boiste- 
rous and  malicious  laughter,  with  intent  to  make  us  retreat. 
The  thought  of  flight  occurred  to  me,  because,  even  when  not 
chief  in  command,  I  have  always  held  that  in  war  the  most 
necessary  thing  is  to  secure  a  safe  retreat.  The  joke  was 
becoming  serious,  and  although  the  steamer  was  close  at  hand, 


24  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

it  seemed  well  for  us  to  retire.  There  were  no  women  present, 
and  but  few  children. 

To  digress  for  a  moment ;  the  wearer  of  the  military  cap 
was  a  remnant  of  the  great  Paraguayan  war,  and  on  his  buttons 
might  be  seen  the  distinctive  marks  of  four  nations  and  of 
Heaven  knows  how  many  regiments  of  different  armies.  And, 
again,  with  regard  to  the  bandage  or  swathe  worn  by  the  Tobas, 
a  glance  backwards  will  show  it  to  be  historical.  According  to 
the  historians  of  Peru — where  every  one  knows  the  Spanish  found 
a  flourishing  and  civilized  empire,  and  which,  if  I  were  disposed 
to  institute  comparisons,  I  should  place  in  a  corresponding  rank 
with  the  period  of  our  agrarian  laws,  and  with  primitive  historic 
society  and  paternal  government — the  Incas,  or  reigning  imperial 
family,  introduced  the  use  of  the  swathed  head-covering ;  the 
colour,  the  material,  and  the  size  indicating  the  importance  or 
privileges  of  the  wearer,  whether  as  an  individual  or  as  one  of 
a  class.  These  historians  also  tell  us  that  the  Inca  capa,  the 
only  Inca  or  Emperor,  wore  a  headdress  of  massive  gold  an 
inch  thick. 

Now  this  custom  must  have  pre-existed  among  some  at  least  of 
the  primitive  peoples  of  the  Empire,  since  we  find  it  here  in 
the  Chaco,  and  we  attribute  to  the  Incas  merely  the  law  as  to 
its  use  ;  their  system  being  to  regulate  every  person  and  every- 
thing by  laws. 

The  Indians  whom  we  have  left  had  sold  us  some  fowls.  The 
next  day  they  returned  in  greater  numbers  with  more  fowls,  and 
my  reader  can  imagine  how  gladly  we  bought  them.  The 
weather  had  turned  cold  and  wet,  and  the  Indians  who  yesterday 
were  naked,  were  to-day,  for  the  most  part,  clad  in  skins.  They 
were  a  picturesque  sight  scattered  in  groups  on  the  shore,  and 
not  without  a  certain  order,  amid  aU  the  apparent  carelessness. 
They  seated  themselves,  in  eastern  fashion,  on  the  bank,  with 
their  lances  sticking  upright  in  the  ground  at  their  feet,  and 
bow  and  arrows  at  their  side ;  with  thick-headed  clubs  and  a 
rope  or  band  round  their  waist,  with  their  netted  shoulder-bags 
full  of  fish,  rat-rabbits  or  rabbit-rats,^  wild  fruit,  curiosities, 
in  short  of  everything  they  gather  together.  And  it  was 
curious  to  see  them  light  their  fire,  broil  their  meat,  eat  it 
hungrily,  and  then  entering  the  river,  with  head  and  body  curved, 
reach  out  their  hand  and  use  it  for  drinking  with  wonderful 

1  Babbits  are  never  eaten  m  Italy. — Translator's  Note.      '• 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  2$ 

aptitude.  Tn  so  doing  they  recalled  to  my  mind  the  pictures  of 
Christ  and  John  the  Baptist  standing  in  the  waters  of  the  Jordan, 
the  latter  clothed  in  skins  and  bearing  a  staff. 

In  order  to  light  a  fire,  they  proceed  as  follows  :  they  take 
two  pieces  of  stick,  one  of  cilca,  or  of  some  resinous  and  porous 
shrub  of  the  same  kind,  the  other  of  hard  wood.  They  sharpen 
the  latter  to  a  point,  and  rapidly  twirl  it  between  their  hands 
on  the  other  piece.  The  cavity  thus  produced  fills  with  a 
fine  subtle  dust,  the  colour  of  ground  coffee,  which,  becoming 
heated  by  the  rapid  friction,  kindles  as  easily  as  a  cigar  or  as 
saw-dust ;  they  then  pile  over  it  plenty  of  dry  and  easily  inflam- 
mable materials,  and  blow  upon  it  until  the  flame  bursts  out, 
when  they  can  have  as  much  fire  as  they  want. 

All  this  time  there  were  no  women  to  be  seen.  The  glimpse 
we  had  had  of  the  beautiful  Indian  girl  had  made  us  most 
anxious  to  see  some  others ;  nor  need  our  reader  be  in  any  way 
shocked  at  the  wish,  which  was  purely  Platonic  in  all  of  us, 
while  in  some  it  proceeded  from  an  intelligent  curiosity. 

During  two  or  three  days  we  were  present  at  an  interesting 
spectacle.  The  Tobas  continued  to  arrive  in  increasing  numbers, 
and  finally  the  Caciquey  or  principal  chief,  came  to  visit  them  in 
the  tolderia,  which  was  situated  about  a  kilometer  from  the 
river-side  and  close  to  us.  He  was  accompanied  by  many  other 
chiefs,  and  by  numerous  Tndiada  (Indian  tribes).  The  women 
remained  apart  at  some  distance,  but  in  groups,  and  indistinguish- 
able. We  landed  on  the  bank,  and  the  Cacique  came  forward 
and  made  us  a  speech  through  the  interpreter. 

He  yelled  like  a  madman,  frequently  slapping  his  thighs,  and 
then  shouting  louder  still.  Each  syllable  was  very  staccato^  so 
that  the  language  seemed  to  be  monosyllabic  ;  this,  however,  is 
not  entirely  the  case.  This  mode  of  utterance  is  necessary  to 
prevent  one  word  from  being  mistaken  for  another,  from  which 
it  frequently  differs  only  by  a  slight  shade  of  sound.  He 
repeated  the  same  things  in  different  phrases,  and  made  a  long 
disconnected  discourse.  This  custom  seems  to  prevail  among 
other  Indians ;  at  any  rate,  in  the  Pampas,  according  to  Colonel 
Mansilla.,  in  his  "  Spedizione  ai  Rancheli." 

He  told  us  that  his  abode  was  near,  that  he  and  his  were 
friendly  to  the  Christians,  and  would  continue  to  be  so,  and  he 
invited  us  to  come  and  visit  him. 

We  replied  that  we  could  not  at  that  time  pay  him  a  visit, 
that  we  too  were  friendly,  that  they  must  not  fear   us,  and 


26  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

that,  ill  fact,  our  friendship  would  procure  for  them  cloth 
for  garments  and  good  things  to  eat.  The  great  chief  was  tall 
and  old,  but  robust ;  his  hair  was  white,  an  unusual  thing,  and 
short ;  at  his  side  stood  an  Indian  with  so  expressive  and  pleasing 
a  countenance  that  it  was  delightful  to  look  at  him.  He  trans- 
mitted his  chiefs  orders,  and  gave  him  advice.  He  leminded 
me  of  the  numerous  country-folk  in  Italy,  upright  and  well- 
to-do,  with  faces  browned  by  working  in  the  sun. 

We  proceeded  to  distribute  tobacco  and  mandioca-flour  among 
the  crowd  and  the  same,  with  a  few  additional  present?,  to  the 
chiefs.  Some  resolution  was  needed  on  our  part  to  give  away 
anything  in  the  way  of  food.  But  we  bought  fowls  from  them. 
We  were  informed  that  the  Cacique's  counsellor  was  the  son  of 
Colompotop,  a  chief  celebrated  for  his  fidelity  and  for  the 
services  he  rendered  to  the  Argentines  in  their  war  of  independ- 
ence.    All  honour  to  him  ! 

When  the  dishes  on  which  we  had  served  the  rations  to 
the  Indians  came  to  be  collected,  one  was  missing.  Complaint 
was  made  to  the  chief,  and  he  immediately  called  to  his  com- 
panions who  were  going  away,  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and 
seemed  by  his  tone  to  be  rebuking  them.  They  returned,  but 
we  did  not  recover  the  dish. 

Among  these  Indians  are  many  Christian  convicts,  who  have 
made  their  escape  from  Santiago,  Corrientes,  and  Paraguay  ;  but 
they  are  not  easily  recognized,  except  by  the  hair  on  their  faces. 
Men  who  have  but  a  little  white  blood  in  their  veins,  and 
only  a  few  points  of  the  European  type,  become  still  less  dis- 
tinguishable in  the  costume  of  Adam  before  the  Fall  and  after 
years  of  an  Indian  life.  A  youth,  however,  who  had  been  stolen 
when  a  child  had  retained  his  natural  light  brown  hair,  and  his 
face  left  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  his  parentage.  We  called  him 
to  us,  and  he  came :  he  pretended  to  be  half-witted,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  was  spying.  The  interest  I  felt  in  him  at  first  soon 
died  away,  and  every  time  I  looked  at  him  it  was  with  a  repug- 
nance that  I  feel  still.  And  yet  people  say  that  "  il  sangue  tira" 
or  blood  is  thicker  than  water.  Another  Christian  was  a  chief. 
He  was  a  certain  Yincenzino,  formerly  the  manager  of  an  estaricm 
at  Santiago,  where  he  was  well  known.  He  was  a  fine,  tall 
man,  sunburnt  and  with  a  short  grizzled  beard ;  he  looked  like  a 
diplomat.  He  had  left  his  Indian  followers,  who  were  coming 
after  to  join  the  others.  He  uttered  very  few  words,  and 
affected  to  be  unable  to  express  himself  in  Castilian.     This  was 


I 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  2/ 

an  artifice  to  avoid  rousing  the  suspicions  of  the  Indians,  by 
whom  Indiamzed  Christians  are  forbidden  to  speak  in  an  enemy's 
language  that  is  not  understood  by  themselves.  Such  Christians, 
therefore,  remain  mute  and  motionless  as  statues.  We  gave 
Yinceiizino  plenty  of  tobacco,  which  he  divided  in  equal  shares 
among  the  Indians.  This  is  the  general  custom,  and  the  obser- 
vance (or  neglect)  of  it  is  the  cause  of  the  afiection  or  dislike 
that  decides  the  destiny  of  the  chiefs. 

I  know  not  whether  our  good  or  evil  destiny  prevailed,  but 
we  were  unable  tlie  next  day  to  approach  the  shore  where  the 
Indians  had  assembled  in  great  numbers,'and  had  waited,  although 
the  weather  was  wet,  until  eleven  o'clock,  the  usual  dinner-hour 
throughout  the  Chaco.  We  had  run  aground  on  the  opposite 
bank.  They  departed  in  high  dudgeon,  and  we  heard  them  that 
evening  at  a  little  distance  shouting  their  war-cry.  We  did 
not  see  them  again  for  several  days,  when  they  tried  to  kill 
us. 

For  many  days  we  did  not  see  a  living  soul.  At  last,  one 
fine  morning,  a  swarm  of  Indians  appeared  on  both  sides  of  the 
river.  We  were  on  the  Toba  and  Mattacco  frontiers,  where 
various  tribes  had  assembled  for  war. 

Here  we  met  with  Faustino,  who  was  destined  to  play  so 
large  a  part  in  our  life,  and,  alas  !  to  sacrifice  his  own  in  our 
cause  !  It  was  a  glad  day  for  us,  and  gave  us  at  once  a  feeling 
of  home. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Mattaccos  are  not  hostile  to  the 
Christians,  nor  distrustful  of  foreigners.  Faustino  informed  Us 
that  they  had  lately  been  fighting,  and  had  just  made  peace.  Each 
Indian  nation  has  its  own  territory,  and  they  will  fight  for  a 
foot  of  land  just  as  we  do  ;  while  to  each  tribe  belonging  to  a 
nation,  is  assigned  a  certain  portion  of  land,  beyond  which  they 
cannot  trespass  without  provoking  war.  Wars  are  frequent 
on  various  pretences,  and  from  the  prevailing  spirit  of  robbery. 
1^0  sooner  do  they  hear  that  another  tribe  is  enriched  in  one 
way  or  another  by  the  possession  of  animals  or  other  property 
than  they  endeavour  to  surprise  and  plunder  them.  Wounds, 
war-prisoners  and  loss  of  life  naturally  ensue,  and  these  in  their 
turn  are  the  causes  of  future  wars,  which  are  undertaken  with- 
out further  explanation.  Every  tribe  employs  a  number  of 
spies. 

Fortune  for  a  long  time  has  favoured  the  Tobas,  who  occupy 
the  best  lands  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  and  Paraguay,  being 


28  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

about  sixty  leagues,  or  if  measured  by  the  windings  of  the 
river,  a  hundred.  By  secret  trading  with  Corrientes  and  the 
Paraguayan  Eepublic  they  have  provided  themselves  with  fire- 
arms. Moreover,  being  farthest  from  the  continually  advancing 
Christian  frontier,  they  receive  a  considerable  contingent  of  the 
convicts  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken.  In  this  way  the 
Vilelas  and  the  Chiulipos  have  become  mixed  with  them,  and 
the  case  will  be  the  same  with  the  Mocovitos,  who  live  in  the 
south-west  along  the  frontiers  of  Santa  Fe  and  Santiago,  and 
whose  language  is  not  dissimilar,  many  words  being  identical. 
The  same  thing  will  occur  with  the  Mattaccos,  who  are  con- 
tiguous to  the  Salta  frontier  on  the  west,  and  on  the  east  to  that  of 
the  Tobas.  Thus  being  straitened  between  two  enemies,  those 
nearest  the  east  allied  themselves  with  the  Tobas  (among  whom 
we  now  found  ourselves),  and  those  on  the  west  with  the  Chris- 
tians, joining  them  in  warfare.  Nevertheless  they  all  speak 
the  same  mother-tongue  and  hold  to  it  jealously,  although  with 
some  difference  of  dialect.  For  example,  the  Eastern  Mat- 
taccos always  use  chid  and  tzd,  pronounced  kiah  and  tzahj 
where  those  of  the  west  use  cm,  pronounced  shah.  Those  of 
the  same  tribe,  however,  make  use  of  either  expression  without 
experiencing  any  difficulty ;  they  do  so  also  with  chid,  tzd,  and 
cid,  pronounced  kiOy  tzo,  and  sho.  For  example,  gamma  is 
tzonac,  chiondc  or  ciondc  (the  last  pronounced  shonac)  indif- 
ferently. 

I  have  mentioned  that  the  Mattaccos  jealously  preserve  their 
language.  In  almost  every  Indian  dialect  the  new  animals 
introduced  by  the  Spanish  were  accepted  with  their  Castilian 
names,  pronounced  as  well  as  the  Indian  throat  and  the  Indian 
nature  would  allow. 

The  Mattaccos,  on  the  contrary,  sought  for  native  animals 
resembling  the  new  importations,  and  if  there  were  any,  they 
conferred  on  the  strangers  the  same  name  accompanied  by 
a  modifying  particle,  also  belonging  to  the  language.  This  rule 
also  they  followed  with  regard  to  any  new  object.  And  they 
showed  acuteness  in  its  application :  thus  they  call  a  sheep, 
fzonatdc,  tzondc,  meaning  gamma  ;  an  ox  becomes  chiuuassefac, 
chiuuassety  meaning  a  stag ;  the  horse  is  jelaldc,jelac,  meaning 
tapir  or  anta.  With  regard  to  the  horse,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  thousands  of  years  ago  the  Greeks,  wishing  to  be- 
stow a  name  on  a  pachyderm  somewhat  similar  to  the  tapir, 
called  it  a  river-horse,  i.e.  hippopotamus^  from  hippos^  horsfe ; 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  29 

and  potamos,  river.  Is  it  not  wonderful  that  the  poor,  despised 
redskins  should  have  reasoned  in  the  same  manner  as  the  splen- 
did genius  of  Greece !  I  also  remark  with  gratification  that 
the  word  tac,  the  modifying  power  of  which  I  will  explain 
later,  would  be  better  expressed  by  the  Spanish  jota  than  by 
the  German  ch.  I  must  add  in  my  own  praise,  that  I  took 
great  pains  to  discover  tlie  relation  between  the  new  and  the 
old  words,  and  that  each  time  I  succeeded  I  experienced  a 
real  delight ;  and  I  may  say  the  same  with  regard  to  the  various 
pronunciation  of  the  words. 


30  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN    CHACO 


CHAPTER  YII. 

PHYSICAL     CHARACTERISTICS     OF     THE     MATTACCOS     AND     OTHER 

INDIANS. 

The  difference  of  size  between  the  Tobas  and  the  Mattaccos  is 
considerable.  In  general  the  Mattacco  is  almost  half  a  hand 
shorter  than  the  Toba,  without,  however,  being  a  small  man 
when  compared  to  us  Italians.  His  chest  is  wide,  he  is  bull- 
necked,  with  well-marked  muscles  ;  his  limbs  are  strong,  his 
head  is  large,  his  face  is  broad,  with  high  cheekbones,  and  the 
upper  jaw  is  deeply  arched,  like  a  horse-shoe. 

The  lower  jaw  is  long  and  sloping,  the  forehead  is  seldom 
wide,  and,  generally  speaking,  partly  hidden  by  the  unkempt 
hair.  The  feet  are  well-proportioned,  the  hands  small  and 
wonderfully  well-knit,  especially  the  women's ;  the  beard  very 
scanty  and  kept  shaven.  Among  their  thirty-two  teeth,  the 
canine  or  eye-teeth  seemed  to  me  to  be  but  slightly  developed, 
and  this  would  be  explained  by  their  habit  of  eating  fish  or 
fruit,  and  either  very  little  meat  or  none  at  all ;  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, however,  to  this  rule.  The  teeth  of  the  young  men 
are  fine  and  sound,  but  among  the  elders  they  are  often  ugly 
and  decayed.  The  enamel  does  not  seem  to  be  precisely  the 
same  as  ours ;  it  resembles  bone  rather  than  ivory,  and  I  think 
would  have  less  resisting  power.  The  gums  are  of  a  pale  red, 
likewise  the  lips.  Does  their  diet  account  for  this  ?  They  eat 
no  salt  because  they  have  none,  but  they  are  fond  of  it,  and 
suck  it  like  sugar  when  any  is  given  to  them.  The  lips  of  some 
appear  swollen,  prominent,  and  of  a  redder  tint.  The  eyes  are 
nearly  always  slightly  oblique,  slanting  upwards  from  the  nose, 
and  almond-shaped ;  but  some  individuals  have  fine  eyes,  round 
in  shape  and  placed  horizontally.  These  latter  are  black  with 
very  blue  whites,  but  in  the  oblique  eyes  the  white  is  generally 
of  a  greenish  colour,  especially  in  the  older  people.  The  nose  is 
broad,  straight,  not  very  prominent,  and  with  wide  nostrils,  but 
it  is  not  flattened.     Indeed,  they  are  seriously  afraid  of  having 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  3 1 

fiat  noses,  so  much  so  that  they  will  not  eat  mutton,  which  is 
supposed  by  them  to  cause  flatness  in  that  feature.  This 
is  a  device  of  their  medicine-men  and  soothsayers,  in  order 
to  prevent  the  destruction  of  their  few  sheep,  and  also  the 
consequent  loss  of  the  wool,  which  they  weave  and  make  use  of 
in  many  ways.  It  is  a  pious  fraud,  resembling  many  that  are 
taught  by  our  holy  religion  !  And  thus  are  men  found  to  be 
alike  in  artifice  and  presumption  in  every  clime  and  every  age. 

The  hair  is  smooth,  but  in  some  few  individuals  I  remarked 
it  to  be  waving,  if  not  curling,  but  I  am  ignorant  whether  this 
was  natural  to  them  or  produced  by  artificial  means  ;  and  I 
noticed  incipient  baldness  in  some.  The  adults  have  black  or 
blackish  hair ;  in  the  old  it  is  sometimes^  but  rarely,  white, 
possibly  because  very  few  attain  to  old  age.  The  children  up 
to  ten  or  twelve  years  have  reddish  hair — a  curious  fact  recall- 
ing the  theory  of  De  Salles,  according  to  which  primitive  man 
was  red-haired.  This  is  an  illustration  of  heredity.  The  hair 
is  generally  worn  long  and  unkempt,  but  during  periods  of 
mourning  it  is  cut  off  for  a  year.  Nevertheless,  they  are  eager 
to  possess  combs,  the  women  especially.  I  recollect  on  one 
occasion  being  most  anxious  to  obtain  from  them  a  spade  or 
mattock  made  of  legno  ferro,  in  the  shape  of  a  double  oar, 
with  narrow,  sharp  blades.  It  belonged  to  an  Indian,  a  friend 
of  mine,  whose  wife  was  a  handsome  woman.  I  offered 
them  a  comb  in  exchange,  but  after  thinking  it  over,  the  Indian 
would  not  come  to  terms,  to  the  deep  disappointment  seemingly 
of  his  wife,  who,  however,  persuaded  him  out  of  love  for  her 
to  return  the  next  day  and  offer  spontaneously  to  make  the 
exchange.  My  reader  would  perhaps  approve  of  a  little  more 
generosity  on  my  part,  but  had  I  freely  given  away  the  comb, 
I  should  have  had  nothing  left  to  off'er  for  the  spade,  in  which 
I  was  more  interested  than  in  this  naked  Indian  couple. 

The  above  description  of  the  Mattaccos  will  serve  also  for 
the  Tobas,  only  that  the  latter  are  taller.  I  do  not  know 
whether  their  forehead  is  in  fact  broader,  but  it  appears  so, 
owing  to  their  custom  of  drawing  the  hair  back  under  the 
baud  they  wear  round  the  head.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
Chiulipos  and  the  Mocovitos,  who  together  inhabit  the  Argen- 
tine Gran  Chaco,  north  of  which  are  the  Bolivians,  the  Chiri- 
guanos,  and  the  Chirionossos. 

The  skin  of  all  these  Indians  varies  in  colour  from  copper  to 
clay,  while  occasionally  some  are  spotted  with  black.  The  Chiri- 


32  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

guanos,  however,  are  of  rather  a  lighter  shade,  approaching  the 
colour  of  bronze ;  they  speak  the  Guarani  language  common  to 
Paraguay,  Corrientes,  and  to  part  of  Brazil,  and  dwell  on  the 
Bolivian  frontiers ;  some  of  them  being  converts  under  the 
missions,  and  some  leading  a  nomadic  life,  remained  under  the 
former  Grovernment  and  were  banished  with  the  Emperor  of 
the  Incas,  as  we  are  informed  by  Garcelasso  de  la  Vega,  who 
gives  us  some  details  on  the  subject  which  I  will  mention  now 
lest  I  forget  them.  The  Guaranis*and  all  these  Indians  of  the 
Chaco  cannot  count  beyond  five ;  the  Chiccinos  on  the  othej 
hand  and  all  th«  population  of  the  Inca  Empire  can  count  in- 
definitely, as  we  do,  and  according  to  an  admirably  simple 
system.  Now,  the  Ciriguani,  although  they  speak  Guarani, 
can  also  count  indefinitely.  It  is  evident  that  they  acquired 
this  faculty  by  contact  with  the  Peruvians.  They  cannot  be 
said  to  have  learnt  the  art  from  the  missionaries,  because,  if 
such  were  the  case,  the  Paraguayans  would  also  have  acquired 
it,  for  we  know  them  to  have  been  instructed  from  the 
very  first,  and  to  have  established  the  now  famous  mis- 
sions that  were  destroyed  by  the  Christian  governors.  As  for 
the  rest,  it  must  be  remembered  that  along  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific  they  are  able  to  count  indefinitely,  and  also  among  the 
Chileni,  a  warlike  and  well-known  race,  who  seem  to  have 
extended  through  the  whole  of  Chili,  across  the  Cordigliera 
mountains  and  into  Patagonia  and  parts  of  the  Pampas  of 
Buenos  Ayres.  I  infer  this  from  the  names  of  the  Patagonian 
Indiadas ;  for  I  believe  the  Chileno  word  Pehuen-ches  means 
Indians  of  the  Pine  Forests ;  Mofu-ches,  Indians  of  the  Mol, 
from  molj  place  of  forage ;  Pilma-ches,  Indians  of  the  Pilma, 
from  pillota  or  pilma,  a  game  at  ball ;  Carhue,  a  fortified  place ; 
Leufoco,  river- water,  &c.,  which  proves  in  my  opinion  what  I 
have  stated  above.  However,  some  of  these  names  might  also 
be  designations  conferred  on  them  by  their  neighbours  the 
Chilenos,  without  their  being  of  the  same  tribe,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  case  of  the  Tobas,  whose  name  is  a  Guarani 
word,  and  as  would  seem  to  be  the  case  with  the  name  of  the 
ChiriguaJios,  which  I  derive  from  the  Chiccina,  men-of-the  cold — 
chiri,  cold,  and  guaina,  man,  or,  more  strictly  speaking,  lad  and 
youth,  as  used  among  soldiers  and  in  families.  And  when  com- 
pared with  Peru,  these  tribes  do  in  fact  dwell  in  colder,  or  at 
least,  less  hot  regions.  The  Chileno  dialect  seems  to  have 
marks  of  affinity  with  the  Chiccina  and  Aimara.  •, 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  33 

I  must  confess  that  my  style  is  not  consecutive,  but  the 
reader,  if  I  have  one,  will  forgive  me.  I  am  obliged  to  write 
in  the  intervals  of  my  work,  uncertain  whether  I  shall  be  able 
to  continue  on  the  following  day,  hence  I  can  follow  no  method, 
but  simply  write  as  circumstances  or  memory  may  suggest. 

Concerning  the  Chiriguanos,  I  wish  further  to  state  that  a 
custom  prevails  among  them  of  wearing  on  the  lower  lip  a  small 
leaden  tube  not  quite  three  quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
passed  through  the  lip,  and  held  in  its  place  by  two  little 
wings  fastened  to  the  inward  end ;  while  the  outward  side  is 
engraved  like  a  seal ;  this  is  worn  as  a  mark  of  puberty.  The 
wound  in  the  lip  is  a  painful  sight  when  the  tube  is  first  inserted. 
If  my  memory  does  not  deceive  me,  this  custom  also  has  been 
borrowed  from  the  Chiancas,  an  Indian  tribe  living  in  Bolivia 
and,  I  think,  near  Lake  Titicaca,  or  Cliff  of  Lead.  The  identity 
of  so  strange  a  custom  authorizes  the  supposition  that  the 
Chiancas  and  the  Chiriguanos,  like  the  Guaranis,  were  closely 
related  tribes.  It  is  confined  to  the  men.  The  women  wear  a 
white  cloak  and  hood,  called  a  tipoy,  reaching  from  head  to  foot. 
This  is  of  ample  size,  and  is  cut  in  front  all  in  one  piece  like  a 
dressing-gown.  If  I  mistake  not,  Arago  tells  us  that  in  Taiti 
the  2?owc7io-shaped  garment  worn  by  the  natives  is  called  a 
tiputa.  The  analogy  between  the  name,  the  use,  and  the 
appearance  of  the  article  in  question  is  very  interesting. 

I  am  glad  to  point  out  these  analogies  because  it  is  popularly 
supposed  and  asserted  that  each  tribe  has  a  -separate  language, 
and  in  support  of  this  assertion  we  are  referred  to  the  im- 
penetrable forests,  the  unfordable  rivers,  and  the  impassable 
mountains.  I,  on  the  contrary,  challenge  any  one  to  find 
regions  more  easy  of  intercommunication  than  these,  where 
one  may  journey  for  thousands  of  leagues  on  level  and  treeless 
plains,  or  through  woods  where  there  are  innumerable  tracks 
even  in  the  tropical  regions ;  where  the  native  Indians  can 
swim  like  fish,  and  are  actually  amphibious  animals ;  where  the 
mountains  are  imposing,  but  few  in  number ;  and  where  there 
are  populous  cities  in  latitudes  which  would  bo  regions  of 
eternal  snow  in  Europe.  The  truth  is,  each  language  is  spoken 
throughout  vast  territories  that  are  in  many  instances  marked 
by  no  natural  geographical  divisions,  and  languages  get  easily 
grouped  in  one  when  belonging  to  a  large  family  spread 
over  immense  regions.  My  belief  is  that  in  Chili,  Peru, 
Bolivia,  the  Argentine  Eepublic,  and  at  any  rate  in  part  of 


34  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Brazil,  viz.  the  South  of  the  American  Continent,  there  are 
two  great  families  of  languages,  distinct  as  they  are  according  to 
the  two  best  known  idioms,  the  language  of  the  Chicciuas  along 
the  Pacific,  and  of  the  Guaranis  in  the  bason  of  the  Plata. 

Allow  me  to  make  two  further  remarks:  the  Chirionossos 
are  said  to  be  troglodites  or  dwellers  in  caves,  fair,  extremely 
fierce,  with  blue  eyes;  their  women,  too,  have  crooked  feet 
turned  inwards,  so  as  to  be  hidden  when  they  are  seated. 
Both  men  and  women  are  always  naked.  I  have  never  seen 
them  myself,  but  such  is  the  universal  account  of  these  people. 
But  are  not  these  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Indians  like  the  fabulous 
Phoenix  1  A  Chiriguano,  who  assured  me  he  had  seen  them 
and  fought  with  them,  told  me  that  their  knees  were  turned 
backwards  like  those  of  ostriches  !     I  repeat  his  exact  words. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  35 


r 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AT   CANGAGLIE — A   HUNTING   PARTY — A   TOLDERIA, 

To  return. 

We  had  remained  on  the  spot  where  we  had  met  with 
Faustino  and  various  Indian  tribes.  The  place  is  called 
CangagltSy  and  is  marked  on  all  maps ;  it  is  historical  besides, 
for  a  mission  was  established  there,  and  another  one  fifteen 
leagues  farther  up,  in  the  last  century,  and  they  were  shortly 
afterwards  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 

So  many  days  had  elapsed  without  our  leaving  the  steamer 
for  fear  of  being  made  into  mincemeat  by  the  natives,  that  it 
seemed  well  to  take  advantage  of  an  'opportunity  that  appeared 
safe,  to  tread  once  more  on  terra  firma,  and  see  something  of 
the  country.  The  information  that  there  was  a  lake  at  no 
great  distance  determined  us  on  getting  up  an  expedition  in 
search  of  sport. 

Seven  of  us,  therefore,  went  ashore,  myself,  Signor  Natalio 
Roldan,  Faustino,  one  of  our  men,  and  three  natives.  We 
entered  on  narrow  footpaths,  which  are  the  high  roads  of 
the  Indians.  We  were  sometimes  in  the  midst  of  grass  so  high 
that  it  concealed  us  completely ;  at  other  times  on  a  perfectly 
flat  surface,  from  the  recent  burning  of  the  dry  hay,  and  then 
the  eye  could  scan  a  vast  horizon.  The  least  trifle  arrested  our 
attention,  and  seemed  to  have  some  great  meaning  for  us. 
Meanwhile  we  saw  nothing  of  the  lake. 

When  halfway  we  came  to  a  wild-gourd  field.  These  are 
common  in  the  Chaco.  Near  to  it  was  a  madrechon,  or  part 
of  the  channel  that  had  been  hollowed  out  years  before  by 
one  of  those  floods  that  displace  the  river  for  leagues  and 
leagues.  In  this  same  place  we  also  lighted  upon  a  Toba 
Indiana. 

Oh,  shall  we  see  Indian  women  at  last !  and  what  will  they  be 
like? 

D  2 


36  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

Meanwhile  our  three  Indians  were  quaking.  "Tooba,"  said 
they,  and  seemed  disposed  to  turn  back.  But  we,  on  the  contrary, 
remained  firm,  awaiting  them,  and  resumed  our  fishing  in  the 
madrechon. 

Ladies  first.  But  what  a  disappointment !  old,  flabby,  wrinkled, 
with  shrunken  breasts  like  dried  figs  ;  with  squinting,  greenish, 
half -opened,  blear  eyes,  and  with  a  few  rags  to  represent  fig-leaves. 
They  were  loaded  moreover,  with  netted  bags  crammed  full  of 
filthy,  stinking  fish,  that  seemed  like  a  mass  of  manure.  They 
were  on  their  way  to  the  tolderia.  They  carried  the  bags  or 
other  load  in  the  usual  way  behind  the  shoulders,  held  by  a  rope 
that  goes  round  the  forehead,  and  they  looked  like  beasts  of 
burden. 

The  women  passed  by,  as  if  in  haste,  in  a  straight  line.  The 
men  suddenly  joined  them,  armed  with  their  bows,  arrows  and 
lances,  which  they  never  lay  down,  and  with  the  clava,  a  thick 
heavy  club  of  hard  wood,  terminating  in  a  larger  or  smaller  head, 
which  has  caused  the  Mattaccos  to  call  it  e-tec-tdc.  I  was  struck 
at  first  with  this  name,  which  seemed  to  me  an  admirable  imita- 
tive sound  of  the  noise  produced  by  the  clashing  of  two  clubs 
against  another,  but  I  discovered  afterwards  that  it  was  a  rational 
rendering  of  the  shape  of  the  weapon,  signifying  in  fact,  a  large 
head.  The  bow  and  arrows  are  carried  in  one  hand  ;  the  natives 
have  no  quiver,  nor  anything  resembling  one  for  their  arrows. 

They  halted  for  a  moment,  and  exchanged  a  few  words,  then 
a  large  number  approached  nearer,  observing  us,  and  M^e  deter- 
mined to  push  on  for  the  lake,  which  we  found  at  a  distance  of 
three  kilometers  from  the  steamer. 

This  lake  was  more  like  a  bog,  and  full  of  rushes,  reeds,  and 
aquatic  plants,  with  a  muddy  bottom.  There  are  numerous  lakes 
of  the  kind,  all  within  certain  limits,  and  called  by  me  on  another 
occasion  oscillations  of  the  river.  They  are  portions  of  the 
channel,  hollowed  out  in  the  season  of  floods,  and  in  the  course 
of  years  they  have  gradually  filled  up  with  water,  until  they 
are  permanent  shallows,  in  which  the  rain-fall  and  the  floods  lie 
stagnant. 

In  the  beginning  those  that  were  of  the  same  depth  as  the 
nver  were  called  madrechons.  Both  lakes  and  madrechons  dry 
up  in  part,  and  provide  good  localities  for  fishing.  On  this 
account  the  Indians  are  in  the  habit  of  halting  on  the  banks 
during  their  nomadic  marches. 
After  some  sport  with  water- fowl,  we  resolved,  as  it  was  gating 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  yj 

late,  and  on  the  advice  of  our  three  Mattaccos,  to  retrace  our 
steps.  These  men,  although  friends  of  the  Tobas,  were  ex- 
cessively afraid  of  them.  They  are  friends,  rather  from  necessity 
than  choice,  and  their  connection  with  the  Christians  is  dis- 
pleasing to  the  Tobas. 

I  was  anxious  to  learn  a  few  Toba  words,  and  this  seemed  to 
me  a  good  opportunity  for  the  purpose.  One  morning,  therefore, 
I  got  an  Indian  on  board  who  knew  both  Toba  and  Mattacco, 
and  with  the  help  of  Faustino,  who  knew  Mattacco  and  Spanish, 
I  began  to  set  about  my  task.  At  the  first  word  a  Mattacco 
chief,  who  was  observing  us,  came  up,  and,  rebuking  my  two 
instructors,  placed  himself  opposite  us,  so  as  to  hear  all  that 
passed.  After  a  few  more  words,  I  gave  up  the  lesson,  for  I 
began  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  my  interpreters,  and  I  never 
found  an  opportunity  for  resuming  it.  The  cacique  was  carrying 
out  the  Toban  law. 

The  next  day  we  began,  with  the  help  of  Faustino^  to  prepare 
an  expedition  to  Rivadavia,  a  district  near  the  frontier,  about 
500  kilometers  from  where  we  were.  Our  object  was  to  obtain 
additional  provisions  and  a  reinforcement  of  our  numbers.  Three 
of  our  crew,  well-armed  and  resolute  men,  taking  with  them  a 
horse  and  a  small  amount  of  food,  were  to  proceed  under  Faustino' s 
guidance,  to  the  confines  of  the  territory  menaced  by  the  Tobans, 
and  there  were  to  be  introduced  by  him  to  his  friend  the  chief, 
Pa-i-lo,  who  would  furnish  them  with  a  guide  as  far  as  the 
frontiers.  The  expedition  would  be  ready  to  start  in  three 
days. 

One  of  our  three  Mattaccos  was  the  famous  cacique  whom  we 
called  Mulatto.  In  the  last  war  he  was  said  to  have  fought 
singly  three  of  the  enemy,  and  to  have  vanquished  them.  A 
short  time  before  he  had  suddenly  come  upon  a  tiger  in  the 
forest.  He  just  escaped  its  spring,  and,  clutching  hold  of  its 
two  fore-paws,  stood  on  the  defensive.  His  wife  meanwhile 
unexpectedly  came  up,  and  striking  the  creature  a  blow  with  a 
club,  laid  it  lifeless  on  the  ground. 

There  are  many  fierce  tigers  in  those  parts.  Only  a  short 
time  before  a  tiger  had  suddenly  sprung  on  a  poor  Indian  deaf- 
mute,  who  was  gathering  wood  near  the  lake  where  we  had 
fished  and  shot,  and,  after  mangling  him  horribly,  would  have 
devoured  him,  had  not  his  companions,  on  hearing  the  noise, 
rushed  up  and  put  the  brute  to  flight. 

Tigers  are  one  of  the  most  serious  dancjers  of  the  Chaco,  both 


38  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

to  Indians  and  Christians,  but  principally  to  the  former,  from 
the  absence  or  scarcity  of  firearms.  They  are  a  perfect  scourge 
to  the  cattle  on  the  Estancias.  There  are  many  tiger-hunters  in 
Christian  Chaco,  who  breed  hounds  expressly  for  the  purpose. 
When  once  started,  the  tiger  is  pursued  by  horsemen  and  dogs 
until  he  either  turns  at  bay  in  a  thicket  or  at  the  foot  of  a  tree, 
or  else  climbs  the  trunk.  A  carbine,  or  more  frequently  a  lance 
or  dagger,  puts  an  end  to  the  combat. 

A  tiger  sometimes  waits  for  the  discharge  of  a  volley  from  the 
guns,  and  if  he  does  not  drop  dead,  springs  at  once  upon  the 
enemy.  During  my  residence  in  those  parts,  two  famous  tiger- 
hunters  were  found  dead,  with  their  heads  mangled  by  the  teeth 
of  some  ferocious  beast.  Such  an  one  will  spring  on  the  crupper 
of  a  horse,  and  nothing  but  a  sharp  dagger,  perfect  self-possession, 
and  herculean  strength,  can  in  such  a  case  save  the  hunter.  Every 
owner  of  an  estancia  is  a  tiger-hunter. 

A  certain  Signor  Diaz,  living  on  the  frontier  near  the  Tenco, 
had  a  short  time  previously  killed  his  fourteenth  tiger.  Another 
estancia- owner,  a  certain  Celestino  Rodriguez,  a  fine-looking  old 
man,  had  his  nose  deeply  scarred  by  a  wound  from  the  claw  of 
a  tiger  whom  he  had  encountered  alone  and  on  foot.  It  was 
fine  to  hear  him  tell  the  story,  and  to  see  him  show  how  he 
drove  his  dagger  into  the  belly  of  the  brute,  whom  he  had  already 
wounded,  and  who  was  then  standing  upright  before  him,  kept 
at  a  distance  by  his  strong  arm. 

The  skin  of  a  tiger,  killed  at  no  great  distance  from  me, 
measured  when  fresh  nine  hands,  from  the  root  of  the  tail  to 
the  nape  of  the  neck.  A  cebado,  or  man-eater,  will  spring  on 
you  at  once,  without  waiting  to  be  attacked. 

In  truth,  the  tiger  ^  of  the  Chaco,  is  little  inferior  to  his 
brethren  of  Africa,  whether  for  ferocity,  size,or  beauty. 

We  were  coming  to  a  Mattacco  tolderia,  and  so  great  was  our 
wish  to  see  something  of  the  home  life  of  Indians  that  we 
determined  to  make  the  journey  thither  on  foot.  After  walking 
about  a  league,  we  came  to  a  wood  reaching  down  to  the  water 
side.  Under  the  guidance  of  an  ludian,  we  followed  a  steep 
footpath  that  at  last  led  us  to  the  tolderia. 

While  on  our  way  we  could  hear  the  sound  of  the  wood-cutter's 
axe,  the  clamour  of  their  ci7ie,  or  women,  and  the  voices  of  the 
children  singing  over  their  games.     We  were  much  impressed 

^  I  give  the  jaguar  his  popular  name  of  tiger.  *» 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  39 

by  these  tokens  of  a  life  of  which  we  were  as  yet  completely 
ignorant.     We  were  five  in  number. 

On  our  appearance  in  their  midst  there  was  a  general  disturb- 
ance ;  some  running  to  seize  their  arms,  some  to  conceal  them- 
selves in  their  huts,  and  others  to  escape  to  the  forest.  They 
shouted  "  Chihude,  Ghihude  /"  meaning  "Christians, Christians  ! " 
But,  on  recognizing  our  guide,  who  was  one  of  their  own  people, 
they  became  quiet,  and  drew  nearer  to  us,  the  men  standing 
round  in  a  circle,  and  the  women  in  a  group  apart. 

We  had  brought  tobacco  with  us,  pieces  of  cloth,  and  little 
fancy  articles,  partly  as  presents,  but  especially  in  order  to  obtain 
sheep  and  poultry. 

With  the  greatest  difficulty  we  succeeded  in  obtaining  two 
or  three  fowls,  partly  because  they  possessed  but  few,  and 
partly  because  we  had  no  interpreter,  Faustino  having  left  us  in 
order  to  meet  the  expeditionary  party,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken,  at  the  frontier. 

I  turned  over  the  leaves  of  my  note-book,  in  which  I  had 
jotted  down  Faustino's  lessons ;  but  even  when  I  could  make 
these  people  understand  a  few  words  of  mine,  I  could  by  no 
means  succeed  in  understanding  any  of  their  words  to  me.  We 
thus  got  through  a  couple  of  hours. 

This  tolderia  was  bounded  on  three  sides  by  the  forest,  the 
fourth  was  open  country,  the  river  was  at  a  distance  of  half  a 
kilometer.  It  is  customary,  probably  with  a  view  to  security, 
to  establish  the  tolderias  against  a  wood,  in  which  to  escape  if 
surprised  by  the  enemy,  who  would  be  unacquainted  with  the 
forest  paths ;  and  in  close  proximity  to  water,  both  for  fishing 
and  for  drinking  and  bathing  purposes. 

These  Indians  are  said  to  be  very  dirty  in  their  persons,  but 
I  doubt  the  accuracy  of  this  assertion.  I  have  seen  great 
numbers  of  them  in  summer  taking  the  greatest  delight  in 
plunging  into  the  water  at  certain  fixed  hours,  both  men  and 
women,  but  each  sex  apart.  This  seems  to  point  to  a  settled 
habit  rather  than  a  momentary  caprice,  moreover  they  are 
frequently  in  the  water  when  fishing.  True,  they  have  a 
dirty  appearance,  first  on  account  of  their  dark  skin,  and  then 
from  the  scars  produced  by  tattooing,  and  the  scorching  rays 
of  the  sun  that  dry  up  the  cuticle,  especially  on  the  shoulders. 
Moreover,  tramping  naked  and  barefoot  on  the  mud,  through 
bushes  and  forests,  and  lying  on  the  bare  ground,  they  natu- 
rally become  travel-stained,  just  as  each  one  of  us  who  can 


40  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

wash  countless  times  in  the  day,  if  we  chose,  would  do.  But  I 
assert  that  their  habits  are  not  dirty. 

A  tolderia  consists  of  a  greater  or  lesser  number  of  huts, 
built  of  willows  fixed  in  the  ground  and  the  upper  part 
enlaced  in  the  form  of  an  arcade.  They  cover  this  with  such  a 
quantity  of  straw  that  it  looks  more  like  a  waggon,  so  loaded 
that  the  wheels  are  hidden,  than  a  hut.  They  fling  on  the 
straw  from  a  distance  with  wonderful  accuracy,  all  the  more 
wonderful  that  this  work  is  done  by  the  women.  When 
finished  a  toldo  is  strong  enough  to  support  the  weight  of  a  man 
on  the  roofy  and  is  impervious  to  water. 

Each  cacique,  or  chief,  has  his  own  group  of  toldos  apart  from 
the  others.  At  times  the  chiefs  assemble  in  great  numbers, 
especially  when  intending  to  make  war. 

Toldos  are,  in  general,  so  low-pitched  that  one  cannot  stand 
upright  within  them,  but  they  vary  in  length  according  to  the 
size  of  the  family  or  the  number  of  kinsfolk  who  are  to  assemble 
in  it.  The  longer  toldos  are  generally  slightly  curved,  and 
have  two  or  more  doors,  or  rather  entrances.  These  are  almost 
always  provided  with  a  wing  to  the  windward  side,  fixed  up 
somewhat  in  the  fashion  of  a  folding  screen.  It  is  necessary 
to  stoop  on  entering. 

There  are  various  parts  in  a  toldo,  viz.  the  cooking-place,  and 
the  place  where  the  inhabitants  live,  sleep,  or  wash,  &c.,  but 
there  is  no  partition-wall  between  them. 

The  kitchen  is  merely  a  level  space  whereon  the  fire  is  kindled, 
and  this  is  only  done  when  the  weather  is  cold,  or  in  the  case 
of  mourning,  by  the  woman,  who  for  one  year  does  not  go  out, 
or  let  herself  be  seen,  or  speak,  except  when  absolutely  neces- 
sary. It  is  customary  to  cook  the  food  out  of  doors,  before  the 
entrance.     Every  family  has  a  kitchen. 

The  living  room  is  that  part  of  the  hut  in  which  the  Indians 
live,  and  where  they  keep  their  clothes  and  skins,  when  they 
have  any,  to  stretch  themselves  upon.  They  wear  them  after- 
wards when  they  go  out  if  the  weather  is  cold.  They  hang  up 
their  various  appendages,  such  as  bags,  nets,  &c.,  and  some  of 
their  weapons,  all  over  the  walls.  Sometimes  they  place 
four  pitchforks  about  a  foot  in  height,  at  the  four  corners 
of  the  bed,  across  these  they  lay  two  planks,  and  then  as 
many  rods  or  switches  as  will  make  a  kind  of  wattle,  on  which 
they  stretch  their  mats  and  skins.     They  make  use  of  this  bed 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  4I 

in  summer  principally  for  the  sake  of  coolness  and  to  escape 
insects  and  venomous  reptiles.  A  similar  custom  exists  among 
the  Christians,  only  they  use  forconi  instead  of  foreoncini, 
about  a  couple  of  yards  high,  as  a  protection  against  tigers.  I 
have  slept  on  all  these  beds,  and  I  can  assure  my  reader  it  is  merely 
a  question  of  getting  used  to  them  ;  sleeping  on  the  ground  is 
nevertheless  more  comfortable.  When  the  Indians  change 
their  quarters,  they  set  fire  to  the  huts. 

InMattacco  there  are  two  words  for  house :  hdti^t  and  Jiepp  (the 
U  being  pronounced  as  in  English  or  German).  ^Now  hepp  means 
smoke,  vapour,  and  mist,  and  is  likewise  moreover  Mattaccan 
for  steamboat.  In  ow,  is  not  the  analogy  complete  between  the 
Mattaccan  and  Italian  languages  in  this  instance  ?  We  Italians 
name  the  family  or  the  home  fuoco  and  focolare,  and  we  call 
a  steamboat  vapore.  Here,  therefore,  we  perceive  another  link 
between  Aryan  and  Mattacco  man.  A  tolderia  is  heppei  in 
Mattacco,  the  plural  of  hepp^  and  Huna  kel-la  hep-pei,  "  Let  us 
storm  the  tolderia,"  is  one  of  their  war-cries.  The  Jc  is  strongly 
emphasized,  and  produces  quite  an  imitative  harmony. 

As  for  the  plural  forms,  I  should  state  that  these  Mattaccos 
possess  various  declensions  of  nouns  and  all  of  them  inflected, 
whilst  the  Guaranis,  the  Chicciuans,  and  the  Chilenos  add  to 
the  singular  form  a  particle  expressing  the  idea  of  plurality.  It  is 
certain  that  the  Chicciuans  are  more  civilized  than  the  Mat- 
taccos, and  so  are  the  Guaranis,  if  we  may  judge  from  their 
kinsmen  the  Chiriguanos. 

Now  to  a  student  of  philology  an  inflected  language  would 
appear  to  represent  a  more  advanced  condition  of  speech  and 
consequently  of  civilization.  But  in  this  instance  we  have  a 
clear  and  luminous  contradiction  to  such  a  theory.  We  must 
be  on  our  guard,  therefore,  with  respect  to  absolute  theories  in 
matters  of  philology,  both  for  the  present  and  for  a  long  time 
to  come,  during  which  the  study  of  Indian  languages  in  the  old 
and  new  worlds  may  remain  as  imperfect  as  hitherto. 

They  stick  their  lance  upright  in  the  ground  opposite  the 
entrance  to  the  hut,  and  place  their  arrows  and  bow  against  one 
of  the  walls.  This  gives  a  martial  aspect  to  the  scene,  which  is 
attractive.  The  huts  are  not  built  on  a  geometrically  straight 
line,  yet  between  one  row  and  another  they  endeavour  to  leave 
a  broad  space  representing  a  street. 

It  is  delightful  to  see  their  fires  while  they  are  cooking.  They 


42  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

boil  various  kinds  of  roots  and  vegetables,  in  separate  earthen 
vessels.  They  prepare  a  species  of  bean  and  a  kind  of  potato 
that  are  both  excellent. 

The  Chenas  or  women  wash  the  kitchen  utensils  very  carefully 
after  using  them.  And  when  the  hour  of  meals  draws  near, 
which  in  the  tolderias  is  generally  at  11  a.m.,  and  again  at 
6  p.m.,  they  appear  with  a  spit  laden  with  fried,  smoked,  and 
dried  fish,  in  order  to  stimulate  the  appetite.  Game  or  wild 
fowl  or  rabbit  as  a  frequent  addition  to  the  meal,  these  are  all 
very  rich  dishes,  and  the  absence  of  salt  makes  them  less 
acceptable  to  an  European  accustomed  to  its  use  from  infancy. 

The  Indians  feel  gratified  when  a  Christian  is  civil  to  them, 
and  does  not  show  contempt  for  their  surroundings.  When 
therefore  the  inhabitants  of  the  tolderia  had  become  familiar 
with  me,  I  sauntered  in  and  out,  examining  their  food  among 
much  hearty  laughter  from  them,  while  I  repeated  several  times 
hiss,  hiss,  meaning  good,  good.  But  one  must  eat  with  the 
forks  provided  by  Nature,  except  in  the  case  of  broth,  which  is 
eaten  with  the  shell  of  a  large  oyster,  found  in  great  abundance 
in  numerous  lakes. 

But  I  found  drinking  from  a  hollow  gourd  with  a  very  dirty 
rim  the  hardest  trial  to  my  politeness  ?  I  shut  my  eyes,  and  a 
few  seconds  later  opened  them  again,  proud  and  triumphant ! 

On  this  occasion  they  were  anxious  to  see  our  firearms  dis- 
charged before  we  took  our  leave,  and  to  please  them  we  fired 
two  or  three  times  in  the  air.  The  shrieks  of  the  women  and 
the  wrangling  of  the  boys  over  the  cartridges  are  things  to  be 
remembered.  How  wonderfully  human  beings  resemble  each 
other,  whatever  the  amount  of  their  civilization ! 

I  was  forgetting  to  mention  that  the  width  of  each  toldo 
does  not  exceed  six  or  seven  feet.   . 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  43 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   CHENAS. 

Let  me  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  Chenas.  Mattacco 
women  are  in  general  rather  short,  but  this  does  not  prevent 
their  being  often  very  attractive  and  well-shaped  when  young. 
Among  themselves  they  are  seldom  clothed,  but  they  wear 
garments,  more  or  less,  before  strangers.  For  a  few  days  we 
had  a  married  couple  on  board  with  us.  The  wife  merely  wore 
a  short  pair  of  drawers  such  as  we  use  for  bathing,  and  as  she 
was  young,  well  made  and  very  handsome,  some  of  our  Argo- 
nauts, anchorites  by  necessity,  found  the  trial  rather  dangerous. 

To  see  this  couple,  nine  parts  naked,  seated  on  a  bench 
among  the  cylinders  and  pistons  of  the  engine,  and  remaining 
motionless  for  hours,  was  to  be  forcibly  reminded  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden. 

When  with  strangers  the  Chenas  are  silent  and  impassible, 
but  among  themselves  as  noisy  and  gay  as  children.  And  this 
is  the  character  of  Indians  on  the  whole. 

The  Chenas  have  a  curious  way  of  holding  their  hands  when 
standing  upright.  Having  no  pocket  in  which  to  thrust  them, 
nor  fan  or  other  ornament  to  play  with,  they  cross  them  on 
their  breasts,  which  thus  serve  as  a  support  to  the  arms  crossed 
above  them.  This  habit  would  seem  likely  to  lengthen  the 
breasts,  but  it  has  not  that  effect.  They  are  wide,  certainly,  but 
shallow  and  straight  when  young ;  but  after  suckling  children 
they  become  wrinkled  and  shrunken  and  extremely  unsightly. 
It  must  be  remarked  that  both  men  and  women  age  very 
quickly  and  bloom  early,  and  to  this  must  be  attributed  the 
absence  of  white  hair  among  them,  although  from  the 
appearance  of  their  face  and  body  they  might  be  of  the  age  of 
Methuselah. 

I  have  noted  the  shape  of  the  breast,  because  in  other  parts 
of  the  country  the  women  are  said  to  throw  the  breast  over 


44  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

their  shoulders  in  order  to  give  suck  to  the  infant  they  carry  on 
their  back.     This  is  certainly  not  the  case  in  these  parts. 

Women  and  men  alike  have  an  abundance  of  smooth  hair ; 
the  former  wear  it  rather  long,  but  not  extremely  so ;  it  is 
shortened,  partly  by  being  tangled  over  the  head  so  as  to 
screen  the  eyes  and  forehead  from  the  sun,  and  partly  by  being 
cut. 

The  jawbones  of  a  fish  called  palometa  are  used  as  scissors, 
both  for  the  beard  and  the  hair.  These  bones  are  furnished 
with  a  double  row  of  very  sharp  teeth,  those  in  the  upper  jaw 
locking  with  those  in  the  lower. 

The  palometa,  raya,  and  yacare  are  the  terror  of  bathers  in 
the  river,  and  in  the  lakes  and  madrechons  belonging  to  it.  The 
palometa  uses  its  tusks  to  tear  out  pieces  of  flesh.  It  is  a  flat, 
oval-shaped  fish,  holding  itself  upright  in  the  water.  The 
raya  or  razza  is  a  flat,  circular  fish,  with  three  points  in  the 
tail,  the  one  in  the  centre  is  furnished  with  a  sting  that  inflicts 
most  painful  and  dangerous  wounds,  and  is  used  by  the  fish 
when  attacked.  It  suddenly  turns  over  and  gives  a  blow  with 
its  tail.  Some  of  these  fish  measure  a  yard  in  diameter  ;  they 
prefer  the  calm  and  shallow  parts  of  the  river,  and  therefore 
remain  near  the  banks.  The  yaxiare,  a  species  of  crocodile,  will 
treacherously  snap  off  the  leg  or  arm  of  an  unfortunate  bather, 
and  then  drag  him  to  the  bottom  of  the  river  and  devour  him. 

Bathing,  therefore,  which  is  a  necessity  in  the  suffocating 
heat  of  these  climates,  is  constantly  interrupted  by  the  presence 
of  these  anthropophagi. 

The  Chena  after  marriage  is  faithful  to  her  husband  out  of 
affection,  through  training  and  from  fear.  Frightful  stories  are 
told  of  the  vengeance  of  husbands,  who  have  the  right  of  life 
and  death  over  their  unfaithful  wives.  If  these  are  girls,  the 
husbands  may  be  and  usually  are  generous.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  they  would  feel  sympathy  towards  the  Christians  were  it 
not  for  the  prejudices  of  race ;  since  the  poorest  Christian  is 
always  in  a  position  to  make  better  presents  than  the  richest 
cacique. 

The  women  are  fond  of  ornaments  and  dress,  but  their  habits 
are  not  adapted  to  wearing  petticoats  or  stays,  and  in  place  of 
these  they  wrap  cloths  round  the  waist,  which  they  keep  on  by 
a  cord  tied  round  them. 

They  arrange  these  cloths  so  as  to  display  their  fine  figures 
without   impeding   freedom  of  movement,  although   one  do^s 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  45 

not  notice  this  at  first  Their  garments  consist  of  cloths, 
and  when  they  possess  any,  they  put  them  all  on  at  once, 
whether  vsummer  or  winter,  partly  because  of  their  wandering 
life,  partly  from  choice,  because  they  are  careful  people,  and 
seem  to  verify  the  proverb,  "  Quel  che  para  11  freddo  para  il 
caldo." 

Both  sexes  are  fond  of  variety  and  of  bright  colours,  espe- 
cially red.  Nevertheless  they  prize  white  materials  very 
highly.  The  Chiriguans  wear  white  hoods,  but,  as  I  have 
already  said,  they  live  nearer  the  equator.  When  they  wear 
anything  over  the  shoulders,  one  arm  is  usually  left  uncovered. 
They  like  the  shirts  worn  by  Europeans. 

They  make  themselves  ornaments  of  skins  and  pieces  of 
oyster-shell  with  more  or  less  claim  to  elegance  of  shape. 
The  girls  wear  a  kind  of  leather  bracelet  until  they  present 
it,  as  I  have  been  told,  to  the  first  recipient  of  their  caresses. 
They  make  shirts  of  thread,  doubly  woven,  and  very,  very 
narrow,  but  elastic ;  these  have  the  appearance  of  petticoats, 
they  are  sleeveless,  and  are  decorated  in  various  ways  with  bits 
of  oyster-shell;  they  are  worn  principally  in  battle,  and  as  a 
protection  against  thorns  in  the  forests,  but  they  are  a  scarce 
possession. 

Other  ornaments  are  composed  of  feathers,  especially  ostrich 
feathers ;  they  are  worn  on  the  forehead,  the  waist,  the 
shoulders,  ^^ists,  and  ankles.  These  are  more  especially  used 
by  men  in  battle,  or  at  festivals,  and  when  in  attendance  on 
their  sick,  as  I  will  presently  relate. 

Some  others  are  woven  from  the  wool  of  their  few  sheep, 
and  arranged  according  to  the  natural  colours  in  stripes  or 
squares.     They  have  no  knowledge  of  ornamental  design. 

For  weaving  they  plant  four  stakes  in  the  ground  at  right 
angles ;  on  these  they  place  pieces  of  wood  on  which  they 
stretch  the  threads  of  the  wob,  and  fill  in  the  woof  by  means 
of  a  splinter  of  palm.  They  have  no  knowledge  of  the  shuttle. 
Weaving  is  potzin^  the  loom  is  noccalei,  and  the  thread  huolei. 
These  words,  having  absolutely  no  affinity  with  Spanish,  are 
sufficient  proof  that  the  art  originated  among  themselves. 

We  must  not,  however,  rely  too  implicitly  on  the  resemblance 
or  non-resemblance  between  words,  in  forming  an  opinion  on 
this  subject,  because,  as  I  have  already  stated,  the  Mattaccos 
always  endeavour  to  avoid  the  use  of  foreign  words  in  express- 
ing new  ideas,  but  rather  adapt  their  own  expressions  with 


46  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

certain  modifications.  In  this  instance,  however,  such  is  not 
the  case.  Another  reason  for  changing  words  may  be  their 
inability  to  pronounce  them  as  we  do,  besides  their  custom  of 
giving  them  a  form  suitable  to  the  nature  of  their  language. 

For  instance,  Mattaccos  cannot  pronounce  the  letter  r; 
other  Indians,  e.g.  the  Mocovitos,  pronounce  it  in  the  throat, 
like  the  French  ;  they  are  besides  unable  to  join  b  to  d,  and  to 
pronounce,  for  example,  Pablo  (Paul). 

The  alterations  thence  arising  are  very  curious.  For  in- 
stance, in  this  district  there  is  a  principal  chief  or  cacique 
called  Pe-i-lo.  I  tried  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  name, 
because  it  is  a  custom  with  the  Indians,  when  they  reach  a 
certain  age,  to  call  themselves  by  the  name  of  an  animal  or 
plant.  Now,  Peilo  means  Pedro  (Peter),  and  Pedro  was  the 
name  given  him,  nobody  knows  when,  by  the  Christians,  and 
repeated  by  the  Indians  that  he  might  be  recognized  by  the 
former.  In  the  same  way  Pablo  is  altered  to  Pa-i-lo ;  and 
cabra  a  goat,  to  ca-i-la,  their  intention  being  thus  to  reproduce 
the  genuine  foreign  word. 

To  students  of  the  parentage  of  languages  this  is  a  lesson 
on  the  apparent  similarity  between  sounds  and  written 
words. 

All  heavy  work,  such  as  building  the  toldos,  making  the 
earthen  pots,  cooking,  weaving  and  gathering  roots,  falls  to  the 
share  of  the  women,  whose  business  it  is  also  to  make  the  nets. 
The  part  of  the  men  is  to  hunt,  to  fish,  to  make  their  arms, 
and  to  fight,  while  both  sexes  undertake  to  melear^  that  is  to 
seek  for  honey  in  the  woods,  where  it  is  extremely  abundant, 
and  to  gather  fruit.  This  labour  in  common  is  probably 
because  the  season  of  the  maturity  of  the  fruit  and  the  gathering 
in  of  the  honey  being  short,  it  is  necessary  to  employ  as  many 
hands  as  possible,  so  as  to  obtain  a  larger  quantity. 

Before  making  the  nets  it  is  naturally  necessary  to  make 
the  thread  or  nignhioi.  This  is  obtained  from  a  bromeliacea, 
called  in  Chicciua  cJiaguar,  a  name  that  is  now  used  by  the 
Christians  also,  and  in  Mattacco  Mie.  The  leaves  of  this  plant 
are  macerated  for  a  short  time,  and  then  combed  with  an  oyster- 
shell.  After  this  they  are  laid  in  the  sun  to  dry  and  bleach ; 
and  lastly  is  the  fibrous  part  combed,  by  holding  the  mannella 
in  the  left  hand,  and  with  the  right  drawing  it  over  one  leg,  on 
which  is  sprinkled  a  little  powdered  chalk  called  maccotac- 
muc,  to  preserve  the  skin  from  injury.  »» 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  47 

The  thread  thus  made  is  used  for  their  nets,  and  also  for 
making  cord,  which  they  call  mgnliioiless,  meaning  a  family  or 
gathering  together  of  threads. 

Some  of  the  men  are  very  skilful  in  manufacturing  weapons, 
and  exchange  them  for  other  articles  with  their  comrades. 
They  make  them  of  the  hardest  and  heaviest  wood,  and  use  the 
sinews  of  ostriches  or  strips  of  leather  for  bowstrings.  The 
arrows,  of  willow,  with  heads  of  hard  wood,  are  frequently  covered 
with  bone  and  cut  into  notches  like  some  fish-hooks. 


48  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 


CHAPTEK  X. 


A   DESPERATE   ATTEMPT. 


After  we  had  spent  some  time  near  the  Mattacco  tolderia 
of  Cangaglie,  and  had  much  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  we 
became  quite  fearless,  and  went  about  unarmed,  but  this  was 
within  a  little  of  costing  us  dear. 

We  had  returned  to  our  steamer  one  evening,  and  a  crowd 
of  Mattaccos  had  assembled  at  the  river-side,  when  all  at  once 
the  Chenas  began  crying  oiit,  "  Uanc-lo-e,  Uanc-lo-e  !  "  meaning 
Tobas,  and  fled  in  all  directions,  some  of  them  taking  refuge 
with  us. 

Such  are  the  friendly  terms  among  these  Indians,  that  a 
visit  from  the  Tobas  is  a  terror  to  them. 

But  on  this  occasion  nothing  further  happened,  and  the 
alarm  passed  off. 

The  next  day  the  Toba  ladino,  he  of  the  white  continuations, 
reappeared  on  the  scene  after  an  absence  of  two  or  three  weeks, 
and  with  him  came  a  troop  of  Tobas,  among  whom  various 
hang-dog  countenances  belonged  to  Indianized  Christians. 
These  were  amply  clothed  with  one  or  two  ponchos  on  their 
backs  and  their  hands  were  concealed. 

They  came  forward  boldly,  and  one  of  them  said  in  pure 
Santiagueno  :  "  Deme  camisa  pa  mi  seiiora  ?  "  and  on  our  reply 
that  we  had  none,  he  suggested  that  we  should  give  him 
^' panuelo pa  su  senora."  But  we  would  give  him  nothing,  and 
just  at  that  moment  having  succeeded  in  overcoming  a  malpaso, 
we  steamed  away,  leaving  them  on  the  shore. 

We  thus  quitted  the  tolderia,  having  already  taken  our  leave 
of  the  inhabitants  :  a  portion  of  whom,  however,  accompanied  us 
on  that  and  a  few  following  days.  Among  them  was  the 
cacique  Mulatto,  whom  I  have  mentioned  before  ;  he  was  at 
that  time  friendly  to  us,  out  of  self-interest,  but  afterwards  he 
killed  Faustino,  who  was  his  son-in-law.  >, 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  49 

The  next  morning  we  came  to  a  narrow  bend,  and  were 
obliged  to  stop  for  a  time,  in  order  to  wear  round  it.  It  was  9 
a.m.,  and  although  in  the  winter  season,  the  heat  was  unbearable 
in  the  sun,  therefore  I  sat  on  a  carpet  in  the  shadow  cast  by 
the  helm  towards  the  west,  a  scant  shade  in  these  tropical 
regions.  At  my  feet  were  Mulatto  and  the  Adamite  couple 
lying  extended  on  the  carpet.  I  was  anxious  to  learn  a  few 
words,  and  put  many  questions  to  them ;  but  they  never  moved, 
and  answered  me  with  a  smile  that  I  could  not  interpret. 

All  at  once,  when  I  had  risen  to  my  knees  to  inquire  the 
names  of  an  earthen  vessel,  and  of  a  pipe  that  I  pointed  out 
to  them,  and  was  just  re-seating  myself,  several  shots  were 
fired.  At  first  all  was  surprise  and  uncertainty,  but  the  balls 
whizzing  close  by  made  us  aware  of  our  danger,  and  "  Tobas, 
Tobas ! "  was  the  general  cry.  We  flew  to  arms,  and  the 
Corrientes  helmsman  with  another  man  sprang  on  shore,  their 
muskets  in  their  hands ;  but  the  enemy  took  to  their  heels 
through  the  forest. 

It  turned  out  that  the  Tobas,  knowing  the  locality,  had 
arranged  an  ambuscade  at  a  point  whence  they  could  fire  on  us 
at  close  quarters  while  we  were  stuck  fast ;  and  this  in  fact  had 
occurred.  Some  misfortune  would  have  ensued  only  that  our 
steamer  made  a  slight  movement  towards  rounding  the  point. 
The  Mattaccos  on  board  were  well  aware  of  all  this  1 

A  ball  grazed  the  bench  on  which  I  was  seated  and  my  own 
shoulder,  passed  through  the  double  wooden  partition  of  the 
little  shed,  struck  the  wheel  of  the  helm  and  splintered  it,  and 
finally  embedded  itself  half  an  inch  deep  in  the  jamb  of  the 
little  door.  I  have  kept  it  in  remembrance  of  the  occasion. 
The  helmsman  and  I  escaped  as  by  a  miracle,  due  to  the  slight 
movement  of  the  vesseL 

The  muskets  were  breech-loaders,  and  probably  had  been 
pillaged  from  the  Rio  de  las  Piedras,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken. 

The  rest  of  the  day  passed  somewhat  gloomily.  I  received  the 
congratulations  of  those  on  board,  on  having,  as  it  were,  received 
a  new  lease  of  life.  I  comforted  myself  with  this  belief;  I 
thought  that  having  escaped  so  imminent  a  danger  I  should 
be  unlikely  to  fall  a  victim  on  another  occasion,  just  as 
when  the  next  number  to  one's  own  is  drawn  in  a  lottery, 
it  is  improbable  that  one's  own  number  will  be  drawn 
afterwards.     The  impression  produced  on  us  nevertheless  by 

E 


50  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

the  danger  we  had  run  quenched  our  habitually  good  spirits, 
and  lessened  our  appetites  for  the  remainder  of  the  day. 

The  hostility  evinced  made  us  thoughtful.  We  were  s-till  in 
Toba  territory,  although  among  Mattacco  Indiadus ;  our  vessel 
made  but  a  few  kilometers  each  day,  and  sometimes  none  at  all. 
We  were  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Chaco,  where  the  Indiadas 
were  numerous  and  continually  increasing  on  account  of  a  war 
then  in  preparation  against  the  Mattaccos  on  the  Christian 
frontiers. 

We  were  warned  every  day  that  the  Tobas  were  about  to 
attack  us,  but  had  not  the  courage  to  do  so.  Meanwhile  we 
were  obliged  to  keep  a  strict  look-out.  Signor  Natale  Eoldan 
and  I  generally  shared  the  watch  from  midnight  until  2  a.m., 
but  our  enemies  did  not  attack  us  again. 

Those  long  winter  nights  may  be  imagined  by  the  reader. 
Even  after  days  of  extreme  heat  they  were  cold,  and  sometimes 
wet.  Other  circumstances  were  not  cheering,  and  our  provisions 
were  rapidly  diminishing ! 

It  was  not  possible  to  go  with  our  guns  in  search  of  game  in 
the  midst  of  the  enemy.  Occasionally  we  contrived  to  kill  a 
charata,  something  between  a  fowl  and  a  pheasant,  but  our 
staple  food  was  fish.  Poetry,  however,  that  consolation  of  the 
exiled  and  the  unhappy,  came  to  our  relief. 

We  discovered  a  musician,  singer,  and  guitarist,  on  board  with 
us.  He  was  an  Andalusian  mason,  called  Don  Felix,  and 
almost  every  night  we  had  some  music.  His  repertoire  was 
scanty,  and  I  can  still  recollect  two  of  the  verses,  as  follows : — 

Si  una  vez  en  el  mundo  adoraste 
Y  en  el  caliz  de  amor  tu  bebiste, 
Ah !  porque  compasion  no  tuviste 
De  un  amanto  al  jurarte  su  fe ! 
#  *  *  # 

Me  despierto  y  te  busco  a  rai  lado  .   .  . 

No  te  encuentro  j  maldigo  a  mi  suerte  !  .  .  . 
Ah  !  mil  voces  prefiero  la  muerte 
Al  vivir  separado  de  ti ! 

The  notes  of  the  instrument,  vibrating  for  the  first  time  in 
those  atmospheres,  the  glorious  vault  above  us,  shining  with  a 
light  almost  as  bright  as  that  of  day,  or  glittering  with  innume- 
rable stars,  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  mind.  And  a  similar 
effect  was  produced  by  the  vast  country  surrounding  us,  and  the 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.        5 1 

immense  fires  kindled  by  the  Indians,  which  we  sometimes 
perceived  like  a  full  moon  on  the  distant  horizon,  and 
sometimes  heard  the  crackling  and  bursting  of  the  burning 
bush,  like  a  discharge  of  artillery,  and  then  we  could  feel  the 
heat  of  the  flame  as  it  blazed  out,  and  found  ourselves  in  the 
midst  of  smoke  and  burnt  straw  driven  over  us  by  the  wind  ! 
We  seemed  threatened  at  times  with  some  inevitable  mis- 
fortune. 

The  mysterious  dark  forests  against  the  darker  background  of 
the  fields ;  the  solitude,  the  danger,  the  uncertainty,  the  distance 
both  of  time  and  place  between  ourselves  and  those  we  hold 
dear; — all  these  things  stirred  our  souls  with  thoughts — half 
sweet,  half  sad  !  .  .  . 


52  EIGHT   MONTPIS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  XL 

SUCCOUR — EIGHTY- FIVE   LEAGUES    ON    HORSEBACK. 

Ah  !  it  was  a  touching  and  beautiful  scene !  At  a  turn 
in  the  river  were  five  Indians  hastily  advancing.  "Cap- 
tain ! "  I  call  out,  "  news  !  news  !  Here  are  Indians  com- 
ing quickly."  For  in  fact  it  is  not  their  habit  to  move  fast, 
although  they  are  great  walkers.  They  advanced  straight  along 
the  shore,  arriving  opposite  our  steamer  where  she  had 
stuck  fast.  They  wheeled  half  about  in  military  fashion  to 
the  left,  and  informed  us  by  gestures  that  further  off  there 
was  relief,  in  the  shape  of  cows,  horses,  and  soldiers,  on 
their  way  to  us.  We  gave  a  whistle  from  the  engines,  and  the 
loud  and  prolonged  sound  was  answered  by  a  discharge  of 
fire-arms  at  a  very  short  distance,  and  in  a  few  moments 
more  three,  ten,  twenty  naked  or  half-naked  Indians  rushed 
out  from  among  the  trees  and  shrubs  that  clothed  the  bank. 
Moving  impetuously  forward,  adorned  with  feathers,  and  armed 
with  lanceSy  lithe  and  soldier-like,  they  drew  up  in  line  on  the 
shore.  Our  ambassador  with  his  guardamonte  came  next, 
mounted  on  a  mule,  and  then  two  soldiers  and  three  cows,  and 
horses  and  Indians ;  the  whole  forming  a  picture  on  the 
river-side  that  might  well  be  represented  on  the  stage.  Eor  a 
week  we  have  been  without  meat,  and  for  two  months  we 
have  eaten  it  salted ;  our  peas  and  beans  are  already  exhausted, 
and  our  dietary  reduced  simply  to  fish  and  some  few  wild-fowl  we 
contrive  to  snare ;  we  are  in  a  wilderness  among  savages  who 
Are  gentle,  ferocious,  and  perfidious  by  turns  ; — let  the  reader 
•imagine  therefore  how  heartily  we  welcome  the  succour  that 
we  expected  indeed,  but  not  so  soon.  In  a  few  minutes  an 
officer  with  two  subalterns  and  other  soldiers  come  up.  We 
despatch  the  canoe,  and  they  draw  near  in  order  to  get  on 
board.  But  what  is  this  ?  I  feel  my  heart-strings  tightening. 
Py  the  side  of  the  officer  I  see  the  ladino^  who,  formerly  'a 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  53 

soldier,  has  already  twice  deserted,  and  now  finds  himself  for 
the  third  time  in  the  hands  of  those  who  may  order  him  to  be 
8hot  to-morrow. 

For  forty  days  he  has  been,  as  it  were,  sharing  our  life  ;  after 
deserting  he  hunted  with  the  Indians,  learned  their  language  in 
his  three  years'  sojourn  among  them,  and  served  them  faith- 
fully all  that  time.  It  was  through  his  injfluence,  when  our 
progress  was  impeded  after  a  navigation  of  forty  days,  that  we 
were  able  to  obtain  permission  from  his  friends  the  Indians 
to  send  an  express  to  the  Christian  frontier,  a  distance  by  land 
of  100  leagues,  to  ask  for  help,  which  came  to  us  in  six 
and  thirty  days.  And  then  he  has  been  my  teacher  of  the 
Indian  language  aU  this  time !  Oh,  may  we  be  able  to  save 
him ! 

***** 

Poor  Faustino  !  our  compassion  harmed  thee !  It  diverted 
from  thee  the  punishment  due  to  military  discipline,  which 
would,  however,  have  restored  thee  to  the  society  to  which  thou 
didst  claim  to  belong,  but  it  caused  thee  to  fall  a  victim  to  the 
ferocious  jealousy  of  thy  unbaptized  companions.  Envious  of 
the  affection  we  all  showed  thee,  and  of  the  gifts  we  offered 
thee,  although  thou  in  thy  generosity  and  according  to  custom, 
shared  them  with  thy  comrades  and  with  thy  partner,  a 
daughter  of  their  tribe ;  fearful  lest  thou  shouldst  depart  from 
the  equality  that  is  so  dear  to  them,  they  put  thee  to  death. 
They  first  transfixed  thee  with  darts,  then  when  wounded  and 
already  unable  to  resist,  but  suffering  and  conscious  of  their 
tortures,  they  cut  thy  throat.  Still  unsatiated,  the  monsters 
became  inhuman !  After  decapitation,  they  hung  up  thy 
body  by  the  feet,  and  they  used  thy  unshorn  head  for  a  cup, 
from  which,  when  full  to  the  brim,  thy  former  partner  will 
drink  during  their  orgy,  while  the  fermented  liquor  drops 
from  the  locks  in  which  she  has  so  often  entwined  her  hands 
when  soliciting  thy  caresses ! 

But  if  he  who  leaves  behind  him  an  inheritance  of  affection 
finds  joy  in  the  grave,  and  if  the  tears  of  the  survivors  like 
drops  of  dew  on  the  awakening  flower  are  refreshing  to  the 
dead,  as  our  poets  have  sung,  then  art  thou  indeed  happy  ! 
For  thy  friends,  numbering  three  times  seven,  in  misery 
will  weep  over  thy  dreadful  fate,  and  will  keep  thee  in  dear 
and  holy  remembrance ;  thou  who  wast  rejected  from  the  com- 
pany of  the  baptized,  because  thou  couldst  not  endure  the  in- 


54  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

human  rigour  of  their  law.  Oh,  civilization  has  its  tortures 
too !  and  I  groan  as  I  render  this  tribute  to  thy  memory, 
thou  who  twice  wert  outraged  and  contaminated  by  the  lash 
that  scourged  thy  body  in  the  name  of  civilized  law !  Thou, 
Faustino  Diaz,  who  wert  trumpeter  in  the  12th  Eegiment  of 
Dragoons,  an  orphan  from  thy  birth,  twice  flogged ;  ever  a  pariah 
among  thy  own  people,  a  victim  among  those  thou  hadst 
chosen  for  thy  people,  a  friend  in  need  to  us  wayfarers  in 
the  midst  of  thy  murderers  ! 

"We  had  spent  seventy-two  days  in  navigating  the  Vermejo, 
when  the  long-wished-for  relief  arrived.  Three  days  later  we 
began  our  land  journey  through  the  Indian  territory,  with  a 
very  small  supply  of  provisions,  and  we  had  also  to  leave  some 
for  the  men  who  remained  on  the  vessel. 

There  were  ten  or  eleven  of  us.  After  a  forced  march  of 
110  leagues,  we  came  to  a  tolderia  called  Cliaguaral,  of  which 
the  principal  cacique  was  the  same  Peilo,  besides  eleven  other 
caciques.  We  had  already  left  behind  us  another  less  important 
tolderia  called  Cruz  Cheka,  at  a  distance  of  seven  leagues. 

We  surprised  the  Indians  standing  in  the  water,  fishing. 
They  were  Mattaccos.  This  tolderia  is  situated  on  a  beautiful 
lake  on  the  borders  of  which  are  the  toldos,  extending  for  about 
the  length  of  a  kilometer  in  front  and  two  or  three  rows  deep. 

A  large  number  of  them  were  standing  in  a  row,  fishing, 
uttering  loud  cries,  and  stirring  the  water  as  they  advanced ; 
from  time  to  time  they  almost  immersed  themselves  in  the 
water ;  then  raising  themselves  again  they  shook  the  nets,  and 
struck  them  so  as  to  stun  the  fish  they  had  caught. 

These  Indians  have  various  modes  of  fishing.  That  of  the 
palisade  I  have  already  mentioned,  it  works  in  the  same  way 
as  our  weels.  Then  there  is  that  of  a  separate  net  to  each 
man.  It  is  fastened  at  both  sides  lengthways  to  sticks  which 
are  held  one  in  each  hand.  The  net  is  two  or  three  yards  long 
and  about  one  yard  broad;  they  open  it,  dip  it  in  the 
water,  raise  it  again  with  the  two  handles  held  close  toge- 
ther, and  then  capture  their  prey  after  stunning  it  with 
blows.  The  name  of  this  net  is  hiit-tanac.  There  is  another 
mode,  also  with  a  net,  but  one  of  a  larger  size,  from  eight  to 
fifteen  yards  long,  and  carried  by  several  men.  It  corresponds 
with  our  sweep-net,  and  is  called  liuecAu. 

They  use  arrows,  moreover,  and  short  lances.     The  latter  ai*« 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.         55 

pointed  with  metal,  like  our  own  lances.  They  let  fly  the 
arrow  by  means  of  a  bow,  but  they  simply  hurl  the  lance. 
They  do  this  repeatedly  in  battle.  The  bow  is  letzeg,  the 
arrow,  lutec,  the  lance,  hen.  Finally,  they  also  make  use  of  the 
fish-hook,  timec. 

Their  food  consists  principally  of  fish,  game  being  extremely 
scarce  ;  the  fruit  season  lasts  only  for  a  few  months  in  the 
year,  and  is  at  times  very  deficient.  They  keep  but  little 
cattle,  because  they  mutually  rob  each  other,  and  slaughter  the 
few  beasts  that  can  accomiiLodate  themselves-to  a  nomad  exist- 
ence. For  the  same  reason  they  do  not  sow,  excepting  a  few 
gourds,  water-melons,  and  Indian  corn,  all  of  which  spring  up 
quickly.     But  even  these  are  grown  in  very  small  quantities. 

We  passed  the  night  near  the  tolderia,  at  a  distance  of 
about  a  kilometer.  Towards  evening  we  invited  the  caciques 
to  come  to  us ;  they  were  placed  in  order,  and  Signor  Natale 
addressed  them.  He  explained  to  them,  through  an  inter- 
preter, that  we  were  their  friends ;  that  they  should  not 
molest  him,  and  then  our  steamer  would  remain  ;  that  they 
should  rather  help  him,  now  that  he  was  near  their  tolderia ; 
that  they  should  give  him  fish  and  other  things ;  that  the 
captain  would  give  them  tobacco,  pieces  of  cloth,  and  shirts ; 
that  he  would  immediately  despatch  Peppe,  one  of  his  men 
then  present,  to  bring  tobacco  and  cows  to  the  steamer,  and 
that  two  cows  should  be  killed  for  them.  He  accompanied 
with  words  and  gestures  the  speech  of  the  ladino,  repeating 
as  he  held  out  his  arms  and  lifted  two  fingers :  "  Dos  guassettas 
.  .  .  y  tambien  giuqquas  .  .  .  giuqquas  .  .  .  guassettas 
.  .  .  dos ! "  viz.,  meat  and  tobacco,  pronounced  rather  in 
Christian  fashion,  since  the  Mattaccos  would  say,  Chiu-uassetas 
and  iuc-quas. 

Meanwhile,  I  heard  one  of  them  muttering,  and  inquired 
of  the  ladino  what  he  was  saying.  "He  says  they  are  fine 
promises,  but  that  you  may  not  afterwards  keep  them." 
Decidedly,  these  children  of  the  wilds  are  not  stupid. 

One  of  us  presented  a  pretty  young  girl  with  several  little 
ornaments.  Her  face,  arms,  and  part  of  her  chest  were  painted 
blue.  He  told  her  father  that  she  must  keep  them  for 
notchequa  or  nocldequa  (notchequa,  means  "  my  wife ")  on  his 
return  in  a  few  months. 

At  nightfall  four  of  us  went  to  the  tolderia,  and  paid  a  visit 
to  Pa-e-lo,  to  whom  we  made  presents  as  well  as  to  his  wife  and 


$6  EIGHT    MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN    CHACO 

daughter.  We  wished  afterwards  to  visit  the  notcJiequa,  but 
she  and  the  family  had  courageously  hidden  themselves.  They 
were  afraid  that  the  proposal  might  be  carried  out,  and  flattered 
themselves,  as  we  do  in  Italy,  that  now  the  favours  had  been 
obtained,  they  might  laugh  at  the  saint  who  had  befriended 
them. 

We  passed  the  night  in  our  beds  (i.e.  the  coverings  of  our 
saddles  and  our  travelling-blankets),  sheltered  by  the  ample 
foliage  of  an  aged  algarrobo. 

During  the  first 'hours  of  the  night  it  was  beautiful  to  watch  the 
numerous  distant  lights  of  the  toldos,  and  to  hear  the  confused 
sound  of  the  women's  and  children's  voices  dying  gradually 
away,  and  succeeded  by  a  profound  and  solemn  stillness,  strangely 
broken  every  five  minutes  by  the  cry  of  "  AlV  erta  !  "  from  our 
sentinels.  And  there  was  a  spiritual  beauty  also  in  the  contrast 
between  this  handful  of  men  armed  with  the  power  of  civilization 
and  the  numerous  tribes  of  savages  among  whom  we  were 
encamped,  and  who,  although  both  willing  and  able,  had  not 
the  courage  to  attack  us. 

On  the  following  day,  after  journeying  a  few  leagues,  we 
found  ourselves  near  an  ancient  mission,  now  destroyed.  An 
Indian  who  had  accompanied  us  for  the  purpose,  guided  us  to 
the  spot. 

We  crossed  the  former  channel  of  a  river  that  is  now  at  four 
or  five  leagues'  distance,  climbed  a  bank,  and  entered  the  wood 
on  foot.  Plants  were  growing  on  the  site  of  the  former  habita- 
tions of  men,  and  by  their  profusion  made  up  for  their  want  of 
size.  We  saw  mounds  of  earth,  some  of  them  still  having  the 
appearance  of  walls  constructed  of  unbaked  bricks.  We  dis- 
covered some  door-posts.  The  place  where  these  Indian  converts 
had  their  dwellings  seemed  to  have  been  surrounded  by  a  low 
rampart. 

We  questioned  our  Indian,  who  told  us  that  his  father  had 
heard  from  his  gi'andfather  that,  in  former  times,  men  with  long 
robes  lived  in  that  place,  and  that  one  very  tall  and  stout  man 
seemed  to  be  the  chief.  These  men,  he  contmued,  sowed  and 
had  already  acquired  much  cattle,  when,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few 
years,  the  Tobas  suddenly  attacked  the  settlement  and  destroyed 
everything.  The  same  thing  occurred,  he  also  told  us,  to  another 
colony  of  converts  near  Cimz  Chica.  He  added  that  these  men 
were  good,  that  they  had  many  Indians  under  their  charge,  and 
that  they  gave  them  meat  and  other  things.  '• 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  5/ 

Before  undertaking  our  march  by  land,  a  bronze  bell  (to-tah-tec 
in  Mattacco)  had  been  brought  on  board,  about  forty  centimeters 
in  height  and  twenty-five  or  thirty  wide  at  the  base.  It  had  been 
exposed  to  the  fire,  and  a  square  piece  had  been  taken  away.  It 
no  longer  possessed  either  tongue  or  ears.  It  is  now  to  be  found 
in  the  museum  at  Buenos  Ayres.     "  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi ! " 

We  resumed  our  way,  guided  by  sun  and  compass,  through 
tracks  made  by  the  Indians,  sometimes  passing  through  wide 
meadows,  and  sometimes  through  thick  and  thorny  woods, 
where  we  tore  both  our  clothes  and  our  flesh,  and  were 
compelled  to  a  continual  exercise  of  equestrian  gymnastics, 
on  account  of  the  narrowness,  and  sinuosity  of  the  paths, 
encumbered  as  they  are  by  the  trunks  and  boughs  of  trees,  and 
intended  only  for  travellers  on  foot.  At  one  time  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  bog ;  and  at  another  we  were  struggling  through 
a  dense  plantation  of  bobos  and  willows.  We  followed  the  long 
and  narrow  path  with  heads  bent  and  knees  closely  pressed  to 
our  horses.  The  way  was  irksome,  but  not  difiicult,  and  led  to 
the  banks  of  the  river,  or  to  a  madrejon,  of  which  these  trees 
are  the  immediate  precursors. 

Our  object  was  always  to  reach  a  piece  of  water,  where  we 
could  obtain  fish,  and  allay  the  thirst  of  men  and  beasts.  Some- 
times we  would  travel  a  whole  day  before  finding  one,  and  if  we 
reached  it  late,  farewell  to  any  success  in  fishing. 

Those  among  us  who  were  best  mounted  took  advantage  of  it 
to  press  forward,  for  our  small  store  of  provisions  would  be 
exhausted  in  two  or  three  days. 

We  came  unawares  on  water  the  first  night,  a  serious  occur- 
rence !  On  one  occasion  we  missed  each  other  in  the  dark,  and 
were  separated  !  We  kindled  fires  that  our  companions  might 
at  least  follow  us,  and  late  at  night  we  reached  a  madrejon. 
Overcome  with  fatigue,  we  threw^  ourselves  on  the  ground,  care- 
less of  food. 

We  frequently  came  across  ant-hills.  On  a  favourable  site 
there  would  be  hundreds  and  thousands  of  these  sugar-loaf 
mounds,  generally  much  more  than  a  yard  in  height  and  a 
couple  of  yards  in  diameter  at  the  base.  They  were  about  two 
yards  distant  from  each  other.  No  ant  was  to  be  seen  outside, 
but  a  regular  labyrinth  of  beaten  tracks  half  a  hand  wide.  Within 
the  woods,  however,  there  are  cone-shaped  ant-hills,  not  more 
than  two-thirds  of  a  yard  in  height,  and  from  four  to  six  in 
diameter,  with  glacis  outside  each  entrance  like  a  fortress.     And 


58  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

on  the  bifurcations  of  trees  we  often  saw  other  ant-hills  in  immense 
numbers.  Ants  in  these  parts  are  a  perfect  scourge  to  agriculture. 
Their  presence  in  myriads  of  millions  sufficiently  explains  the 
existence  of  the  ant-eating  bear. 

We  had  now  come  to  the  20th  of  September.  What  thoughts 
and  emotions  this  anniversary  awakens  in  the  breast  of  an 
Italian  !  I  was  living  in  the  desert,  but  my  heart  and  spirit 
were  in  Italy  and  at  Buenos  Ayres,  with  my  fellow- citizens.  At 
first  I  thought  of  the  contrast  between  the  life  and  gaiety  with 
which  the  day  would  be  celebrated  in  the  public  places  and  in 
the  homes  of  my  countrymen,  and  the  wretchedness  and  desola- 
tion in  which  I  should  spend  it.  Then  I  immersed  myself  in 
the  political,  social,  and  religious  considerations  appertaining  to 
the  deed  so  joyfully  commemorated  on  that  day. 

And  my  hand,  following  on  my  thoughts,  sought  a  pencil  with 
which  to  trace  my  impressions  and  reflections  and  transmit  them 
as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  ;  but  on  that  day  the 
ground  was  both  table  and  chair  for  me,  my  breakfast  had  con- 
sisted of  a  little  fish  broiled  with  salt,  and  obtained  after  two 
hours'  fishing ;  I  had  made  both  my  dinner  and  supper  off  a  cup 
of  sugarless  tea,  and  had  made  a  splendid  day's  journey  on 
horseback  beneath  a  sun  that  gave  72°  in  the  shade,  although  it 
was  still  winter ! 

For  Heaven's  sake,  when  you  travel,  rely  only  on  what  you 
carry  in  your  knapsack.  Leave  trust  in  the  providence  of  nature 
to  the  birds  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field. 

After  journeying  in  this  fashion  for  ten  days  and  eighty-five 
leagues,  we  reached  the  Christian  frontiers,  and  made  our 
triumphal  entry  into  Fort  Gorriti. 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  59 


CHAPTER  XII 

A   FRONTIER   FORT — ARGENTINE   SOLDIERS — ^INDIANS  AND 
CIVILIZATION. 

"  What  is  a  fort  ? "  You  put  this  question  to  me  hearing  of 
our  arrival  at  Fort  Gorriti. 

In  the  first  place  (I  am  speaking  of  the  Chaco),  a  fort  consists 
of  a  picket  of  soldiers,  next,  of  a  few  straw-built  huts  to  afford 
them  shelter — mud  huts  would  be  luxurious ;  and  lastly,  but 
not  always,  of  a  ditch  that  surrounds  all  or  part  of  the  rectan- 
gular area  containing  picket  and  huts.  The  number  of  soldiers 
composing  a  picket  varies  from  fifteen  to  thirty.  The  huts  are 
separate;  i.e.  there  is  a  hut  for  the  officer  or  officers,  a  hut  for 
the  privates,  a  hut  for  the  sick,  and  a  hut  for  those  under 
arrest.  The  material  of  which  they  are  built  is  not  always 
straw,  but  for  the  most  part  reed-canes,  either  placed  upright 
or  horizontally  ;  the  roof  is  of  mud. 

You  can  judge  whether  the  wind  and  the  rain  find  their  way 
through.  A  private,  if  he  wishes,  can  have  his  wife  with  him. 
The  bed  for  officers,  soldiers,  and  wives  is  nearly  always  a  hurdle 
laid  on  two  supports,  or  a  network  of  leather  stretched  on  a 
four-legged  frame,  with  skins  and  coverings  above.  But  it  is 
still  oftener  the  ground,  for  the  garrison  is  frequently  sent  out 
on  expeditions  of  some  days'  duration,  and  the  forts  (I  speak 
of  those  in  the  Chaco),  are  fifty  and  eighty  kilometers  apart. 

I  shall  never  forget  one  visit  that  I  paid  to  a  fort,  down  in 
a  very  lonely  place  on  the  frontier  near  Teuco.  The  picket 
consisted  of  twelve  or  fourteen  soldiers,  but  six  of  these  were 
on  patrol  duty,  two  were  ill,  one  was  out  on  service,  a 
couple  of  old  men  from  the  Funa,  i.e.  the  mountain  of  Jujuy, 
were  disabled,  so  that  they  could  go  nowhere  except  on  horse- 
back :  there  remained  only  the  lieutenant,  a  couple  of  soldiers, 
myself,  and  two  of  my  men. 

The  exploring  party  had  been  gone  three  days,  but  did  not 


6o  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

return  at  the  appointed  time ;  we  began,  therefore,  to  be 
anxious.  Two  men  were  sent  out  to  gather  news,  but  returned 
having  learnt  nothing.  A  little  later  the  dog  that  had  accom- 
panied them  came  back,  but  it  was  already  evening  and  the 
patrol  party  did  not  return.  We  were  now  decidedly  uneasy, 
and  three  of  us  were  detached  to  search  for  them,  leaving  four 
of  us  behind.  Meanwhile  a  storm  was  rising.  The  wind  began 
to  blow,  the  leaves  to  rustle,  the  sand  to  fly,  the  clouds  to 
gather ;  the  atmosphere  became  cold  and  the  sky  dark,  and  still 
they  did  not  return.  Frequent  and  long  flashes  of  forked 
lightning  revealed  the  distant  horizon,  and  the  thunder  rolling 
indistinctly  sounded  like  the  distant  discharge  of  artillery,  or 
the  dull  sound  of  an  earthquake. 

The  wind  rose  yet  stronger,  a  few  heavy  drops  began  to  fall, 
the  boughs  of  the  neighbouring  trees,  violently  agitated,  clashed 
together,  and  the  old  wood  breaking  away  produced  sounds 
that  seemed  like  human  utterance  .  .  .  while  we  remained 
there  in  ignorance  of  the  fate  of  our  companions,  not  knowing 
whether  they  had  been  taken  by  the  Indians,  or  whether  the 
latter,  under  cover  of  the  wild  night,  were  not  preparing  to 
attack  us  who  had  remained  behind. 

The  hurricane  burst  at  length  in  all  its  fury,  the  howling 
wind,  the  brilliant  lightning,  the  claps  of  thunder,  the  rattling 
rain,  the  rent  and  breaking  branches,  the  shrubs  torn  up  by 
the  roots  and  flung  about  the  plain  ;  the  crackling  of  the  cane- 
reed  walls,  the  sudden  gusts  through  the  shutterless  entrances 
and  through  the  openings  in  the  walls ;  the  solitude,  the 
threatened  peril, — all  these  were  deeply  impressive.  In  such 
moments  of  anxiety  the  hand  unconsciously  seeks  the  trigger 
of  the  revolver,  and  at  every  flash  of  lightning  the  eye  keenly 
explores,  the  scene.  But  the  tempest  passed  away,  the  heavens 
became  serene  and  shone  bright  with  stars,  the  purified  atmo- 
sphere breathed  freshness  and  strength,  and  shortly  afterwards 
we  were  joined  by  our  missing  and  saturated  companions.   .  .  . 

As  for  the  Argentine  soldier,  one  must  see  him  on  the 
frontier  to  admire  and  love  him.  From  the  lowest  private  to 
the  colonel  in  command,  his  life  is  one  constant  abnegation  of 
self. 

Cast  upon  the  desert,  in  the  midst  of  dangers,  always  in  action 
and  always  most  keenly  on  the  watch,  liable  to  fall  by  the 
ignoble  hand  of  a  savage,  he  does  not  possess  one  of  the  com- 
forts of  civilized  society,  to  defend  which  he  lives  in  a  lonely 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  6 1 

building,  forgotten  for  the  most  part  by  the  happy  inmates  of 
the  gilded  homes  of  the  higher  bureaucracy. 

His  pay  is  often  deferred  for  years,  and  is  diminished  by 
half  on  account  of  the  usurious  interest  charged  for  a  bottle  of 
brandy  to  warm,  or  a  shirt  to  cover  him. 

Flesh  meat,  I  may  say,  is  his  only  food ;  neither  bread  nor 
wine  nor  vegetables  ,  .  .  Ay,  he  is  the  scapegoat  of  the  society 
that  he  defends. 

Well,  you  will  see  him  resolute  at  his  post ;  and  no  curse  will 
he  utter  against  his  ungrateful  country.  And  while  you  find  in 
the  common  soldier  obedience  that  surprises  you,  you  will 
also  find  amenity,  generosity,  and  frequently,  among  the 
officers,  education  that  you  must  admire.  And  thus,  where 
it  was  least  to  be  expected,  you  will  find  the  time  pass  pleasantly 
amid  the  kind  attentions  shown  to  you,  the  discussions  in 
which  you  will  take  part,  and  the  elevated  sentiments  you  will 
discover. 

Among  those  noble  soldiers  of  the  State,  who  live  for 
years  in  the  midst  of  the  most  mortifying  privation,  fatigue,  and 
danger,  you  will  discover  a  strength  that  you  would  hardly 
expect  to  find.  You  will  find  men  quite  indifferent  to  the 
inclemency  of  the  seasons,  satisfied  with  any  kind  of  food  ;  able 
to  live  for  whole  days  on  horseback  with  impunity,  or  to  journey 
»n  foot  like  Indians.  They  endure  all  this  to  a  degree  that  is 
anknown  in  other  localities,  except  perhaps  in  the  Banda 
Oriental,  and  in  one  or  two  southern  provinces  of  Brazil ;  they 
are  soldiers  who  could  pass  from  a  peace  to  a  war  footing 
without  being  conscious  of  a  change. 

The  army  composed  of  such  soldiers,  strong  in  its  iron  disci- 
pline and  its  glorious  and  immortal  traditions,  is  capable  of 
grand  and  stirring  actions.  During  its  sixty  years  of  existence 
it  can  recall  among  its  leaders  a  San  Martin,  a  consummate 
tactician  and  strategist,  who  crossed  the  Andes ;  a  Belgrano, 
skilful  in  organization ;  a  Lavalle,  lion-hearted,  the  Bayard  of 
his  country's  liberty;  a  Lamadrid,  a  Las  Heras,  and  a  Paz, 
Avliom  Garibaldi  has  declared  to  be  one  of  the  first  generals  of 
the  world.  And  among  its  anniversaries  may  be  counted  the 
glorious  day  against  the  English  in  Buenos  Ayres ;  the  Passage 
of  the  Andes ;  the  victories  of  Suipacha,  of  Tucuman,  and  of 
Salta  ;  and  those  of  Chacabuco  and  Maipiu  in  the  campaigns  of 
Peru  and  Chili.  It  remembers  the  day  of  Tacuary  in  Paraguay, 
more  glorious  than  a  great  victory ;  and  the  triumph  of  Ituzaingo 


62  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

over  the  German  battalions  in  the  pay  of  Brazil,  although  these 
had  been  inured  to  war  and  victory  in  battles  against  Napoleon. 
It  may  boast  also  of  the  independence  of  its  country,  as  the 
result  of  its  own  deeds  exclusively  ;  the  only  nation  in  the  South 
American  Continent  touched  with  Carthaginian  courage.  I 
say  nothing  of  contemporary  men  or  things,  on  account  of  the 
well-known  rule,  nor  of  that  splendid  day  in  the  last  Paraguayan 
war,  and  the  admirable  attitude  of  the  troops  during  the  painful 
civil  dissensions ;  but  I  must  declare  that  the  people  and  the 
army  of  the  Argentine  nation  have  a  right  to  call  out  to 
strangers  as  their  hand  closes  on  the  hilt  of  their  sword, 
"Beware  of  it!" 

For  my  own  part,  I  can  never  forget  the  generous  services 
rendered  me  by  valiant  and  chivalrous  officers  from  Cordoba  to 
Gran,  and  the  pleasant  moments  I  have  passed  in  company  with 
the  loyal  soldiers  of  this  nation ;  and  I  have  thought  it  a  moral 
and  social  duty  to  pay  this  modest  tribute  to  their  fine  qualities. 
My  words,  however  humble,  may  yet  find  their  way  across  the 
ocean. 

There  is  a  large  Mattacco  Indiada  near  Fort  Gorriti,  divided 
into  three  tolderias.  These  Indians  are  civilized,  and  the  caciques 
receive  rations  from  the  Government ;  the  others  make  shift  in 
the  usual  way.  These  are  they  who,  during  the  harvest  and 
preparation  of  the  sugar-cane,  work  for  hire  on  the  Estahleci- 
mientos  or  Haciendas  for  making  sugar  in  Oran  and  the  valley 
of  San  Francisco,  and  do  a  good  stroke  of  work.  When  the 
time  comes  that  the  surplus  of  this  and  other  products  can  be 
offered  cheaply  and  with  facility,  the  labour  of  thousands  of 
Mattaccos  and  Chiriguans  can  be  utilized,  and  one  of  the  first 
conditions  of  a  splendid  development  be  secured. 

The  Indians  go  in  large  numbers  to  these  establishments. 
The  manager  visits  the  tolderias,  eight  or  a  hundred  leagues 
away,  and  treats  with  the  caciques  as  to  salary,  which  consists 
of  six  Bolivians,  or  twenty-four  francs  a  month  and  food,  the 
latter  is  a  mere  trifle.  The  salary  is  paid  in  kind,  clothes  and  pro- 
visions, being  rated  generally  at  an  exorbitant  price.  The  Indians 
come  back  discontented,  and  with  the  intention  of  never  return- 
ing to  the  work,  but  the  next  year  all  is  forgotten,  or  necessity 
obliges  them,  and  they  begin  again. 

These  Indians  of  the  frontier,  as  well  as  those  living  farther 
within  Christian  territory  in  the  pay  of  some  Estancia,  preserve 
their  spirit  of  national  autonomy,  their  habits,  and  their  religioii, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  63 

and  remain  independent,  without,  however,  failing  in  any  way 
towards  the  laws  of  the  country,  except  that  of  not  doing  evil  to 
the  Christians,  who  on  their  part,  without  having  recourse  to  law, 
know  how  to  give  tit  for  tat,  while  on  many  occasions  they 
resort  to  arbitration.  Among  their  own  people  their  caciques 
are  more  than  masters,  and  rule  everything  without  interference. 

The  nomad  Indian  does  not  feel  drawn  to  our  civilization. 
And  why  should  he  1  Would  not  the  change  be  altogether  to 
his  loss  1 

While  independent  he  may  suffer  some  hardships  at  certain 
seasons,  but  he  can  compensate  himself  at  others,  and  he  is  free  ; 
he  is  a  sovereign  citizen  in  his  tribe  and  equal  to  other  citizens  ; 
he  does  not  tolerate  an  injury,  and  is  free  to  revenge  himself ; 
and  when  among  Christians  he  is  respected  because  independent. 

But  what  would  become  of  him  if  he  came  amongst  us  ?  He 
would  be  a  paHah  in  his  adopted  family,  a  slave,  in  fact,  if  not 
directly  belonging  to  an  owner,  who,  by  involving  him  in  debt, 
becomes  the  master  of  his  liberty,  and  in  the  end  owns  all  his 
labour,  because  a  peon  (day-labourer),  if  a  debtor,  cannot  leave 
the  service  of  his  master  unless  he  has  personally  paid  his  debt, 
and  cannot  obtain  an  augmentation  of  salary  because  he  is  not 
free.  If  cast  out  by  his  master,  he  soon  falls,  either  from  some 
failing,  or  from  want,  or  by  choice,  or  through  public  events,  into 
the  ranks  of  the  army  or  the  Is^ational  Guard,  under  an  iron 
discipline,  without  pay  for  a  year,  liable  to  the  degradation  of 
flogging,  and  uncertain  thenceforth  as  to  when  he  may  be  able 
to  leave  it.  As  a  citizen,  he  would  be  an  object  of  contempt  to 
the  white  man,  who  would  only  consider  him  as  an  electoral 
instrument  on  the  day  of  election,  and  afterwards  as  a  being 
naturally  inferior  to  himself.  No,  no  !  the  Indian  does  well  to 
lead  a  nomad,  savage  life  outside  the  pale  of  our  religion, 
and  to  preserve  his  independeiice  or  die.  Woe  to  him,  if  he 
change  his  mode  of  life  ! 


64  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER    Xm. 

MARRIAGE   CUSTOMS. 

To  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  Indiana,  their  life 
might  seem  to  be  both  morally  and  materially  barren.  But 
such  is  not  the  case ;  the  savage  loves,  hates,  has  ambitions 
and  joys,  encounters  peril  and  acquires  glory.  He  has  a 
religion,  and  he  has  fears.  Faustino  used  to  tell  me  when  I 
questioned  him  on  the  inner  life  of  the  Indians,  that  every 
human  affection  was  experienced  among  that  primitive  people 
just  as  among  ourselves. 

The  love  of  women  is  one  of  their  strongest  passions,  and 
although  to  Christians  the  women  may  seem  too  much  over- 
burdened when  carrying  heavy  weights  by  the  side  of  a  man 
who  bears  his  arms  only,  yet  they  are  not  worse  treated  than 
the  immense  majority  of  women  among  ourselves.  The  few 
exceptions  with  us  are  those  women  who  do  not  work  because 
they  pay  other  women  to  work  for  them. 

Moreover  an  Indian  never  makes  a  journey  without  the 
intention  of  securing  food,  and  is  never  free  from  the  possibility 
of  attack.  How  could  he  procure  the  first  or  encounter  the 
second  while  bearing  a  heavy  burden  I 

The  part  taken  by  an  Indian  woman  is  in  perfect  accordance 
with  her  social  wants  and  physical  attributes.  She  does  not 
hunt,  or  fish,  or  fight,  but  she  attends  to  the  house,  the 
kitchen,  and  the  family,  and  is  remarkably  active. 

By  turns  she  fetches  roots  and  fruits  from  the  woods, 
combs  the  chdguar  and  spins,  makes  nets,  and  weaves,  cooks, 
arranges  the  house,  makes  fermented  drinks  for  the  men,  takes 
care  of  the  provisions,  helps  her  partner  to  sow,  drops  the  grain 
into  the  furrows  of  the  very  few  fields  that  they  cultivate,  and 
then  in  due  season  gathers  in  the  harvest.    And  she  is  a  mother. 

In  all  the  tolderias  in  which  I  have  stayed  I  have  wondered 
at  the  multitude  of  occupations  of  the  women  in  our  rustic 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  65 

ahode.  Tliey  are  always  at  work.  Tzina  and  chieqiia  or 
cliequa  is  Mattacco  for  woman,  and  chequa  means  wife  as  well. 

An  Indian  may  have  more  than  one  wife,  but  he  seldom 
keeps  them  in  the  same  hut.  Their  number  depends  on  the 
means  of  the  husband  for  maintaining  the  various  fjamilies. 
Wealth  though  of  an  unstable  kind  can  exist  among  nomadic 
tribes,  in  the  shape  of  skins,  sheep,  and  the  aptitude  for  work 
or  plunder  that  a  man  may  possess. 

There  are  very  few,  if  any,  caciques  with  one  wife  only.  A 
wife  may  be  repudiated,  and  then  she  becomes  her  own  mistress 
again,  but  she  seldom  marries  a  second  time,  because  she  has 
nearly  always  lost  the  attractions  of  youth,  because  she  hopes 
her  husband  may  take  her  back,  and  because  she  would  be 
ashamed  to  marry  again  before  all  her  tribe. 

To  repudiate  a  wife,  moreover,  is  almost  always  a  cause  of 
quarrel  and  vendetta  between  families. 

In  districts  such  as  this  one,  where  the  women  quickly  lose 
their  attractions,  and  where  the  men  are  decimated  by  continual 
warfare,  polygamy  becomes  a  social  necessity  for  the  tribe,  or 
the  place  would  be  depopulated,  and  a  physical  necessity  for 
the  men  and  the  numerous  women,  who  must  otherwise  remain 
celibate.  Nevertheless  traviatas  and  prodigals  are  not  wanting, 
and  are  called  amoeccue. 

The  Indian  is  jealous,  and  cruel  towards  a  woman  whom  he 
believes  to  be  unfaithful.  On  the  occasion  of  our  visit  to 
Pa-e-lo's  tolderia,  there  was  a  woman  who  had  not  extricated 
herself,  her  husband  thought,  with  sufficient  promptness  from 
the  caresses  of  a  soldier.  We  could  hear  her  husband  beating 
her  within  the  toldo  and  threatening  her  with  death.  "  Nu-a- 
i-lon-la  "  ("  I  will  kill  thee  "),  he  muttered  between  his  teeth. 
And  another  time,  we  knew  of  a  woman  who  when  her  husband 
had  been  two  years  absent  married  another  man.  The  former 
lay  in  wait,  watching,  ran  after  her,  overtook  her  and  kicked 
her  in  the  abdomen  before  the  Christians  could  come  up  to 
prevent  him.  The  woman  did  not  die,  and  when  cured  returned 
to  live  with  her  would-be  murderer. 

Wlien  an  Indian  wishes  to  marry,  he  paints  his  cheek-bones, 
lips,  and  the  cavity  of  the  eyes  with  red.  He  makes  his  pro- 
posals accompanied  with  gifts  to  the  lady  of  his  heart,  and  if 
she  accepts  him,  he  bestows  on  her  a  dower  of  such  property 
as  he  may  possess,  viz.  sheep,  fowls,  skins,  &c.  If  the  respective 
families  approve  the  match,  the  new-married  folks  dwell  with 


66  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN    CHACO 

one  of  them ;  if  otherwise,  they  remove  to  another  toldo,  and 
often  to  another  tolderia.  When  consent  has  been  obtained  the 
nuptial  ceremony  consists  in  the  consummation  of  the  marriage. 
This  custom  of  the  husband  bestowing  the  marriage  portion, 
may  appear  strange  to  us  who  are  used  to  the  contrary,  but 
even  among  ourselves  and  among  various  Indo-European  peoples, 
it  has  been  and  still  is  at  times  put  in  practice.  Thus,  for 
example,  in  some  cases  there  is  the  contr'odote ;  the  Lombard 
law  recognized  the  mundium,  the  right  of  guardianship  that 
passed  from  the  father  to  the  husband  by  reason  of  a  sum  of 
money  paid  by  the  latter  to  the  former ;  and  among  the  Komans 
was  the  coemptio^  i.e.  the  emptio,  or  dower,  exchanged  reciprocally 
between  husband  and  wife. 

In  ancient  India  it  was  the  custom  for  the  husband  to  endow 
the  wife  with  money  and  cattle  ;  the  same  custom  seems  to 
have  prevailed  in  ancient  Greece,  judging  from  a  passage  in  the 
Iliad  ;  among  the  ancient  Finns,  and  the  Turks  and  the  Turco- 
mans of  the  present  time,  the  bridegroom  purchases  the  bride, 
and  on  this  subject  see  De  Gub'ernatis'  "  Usi  I^uziali." 

I  repeat  it,  these  Indians  are  men,  and  behave  like  other 
men.  Among  the  Chiriguans,  when  a  man  wishes  to  ask  for  a 
girl,  he  puts  a  bundle  of  wood  at  her  door,  and  a  roebuck  or 
some  other  eatable  ;  if  the  girl  on  the  following  morning  is  to  be 
seen  lighting  the  fire  and  preparing  the  dinner  with  the  presents 
of  her  lover,  it  is  a  sign  that  his  proposals  are  accepted,  and  he 
goes  to  share  the  meal  when  ready.  A  similar  custom  is  said 
to  prevail  with  other  tribes  besides  the  Mattaccos,  but  from  the 
inquiries  I  made  on  the  subject,  1  am  led  to  contradict  this 
statement. 

The  custom  recalls  one  that  exists  in  Pinerolo,  where  the  girl 
goes  to  light  the  fire  when  her  lover  is  to  her  liking — not  to 
do  it,  when  she  is  called,  is  equivalent  to  dismissing  the 
suitor ;  there  is  another  in  Abruzzo  Ultra  Primo,  in  accordance 
with  which  the  youth  carries  to  the  girl's  door  at  night  a 
log  of  oak  called  tecchio ;  if  the  log  is  taken  inside  the  dwell- 
ing the  youth  may  also  enter,  but  if  not  there  is  nothing 
for  him  but  to  remove  it  secretly,  and  take  himself  otf. 

In  India,  if  the  bridegroom  was  a  Brahmin,  he  gave  a  cow 
to  the  bride ;  if  an  agriculturist,  and  trader,  a  horse.  In  the 
time  of  Tacitus,  this  custom  of  giving  a  cow  was  prevalent 
in  Germany  and  appears  continually  in  Isvezia ;  likewise  the 
giving  of  a  cock.     (See  De  Gubernatis.)  », 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  6/ 

The  Chiriguan  caciques,  however,  possess  a  privilege;  that 
of  not  being  refused  by  the  object  of  their  predilection.  They 
consider,  in  fact,  that  such  preference  is  of  destiny.  The 
cacique  reveals  his  wishes  by  offering  to  the  girl  a  piece  of 
meat  or  other  food.  The  girl  cooks  it,  and  table  and  home 
become  common  property.  The  caciques,  especially  the  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  who  rule  over  several  tolderias  have  at  least  one 
wife  in  each. 

Two  or  three  days  after  childbirth,  the  mother  and  the 
infant  are  washed.     The  lying-in  rarely  lasts  longer  than  this. 

Those  who  are  bent  on  discovering  Christianity  all  the 
world  over,  profess  to  see  an  imitation  of  baptism  in  this 
exclusively  hygienic  custom. 

The  father  recognizes  his  paternity,  and  taking  the  child  in 
his  arms  says,  "  This  is  my  son." 

In  some  tribes  it  is  customary  for  the  husband  to  lie  down 
on  the  bed,  as  an  act  of  recognition,  and  among  the  Chiri- 
guan s  he  takes  his  place  by  the  side  of  his  wife  and  for  three 
days  receives  every  attention,  as  if  he  were  the  new-made 
mother ! 

After  this  he  rises  from  bed,  but  does  not  travel  nor  work 
until  the  end  of  seven  days,  when  the  wife  also  rises  and 
washes.  During  this  period,  the  married  pair  take  nothing 
but  water,  and  mote  and  maza-morra,  a  liquid  food  prepared 
from  Indian  corn,  and  bean-broth  ;  no  flesh-meat. 

A  man  has  frequently  two  or  more  sisters  as  wives  at  the 
same  time.  And  I  believe  I  may  assert  that  sometimes  a 
father  and  daughter  live  in  conjugal  relations.  If  no  one  comes 
forward  to  adopt  the  offspring  of  such  an  union,  the  mother 
is  allowed  to  destroy  it. 

Indian  women  are  skilful  midwives,  and  are  employed  even 
by  Christians  ;  they  are  said  to  recognize  the  moment  of  crisis 
with  great  sagacity,  that  they  then  support  the  patient  in  a 
more  or  less  upright  position,  and  also  it  would  seem  shake 
her,  without  however  causing  her  any  pain.  The  action  is 
accompanied  by  words  to  which  the  Indians  ascribe  great  virtue, 
and  still  more  the  Christians,  who  do  not  understand  them. 
The  usual  thing  ! 

You  must  not  think,  however,  that  all  their  love-making  is 
conducted  solely  in  pantomime  of  a  more  or  less  expressive 
nature.  They  have  words  and  expressions  well  adapted  to 
courteous  intercourse,  and  of  these  they  make  use.     It  is  well- 

F  2 


6S  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

known  that  the  Guarani  language  is  harmonious,  too  much  so, 
indeed,  when  spoken  by  themselves  and  the  Chiriguanos,  whose 
native  tongue  it  is ;  but  even  the  Mattaccos,  the  Red  Mattac- 
cos,  who  are  lowest  in  the  anthropological  scale  of  the  Indians 
of  South  America,  possess  harmonious  expressions  and  courteous 
ideas  corresponding  therewith. 

I  remember  on  one  oocasion  there  was  a  beautiful  Indian 
girl  on  board,  who  remained  silent  and  impassible,  not  to  say 
gloomy.  Faustino  whispered  to  me,  "  Say  am  iss  to  her,  ex- 
pressively." And  I  said  softly  in  her  ear,  "  Am  iss."  In  spite 
of  herself  an  imperceptible  smile  parted  the  lips  of  the  hand- 
some Indian,  for  I  had  said  to  her,  "  Thou  art  beautiful !  " 
Another  time  I  had  been  present  in  a  tolderia  at  the  treatment 
of  a  sick  man  by  Indian  doctors.  A  young  girl  was  also  present, 
the  most  beautiful  Indian  I  have  as  yet  seen. 

A  lieutenant  came  up  and  said  to  me  in  a  loud  voice,  *'  Qtie 
hv/ina  moza,  die?"  ^^  Como  no  !"  answered  I.  And  the  girl 
in  the  half-light  murmured,  **  Teniente  toe  tzi-la-ta"  i.e.  "  It 
is  the  lieutenant  who  is  handsome."  But  she  said  it  so 
gracefully,  in  a  half-ingenuous,  half-coquettish  way,  hiding  her 
face  behind  the  shoulders  of  another  girl,  and  with  a  sudden 
flash  of  her  eyes,  that  from  my  soul  I  envied  the  handsome 
lieutenant. 

The  following  is  a  dialogue  between  a  youth  and  a  maiden  : — 
He.  "  Who  will  that  pretty  girl  be  who  will  charm  me  so 
greatly?" 

She.  "  Who  will  that  youth  be,  to  whom  I  wish  so  well  %  " 
The  above  is  a  nonsensical  ritornello  that  seems  much  used. 
Then  drawing  nearer  to  each  other, — 

He.  "  Every  time  I  see  you  I  long  to  carry  you  off ;  who 
knows  that  one  day  you  will  not  fall  in  my  arms  ? " 
She.  "  Who  knows  1     Let  us  go  walking  together  !  " 
He.  "  If  you  wish  me  well,  let  me  caress  you  !  " 
She.  "  If  you  wish  me  well,  you  would  not  caress  me  :  you 
have  a  wife." 

He.  "  No  one  can  say  a  word  to  me ;  I  am  alone ;  and  if  I 
were  not,  I  would  not  speak  thus  to  you.     Farewell !     I  go 
away  to-morrow  ;  I  shall  be  two  years  away." 
She.  "  Oh  !  I  am  sorry  !     I  shall  miss  you  !  " 
He.  "  Do  not  get  married  during  that  time.     I  will  bring  you 
a  necklace,  a  head-covering,  needles  and  thread.     Farewell !  " 
She.   "  Farewell.     Come  back  soon."  U 


i 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  69 

I  refrain  from  giving  the  original  Mattacco  for  fear  of 
being  wearisome.  But  does  not  the  above  dialogue  contain 
the  very  same  sentiments  and  expressions  that  would  occur  to 
two  persons  of  our  own  race  ? 

A  wedding  according  to  rule  is  celebrated  by  drinking  spirit 
made  from  the  husks  of  algarrobo  and  vinal,  and  wild  honey. 


* 


^ 


70  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

FERMENTED    DRINKS NATURAL   PRODUCTS    FOR   DOMESTIC    USE. 

The  algarrobo  holds  the  same  place  here  as  the  chestnut-tree  in 
Europe,  by  reason  of  its  usefulness  to  those  peoples  who  dwell  in 
its  vicinity.  I  have  found  it  on  heights  varying  from  100  to 
400  yards  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  geographically  situate 
between  30°  and  15°  S.  lat.,  between  the  slopes  of  the  Cordillera 
and  the  sea.  It  is  averse  to  humidity,  which  drives  it  from  its 
natural  altitudes  and  latitudes,  and  on  the  other  hand,  I  have 
found  it  growing  in  an  exceptionally  dry  and  cold  climate  at 
700  metres  above  the  level  of  the  sea  ;  invariably,  however,  on  a 
plain. 

The  algarrobo  grows  in  the  woods  in  these  regions,  but 
also  itself  forms  complete  woods,  and  it  blends  abundantly 
with  other  trees.  In  my  opinion  it  is  of  the  most  widely 
extended  growth,  and  deserves  on  this  account,  and  by  reason 
of  its  importance,  to  give  its  name  to  a  forest  region  or  zone.  It 
exists,  in  fact,  in  equal  abundance  in  the  woods  of  those  parts 
of  the  country  that  emerge  from  the  waters  after  the  seasons 
of  flood,  and  in  the  woods  of  the  alluvial  coasts  of  the  actual 
rivers. 

The  timber  of  the  algarrobo  is  excellent  for  the  greater  por- 
tion of  covered  buildings  and  for  carpenter's  work,  but  it  has 
generally  the  defect  of  being  short :  a  dark  resin  flows  from 
the  trunk,  which  is  utilized  by  the  Indians,  but  not  by  us ; 
the  fruit  grows  in  a  shell  which  contains  a  sweetish  flour,  which 
is  used  in  the  making  of  bread  and  fermented  liquors. 

There  are  two  principal  kinds  of  algarrobo ;  the  white,  which 
bears  shelled  fruit  resembling  our  white  bean  in  colour  and 
size,  affording  an  excellent  beverage,  and  could  yield  flour  also ; 
and  the  black,  bearing  shelled  fruit  like  our  broad  bean,  and 
yielding  an  inferior  drink,  but  a  most  excellent  and  abundant 
flour,  with  which  they  make  bread  caDed  in   Chiccina  patau 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC. 

Both  varieties  have  leaves  simply  composed,  i.e.  of  so  many 
pairs  of  leaflets  along  the  axis  and  with  thorns. 

The  making  of  patai,  is  a  peculiar  and  according  to  our  notions  a 
repulsive  process.  The  dried  pods  of  the  algarroba  are  placed  under 
a  wooden  or  stone  mallet,  worked  by  a  long  handle  ;  when  thus 
beaten  the  algarroba  falls  into  flour  without  bursting  it?  seeds, 
which  are  extremely  hard.  The  flour  is  then  sifted  with  more 
or  less  care,  and  is  pressed  into  an  earthen  pan  that  has  been 
previously  heated  in  the  sun  or  by  the  side  of  the  fire.  The 
mouth  of  the  pan  is  then  covered  with  fine  sand,  and  it  is  ex- 
posed again  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  or  to  that  of  a  slow  fire. 
In  ten  minutes  the  patai  is  made,  because  the  only  object  in 
heating  it  is  to  dissolve  the  honey  contained  in  the  flour,  which 
remains  hard  like  cement  when  the  honey  has  cooled. 
After  this  fashion  they  make  loaves  from  four  to  over  seven 
pounds  in  weight,  and  carry  them  in  saddle-bags  on  the  cruppers 
of  their  horses.  They  are  thus  supplied  with  a  most  nutritious 
though  somewhat  surfeiting  food.  It  is  not  unlike  pounded 
chestnut.  You  hold  a  slice  to  the  fire  on  the  blade  of  a  knife, 
and  draw  back  a  delicious  mouthful  both  in  odour  and  taste. 

Aloja  is  the  Spanish  word  in  these  parts  for  fermented 
liquor ;  in  Chiccina  it  is  called  diicha ;  in  Mattacco,  huna ;  in 
Mocovite,  na-na  and  nanna ;  in  Vilela,  tsueque. 

The  mode  of  manufacture,  both  in  Peru  and  among  the 
Indians,  is  by  masticating  a  portion  of  the  substance  and  mixing 
it  with  the  whole.  This  causes  fermentation,  for  the  saliva,  as 
we  know,  contains  diastasia,  which  being  thus  placed  in  contact 
with  the  cotyledons  of  the  seeds  converts  the  amilaceous  sub- 
stance into  glucosio,  or  sugar  of  grape.  The  seeds  are  thus  ren- 
dered soluble  in  water,  and  produce  alcohol  when  fermented. 
The  Indians  are  ignorant  of  these  matters,  but  they  are  very 
observant,  and  have  discovered  the  eff'ect  of  a  process  which  is 
highly  nauseating  to  European  lookers-on. 

The  very  same  method  is  followed  in  China  for  bread-making, 
and  in  the  East  Indies  for  the  manufacture  of  spirituous  drinks. 
And  among  ourselves,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  habit  of  wet-nurses 
and  nursing  mothers  of  chewing  the  pap  before  giving  a  spoonful 
to  their  infknt  1  ^Notwithstanding  the  ignorance  of  those  who 
employ  this  method,  and  the  ridicule  and  nausea  it  excites  in 
eye-witnesses,  it  tends  to  a  most  useful  end,  and  is  ratified  by 
science. 

Eowls  of  wood  or  cocoanut  are  kept  in  the  toldos,  in  which 


72  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

the  Indians,  who  are  chewing  all  day,  spit  out  the  husks. 
At  a  certain  hour,  the  women  and  children  set  about 
breaking  and  chewing  the  seeds,  and  the  babies  amuse  them- 
selves by  snatching  handfuls  in  their  little  plump  fists,  and 
hiding  them  in  their  mouths  and  spitting  over  and  over  again 
into  the  bowls.  Frequently,  too,  the  adults  assemble  for  the 
purpose,  and  then  the  preparation  of  aloja  serves  as  an  occasion 
for  rejoicing.  The  unmasticated  part  is  pounded  in  a  mortar 
made  invariably  of  yuchan,  a  tree  which  I  will  describe.  The 
whole  is  placed  in  a  cylinder  made  of  the  trunk  of  the  same  tree. 
Sufficient  water  is  added  to  make  two  or  three  barrels  of  aloja  at 
a  time. 

In  twelve  hours  the  aloja  is  made,  and  is  of  a  sour-sweet  taste 
and  a  yellowish  colour.  Its  tartness  stimulates  the  appetite.  I 
prefer  it  to  any  other  drink,  wine  included.  If  taken  in  quantity 
(it  is  inebriating,  but  the  effect  soon  passes  off  and  does  not  pro- 
duce sickness.  At  least  this  is  the  result  of  my  observation  of 
others. 

The  season  of  the  ripening  of  the  algarroba  corresponds  with 
that  of  the  vinal,  which  is  less  good,  but  can  be  used  to  make 
aloja.  Next  comes  the  cJianar,  the  fruit  of  which  is  sweetish, 
small,  round,  yellow,  and  nut-like ;  it  is  eaten  raw,  and  is  also 
boiled  and  a  syrup  made  from  it,  pleasant  in  flavour  and  with 
medicinal  properties,  according  to  these  tribes,  for  relieving  cough 
and  asthma.  The  trunk  and  leaves  of  the  chanar  when  young 
are  almost  like  those  of  the  tamarind,  but  the  branches  resemble 
the  eucalyptus.  A  little  later  than  the  algarroba  comes  the 
mistol,  corresponding  to  our  jujube-tree,  oi  Rhamnus-zizyphus, 
although  with  a  slight  difference.  The  fruit,  mixed  with  algar- 
roba, is  used  to  make  patai ;  and  it  is  preserved  besides,  tightly 
pressed  down  in  skins.  At  the  same  season,  some  sooner  some 
later,  all  the  other  fruits  ripen,  whereas  in  the  colder  Chaco 
they  come  to  maturity  in  October  and  December  (the  spring 
and  summer  months),  and  farther  south,  towards  Tucuman, 
from  November  to  February. 

The  fruit  season,  especially  an  abundant  one,  and  if  we 
include  the  time  during  which  some  of  the  fruits  can  be  pre- 
served, lasts  from  four  to  five  months.  It  is  the  Indians' 
carnival 

In  order  to  preserve  the  algarroba  they  construct  small  huts, 
which  they  raise  on  four  supports,  for  the  purpose  of  ventilation, 
and  to  preserve  it  from  ants  and  other  insects.     It  is  pretty  (o 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  73 

see  these  little  cupolas  rising  above  the  toldos  like  our  belfries. 
Each  tolderia  prides  itself  on  displaying  a  greater  number 
than  the  others.  They  preserve  vinal,  and  some  other  roots  and 
fruits,  that  can  be  or  ought  to  be  cooked  in  a  dry  state,  in  the 
same  way. 

When  the  aloja  is  ready,  which  should  be  about  11  a.m.,  all 
the  men  assemble  round  the  cylinder  of  yuchan^  sitting  on  the 
ground  like  Mussulmans  ;  and  with  two  or  three  empty  gourds 
reach  the  liquor  and  hand  it  to  each  other,  conversing  mean- 
while on  their  affairs — such  as  battles,  harvests,  news  of  any 
kind,  gossip ;  and  laughing  Homerically  over  a  curious  adventure 
or  a  play  upon  words.  This  lasts  for  three  or  four  hours,  or  even 
longer.  When  the  liquor  is  finished  they  consume  the  solid 
matter  that  has  remained  at  the  bottom  ;  the  women  and  children 
take  no  share  in  the  proceedings. 

They  esteem  the  algarroba  very  highly  ;  a  celebrated  head 
cacique  called  Granadero  by  the  Christians,  on  account  of  his 
height,  and  CMatzutac  by  the  Mattaccos,  in  allusion  to  his  size 
and  nation,  replied  when  asked  how  he  was,  "  Bien  yo,  yo  rico,  yo 
teniendo,  mucha  algarroba  yo  rico."  They  are  stingy,  too,  with 
regard  to  algarroba  and  aloja,  and  will  not  exchange  it,  except 
under  extraordinary  circumstances,  for  other  things ;  nor  will 
they  invite  any  one,  except  grudgingly  and  with  much  ado,  to 
drink  with  them. 

One  morning  I  found  a  crowd  of  about  forty  Indians  round 
a  giuccian  of  aloja.  On  seeing  me  they  all  cried  out :  "  luan  ! 
luan  I  "  ("  Gianni !  Gianni !")  "juc-qu-ds,  juc-qu-ds "  ("tobacco, 
tobacco");  and  I  replied,  ^^ Hue-ni-tde,  nikioc-ld-pac"  ("I  have 
not  any  ;  I  will  give  you  some  shortly").  They  then  invited  me 
to  drink  with  them,  but,  on  my  first  refusal,  they  did  not  ask 
me  a  second  time,  and  the  cacique  said,  *'  No  hijito,  no ;  nosotros 
tmnanno,  tu  ddnno  tahuaco  "  ("  No,  my  son,  no,  we  will  drink ; 
you  shall  give  tobacco  ").  We  were  exchanging  courtesies — 
rather  Indian  ones  certainly — but  courtesies,  nevertheless.  Wish- 
ing to  please  them,  I  then  endeavoured  to  say  a  few  words  in 
their  language,  and  finally  took  my  leave,  saying,  "  Amecnd,  nu 
jopil  nuhduety  nutpinldpdc,  niochioc-ld  Juc-qu-ds ''  ("  Good-bye,  I 
am  going  home  ;  I  will  soon  return  ;  I  will  give  tobacco").  They 
were  all  delighted,  because  I  had  used  their  language,  and  had 
promised  them  tobacco,  and  they  shouted,  "  Amecnd,  amecnd ; 
tapil  ccaelitt "  ("  Good-bye,  good-bye  ;  come  back  soon  ").  I  re- 
turned two  or  three  hours  later  with  my  wallets  crammed  fuU 


74  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN    CHACO 

of  cut  tobacco,  and  found  them  still  drinking.  Scarcely  had 
they  perceived  me  when  they  reminded  me  of  my  promise,  which 
I  thought  they  had  forgotten  in  the  fumes  of  drink.  I  distributed 
it  among  them  ;  but  when  all  was  finished,  they  still  asked  for 
more.  At  last  I  held  the  bags  upside  down,  crying  "  Namhuen^ 
namhuen"  ("I  have  no  more").  Convinced  by  my  eloquent 
demonstration,  they  concluded  with  "  Bee,  Tiee,'  meaning,  "  Very 
good."     But  they  did  not  renew  the  invitation  to  drink. 

Indians  make  a  very  poor  mouth,  and  are  grudging  of  their 
belongings  to  Christians  ;  if  you  will  believe  them,  they  are  as 
poor  as  Job  ! 

A  remark  just  occurs  to  me  that  I  will  note,  although  out  of 
its  place,  lest  I  should  forget  it.  Children  up  to  eight  or  ten 
years  of  age  have  such  large  stomachs  that  they  have  to  be 
bandaged  at  the  height  of  the  navel,  but  the  size  diminishes 
gradually,  and  in  manhood  their  figures  are  remarkably  slight. 

I  think  it  opportune  to  remark  in  this  place  that  the  algarroba 
belongs  to  the  family  of  our  carob-tree  {Geratonia  siliqua),  and 
the  scientific  name  given  it  by  botanists  is  Prosopis  algarroho. 
It  is  of  immense  importance  in  the  domestic  economy  of  savages 
and  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  desert  country.  It  therefore  claims 
our  attention.  Its  foliage  extends  to  ten  feet  or  more  in  diameter, 
but  is  not  very  dense,  either  from  the  small  number  of  leaves, 
or  still  more  from  their  highly  indentated  shape.  l!^evertheless, 
it  affords  a  plenteous  shade.  The  bark  is  very  rugged,  resembling 
that  of  the  vine. 

The  vinal  {Prosopis  ruscifoUa)  is  a  low  tree,  but  with  ample 
foliage ;  it  is  remarkable  for  thorns  ten  or  fifteen  centimeters 
in  length,  which  inflict  most  dangerous  wounds.  The  leaves  are 
about  the  size  of  acacia  leaves,  but  more  pointed  and  rather  rough. 
They  are  said  to  be  an  efficacious  remedy  for  weak  eyes. 

The  scientific  name  of  the  chaiiar  is  Gurliaea  decorticans,  that 
of  the  mistol,  Zizyphus  mistol. 

AU  these  fruits  are  eagerly  devoured  by  cattle,  and  algarroba 
and  vinal  are  excellent  for  fattening  horses  and  cows. 

The  plum-tree  grows  wild,  but  it  is  scarce,  at  least  so  far  as  I 
have  seen.  The  flavour  of  this  fruit  is  pleasant,  all  the  more  so 
from  the  absence  of  the  cultivated  plum  in  these  parts. 

During  the  Aloja  Carnival  frequent  quarrels  take  place.  There 
is  much  fighting,  and  some  deaths  occur,  not  only  among  the 
Indians,  but  also  among  the  Christians  of  the  Chaco. 

I  will  now  say  two  words  concerning  the  yuchan  {Palo  briacb). 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  75 

and  the  Ghorisea  insignis,  which  might  be  called  a  cotton-tree. 
The  shape  is  peculiar.  The  trunk  resembles  an  oil  jar,  that  is 
to  say,  it  is  small  at  the  base,  large  in  the  middle,  and  small 
again  at  the  bifurcation  of  the  branches.  The  diameter  of  the 
trunk  attains  two  yards  ;  it  is  full  of  knots,  and  is  four  or  five 
yards  in  height,  when  full  grown,  and  is  often  united  with 
another  as  far  as  the  base.  The  foliage  commences  with  two 
branches  only,  which  are  afterwards  subdivided,  and  form  an 
ample  canopy,  eight  or  ten  yards  or  more  in  diameter.  The 
leaves  are  like  those  of  our  nut-trees,  but  rather  smaller,  and  of 
a  beautiful  colour. 

The  bark  is  cut  into  strips  for  binding ;  it  is  also  used  for 
roofing,  for  wrapping  and  tying  up  rolls  of  tobacco,  and  for  other 
like  purposes.  From  the  trunk  the  Indians  make  their  canoes 
in  one  single  piece.  To  do  this,  they  need  only  scoop  it  out 
with  an  instrument  of  some  kind,  the  wood  being  soft  when 
fresh  cut,  and  becoming  harder  than  cork,  although  of  the  same 
nature,  when  dry.  The  Mattaccos  call  the  canoe  cuo-Jciac,  mean- 
ing a  duck. 

The  special  value,  however,  of  the  yuchan  lies  in  its  fruit, 
which  resembles  a  lemon  in  shape,  colour,  and  size.  When  ripe 
(from  November  to  January,  according  to  the  locality),  the 
fruit  divides  in  four,  and  a  feathery  tuft  unfolds  of  perfectly 
white  cotton  that  gradually  falls  from  the  tree.  An  open  lemon 
is  the  size  of  a  large  doubled  fist.  The  tree  bears  hundreds  of 
these  all  the  year  round. 

The  Indians  make  some  use  of  the  cotton,  the  Christians  none  ; 
nevertheless,  in  Catamarca,  where  there  are  a  few  of  these  trees, 
I  saw  some  white  goods  manufactured  from  it,  that  ranked  first 
in  the  Cordoba  Exhibition. 

There  are  immense  numbers  of  yuchans  in  the  Chaco,  standing 
amongst  the  hard- wooded  trees  in  the  lands  liable  to  immersion. 
If  an  industrial  use  could  be  made  of  the  cotton  furnished  by 
the  yuchan  and  the  chaguar — the  latter  affording  material  for 
cordage,  and  both  trees  extending  over  immense  districts  and 
requiring  no  cultivation — a  very  valuable  trade  would  be  in- 
augurated. 

Another  very  interesting  tree,  both  for  its  domestic  and  also, 
perhaps,  for  its  industrial  uses,  is  the  paeard  {EuteroloUum 
timboiva).  This  is  a  magnificent  tree,  and  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  for  height,  size,  and  foliage.  The  leaves  are  like  those 
of  our  sorb-apple,  but  are  larger.     It  belongs  to  the  mimosa 


*j6  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

family.  The  fruit  is  oblong  in  shape,  its  colour  a  dark  chestnut, 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length,  and  it  contains  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  per  cent  of  saponina.  It  is  used  for  cleaning  clothes 
and  woollens. 

In  order  to  conclude  where  we  began,  I  will  add  that  the 
Indians  drink  largely  of  the  liquors  used  by  the  Christians,  and 
will  eat  hemp  until  they  are  stupefied. 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  7/ 


CHAPTEE  XY. 

WAR. 

The  Indians  delight  in  warfare.  It  is  necessary  to  state  this, 
because  they  fight  very  frequently,  and  are  in  a  state,  if  I  may 
permit  myself  the  expression,  of  continual  scuffle. , 

One  war  follows  on  another,  that  the  vanquished  may  take 
revenge  for  their  losses,  and  the  victorious  gratify  their  increasing 
taste  for  successful  battle.  To  have  fished,  hunted,  or  gleaned 
on  the  territory  of  others,  is  sufficient  reason  for  a  war,  or 
to  have  to  revenge  some  injury,  or,  in  short,  any  hope  of 
plunder. 

War,  however,  is  not  carried  on  strategically,  one  battle 
following  another  until  the  enemy  is  no  longer  able  to  defend 
himself;  it  is  rather  a  system  of  attacking  the  tolderias  by 
surprise,  and  plundering  them  of  goods,  cattle,  children,  and 
sometimes  of  women  also. 

For  this  reason,  in  wooded  districts,  the  tolderias  are  always 
built  with  two  sides  against  the  forest,  for  refuge  in  case  of 
assault.  It  is  impossible  for  the  enemy  to  follow  in  pursuit 
through  a  labyrinth  of  foot-paths  known  only  to  the  inhabitants 
of  that  particular  tolderia. 

In  order  to  reassemble  afterwards  in  a  common  meeting- 
place,  the  inmates  guide  themselves  not  only  by  the  indications 
of  footmarks,  but  they  also  twist  off  small  branches  or  tufts  of 
grass  at  cross-roads,  to  give  warning  to  their  companions  who 
are  on  the  look-out  for  these  previously  concerted  signals. 

Another  mode  of  communication  is  that  of  lighting  fires. 
During  our  march  through  the  Chaco  we  were  always  surrounded 
by  fires  at  a  greater  or  less  distance,  occasionally  of  immense 
extent.  And  often,  when  we  thought  we  had  been  completely 
isolated,  we  found  our  arrival  at  some  Indiada  had  been  expected, 
and  that  the  order  of  our  march  was  well  known. 

The   Indians   employ   numerous   spies   and    explorers ;   the 


78  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

Mattacco  word  for  the  former  is  niguaiecque,  and  for  the  latter 
gueicass. 

They  seem  to  have  one  elementary  notion  of  military  tactics, 
since  they  have  a  cacique -general,  ordinary  caciques,  and  chiefs 
of  half-cohorts.  The  first  is  Canniat  tizdn,  the  second  canniat, 
and  I  am  ignorant  of  the  Mattacco  for  the  third.  The  caciques- 
general  are  elected  from  the  second  grade,  and  these  again  from 
the  chiefs  of  half-cohorts,  who  are  themselves  chosen  by  the 
people,  generally  from  the  sons  of  deceased  chiefs,  if  grown  up, 
courageous  and  good.  The  same  passions  are  aroused  in  these 
elections  as  among  ourselves. 

Moreover,  another  order  of  persons  exists  called  nee-yat 
corresponding  with  the  Spanish  cahallero  and  the  Italian 
galant'uomo.  Thus  Christians,  who  appear  to  belong  to  this 
category,  are  called  by  them  nee-yat.  Analogous  distinctions 
probably  exist  among  other  Indian  tribes.  In  Peru,  and  wherever 
the  Chicciua  language  is  spoken,  caballeros  are  called  viracoccia 
and  ueracoccia. 

On  the  election  of  a  cacique- general,  the  electors,  if  able,  come 
and  visit  him,  and  on  such  an  occasion  the  usual  eating  and 
drinking  takes  place.  A  cacique-general  usually  rules  over 
several  tolderias  at  some  distance  from  each  other.  Tzi-ckiac 
is  the  Mattacco  word  for  his  visits  to  them.  The  authority 
exercised  by  the  cacique-general  over  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco 
is  purely  military  ;  in  time  of  peace  they  scarcely  exert  any 
active  power,  unless  with  regard  to  foreign  affairs.  As  to  these 
they  receive  information  from  the  tribes  living  near  foreigners, 
both  in  arranging  any  business,  or  in  contriving  a  war  or  a 
peace.  No  one,  however,  is  bound  by  their  acts,  and  the  common 
people,  the  moh,  are  free  to  refuse  to  make  war,  although  their 
pride  seldom  allows  them  to  abstain  from  it. 

When  a  cacique  wishes  to  make  an  attack  he  asks  the  opinion 
of  the  elders,  and  of  persons  of  influence,  and  if  they  approve, 
he  invites  all  who  will  to  follow  him. 

Sometimes  the  respected  chiefs  of  various  tolderias  agree 
together  long  beforehand  on  a  proposed  attack.  When  we 
reached  the  tolderia  of  the  Ciaguardl,  we  found  an  assembly  of 
twelve  or  thirteen  caciques,  aU  of  them  Mattaccos,  and  expecting 
their  allies  the  Tobas,  m  conjunction  with  whom  they  shortly 
afterwards  invaded  the  territory  of  some  other  Mattaccos,  who, 
three  months  before,  had  inflicted  a  defeat  on  them. 

On  starting  for  war  they  utter  threatening  and  joyful  shout^, 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  79 

and  stain  parts  of  the  face  and  body  with  black,  and  sometimes 
tangle  still  more  their  entangled  hair,  till  they  look  like  troubled 
spirits,  to  use  the  expression  of  an  Indian  Christian.  At  the 
moment  of  battle  those  who  possess  any  feathers  fix  them  on 
their  heads,  their  waist  and  even  their  ankles,  giving  the  pre- 
ference to  red  and  yellow  ones.  If  they  wear  any  clothing  it  is 
bound  tightly  round  the  waist,  and  when  actually  fighting  they 
utter  loud  cries. 

The  custom  of  painting  the  body  for  war  is  found  among  all 
wild  tribes,  and  was  practised  by  the  peoples  whom  the  Romans 
called  barbarians.  According  to  Claudian,  for  instance,  the 
Sicambrians  painted  their  faces  bright  red  before  battle. 

The  caciques  are  entitled  to  the  post  of  honour  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight,  resulting  always  in  the  death  of  some  of 
them.  If  the  invaders  are  victorious  they  plunder,  and  pursue 
the  women,  children,  and  cattle,  and  on  departing  set  fire  to  the 
tolderia. 

No  quarter  is  given  to  the  combatants,  and  they  seldom 
spare  the  lives  of  the  grown-up  women,  fearing  them  either 
as  spies,  or  as  unlikely  to  train  properly  the  children  they 
have  carried  off",  and  if  they  are  old,  despising  them  as  useless. 
But  they  take  the  children  under  ten  or  twelve  years,  to 
bring  them  up  as  warriors  or  as  wives  for  the  benefit  of  the 
tribe. 

These  customs  should  not  appear  more  barbarous  to  us  than 
those  of  the  Scythians,  who  in  the  times  of  the  Romans  dwelt 
between  the  Don  and  the  Danube,  and  were  accustomed  to 
kill  their  prisoners  in  order  to  spare  themselves  the  trouble  of 
guarding  them  in  their  nomadic  life.  And  what  have  we  to  say 
when  the  Romans,  after  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  threw 
their  prisoners  into  the  circus  to  be  tormented  by  wild  beasts 
amid  the  insults  of  the  populace.  Listen  to  the  compliment 
contained  in  the  panegyric  repeated  by  a  great  Christian  per- 
sonage to  Constantine  the  Great,  the  Victor  Emmanuel  of 
Christianity.  "  With  the  blood  of  the  Franks  you  have  in- 
creased the  splendour  of  our  games ;  you  have  given  us  the 
joyful  sight  of  innumerable  prisoners  torn  to  pieces  by  wild 
beasts ;  and  the  expiring  barbarians  were  still  more  outraged 
by  the  insults  of  their  conquerors  than  by  the  teeth  of  the 
brutes  or  the  agony  of  death." 

I  recall  these  things  to  prove  that  in  every  time  and  place 
human  nature  is  the  same. 


80  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

By  these  expeditious  means  the  Indians  avoid  the  shame  and 
dangers  of  slavery,  which  moreover  would  he  incompatible  with 
their  wandering  life,  their  continual  wars,  the  scarcity  of  their 
food,  and  finally  with  the  independence  of  their  own  character, 
which  leads  them  to  inflict  or  suffer  death  rather  than  endure 
slavery.  Nevertheless  we  may  consider  the  extraordinary  effects 
such  customs  produce  on  the  existence  and  distribution  of 
tribes,  since  a  succession  of  victories  on  the  part  of  one,  or  several 
allied  tribes,  may  involve  the  complete  destruction  and  dis- 
appearance of  others. 

Whosoever  kills  an  enemy  wears  as  a  trophy,  if  he  has  time  to 
secure  it,  the  scalp  with  the  hair,  the  ears,  and  possibly  a  fold 
of  skin  from  the  back  of  the  neck.  He  forms  it  to  the  shape 
of  a  cup  by  means  of  a  bulrush  or  a  flexible  twig  which 
he  binds  and  stitches  all  round  the  edge  ;  then,  while  still  bloody, 
he  fills  it  with  liquor,  and  holding  it  by  the  hair  passes  it  round 
to  his  companions,  who  empty  it  as  they  drink  in  honour  of  the 
victor  and  in  scorn  of  the  vanquished.  Another  way  is  to  hold 
the  scalp  by  the  edge  and  pour  out  the  liquor  in  drops  over  the 
hair  and  jaws. 

One  of  these  scalps  came  into  my  possession.  It  had  formerly 
belonged  to  a  Toba  cacique  killed  by  a  friendly  Mattacco  during 
the  attack  that  was  being  prepared  when  we  reached  theCiaguaral. 

This  custom  of  scalping  prevails  among  all  the  Indians  of 
these  parts,  and  also  among  those  of  North  America.  More 
strangely  still,  it  existed  among  the  Scythians. 

The  Germans  used  to  drink  out  of  the  skulls  of  the  enemies , 
they  had  slain.     And  who  has  not  heard  of  Alboin,  the  Lom- 
bard, who,  thirteen  hundred  years  ago,  made  his  wife  Rosamond 
drink  from  her  father's  skull  1 

This  custom  of  the  Indians  recalls  a  scene  to  my  remem- 
brance that  demonstrates  the  cunning  of  these  savages. 

On  one  occasion,  I  accompanied  the  colonel  of  the  regiment 
stationed  on  the  frontier,  in  one  of  his  periodical  visits.  Close 
to  a  fort  where  a  tribe  of  Indians  dwelt,  the  son  of  the 
cacique-general  came  to  pay  us  a  visit;  the  father  did  not 
come  himself,  because  the  colonel,  he  asserted,  should  first  call 
upon  him.  But  he  sent  us  a  present  of  some  excellent  aloja. 
As  he  had  just  returned  from  fighting  the  Tobas,  we  asked  him 
whether  he  had  brought  back  any  scalps.  And  the  Indian,  by 
way  of  excusing  his  cruelty,  replied,  "  The  Tobas  take  scalps 
from  the  Christians,  and  we  from  the  Tobas."  », 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  8 1 

On  that  occasion,  seeing  me  in  European  dress  in  the  midst 
of  so  many  military  men,  and  treated  by  the  colonel  with  great 
politeness,  they  said  among  themselves, — 

"Who  can  this  be?" 

And  the  more  knowing  ones  replied, — 

"  Oh,  some  President ! " 

I  felt  on  hearing  this  as  if  I  were  among  a  crowd  of  our  own 
people. 

It  is  a  custom  of  war  among  these  Indians  to  begin  their 
undertakings  at  the  new  moon.  They  attribute  to  it  apparently 
some  superstitious  power;  they  do  not,  however,  make  night 
marches,  for  fear  of  vipers  and  tigers. 

We  find  a  similar  superstition  among  the  Spartans,  and  we 
know  from  themselves  that  in  the  war  with  the  Medes  (491  B.C.), 
they  were  not  in  time  to  relieve  the  Athenians  and  Plateaus, 
who  under  Miltiades  won  the  famous  battle  of  Marathon  against 
Darius,  King  of  the  Persians ;  the  cause  of  the  delay  was  their 
waiting  for  the  full  moon,  on  which  account  they  did  not  arrive 
until  the  day  after  the  battle. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  their  arms  consist  of  the  bow 
and  arrow,  the  lance  and  the  club.  All  these  are  of  wood.  They 
do  not  use  metals  because  they  have  none,  and  would  not  know 
how  to  work  in  them.  They  esteem  very  highly  any  nails  or 
knives  or  tinned  boxes  they  happen  to  possess.  They  make 
use  also  of  las  holeadoras,  a  kind  of  sling. 

They  carry  on  war  at  hundreds  of  leagues'  distance,  traversed 
entirely  on  foot,  and  with  relative  rapidity.  For  the  Indians 
are  stupendous  walkers.  Naked,  and  hence  light-footed,  and  in 
constant  practice  they  cover  the  ground  quickly  without 
appearing  to  do  so  ;  they  are  barefooted,  and  therefore  it  is  less 
needful  to  raise  the  foot  high. 

The  chiefs  do  not  fail  to  harangue  their  troops  before  battle, 
and  at  the  moment  of  attack  their  leader  shouts,  "Comrades  ! 
here  we  are  ;  fight  courageously  !  Do  not  fly  even  if  the  enemy 
tramples  you  underfoot !  "  An  expression  that  seems  to  me  full 
of  energy  and  truth,  relating  as  it  does  to  a  hand-to-hand 
struggle. 

They  revile  the  dead  body  of  an  enemy.  Besides  cutting 
off  the  head,  they  tear  out  the  heart,  mutilate  the  various 
members,  and  outrage  it  in  a  thousand  ways. 

I  am  ignorant  whether  these  tortures  precede  the  death  of 
the  prisoner,  or  whether  they  are  satisfied  with  cutting  his 

G 


82  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

throat  like  a  sheep's,  before  mutilating  him.  They  acted  as 
follows  towards  Faustino.  First  they  pierced  him  with  arrows 
so  that  he  fell  to  the  earth  unable  to  defend  himself;  then 
they  seized  him  while  still  conscious  and  cut  his  throat,  then 
they  cut  off  his  head,  hung  the  body  to  a  tree  by  the  feet,  and 
went  away  having  stripped  him  of  everything. 

The  following  conversation  took  place  between  two  Indians 
after  a  battle  : — 

First  Indian.  "  Now  I  will  tell  you  what  happened  on  our 
return.  All  at  once  I  heard  some  one  behind  me,  shouting, 
'  The  enemy  are  killing  our  comrades  down  there,  in  the 
hollow.'  I  cried  out  to  my  men,  '  Stand  fast !  they  are  killing 
our  comrades !  Do  not  fiy,  stand  firm  even  if  they  trample  you 
underfoot.' " 

Second  Indian,  "  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  had  been  there  !  The 
misfortune  was  that  I  did  not  see  you  when  you  marched." 

First  Indian.  "  You  would  have  seen  !  We  set  at  them 
with  our  lances  and  clubs,  and  killed  ever  so  many.  Oh,  we 
took  our  revenge  !  So  now  I  am  quite  contented  ;  we  are  even 
now.  We  scalped  some,  cut  the  hands  off  others,  tore  out  the 
hearts  of  others,  or  mutilated  them ;  and  cut  off  the  heads  of 
many." 

And  he  continued  minutely  describing  all  their  achievements. 

They  seem  to  ascribe  some  virtue  to  the  limbs  of  an  enemy. 
I  remember  on  one  occasion  having  brought  with  me  three 
Mattacco  heads,  taken  from  a  spot  where  four  years  previously 
two  score  of  them  had  been  taken  prisoners  and  then  massacred. 
The  floods  had  carried  away  all  but  the  three  I  succeeded  in 
obtaining.  I  brought  them  a  distance  of  ten  leagues  to  my 
ranche  on  the  frontier,  where  I  put  them  in  my  room,  under 
the  little  table  that  served  me  for  a  desk. 

One  stormy  night  I  heard  a  voice  through  the  open  door. 
The  poor  light  of  my  tallow  candle  dazzled  my  eyes,  and  thus 
prevented  me  from  seeing  a  black  figure  in  the  darkness  of  the 
background.  "  Quien  es  ?"  I  cried,  instinctively  seizing  the 
revolver  on  my  table.  ^^ Amice o,  amicco ;  no  mas'^  ("A  friend, 
a  friend  :  nothing  else  ") ;  and  a  Mattacco  cacique  drew  near, 
followed  by  a  companion."  ^^Quequeriendo^amigo  ?"  ("AVhatdo 
you  want,  friend  "),  1  continued.  "  I'oha  etec  "  ("  The  head  of  the 
Toba  "),  replied  he.  I  took  up  one  of  the  skulls  and  gave  it  to  him, 
saying,  "  Toha  catchia  "  ("Wicked  Toba  ").  The  Indian  clutched 
the  head  almost  con-v^ilsively  in  his  left  hand,  and  thrust  the 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  S$ 

fingers  of  his  right  hand  into  the  sockets  of  the  eyes,  and  into 
the  ears  and  mouth  of  the  skull,  and  then  quickly  into  his  own 
mouth  as  if  sucking  them ;  at  the  same  time  dancing  about  and 
uttering  inarticulate  cries. 

My  cacique  had  heard  of  these  heads,  as  belonging  to  his 
mortal  enemies,  the  Tobas,  and  had  come  at  night  on  purpose 
to  celebrate  his  little  festival. 

From  that  time,  for  it  so  chanced  that  the  Mattacco  Indiadas 
were  returning  just  then  from  the  sugar-factories  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Salta,  sixty  leagues  away  in  the  interior,  every  day, 
half  a  hundred  Indians  would  come  to  my  door,  asking  for  the 
Toba's  head.  I  pacified  them  with  the  everlasting  reply, 
*'  Toba  catchia,  catchia"  on  which  they  would  repeat  the  usual 
performance. 


G  2 


84  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

RELIGION. 

The  Indians  of  the  Chaco  have  no  God.  I  do  not  mean  as  God 
is  understood  by  a  thinker  or  a  philosopher,  but  as  the  idea 
is  accepted  by  Christian  and  Chinese  populations.  I  do  not 
mention  the  Hebrews  and  Mahometans,  because  I  have  a  great 
admiration  for  nations  like  the  Israelites,  who,  from  far-distant 
times,  and  Mahometans  from  the  time  of  Arius,  have  been  able 
to  accept  the  simple  yet  dogmatical  idea  of  the  unity  of  the 
Deity,  and  of  the  manifestation  of  His  laws  through  the 
prophets. 

It  is  asserted  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pampas  believe 
in  a  God,  but  we  must  consider  this  a  recent  importation 
from  their  continual  intercourse  with  the  Christians  and  with 
their  brethren  of  Chili,  who  were  converted  shortly  after  the 
conquest. 

But  if  the  inhabitants  of  the  Chaco  have  no  God,  they  have 
a  religion :  the  religion  of  spirits,  and  in  embryo  that  of  the 
stars. 

There  is  no  doubt,  I  believe,  that  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco 
are,  as  regards  civilization,  as  primitive  as  any  other  Indians  or 
savages  in  the  world. 

It  is  asserted  by  some  philosophical  historians  that  the 
first  religious  stage  of  mankind  is  fetichism,  i.e.  the  religion  of 
fetiches,  the  name  given  by  African  negroes  to  the  hideous 
objects  of  their  worship :  without  denying  that  this  may  be 
so,  or  may  have  been  so  with  these  tribes,  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  among  these  Indians  at  least,  the  first  stage  of  religion  is 
not  fetichism  but  spiritism,  as  we  shall  see  farther  on. 

I  believe  that  some  philosophers,  including  Humboldt  in  his 
Cosmos,  have  noted  this  fact,  and  given  it  a  name  which  has 
slipped  my  memory.  », 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  85 

The  Mexicans  and  the  Peruvians,  however,  who  are  strongly 
constituted  as  nations  and  far  advanced  in  civilization,  have 
reached  a  second  stage,  that  of  the  worship  of  stars  and  idols, 
from  which  the  powerful  civilizations  of  Asia,  Greece,  and  Kome, 
of  the  last  of  which  we  are  the  immediate  heirs,  was  developed 
among  ourselves. 

We  stand  at  the  junction  of  this  second  stage  with  a  third, 
higher  than  it,  and  which  affirms  an  impersonal  First  Cause, 
Eternal,  Almighty,  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  to  this  we 
have  added  the  Evil  one,  the  Incarnation,  worship,  priesthood, 
churches,  saints,  amulets,  the  threefold  kingdom  of  the  extra- 
mundane  life.  These  few  allusions  are  intended  to  prove  that 
we  are  all  brothers  during  the  first  stage  of  apparitions,  ecstasies, 
exorcisms,  and  good  and  evil  angels  on  the  right  and  left  hand 
of  every  individual  of  our  poor  humanity. 

It  is  difficult  to  learn  the  creed  of  Indians  from  themselves  ; 
for  while  they  entertain  a  profound  contempt  for  the  religion 
of  Christians,  they  are  afraid  of  the  ridicule,  the  threats, 
and  the  questionings  of  their  presumptuous  and  intolerant 
enemies. 

Faustino,  a  Christian  who  had  returned  to  the  Indians,  when 
asked  the  reason  of  some  rehgious  observance,  used  to  reply, 
"  Ignoro,  senor ;  yo  no  pregunto  nada,  porque  los  Indios 
desconfian  mucho."  ^ 

I  am  about  to  give  an  account  of  what  I  learned  from  their 
own  lips  after  endeavouring  to  inspire  them  with  confidence  by 
my  behaviour,  by  presents,  by  frequenting  their  society,  and 
(I  ask  absolution  from  his  Holiness)  by  having  agreed  with 
them  in  thinking  their  attachment  to  the  religion  of  their 
fathers  a  fine  thing  (orthodox  style),  by  blaming  the  attempts 
of  the  Christians  to  convert  them,  by  contemning  the  scorn  with 
which  these  latter  treated  them,  and,  lastly,  by  joining  with 
them  in  a  hearty  laugh  at  all  the  Christian  absurdities. 

Let  me  explain.  I  hold  the  religion  of  my  ancestors  and 
parents  in  profound  respect ;  and  now  that  my  years  are  begin- 
ning to  increase  in  inverse  ratio  to  my  teeth,  I  greatly  regret 
having  angered  my  loving  mother  when  a  boy  by  showing  my- 
self careless  of  her  pious  request  and  unwilling  to  comply  with 
her  wish  that  I  should  pray  on  the  rosary  for  the  repose  of  our 
departed  friends  and  neighbours.     I  blush  when  I  remember 

1  "  I  do  not  know,  sir;  I  ask  no  questions,  because  Indians  are  very 
suspicious." 


86  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

that  in  my  youth  I  thought  it  clever  to  go  out  of  my  parish 
church  when  mass  was  half  over,  shocking  the  kind  and  worthy 
prior  and  the  devout  country-folk,  while  it  would  have  been  so 
much  more  simple  to  have  stayed  away  altogether.  I  feel 
gratitude  towards  the  good  Fathers,  that  will  last  while  I 
live,  for  the  instruction  they  imparted  to  me  during  many 
years ;  yet  all  my  repentance,  blushes,  and  gratitude  fail  to 
inspire  me  with  any  zeal  for  the  machine  that  calls  itself 
Christianity,  or  with  any  anxiety  for  the  conversion  of  these 
innocent  and  free  unbelievers,  who  would  find  their  chains  of 
slavery  riveted  by  baptism.  2 

I  know  this  to  be  true.  It  will  be  objected  that  looking  at 
the  matter  from  a  merely  human  point  of  view  there  must  be 
progress  for  these  savages  in  entering  on  civilized  life,  even 
through  the  portals  of  Christianity,  and  that  the  crossing  of 
races  is  a  progress  for  the  whole  of  human  society. 

I  reply  to  this  that  we  must  not  hasten  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  crossing  of  races  so  remote  would  be  a  social  progress ; 
rather  is  it  to  be  feared,  that  the  result  would  be  a  non-repro- 
ductive hybrid  like  the  mule  ;  and  the  fact  that  the  natives  of 
this  continent  are  continually  bewailing  a  few  drops  of  Indian 
blood  in  their  veins,  seems  to  corroborate  my  view  of  the  subject. 
With  regard  to  the  tribes  themselves,  what  benefit  would  they 
derive  from  entering  our  ranks  1  Their  birth  and  colour  would  be 
the  first  hindrance  to  their  happiness,  and  even  if  we  grant  that 
they  would  share  equally  with  Christians  in  the  advantages  of 
their  new  social  conditions,  it  would  always  be  true  that  only 
a  microscopic  portion  of  these  would  afi'ord  them  pleasure,  the 
rest  would  be  a  heavy  burden,  as  is  the  case  at  the  present 
moment  with  the  proud  descendants  of  Christian  civilization, 

Ahot  is  the  Mattacco  word  for  spirits,  the  Vilela  word  is 
cokss.^ 

These  are  subterranean  spirits,  but  they  wander  about  the 
world  at  night,  entering  into  houses  and  also  into  persons,  gene- 


^  The  fate  of  the  prisoners  taken  by  General  Rocca  in  his  expedition 
to  Rio  Negro,  which  resulted  in  the  conquest  of  15,000  leagues  by  the 
Argentine  Republic,  proves  to  demonstration  the  accuracy  of  this 
opinion.  The  expedition  was  undertaken  after  the  above  lines  were 
written. 

3  The  h  in  ahot  must  be  aspirate  and  nasal.  This  is  a  frequent 
sound  in  the  Mattacco  and  other  dialects.  But  of  this  I  will  treat 
later.  S 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  8/ 

rally  causing  sickness.  The  ahots  ride  on  the  wind,  and  are 
either  themselves  the  storm  or  are  accompanied  by  it,  dancing 
in  a  circle  round  tolderias,  toldos,  and  individuals  that  they 
wish  to  hurt.  The  most  terrible  allot  is  small-pox,  against 
whom  the  wizards  are  powerless.  When  it  appears  in  a  hauet- 
ei  (tolderia)  the  Indians  hurry  away  from  it,  often  leaving 
it  in  flames  behind  them  and  abandoning  their  sick.  The 
disease  is  very  destructive,  owing  rather,  in  my  opinion,  to 
want  of  care,  which  is  impossible  in  their  houses  and  with  their 
clothes,  than  to  want  of  domestic  or  personal  cleanliness,  which 
seems  to  me  to  be  sufficiently  attended  to.  !N'early  every  case 
is  fatal,  which  accounts  for  very  few  Indians  being  pock- 
marked. 

Each  man  has  a  spirit,  that  after  death  is  united  again,  beneath 
the  earth,  to  its  companions,  and  enjoys  among  them  the  same 
consideration  he  enjoyed  while  living  among  the  inhabitants  of 
his  tolderia.  For  this  reason  they  hold  a  special  religious  rite 
for  their  dead. 

Although  the  ahots  are  fond  of  roaming  about,  nevertheless 
they  remain  near  the  spot  where  the  bodies  that  contain  them 
are  to  die. 

The  spirit  of  the  person  who  dies  away  from  home,  and  who 
cannot  be  buried  in  his  own  country,  wanders  solitary  and  sad 
among  strange  spirits. 

I  inquired  of  my  cicerone  why  these  unfortunate  beings 
were  destined  to  so  cruel  a  fate,  since,  without  fault  of  theirs, 
they  died,  and  their  bodies  were  buried  away  from  their  own 
people.  He  answered  me  thus :  The  bodies  being  left  far  away 
from  their  kinsfolk  and  from  the  members  of  the  same  tribe, 
was  a  sign  that  they  had  not  been  loved  and  esteemed  in  life, 
hence  the  other  dhots^  when  they  see  a  stranger  appear  among 
them,  reason  thus  :  these  persons,  whom  neither  their  earthly 
kinsfolk  nor  their  tribe  honour  with  fraternal  burial,  can- 
not, by  this  token,  have  received  love  or  esteem,  therefore 
they  deserve  nothing  ;"  and  they  leave  him  alone.  I  repeat  the 
gibberish  of  the  ladino. 

I  was  reminded  of  the  Latin  tradition  recorded  in  the  golden 
verse  of  the  ^Eneid  when  ^neas, having  gone  down  to  the  Elysian 
fields,  meets  the  shades  of  the  unburied  wandering  round  the 
Stygian  marsh  without  being  able  to  cross  over  : — 

"  Son  of  Anchises !  oflfspring  of  the  gods ! 
(The  sibyl  said)  you  see  the  Stygian  floods, 


88  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

The  sacred  stream  -which  Heaven's  imperial  state 

Attests  in  oaths  and  fears  to  violate. 

The  ghosts  rejected  are  the  unhappy  crew 

Deprived  of  sepulchres  and  fun'ral  due, 

The  boatman  Charon  :  those,  the  buried  host. 

He  ferries  over  to  the  farthest  coast ; 

Nor  dares  his  transport  vessel  cross  the  waves 

With  such  whose  bones  are  not  composed  in  graves. 

A  hundred  years  they  wander  on  the  shore  ; 

At  length,  their  penance  done,  are  wafted  o'er." 

And  I  remembered  the  respect  in  which  the  grave  is  held  by 
almost  every  nation,  and  the  consequent  intolerance  of  some 
grotesque  and  barbarous  religions. 

The  beliefs  I  have  mentioned  are  the  basis  of  their  cere- 
monies for  healing  the  sick  and  burying  the  dead. 

Before  describing  these,  however,  I  should  notice  a  kind  of 
worship  rendered,  especially  by  the  women,  to  some  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  viz.,  the  moon  and  the  morning  star. 

At  the  rising  of  the  moon,  the  women  issue  forth  from  their 
toldos,  and  holding  each  other  by  the  hand,  dance  rapidly  round 
in  a  ring,  jumping  and  crying  out  in  honour  of  the  silvery  planet. 

They  do  the  same  on  the  appearance  of  the  star  in  the  east, 
praying  it  to  be  favourable  to  the  algarroba  harvest,  and  to 
that  of  the  other  fruits  of  the  earth. 

It  is  a  custom  also  for  men  and  women  to  arise  from  sweet 
repose  at  midnight,  and  all  to  dance  together  in  a  circle, 
jumping  and  shouting,  to  propitiate  Heaven. 

At  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon  they  assemble  in  the  same 
way  and  implore  the  cessation  of  the  inexplicable  phenomenon, 
but  in  this  case  it  is  an  ahot  whom  they  fear  and  propitiate. 

I  know  of  no  other  acts  of  adoration  but  these,  and  they 
denote  an  approach  towards  Sabaism  or  the  worship  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  But  it  is  curious  that  the  sun  is  not  included 
among  the  objects  of  their  worship  or  their  exorcisms.  Our 
interpreter,  Faustino,  however,  informed  me  that  they  assemble 
to  implore  his  reappearance  when  he  has  been  hidden  by 
clouds  (a  very  rare  occurrence  in  these  regions)  for  any 
length  of  time,  or  if  a  storm  lasts  too  long ;  but  even  so 
they  are  rather  conjuring  the  ahot^  who  has  withdrawn  the  bene- 
ficent planet  from  their  sight  and  from  their  unclothed  bodies. 

We  see  by  this  that  among  these  Indians,  too,  the  women  are 
the  first  to  worship,  and  that  like  the  women  of  olden  Pagan 
times,  they  recognize  in  the  pale  moon  an  object  more  consonallt 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  89 

with  their  condition,  and  therefore  more  able  or  more  willing  to 
protect  them  than  the  sun,  who  is  too  nrilike  themselves,  and 
who  awaits  the  adoration  of  men,  slower  to  fear,  to  hope,  and 
to  pray. 

In  no  place  have  I  seen  idols,  notwithstanding  a  diligent 
search,  and  my  guides  have  always  denied  the  existence  of  any. 
But  idol- worship  would  not  seem  foreign  to  their  character,  and 
in  addition  to  the  partial  adoration  of  the  heavenly  bodies  that 
I  have  mentioned,  it  is  probable  that  certain  natural  objects  offer- 
ing special  characteristics  of  a  terrifying,  benevolent,  or  mys- 
terious nature,  are  looked  upon  by  them  with  feelings  not  far 
from  worship. 

Braly,  an  engineer,  who  has  travelled  in  the  Chaco  as  far  as 
Rio  Salado,  assures  me  that  the  Mocovitos  of  that  region  never 
forsake  the  spot  where  an  aerolite  has  fallen  with  loud  crash 
and  dazzling  light. 

This  gives  credibility  to  Azara's  statement,  according  to  which 
the  first  conquerors  of  Paraguay  asserted  that  the  Guaranis  who 
inhabited  that  country  worshipped  an  enormous  caged  serpent. 
This  was  probably  a  species  of  boa,  called  here  ampalagua,  and 
equally  remarkable  for  its  size  and  gentleness. 

I  am  not  disposed,  however,  to  accept  as  true  the  assertions  of 
Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  a  descendant  of  the  Incas,  according  to 
whom  the  peoples  who  were  conquered  by  the  emperors,  his  an- 
cestors, were  plunged  in  the  grossest  idolatry,  worshipping  ima- 
ginary monsters,  the  most  disgusting  animals,  and  small  inanimate 
objects.  Garcilasso,  who  was  piously  attached  to  the  memory 
and  traditions  of  his  forefathers,  although  he  concealed  his 
feelings,  sought  to  show  the  complete  civilization  of  their 
immense  empire,  now  vanished,  and  lent  a  willing  ear  to  the 
national  legends  that  might  support  this  claim.  But  the  grand 
civilizing  action  of  the  Incas,  the  promoters  of  the  worship  of 
sun  and  moon,  of  whom  they  claimed  to  be  the  sons,  requires 
no  such  contrast  to  show  it  forth  ;  it  will  always  be  evident  in 
the  stupendous  achievements  of  their  labour  and  skill.  Woe  to 
the  vanquished  !  And  the  injustice  of  the  Incas  towards  con- 
quered nations  was  inflicted  with  usury  upon  themselves  by 
their  foreign  conquerors,  who,  in  the  name  of  the  true  God, 
destroyed  their  palaces,  temples,  public  works,  and  institutions, 
loading  them  with  contempt  and  anathema. 

However  this  may  be,  the  wandering  life  of  the  wild  tribes 
of  the  Chaco  would  seem  to  exclude  idolatry. 


90  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN    CHACO 

And  in  fact  how  could  wandering  tribes  carry  with  them 
idols  of  large  size.  In  any  case,  they  were  obliged  to  exclude 
large  or  heavy  burdens,  and  those  that  would  be  endangered 
by  falling.  Again,  how  could  they  respect  their  gods  if  carried 
on  horseback  in  awkward  positions;  or  how  preserve  the  prestige 
and  terror  of  mystery  in  the  midst  of  removal  1  And  how  could 
each  one  attend  to  his  own  daily  bread  on  the  march,  and  also 
to  the  misfortunes  of  his  gods  and  priests  who  may  have  been 
taken  prisoners  and  destroyed  on  the  way  by  the  enemy  in 
ambush  1 

Hence  idolatry  must  be  practised  towards  objects  of  small 
size  and  requiring  little  care  ;  but  these  are  the  last  to  seize  on 
the  imagination,  and  we  can  only  conceive  them  as  the  fringes 
of  a  larger  vestment,  and  as  a  passing  caprice  on  the  part  of 
those  not  satisfied  with  the  ordinary  worship,  like  the  luxury  of 
the  lesser  intercessory  saints  in  the  houses  of  the  great. 

The  facility  with  which  the  Indians  abandon  their  tribe,  their 
cacique,  and  their  sorcerers,  is  now  a  well-ascertained  fact,  and 
when  added  to  the  utter  absence  of  prestige  in  the  two  last, 
except  in  time  of  battle  or  of  peril,  is  a  confirmation  of  the 
above  argument. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  9 1 


CHAPTEE  XYII. 

KELiGiON.     ( Continued.) 

With  these  Indians  God  and  devil  are  one,  and  are  called  by 
the  one  name,  which,  as  I  have  already  said,  is  ahot  in  the 
Mattacco  language. 

This  lack  of  distinction  frees  them,  at  least  in  language, 
from  the  vice  of  intolerance,  which  is  so  prevalent  among  our- 
selves. Thus  their  name  for  our  church  is  tohuo-hoto-hi,  the 
literal  meaning  of  which  is  "  that  which  contains  the  ahots," 
that  is,  the  ahots  or  Christian  gods. 

Moreover,  they  give  the  same  name  to  a  burial-ground,  and 
in  this  they  resemble  the  inhabitants  of  these  countries,  in  which 
it  is  called  a  Pantheon. 

And  with  regard  to  this  expression,  remark  the  destiny  of 
words  !  Everybody  knows  that  in  Greece  the  Pantheon  was  a 
temple  dedicated  to  all  the  gods,  as  the  word  itself  explains, 
for  pan  indicates  totality  or  the  whole,  and  teon  expresses 
divinity.  It  was  next  applied  to  the  temples  where  men  were 
set  up,  who,  for  their  great  deeds,  were  looked  upon  as  demi- 
gods, and,  finally,  since  mythological  ideas  waned,  it  has 
been  used  by  us  to  describe  the  burial-place  of  famous  men. 
And  to  this  end,  some  celebrated  buildings,  renowned  by  beauty 
or  historical  traditions,  have  been  devoted,  viz.  the  Pantheon 
in  Paris,  and  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce  in  Florence. 

In  the  Chaco  and  throughout  the  whole  of  the  northern  parts 
of  the  Kepublic,  where  the  inhabitants  are  more  democratic, 
more  on  an  equality,  more  ironical  or  ingenuous,  they  give  the 
name  of  Pantheon  to  a  piece  of  grassy  ground  surrounded  by  a 
hedge.  This  place  is  open  to  tigers  and  dogs,  who,  by  turns, 
hold  high  festival  on  the  fresh-buried  corpse  of  a  white  man, 
a  negro,  or  a  leopard,  but  never  certainly  on  that  of  a  Greek 
demi-god  or  a  divine  modern ! 


92  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

On  account  of  this,  the  word  Pantheon  will,  some  day,  convey 
a  contemptuous  meaning. 

The  ahots  have  the  power  not  only  of  entering  into  indivi- 
duals and  bewitching  them,  and  of  becoming  incarnate — allow 
me  the  neologism — in  the  elements  of  harm,  such  as  tempests, 
the  small-pox,  famine,  &c.,  but  they  are  also  able  to  inflict 
wounds  and  especially  with  arrows.  It  seems,  however,  that  they 
only  inflict  these  arrow- wounds  directly  against  the  will  of  the 
sorcerers,  who,  in  Mattacco,  are  called  ha-ia-que,  and  in  Cheere- 
guan  ippaia;  and  this  is  the  case  also  with  the  hualicho  of  the 
Araucails,  who  have,  in  fact,  a  word  to  express  this  action,  viz. 
cuglin.     In  Mattacco  it  is  ioco. 

It  is  intelligible  that  the  wizards  should  have  selected  the 
arrow  as  the  weapon  of  the  spirit  of  evil,  because  it  is  the 
only  one  among  those  used  by  the  Indians  that  has  any 
semblance  of  mystery  or  witchcraft.  Being  a  projectile  it  can 
be  shot  from  any  direction  and  from  afar,  the  archer  remaining 
unseen. 

The  Indians  have  great  faith  in  this  power  of  their  ahots,  A 
ladino  of  mine,  a  certain  Taio  (so  called  on  account  of  a  cut, 
taglio,  across  his  face),  an  Indian,  told  me  the  fallowing  story 
in  order  to  prove  to  me  the  power  of  the  ahots  and  the  ignorance 
of  the  Christians  in  denying  their  existence.  Once  upon  a 
time  a  tribe  had  just  returned  from  a  sugar-factory  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Salta.  It  was  the  algarroba  season.  One  night  the 
people  were  making  merry,  singing  and  dancing.  All  at  once 
they  hear  a  Christian  approaching  and  singing  as  he  comes ; 
they  hear  the  clattering  of  his  horse's  hoofs  and  the  jangling  of 
his  silver  spurs. 

As  soon  as  he  comes  up  he  draws  rein,  reproves  them  for 
what  they  are  doing,  and  wishes  to  prohibit  them  from  con- 
tinuing. The  people  are  displeased  at  his  intrusion,  and  tell  the 
hdiague  to  send  him  away. 

The  hdiague^  not  succeeding  with  fair  words,  tells  the  Chris- 
tian who  thus  persists  in  interrupting  and  profaning  the  feast, 
"  Now  you  shall  see  if  we  are  such  poor  people  ;  j^ou  shall  see 
what  the  ahot  can  do." 

He  stoops  down,  covers  himself,  and  cries  to  the  ahot,  "  Send 
an  arrow  into  that  Christian,  and  show  him  whether  we  are 
quite  such  a  helpless  people." 

"  It  is  well,"  replies  the  ahot. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  93 

All  at  once  a  noise  is  heard  from  below  as  if  a  stick  had  been 
snapped.     It  was  an  arrow. 

The  Christian  suddenly  fell  from  his  horse.  He  was 
dead ! 

The  ahofs  arrow  had  killed  him,  because  he  had  disbelieved 
in  the  ahot 

The  whole  tribe  swore  they  had  witnessed  this. 

When  he  had  ended  his  story  I  thought  to  myself :  what 
difference  is  there  except  in  the  proportions,  between  the 
credulity  of  these  people  and  that  of  the  Hebrews,  who  believed 
in  the  destruction  of  Sennacherib  and  185,000  Assyrians  in  one 
night  by  an  angel  of  the  Lord,  when  he  was  about  to  lay  siege 
to  Jerusalem"?  or  that  of  the  Spanish  conquerors  of  Mexico 
who,  according  to  the  historian  Gomara,  chaplain  to  Cortes, 
vanquished  innumerable  enemies  by  the  apparition  of  Senor 
Santiago  apostol  sobre  un  cahallo  tordillo  at  the  head  of  the 
Spanish  troops  1 

And  this  was  but  a  second  edition  of  the  good  angel  in 
golden  armour  on  a  white  horse  who  enabled  Antiochus  Eupa- 
tor  to  overcome  Juda  some  thousands  of  years  before ! 

These  savages  have  as  much  foundation  for  their  belief  in 
these  idle  tales  as  we  have  for  believing  in  ours.  They,  too, 
have  the  phrases  it  is  said  and  /  saiu  it,  repeated  by  thousands. 
They  have  facts  accompanied  by  circumstances,  and  they  take 
the  latter  for  the  cause  of  the  former,  just  as  we  do.  One 
miracle  is  as  good  as  another. 

It  is  curious  that  the  object  of  recognition,  if  not  of  adora- 
tion, is  the  principle  of  evil,  because,  after  all,  the  aJiot  is  a 
maleficent  power,  able  to  work  evil.  If  we  consider  this 
recognition  as  the  dawn  of  a  religion,  we  must  concede  that 
the  point  of  departure  is  the  fear  of  evil  and  the  desire  of 
averting  it. 

We  find  the  same  beliefs  prevalent  in  the  other  wild  tribes  of 
America  as  among  these  Indians  of  the  Chaco,  although  in 
some,  in  North  America,  they  also  acknowledge  benevolent 
powers  or  invisible  beings,  called  manitos  and  ockos. 

Concerning  these  spirits,  they  argue  ingenuously  but  wisely 
enough.  Why  trouble  oneself,  they  say,  about  a  being  who, 
by  his  nature,  is  beneficent  1  He  cannot  harm  us,  because  if  he 
is  good  he  cannot  wish  us  evil. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  every  religion  has  something  of 


94  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

original  sin,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  because  they  all  teach  and 
enforce  expiatory  sacrifice  to  appease  the  divine  anger. 

If  we  make  our  examination  of  conscience,  can  we  say 
we  have  any  love  of  God  1  We  have  fear  certainly,  notwith- 
standing the  tenth  commandment ;  and,  in  fact,  our  preachers 
always  inculcate  the  holy  fear  of  God. 

To  any  one  who  should  aftirm  the  contrary  we  should  repeat 
the  words  of  the  Saviour,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for 
theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Among  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco  who  retain  some  traditions 
of  the  catechism  taught  them  by  the  missionaries,  there  is  a 
ceremony,  perhaps  the  only  religious  one,  that  seems  a  parody 
of  a  Christian  observance.  From  time  to  time  they  all  as- 
semble round  the  elders  and  chiefs,  the  women  on  one  side, 
the  men  on  another.  In  the  middle,  on  a  mass  of  flowers, 
they  place  an  ahot,  that  is,  a  boy,  a  future  sorcerer ;  mean- 
while they  talk,  smoke,  and  drink,  and  say  they  have  been  at 
mass. 

The  wizards  do  not  fail  to  converse  with  the  child-god,  and 
to  communicate  the  replies  they  receive  from  him. 

In  these,  as  in  other  ceremonies,  the  wizard  is  continually 
bowing  down,  covering  himself,  talking  towards  the  ground, 
under  which  are  the  ahots.  He  speaks  to  them  with  his  natural 
voice,  and  answers  either  in  a  shrill  or  a  deep  tone,  according  to 
the  disposition  of  the  aJiot,  and  the  crowd  believes  that  the 
latter  is  really  answering,  not  understanding  that  it  is  the  trick 
of  a  ventriloquist. 

We  see  that  even  before  revealed  religion,  impostors  have  not 
been  wanting,  to  cheat  fools. 

The  stupidity  of  fanaticism,  not  to  say  ignorance,  has  dis- 
covered a  mysterious  communication  of  baptism  in  the  custom 
prevalent  among  savages,  ab  antiquo,  of  washing  the  bodies  of 
their  infants.  But  this  custom  is  simply  due  to  the  absolute 
necessity  of  cleansing  a  new-born  babe. 

I  have  frequently  mentioned  the  wizards  or  sorcerers  as  being 
mediators  between  the  a?t6ts  and  the  living.  They  are  also 
physicians  or  medicine-men,  and  priests  besides.  I  will  now 
explain  how  far  they  are  physicians. 

The  association  of  religion  with  medicine  seems  to  be  of  con- 
stant occurrence  among  primitive  peoples,  and  among  the  lower 
classes  of  society  at  the  present  day.     In  this  fact  there  is  food 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  95 

for  philosophic-historical  reflection.  It  certainly  existed  among 
the  Indian  tribes  of  America,  as  we  learn  from  their  history. 
Oviedo  calls  our  attention  to  it  as  occurring  in  Spagnuola,  and 
Robertson,  the  historian  of  America,  explains  it  shortly  in 
the  following  words :  "  Superstition  in  its  primitive  form, 
springs  from  the  natural  impatience  of  man  to  free  himself  from 
present  evil,  and  not  from  fear  of  the  evil  awaiting  him  in  a 
future  life.  Thus  it  was  engrafted  at  first  on  medicine  and  not 
on  religion." 

Among  ourselves  great  numbers  of  persons  who  place  their 
faith  in  witches  and  sorcerers,  believe  them  not  only  to  be  the 
best  doctors,  but  to  derive  their  power  from  intercourse  with 
invisible  beings  of  their  own  kind.  Every  one  is  acquainted 
with  the  tragedies  that  have  always  accompanied,  and  always 
will  accompany,  such  superstitions  by  which  we  are  linked  to 
our  uncivilized  brethren. 

I  have  not  found  that  the  superstitions  of  these  Indians  lead 
them  to  deeds  of  cruelty,  nor  have  I  read  of  their  so  doing 
among  the  other  American  tribes.  Cruelty  seems  to  be  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  religion. 

In  fact,  the  Mexicans,  the  Bogotans,  and  even  the  Peruvians, 
who  possess  a  regularized  religion,  viz.  that  of  the  stars 
and  of  some  few  idols,  delight  in  acts  of  the  grossest  cruelty 
as  propitiation  to  their  deity,  to  whom  they  ofl'er  human  sacri- 
fices. With  regard  to  the  Mexicans,  we  even  know  the 
number  of  their  victims  at  certain  epochs.  Las  Casas,  who  is 
very  compassionate  to  the  Indians,  whose  faults  he  seems  always 
anxious  to  extenuate,  tells  us,  nevertheless,  that  the  number  of 
victims  immolated  to  the  Mexican  god,  Huitzlopotolili,  was  not 
less  than  20,000  every  year,  and  that  at  the  inauguration  of 
the  great  Mexican  temple,  a  generation  before  the  conquest, 
80,400  men  were  sacrificed.  The  republics  of  Tlascala,  Ciolula, 
and  Iletzotziaco,  on  the  borders  of  the  Mexican  Empire,  had 
marked  out  a  zone  on  the  frontiers  where  every  year  they  were 
to  make  raids  for  the  purpose  of  securing  prisoners,  young  and, 
if  possible,  unwounded,  in  order  to  sacrifice  them  when 
fattened. 

According  to  Garcilasso,  Manco  Capac  abolished  human 
sacrifices  in  Peru.  Nevertheless,  if  we  may  believe  Acosta, 
children  from  four  to  ten  years  of  age  were  sacrificed  on  solemn 
occasions,  and,  according  to  Garcilasso  himself,  who  endeavours 


96  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

to  minimize  the  customs  of  his  forefathers,  zancu,  a  bread 
made  of  maize,  and  kneaded  by  their  nuns  with  blood  from  the 
forehead  and  nostrils  of  children,  was  supplied  to  the  imperial 
table  at  the  solar  pasch  of  Raymi^  just  after  the  solstice  of 
June. 

And  among  ourselves  do  not  we  begin  with  the  sacrifice  of 
Isaac,  which,  take  it  as  we  will,  is  that  of  a  father  offering  his 
son  to  a  god  who  has  required  it  of  him  ?  And  Jephthah's 
daughter  sacrificed  to  the  god  of  victory  against  the  Ammonites  1 
And  Agag,  king  of  the  Amalekites,  who,  when  a  prisoner  of 
war,  was  sacrificed  to  the  Lord  by  the  hands  of  the  high 
priest  Samuel  ?  And  the  priests  of  Baal,  who  flung  children 
into  the  red-hot  idol?  And  the  King  of  Moab,  who  sacri- 
ficed his  son  to  idols  to  deliver  himself  from  the  besieging 
Hebrews  ? 

As  signs  of  the  times  we  have  the  sacrifice  of  Iphi- 
genia,  daughter  of  Agamemnon,  and  Curtius  plunging  into  the 
gulf. 

What  is  the  Eedeemer  who  must  be  crucified  to  propitiate 
the  God  of  humanity  1  What  are  fastings,  hair-shirts,  and 
penances,  all  the  paraphernalia  of  mortifications  to  appease  the 
anger  of  Jehovah  ? 

I  ask  the  question:  If  a  conqueror  had  come  back  from 
another  world  four  centuries  ago  and  had  seen  the  autos  da  fe^ 
would  he  not  have  mistaken  them  for  Mexican  sacrifices  1 

Yes,  in  truth,  cruelty  is  the  privilege  of  all  rehgions.  It 
owes  its  origin  to  dogma,  and  its  power  to  governments. 

But  when  the  day  is  come  on  which  philosophy  shall 
replace  dogma,  and  worship  be  sustained  by  the  wholly  in- 
terior adhesion  of  conscience  to  truths  recognized  by  the 
intellect  or  intuitive  in  the  mind ;  on  that  day  the  infamy  and 
disgrace  of  religious  cruelty  will  disappear  from  society. 

On  that  day  Humanity  will  have  overcome  the  waves  of 
idolatry  and  of  dogma,  and  will  have  reached  the  shores  of  the 
empire  of  humanity.  With  intellect  magnificently  enlarged, 
strengthened  by  trial,  and  gladdened  by  the  future  of  love, 
work,  and  peace  that  lies  before  it,  it  will  look  back  on  the 
seething  billows  and  on  that  far-distant  shore,  where  its  youth 
was  passed,  in  ignorance  of  the  fierce  contests  of  life  and  of  the 
heart-corrupting  subtleties  of  the  intellect.  There,  during 
childhood,  she  had  been  untormented  by  the  wrath  of  the 
gods,  and  thence  she  will  understand  that  her  very  simplicity 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  97 

spontaneously  bestowed  on  her  that  tolerance  and  that  peace 
which  she  will  now  have  acquired  through  ages  of  sanguinary- 
strife,  and  will  draw  from  thence  a  proof  of  her  own  innate  virtue 
and  a  pledge  of  the  new  future — the  noble,  strong,  and  glorious 
future  of  Science. 


98  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTEK  XVIII. 

THE    INDIANS    AND    THEIR    DEAD. 

Kear  the  city  of  Santiago  dell'  Estero  I  saw  the  tumuli,  and 
the  vessels  containedin  them.  They  are  situated  on  the  banks 
of  a  former  channel  of  the  River  Dulce,  A  great  number 
of  these  curious  relics  of  the  past  have  been  found ;  these  are 
of  various  dimensions,  some  of  them  being  sixty  centimeters  in 
height  and  forty  in  diameter.  Some  are  unglazed,  others  are 
glazed  and  ornamented  with  twisted  cords  and  linear  geometrical 
designs.     The  body  and  colouring  are  both  very  good. 

The  ashes  or  bones  of  the  dead  are  contained  in  these  re- 
ceptacles. The  soil  below  the  banks,  from  which  only  a  slight 
undulation  separates  them,  is  clothed  with  ancient  algarrobas 
and  with  other  plants  indigenous  to  the  present  alluvial  soil,  the 
alluvium  being  produced  by  rivers  that  are  hydrographicaUy  dis- 
posed at  the  present  time.  On  those  lands  that  are  formed  by 
emersion  or  are  of  an  alluvial  nature  from  climatic  and  hydro- 
logical  conditions  belonging  to  an  earlier  epoch,  as,  for  instance, 
the  glacial  period,  other  kinds  of  plants  grow.  I  state  this  from 
personal  observation  and  with  perfect  confidence,  and  I  have 
also  mentioned  it  in  my  official  reports. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  when  these  burial-places  were 
constructed,  the  river  flowed  at  the  foot  of  the  bank,  this  being 
the  first  condition  of  life,  sought  by  civilized  and  uncivilized 
humanity  alike,  all  the  world  over,  and,  as  all  the  antiquity  of 
that  period  shows,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  even  then  special 
care  was  taken  of  the  dead. 

In  Calingastra,  in  the  Cordillera  of  San  Juan,  sepulchres  are 
found  in  the  shape  of  wells,  not  walled,  because  the  soil  remains 
solid  of  itself,  and  covered  with  a  flat  stone.  At  the  side  of 
the  corpse  various  objects  are  found,  especially  a  species  of 
deer,  and  it  seemed  to  me  the  dog  also.  A  piece  of  polished 
stone,  like  an  open  fan,  was  found  in  one  :  this  may  have  served 
as  a  mirror.    Similar  ones  were  also  in  us©  among  the  Etruscalws, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  99 

and  I  remember  that  in  one  of  their  sepulchres  at  Sovana,  in 
Maremma  Toscana,  P.  Busatti,  the  civil  engineer,  found  a  silver 
mirror  that  was  shown  to  me.  It  was  superbly  engraved  with 
a  design  representing,  in  my  opinion,  the  judgment  of  Paris. 

An  Indian  mortuary  chamber,  containing  several  bodies,  was 
found  in  another  part  of  San  Juan,  near  the  Sierra  de  Fie  de  Palo, 
beside  a  heap  of  stones  [pintadas). 

Stone  sepulchres  {guacas),  in  the  shape  of  small  ovens,  such 
as  are  used  in  country  parts,  are  found  in  the  Salta  and  Jujuy 
Mountains  in  Puna.  They  contain  as  many  as  three  bodies 
clothed  and  hooded.  These  are  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  some- 
times there  are  jars  by  their  side  containing  gold  and  silver. 
At  the  present  day  the  Collas,  Christian  descendants  of  the 
Indians  dependent  on  the  Emperor  of  Peru  or  the  Incas,  seek 
out  these  sepulchres  and  gather  up  the  bones  to  give  them  a  Mass, 
as  they  say ,  but  greed  has  nearly  always  been  beforehand  with 
them,  so  that  although  the  bones  are  there,  they  find  none  of 
the  precious  objects  which  had  been  buried  with  them.  The 
kind  of  garments  in  which  the  bodies  had  been  clothed  cannot 
be  distinguished,  because  no  sooner  are  they  exposed  to  the  air 
than  they  crumble  into  dust. 

The  Chiriguans,  in  the  Bolivian  Chaco,  enclose  their  dead  in 
a  jar  which  they  bury  beneath  their  own  rancho.  They  have 
thus  one  and  the  same  home  for  the  living  and  the  dead,  and 
whether  as  cause  or  effect,  or  both  together,  the  Chiriguans  are 
not  nomadic.  They  ornament  these  jars  with  great  care ;  the 
kind  of  jar  and  of  decoration  depends  on  the  means  of  the 
family.  The  clay  is  baked,  and  the  glaze,  made  of  an  ill- 
smelling  red  bitumen,  is  put  on  either  before  or  after  firing. 
In  the  former  case  the  colours  are  brighter  and  clearer,  but  in 
the  latter  more  lasting. 

A  fire  is,  in  some  cases,  kept  burning  for  a  month  over  the 
buried  jar.  Where  this  is  done,  it  is  assuredly  to  destroy  the 
pernicious  gases  that  escape  from  the  body  during  decomposition. 

The  poorer  Chiriguans,  who  do  not  possess  jars,  inter  the 
corpse^  in  a  hole  underneath  the  rancho^  which  they  vacate 
until  the  effluvium  has  ceased. 

The  bodies  of  those  who  have  been  put  to  death  for  repeated 
murders  are  thrown  into  a  field  or  burned. 

Some  Indians,  among  whom  are  the  Cherionossos,  dwelling 
on  the  borders  of  Bolivia  and  Brazil,  bury  their  dead  among 
trees.     To  this  end  they  seek  the  thickest  part  of  the  forest, 

H  2 


100  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

and  having  pitched  upon  a  giuccian-tree: — the  trunk  of  which  is 
shaped  like  a  jar,  and  is  of  cork-like  texture — they  empty  it 
and  place  the  body  in  the  cavity,  covering  it  up  securely  that 
vultures  may  not  disturb  or  devour  it.  One  of  these  sepulchres 
was  found  when  a  road  was  opened  to  Fort  Sarmiento. 

The  Mattaccos  bury  their  dead,  and  some  tribes  on  the  Toba 
borders  burn  them,  a  custom  observed  by  the  Tobas  themselves. 

We  may  infer  that  the  ideas  by  which  the  Mattaccos  are 
governed  in  their  funeral  ceremonies  are  common  to  the  other 
Indian  tribes  with  whom  they  are  in  continual  contact,  either 
as  allies  in  war,  or  as  enemies,  and  belief  in  spirits  is  the  same. 

Now,  the  Mattaccos,  as  I  have  already  said,  believe  that  the 
souls  of  the  dead  do  not  find  peace  if  their  bodies  are  not  buried 
in  ground  belonging  to  the  tribe.  I  do  not  know  whether  an 
exception  is  made  for  warriors  dying  in  battle.  Thy  hold,  also, 
that  the  soul,  which  they  call  liesecli — while  they  call  the  body 
tzan,  and  the  dead  person  ahot — will  not  be  able  to  join  its  com- 
rades if  the  body  has  not  first  suffered  decomposition  either  by 
fire  or  by  air.  Until  then,  they  say,  the  soul  wanders  round  the 
family  rancho,  and  is  seen  lamenting. 

These  apparitions  of  grieving  souls  are  the  subjects  of  many 
of  their  narratives,  and  of  a  great  part  of  their  conversation,  and, 
it  is  probable,  excite  as  much  terror  among  them  as  with  our- 
selves. 

It  follows,  of  course,  that  when  an  individual  dies  at  a  dis- 
tance, his  kinsfolk  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  tolderia  go  forth 
to  seek  his  remains,  in  order  to  bury  them  in  the  territory 
belonging  to  the  tribe.  But  to  people  who  travel  on  foot  the 
carriage  of  a  corpse  would  be  a  serious  matter,  since  they  must 
often  traverse  hundreds  of  kilometers.  They  wait,  therefore, 
until  the  tissues  of  thebody  have  perished,  and  then  carry  home 
the  bones.  This  is  in  no  way  prejudicial  to  the  deceased, 
because  his  soul  cannot  descend  under  the  earth  until  decompo- 
sition is  complete. 

Meanwhile,  if  the  death  occurs  in  the  morning  the  body  is 
placed  in  a  grave  the  same  evening  ;  if  at  night,  then  the  next 
morning.  But  it  is  not  covered  in ;  branches  are  merely  laid 
over  it  to  prevent  tigers^  dogs,  and  birds  of  prey  from  feasting  on 
it.  When  decomposition  is  over  it  is  either  burned,  as  I  have 
said,  or  finally  interred. 

When  an  individual  dies  away  from  home  the  corpse  is 
wrapped  in  a  net,  and  is  placed  in  a  tree  with  the  necessafry 


OF   TPIE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  •  lOI 

coverings,  as  usual,  for  protection.  The  next  year,  or  at  some 
indefinite  period,  provided  always  that  only  the  skeleton  remains, 
the  friends  of  the  dead  man  fetch  the  bones  away  and  carry 
them  to  the  rancho,  where  they  receive  proper  burial. 

In  whatever  spot  they  may  place  a  corpse  they  invariably 
leave  beside  it  a  gourd  of  water,  and  for  this  reason.  Scarcely 
is  an  individual  dead  when  other  dead  persons  come  to  pay  him 
a  visit,  and  as  both  he  and  they  may  be  thirsty,  water  is  left  in 
order  to  assuage  their  thirst.  Any  one  aware  of  the  importance 
of  water  in  these  regions  will  understand  the  value  attributed 
to  this  gift  to  the  dead,  and  will  find  its  explanation  in  the 
fraternal  and  hospitable  spirit  that  outlives  death  itself. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  reason  of  this  custom,  which  exists 
in  one  form  or  another  among  other  uncivilized  tribes,  we  can- 
not fail  to  be  struck  with  the  analogy  between  it  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Greeks  and  ancient  Romans. 

Every  one  knows  that  it  was  the  custom  in  Pagan  times  to 
place  a  piece  of  money  in  the  mouth  of  the  dead,  that  they  might 
pay  Charon  for  ferrying  them  across  the  Avemus.  The  Egyp- 
tians enclosed  ears  of  corn  and  other  things  for  the  use  of  their 
dead,  and  these  grains  having  been  found  when  the  tombs  were 
opened,  have  served  to  prove  how  enduring  is  their  vegetative 
power,  for  they  take  root  and  bear  fruit  when  sown  in  the  earth, 

Nations  who  burn  their  dead — a  custom  which  we  are  at  the 
present  time  endeavouring  to  revive — burn  food  with  them 
also  ;  this  is  mentioned  by  Yirgil  when  describing  the  last  rites 
rendered  by  ^neas  to  his  friend  Miseno,  whose  body  was  con- 
sumed on  a  funeral  pyre  : — 

"Then  on  a  bier,  with  pnrplo  cover'd  o'er 
The  breathless  body,  thus  bewail'd  they  lay, 
And  fire  the  pile,  their  faces  turn'd  away 
(Such  reverent  rites  their  father  used  to  pay). 
Pure  oil  and  incense  on  the  fire  they  throw, 
And  fat  of  victims,  which  his  friends  bestow. 
These  gifts  the  greedy  flames  to  dust  devour : 
Then  on  the  living  coals  red  wine  they  pour." 

AYe  remark  another  analogy  in  the  custom  prevalent  among 
the  most  remote  nations,  of  covering  graves  with  a  heap  of 
stones.  In  fact,  among  the  Manzaneros — "  Araucanian  Indians 
living  between  Liniay  and  Neuquen,  on  Argentine  territory,  on 
the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Cordillera," — this  practice  has  attained 
such  proportions  that  travellers  have  mistaken  some  of  these 


I02  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

tumuli  for  small  natural  eminences.  Among  ourselves  it  is 
customary  for  those  present  at  a  burial  to  throw  a  clod  of  earth 
into  the  grave,  and  to  do  the  same  at  the  foot  of  those  crosses 
by  which  the  wayfarer  is  reminded  of  the  last  resting-place  of 
some  fellow-mortal.  The  custom  must  have  flourished  centuries 
ago,  for  Dante,  speaking  in  the  person  of  Manfred,  says, — 

"  Yet  at  the  bridge's  head  my  bones  had  lain, 
Near  Benevento,  by  the  heavy  mole 
Protected." 

The  universality  of  the  practice  renders  the  explanation  of 
the  construction  of  the  Pyramids  for  the  purpose  of  sepulchres 
still  more  plausible.  They  are  merely  colossal  exaggerations  of 
the  heavy  mole,  and  the  custom  must  have  been  generally  pre- 
valent in  the  land  of  the  Pyramids. 

The  belief  that  the  dead  feel  a  need  in  the  other  world  of 
those  things  they  enjoyed  while  in  this,  besides  having  been 
traditionary  among  every  people  in  both  hemispheres,  has  led 
to  some  cruel  customs. 

We  all  know  that  among  the  Brahmins  in  India  it  was,  and 
still  is,  customary  for  the  widow  to  cast  herself  on  the  funeral 
pile.  It  is  true  that  in  order  to  lessen  her  sufferings  narcotics 
are  administered  to  the  victim. 

In  the  New  World,  those  nations  whose  religion  included 
caste  used  to  sacrifice  human  beings  on  the  tombs  of  the  great, 
viz.  their  servants,  officers,  and  favourite  concubines,  who  con- 
sidered it  an  honour  to  be  thus  chosen. 

It  is  stated  that  at  the  death  of  the  Inca  Huaina  Cdpac,  one 
of  the  greatest  emperors  of  Peru,  1000  victims  were  immolated 
on  his  tomb !  And  what  must  have  been  the  number  among 
the  Mexicans,  to  whose  deity  human  sacrifice  was  daily  bread, 
while  the  flesh  of  their  prisoners  of  war  was  daily  consumed  by 
themselves  ?  To  complete  the  likeness  between  the  two  worlds, 
while  Asiatics  gave  narcotics  to  the  doomed  widows,  the  Natchez 
Indians  of  North  America  stupefied  their  victims  with  tobacco. 

If  we  compare  the  results  of  this  superstitious  belief  concern- 
ing the  wants  of  the  dead  on  nations  possessing  religion  and 
civilization  with  its  results  on  those  possessing  neither,  i.e. 
savages,  the  balance  of  humanity  is  in  favour  of  the  latter. 
These  are  all  equally  poor  and  ignorant,  and  content  themselves 
with  the  humble  and  innocent  offering  of  a  cup  of  water  and 
perhaps  a  handful  of  algarroba,  without  even  the  holocaust  of  an 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  103 

animal,  which,  according  to  Leviticus,  is  "  an  offering  made  by 
fire,  of  a  sweet  savour  unto  the  Lord  ! " 

The  poor  Indians  of  the  Chaco  are  unable  to  make  them- 
selves interesting  on  the  death  of  their  kinsfolk  by  wearing 
handsome  black  garments,  as  do  Christians,  or  white  stuffs  like 
the  Chinese,  they  show  their  grief  after  their  own  fashion  by 
shearing  their  head,  the  only  part  they  habitually  cover.  The 
women,  instead  of  hastening  to  display  their  sorrow  in  the 
temples  and  public  places,  take  refuge  in  their  toldo,  avoiding 
any  contact  with  their  friends,  remain  silent,  and  attend  with 
more  than  usual  care  to  their  domestic  duties.  They  mourn 
after  this  manner  for  a  year,  during  which  time  it  is  indecent 
for  them  to  marry  again.  If  they  must  go  out  they  always 
walk  apart,  and  should  they  be  met  by  any  one  they  cover  their 
face  ;  they  refuse  to  converse,  and  avoid  any  occasion  of  speech. 
It  has  happened  sometimes  that  travellers  have  chanced  to  come 
across  these  silent  women  in  a  suspicious  place,  and  being 
ignorant  of  this  custom,  have  ill-used  and  killed  them. 

To  cut  off  the  hair  has  been  considered  even  among  the 
nations  of  Europe  as  an  act  of  sacrifice  and  mourning.  Among 
the  barbarians  who  invaded  the  crumbling  Roman  Empire,  the 
lover  used  to  cut  off  his  hair  on  the  tomb  of  the  beloved  one. 

In  addition  to  this  they  make  a  lament,  sung  to  a  monotonous, 
inexpressive  air,  which  seems  to  be  conventional,  accompanied 
by  the  sound  of  the  piynpin^  which,  as  I  believe  I  have  already 
said,  is  a  kind  of  mortar  formed  by  means  of  instruments  and 
by  fire  from  the  trunk  of  a  tree.  It  contains  water,  and  is 
covered  with  a  skin  stretched  like  a  drum-head.  They  strike 
upon  this  with  a  hollow  gourd,  in  which  they  place  grains  of 
maize  or  algarroba  nuts. 

The  lament  is  carried  on  at  fixed  hours,  but  the  widow  or 
mother  wails  almost  continually,  even  when  walking  out  in  the 
streets  on  her  various  duties.  The  deceased  is  followed  to  the 
grave  by  his  kinsfolk  and  friends,  and  if  he  is  a  popular  cacique 
or  a  well-known  sorcerer,  by  the  whole  tribe. 

Caciques  and  skilful  sorcerers  always  hold  a  high  position 
among  the  ahots  who  have  been  expecting  them,  and  their  in- 
fluence in  the  other  world  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  consideration 
they  have  enjoyed  among  their  neighbours,  as  demonstrated  by  the 
funeral  ceremonies.  When  one  of  them  is  dying,  the  Indians 
assemble  round  his  home  and  beg  him  to  intercede  with  the 
allots  down  below,  that  the  ahots  of  the  whirlwind,  of  disease 


104  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

and  of  famine  may  spare  their  toldos  and  visit  those  of  their 
enemies.  The  dying  man  gives  them  his  promise,  and,  in  return, 
his  fellow-citizens  pay  honour  to  his  funeral  rites,  and  thus 
augment  his  beneficent  authority  over  the  alwts. 

And  what  else  do  we  ask  from  those  of  us  who  die  in  the 
odour  of  sanctity,  than  that  they  should  become  intercessors 
with  heaven  for  us  pilgrims  in  this  valley  of  tears  ? 

Men  are  dra^vn  together  by  sorrow,  and  the  harmony  of 
human  nature  in  act  and  word,  in  hope  and  in  fear,  is  never  so 
fully  manifested  as  beside  an  open  grave  ! 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  10$ 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


MEDICINE. 


Ix  the  Chaco  there  are  both  medicine-men  and  medicine -women, 
but  very  few  medicines.  Treatment  is  entirely  empirical  on 
account  of  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  inhabitants. 

We  may  wonder  that  the  tribes  of  the  Chaco  have  discovered 
no  remedies,  but  this  is  accounted  for  partly  by  their  low  order 
of  intelligence,  and  still  more  by  their  superstitions  respecting 
disease. 

They  believe  that  a  malady  is  produced  by  an  ahSt  who  has 
entered  into  the  sick  person.  Their  only  idea,  therefore,  is  to 
drive  it  out  by  means  of  their  sorcerers. 

Hence  only  their  magicians  or  priests,  by  whichever  name  we 
choose  to  describe  them,  can  be  their  physicians.  This  super- 
stition of  theirs  is  a  consequence  of  the  desire  in  man  to  rid 
himself  of  a  present  evil,  and  of  his  ignorance  of  the  means  of 
so  doing.  The  cunning  innate  in  mankind  is  the  medium 
between  ignorance  and  superstition. 

They  acknowledge,  nevertheless,  their  want  of  real  remedies, 
and  the  superiority,  in  this  respect,  of  Christians  in  whom  they 
have  great  faith  as  physicians ;  while  the  lower  orders  of 
Christians,  on  the  contrary,  believe  in  the  Indian  wizards  and 
sorcerers. 

I  have  known  owners  of  estancias  who  have  sent  for  Indians  • 
to  cure  them. 

The  very  poor  exorcise  the  alwt  by  shouting  and  dancing, 
and  by  the  breathing  and  spitting  of  the  sick  person  himself. 
They  accompany  their  exorcisms,  however,  by  some  homoeopathic 
prescriptions,  such  as  dieting,  baths,  etc. 

Their  faith  in  their  conjuring  is  not  diminished,  however,  by 
recourse  to  Christian  remedies. 

On  one  occasion,  when,  the  steamer  having  stuck  fast  in 
shallow  water,  we  remained  on  board  and  were  surrounded  by 


I06  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

Indians,  a  group  of  them  approached  with  a  sick  man,  that  we 
might  cure  him.  We  had  no  interpreter  on  that  occasion,  and 
I  took  advantage  of  the  little  knowledge  of  the  language  I 
possessed,  and  contrived  to  make  out  that  the  man  had  been 
bitten  by  a  viper,  and  that  they  were  asking  for  "  chiaskietacli- 
kiaj'  a  cure  for  a  viper  bite. 

We  had  a  small  medicine-chest  with  us,  and  we  all  of  us 
decided  on  treating  him  with  ammonia.  It  was  of  the  highest 
importance  for  us  to  succeed  in  this  affair  so  as  to  acquire  pres- 
tige and  gain  friends  among  these  Indians,  who,  a  few  days 
before,  had  fired  upon  us  from  an  ambuscade  at  close  quarters. 

The  cure,  however,  proceeded  very  slowly,  and  there  were 
moments  during  the  first  three  days,  an  eminently  critical  period, 
when  we  were  greatly  alarmed,  because  the  swelling  of  the 
injured  leg  began  to  extend  to  the  groin  and  abdomen,  and  had 
it  reached  the  region  of  the  heart  all  would  have  been  over  for 
the  patient. 

During  the  treatment,  which  was  strong  enough  for  a  horse, 
the  patient  drank  nothing  but  water,  and  at  night,  when  aU  the 
ship's  crew  were  sleeping,  the  medicine-men  began  to  chant, 
"  Huu,  huu,  hiiu — hee,  hee,  hee— Hi,  hi,  hi," — "  Hiiu,  hiiu, 
hiiu,"  from  time  to  time  spitting  and  blowing  like  bellows  on 
the  wound  and  other  parts  of  the  body.  They  spent  whole 
hours  in  this  way. 

I  was  in  the  habit  of  sitting  up  late  into  the  night,  both  to 
take  my  turn  in  watching  the  invalid,  and  to  secure  some  quiet 
hours  for  study,  and  I  frequently  drew  near  them.  At  first 
they  would  instantly  cease,  but  after  a  time,  encouraged  by  my 
"  Hiss^  tzilatdc,  bene,  bello"  and  by  my  respectful  manner,  they 
would  continue  in  my  presence. 

At  last,  after  twenty  days,  the  sick  man  was  cured. 

An  extraordinary  method  of  cure  is  that  practised  for  wounds 
made  by  the  ray-fish.  These  are  horribly  painful,  and  even 
cause  death.  The  treatment  consists  in  holding  the  wounded 
part,  usually  the  ankle,  over  the  smoke  of  burning  logs  of  palo 
santo,  an  extremely  resinous  wood,  and  afterwards  a  woman  at 
her  lunar  period  sits  astride  over  the  limb.  I  have  been  assured 
by  Christians  who  have  tried  this  remedy  that  it  is  efficacious. 

All  treatment,  however,  to  be  of  any  virtue  must  be  under 
the  direction  of  a  wizard,  or,  at  the  least,  a  witch. 

Not  every  one  can  become  a  wizard  or  medicine-man ;  and  as 
the  treatment  is  paid  for  according  to  the  disease  and  the  person. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  10/ 

and  the  pay  consists  of  skins,  animals,  food,  and  other  things, 
the  profession  affords  opportunities  for  deception  and  trickery. 
Moreover,  to  exalt  their  prestige  the  practitioners  surround 
themselves  with  mystery. 

Thus  in  the  Granadero  tolderia  the  Indians  tell  of  a  youth,  who 
had  already  entered  on  the  career,  who  disappeared  in  boyhood 
and  returned  again  after  spending  two  years  underground 
with  the  ahots,  who  had  taken  him  away  in  order  to  teach 
him  the  art,  and  inoculate  him  with  the  virtue  of  medicine-man 
and  priest. 

Apropos  of  trickery,  I  found  myself  once  in  evil  case.  I  went 
to  visit  the  cacique  Granadero,  who  had  just  recovered  from  a 
long  illness.  I  carried  with  me,  as  usual,  a  pocket  writing- 
book  and  a  pen.  Granadero  comes  up  and  asks  me  what 
they  are.  Thinking  to  please  him  I  take  up  the  pen,  and  am 
about  to  write,  but  at  that  moment  I  perceive  Granadero  grim 
and  tlireatening.  His  medicine-men  had  cured  him  shortly 
before  from  the  ahdt,  who  had  tormented  him  for  a  long  time, 
and  had  extracted  pens  and  pencils  from  his  body,  under  which 
exclusively  Christian  forms  the  ahdt  had  bewitched  him. 

The  Indian  women  seem  to  have  undeniable  skill  as  midwives. 
They  perceive  with  extraordinary  accuracy  the  moment  of  child- 
birth, and  then,  lifting  up  and  supporting  the  patient,  they 
shake  her,  accompanying  the  action  with  the  usual  conjurations 
until  the  end. 

But  a  really  interesting  spectacle  is  to  see  a  cure  effected  in 
the  midst  of  a  tolderia.  One  night  I  was  camping  out  near 
one  of  the  settlements  when  I  was  aroused  to  curiosity  by  the 
sound  of  many  loud  voices  and  the  echoing  of  heavy  blows  on 
the  ground.  Kelying  on  my  friendly  relations  with  the  people, 
I  ventured  to  go  out  and  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  noise. 
In  the  midst  of  the  tolderia,  in  a  sort  of  open  square,  I  saw  a 
circle  of  black  figures  lighted  up  here  and  there  by  the  flames  of 
the  great  fire  :  these  were  women  and  men  sitting  on  their  heels, 
silently  smoking.  Within  the  circle  four  robust  men  were  run- 
ning backwards  and  forwards  in  a  space  of  about  eight  yards. 
Ostrich  feathers  and  little  bells  were  fastened  to  their  ankles, 
wrists,  head,  and  waist.  In  their  hands,  which  were  always 
lifted  up  in  gesticulation,  they  held  small  gourds,  half-filled 
with  grain,  and  these  being  shaken  added  to  the  din.  They 
rushed  about  shouting  and  yelling,  panting  and  sweating, 
thrusting  out  their  legs,  stamping  hard  upon  the  ground,  and 


I08  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

then  raising  their  voices  in  ludicrous  and  horrible  fashion, 
holding  their  arms  high  in  the  air,  bowing  their  heads  and 
curving  their  bodies.  By  turns  two  of  them  would  stop  short, 
and  squatting  on  the  ground  shake  their  heads  rapidly  from  left 
to  right,  backwards  and  forwards,  groaning,  blowing  and  spit- 
ting on  the  back,  legs,  head,  and  face  of  two  sick  persons  who 
had  been  placed  in  their  midst. 

The  two  patients  were  sutfering  horribly  from  the  ahot  of 
rheumatism,  who  had  entered  into  them,  and  the  conjurers  were 
endeavouring  to  liberate  them  by  means  of  these  infernal  jigs. 
They  would  not  attain  their  object  as  long  as  they  could  not 
succeed  in  tiring  out  and  intimidating  the  ahots,  who  were 
maliciously  dancing  the  same  jig  at  the  same  moment  under- 
ground, so  as  to  intercept  by  their  noise  any  communication 
with  the  ahot  of  the  malady  in  question.  The  best  medicine- 
man is  he  who  springs  highest,  shouts  loudest,  and  stamps  most 
heavily. 

The  spectators  remain  to  do  honour  to  the  treatment  and 
increase  its  efficacy,  but  not  without  fear  that  the  ahot,  on 
quitting  the  body  of  the  sick  man,  may  enter  into  theirs. 

The  scene  convinced  me  that  among  Indians  physicians  earn 
their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  whole  bodies ;  that  among  them, 
too,  impostors,  by  dint  of  deceiving  others,  end  by  deceiving 
themselves,  and  that  the  mob  was  sincerely  persuaded  of  the 
truth  and  efficacy  of  the  conjurations  employed. 

And  I  am  moved  to  a  smile  of  disdain  and  compassion  when 
I  remember  the  charlatans,  the  holy  water,  the  devil,  the  exor- 
cisms believed  in  by  the  people  of  all  classes  among  ourselves  ; 
but  then  the  smile  dies  away  upon  my  lips. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  109 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SOCIAL   COXDITION — PHILOLOGICAL    REMARKS. 

The  Indians  of  the  Argentine  Gran  Chaco  must  unhesitatingly 
be  classed  among  the  most  barbarous  people  of  the  earth.  Let 
me  explain.  When  I  say  that  they  are  barbarous,  I  do  not 
mean  cruel.  I  have  sufficiently  shown  in  the  preceding  pages, 
that  highly  civilized  nations  far  exceed  these  children  of  nature 
in  cruelty  and  ferocity.  By  barbarians  I  mean  savages,  viz.  a 
people  with  few  or  no  laws,  with  few  or  no  institutions,  with 
few  or  no  industrial  pursuits — a  people,  in  short,  very  inferior  to 
us  in  their  equipment  for  the  battle  of  life. 

Various  details  that  I  have  already  given  are  sufficiently 
convincing  on  this  subject,  and  further  indications  that  I  shall 
point  out  will  confirm  my  statements. 

All  philosophers  are  agreed  in  assigning  a  distinctive  character 
of  inferiority  to  a  nation,  in  proportion  to  its  ignorance  of 
numeration  ;  I  do  not  mean  written,  but  oral  numeration. 

Darwin,  in  his  "  Origin  of  Man,"  cites  the  inhabitants  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  south  of  the  Magellan  Straits,  as  being  in  the 
lowest  stage  of  civilization,  because  they  are  unable  to  count 
beyond  four.  This  is  intelligible,  for  if  speech  correspond  with 
ideas  and  wants,  how  few  of  either  can  they  possess  who  are 
unable  to  go  beyond  the  number  four  ! 

Xow  none  of  the  Indians  of  the  Argentine  Chaco  can 
count  beyond  four,  whether  they  be  Tobas,  Mattaccos,  Vilelas, 
or  Mocovitos,  whether  they  be  victors  or  vanquished  in  their 
internecine  wars. 

The  Guaranis,  likewise,  who  have  long  inhabited  and  still 
inhabit  Paraguay,  part  of  Brazil,  Corrientes,  and  Misiones,  and 
in  all  probability  still  more  remote  parts  of  the  so-called  Argen- 
tine Mesopotamia,  can  only  in  their  own   language  count  up 


no  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

to  four.  The  case  is  the  same  in  other  parts  of  the  American 
continents. 

In  Patagonia,  however,  according  to  the  Argentine  traveller, 
Seiior  Lista,  they  count  up  to  ten  progressively.  The  Guaranis 
have  the  expression  ten  or  twenty,  but  they  borrow  it  from  the 
hands  and  feet,  saying  two  hands  for  the  number  ten,  and  two 
feet  for  twenty. 

The  Pampas,  who  are  not  less  uncivilized  than  the  Pata- 
gonians,  and  at  about  the  same  depth,  I  cannot  say  height,  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Chaco,  can,  however,  count  indefinitely, 
like  their  brethren  the  Araucanians  or  Chilenos. 

The  Peruvians,  next  neighbours  of  the  Chilenos,  and  who,  as 
I  have  previously  stated,  formed  the  great  empire  of  the  Incas, 
called  by  them  Tavantin-suju,  or  the  four  quarters  of  the  world  ! 
also  count  indefinitely ;  likewise  the  Aimaras,  who  live  in  the 
city  and  neighbourhood  of  Paz  in  Bolivia,  and  who  probably, 
before  being  conquered  by  the  Chicciuas  or  Peruvians,  extended 
as  far  as  Catamarca,  and  perhaps  Jujuy,  as  denoted  by  some  of 
their  words,  such  as  marca,  pucard,  Jmma-huaca,  which  would 
be  in  Aimara  language,  people,  fortress,  spring  of  water. 

All  those  nations  who  inhabit  or  have  inhabited  the  Pampas, 
the  two  declivities,  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  of  the  Cordillera, 
and  the  table-land  of  Bolivia,  owe  their  aptitude  either  to  the 
stage  of  civilization  they  had  already  reached,  like  the  Peruvians 
and  the  Chilenos,  or  to  near  connection  and  frequent  contact 
wath  them,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Pampas.  While  the  lower 
numbers  differ  notably  in  the  difierent  languages,  some  of  them 
higher  than  the  numbers  four  or  ten  resemble  each  other,  and 
their  construction  obeys  the  same  rule.  This  reveals  the  unity 
of  the  source  whence  the  knowledge  was  derived. 

I  do  not  think  it  opportune  to  dilate  in  this  place  on  the 
subject;  I  hope  to  do  so  on  another  occasion,  and  then  I 
believe  I  shall  be  able  to  show  the  parentage  of  the  languages 
of  different  nations  in  this  part  of  the  continent,  although  widely 
separated  by  locality  and  by  their  various  degrees  of  civilization ; 
but  I  will  give  one  proof  of  the  influence  of  contact  among 
these  peoples,  which  I  think  has  not  been  hitherto  noticed. 

Those  Guaranis  who  count,  as  I  have  said,  up  to  four,  dwell 
on  the  left  banks  of  the  Paraguay  and  the  Parana.  They  w^ere 
surrounded  and  confronted  by  peoples  who  also  counted  up  to 
four.  The  Chiriguanos,  on  the  contrary,  w^ho  are  in  fapt 
Guaranis  separated  from  the  other  savage  tribes,  either  pre- 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  Ill 

viously  to  the  Spanish  Conquest  or  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards  ;  in  any  case  dwelling  on  the  borders  of  the  ancient 
Peruvian  empire,  as  the  historians  of  the  conquest  testify ; — 
the  Chiriguanos,  I  say,  by  contact  with  nations  who  could  count 
indefinitely,  and  who,  moreover,  were  notably  advanced  in  civi- 
lization, can  count  indefinitely  also,  although,  as  I  have  shown, 
they  are  at  a  stage  of  civilization  very  inferior  to  that  of  the 
Peruvians. 

This  fact,  taken  with  the  other  that  several  of  the  higher 
numbers,  such  as  hundred  or  thousand,  are  alike  in  many  dialects, 
and  again  to  the  notorious  superiority  of  the  Peruvians  in 
civilization  and  in  war,  at  least  during  the  four  centuries 
prior  to  the  Spanish  Conquest,  by  means  of  which  they  had  ac- 
quired an  immense  territory,  larger  than  that  indicated  by  his- 
torians ; — all  these  things,  I  say,  make  me  think  that  the  art  of 
numeration  was  imparted  to  the  tribes  of  this  part  of  the  con- 
tinent by  the  Peruvians,  who  moreover  were  acquainted  with 
the  mode  of  determining  numbers  by  a  system  of  knots  which 
they  termed  quipu.  (We  must  regard  this  system,  which  ac- 
cording to  some  historians  was  also  possessed  by  the  Mexicans, 
as  the  first  step  towards  writing,  since  it  served  to  fix  ideas  by 
signs.) 

The  Chinese,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  digression,  had  a  similar 
system  handed  down  to  them  from  the  second  semi-mythological 
Emperor  of  China,  Soui-gin-ke,  the  same  who  discovered  fire, 
taught  commerce,  and  established  government  among  his  people, 
according  to  the  annals  of  the  Tribunal  of  History,  that  ad- 
mirable and  entirely  Chinese  institution,  which  dated  from  many 
thousands  of  years. 

It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  this  serious  inferiority 
in  the  power  of  expressing  numbers  has  a  corresponding  inferiority 
in  the  rest  of  the  language  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Chaco. 
Not  so ;  their  language  is  as  rich  as  that  of  any  other  people. 
If  they  are  deficient  in  certain  expressions  of  abstract  ideas,  it 
is  because  the  idea  itself  is  wanting  to  them ;  but  their  lan- 
guage is  able  to  express  new  ideas  and  new  things  ad  infinitum. 
It  has  tenses,  moods,  persons,  number,  and  finally  cases  for  verbs 
and  nouns,  which  render  it  very  complicated. 

Nor  are  general  names  wanting,  such  as  fish,  tree,  bird ;  and 
they  also  have  augmentatives  and  diminutives,  which  lend  them- 
selves readily  to  express  new  things  by  names  of  their  own,  which 
they  seek  to  preserve  as  much  as  possible. 


112  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  certain  animals  imported  by 
the  Spaniards  are  called  by  the  native  name  of  a  somewhat 
similar  animal,  with  the  addition  of  a  distinctive  particle ;  thus, 
the  Mattacco  word  for  horse  is  yelatdch,  meaning  great  tapir, 
from  yelach,  tapir,  and  tacli  an  augmentative  particle  ;  a  sheep 
is  keonatdch  from  keond,  deer,  and  so  on.  If  there  is  no 
name  in  their  vocabulary  for  an  animal  of  the  same  kind,  or  if 
they  have  already  made  use  of  it,  then  they  take  the  foreign 
appellation  of  the  new  object,  pronouncing  it  according  to  the 
physical  capacity  of  their  throat,  and  the  nature  of  their  lan- 
guage. Thus  they  call  a  goat,  ca-i-la,  and  Pedro,  Pe-i-lo,  for 
being  unable  to  pronounce  the  letter  r,  or  the  letters  bl  and  dl, 
they  substitute  for  the  former  an  Z,  and  for  the  latter  an  ?', 
Pedro  and  Pedlo  thus  becoming  Peilo^  with  the  accent  on  the 
last  syllable  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  the  language. 
"N^Hien  this  law  is  recognized,  several  Guarani  words  are  found 
to  be  the  equivalents  of  Mattacco  words,  by  merely  changing  the 
r  into  I ;  and  the  same  with  some  Spanish  words. 

But  I  admit  that  the  principle  was  not  easy  to  find  out, 
although  now  that  it  is  explained  it  seems  a  very  simple  thing. 

Since  I  am  on  the  subject  of  language,  it  occurs  to  me  to  take 
exception  to  an  opinion  that  appears  to  have  been  put  forward 
by  eminent  philologists. 

"We  are  told,  if  I  remember  rightly,  that  there  are  three 
distinct  stages  in  the  formation  of  language  :  the  monosyllabic^ 
the  agglomerate,  and  the  inflected.  The  agglomerate  is  the 
process  by  which,  when  we  desire  to  express  a  modification  of  a 
thing,  we  use  the  word  expressing  the  thing  and  another  word 
expressing  the  idea  of  the  modification ;  on  the  other  hand, 
by  inflection  is  meant  modification  by  a  variation  in  the  form 
of  the  word  expressing  the  thing. 

The  inflected  period  in  a  language  does  not  always  corre- 
spond with  greater  intellectual  progress  in  those  who  employ  it. 
If  such  has  been  the  case  among  Asiatics,  it  is  not  so  here  in 
America,  as  I  will  proceed  to  show.  The  fact  is,  that  if  there 
be  a  people  lower  than  others  in  the  scale,  the  Mattaccos  are 
that  people  ;  now  the  Mattacco  language  is  exuberantly  inflected, 
while  numerous  neighbouring  tribes  and  numerous  others  more 
civilized  than  they,  are  partly  in  the  agglomerate  period.  For 
example:  the  Chicciuans  use  the  word  cuna  to  express  the 
plural,  this  word  does  not  mean  many,  but  it  conveys  a  notion 
of  dignity  or  superiority;  the  Guaranis  use  lietd,  which  merfns 


OF  THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  II3 

many ;  the  Chiulipi  hu-ue,  much ;  the  Cileni,  who  have  also  a 
dual  form,  make  constant  use  of  various  particles ;  the  Lules 
use  a  word  meaning  much :  all  these  words  are  added  to  the 
singular. 

The  Mattaccos,  on  the  contrary,  have  no  less  than  four  de- 
clensions, all  of  them  inflected,  and  one  that  they  make  use 
of  by  agglomeration,  ntoJCj  meaning  much.  The  inflections  are 
ss,  esSj  i,  and  I  (like  II  in  Spanish.  Examples:  horse, J elatachj 
horses,  jelatdss ;  this  toch,  these  tochess ;  post,  ac-l6,  posts, 
ac-lo-i  ;  man,  icnu ;  vi&a.,  icnul,  or  icnuil. 

As  to  their  verbs,  besides  an  auxiliary  oit-tac,  that  is  the 
same  for  all  tenses,  and  means  when  used  alone  /  will,  they 
employ  the  following  inflections ;  he  comes,  nom,  he  came, 
nomme,  he  will  come,  nom-la ;  there  are  many  besides  these 
that  I  have  not  yet  discovered. 

Meanwhile  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  native  American 
languages  are  not  strictly  in  any  one  of  the  three  stages  into 
which  we  divide  the  growth  of  languages,  and  on  the  contrary, 
they  include,  so  to  speak,  all  three. 

The  so-called  wealth  of  the  language  of  wild  tribes  has  given 
a  supposed-to-be  powerful  weapon  into  the  hands  of  the 
philosophers  of  Revelation,  who  find  in  this  abundance  of  gram- 
matical form  and  of  vocabulary  a  proof  of  the  divine  origin  of 
human  speech.  But  independently  of  this  consideration,  and 
proceeding  logically,  I  ask  why  these  savages  cannot  count  ? 
and  why  do  they  learn  to  do  so  as  they  become  civilized  ?  If 
the  art  of  enumeration  is  one  result  of  an  improved  and  pro- 
gressive intelligence,  why  should  not  grammatical  form  be 
another?  It  is  certain  that  numeration  is  quite  as  difiicult 
as  grammar  ;  and  we  see  it  to  be,  as  a  fact.  The  difliculty  of 
written  numeration  has  proved  so  lasting  that,  from  the  small 
cords  of  the  Peruvians  and  the  tablets  of  the  Chinese  to  the 
Roman  numerals  and  Arabic  figures,  whose  marvellous  sim- 
plicity we  have  reached  after  traversing  the  three  stages 
attributed  to  language,  has  been  a  progress  of  many  thousand 
years. 

Xext,  as  to  the  boasted  riches  of  ancient  and  primitive  lan- 
guages, for  example,  the  Yasco  and  American,  that  have  sepaiate 
forms  corresponding  to  every  relation  of  time,  place,  person,  or 
sex,  I  have  my  own  opinion.  I  believe  that  those  languages 
are  linked  to  ours,  for  instance,  to  the  simple  and  clear  English 
language,  as  an  alphabet  of  40,000  letters  might  be  to  one  of 

1 


114  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

twenty  or  thirty,  or  as  in  numbers  the  system  of  juxtaposition 
and  Roman  figures  is  to  the  Arabic.  I  contend,  moreover,  that 
all  these  innumerable  forms,  that  are  like  so  many  figures  and 
symbols  particularized  and  localized,  are  a  consequence  of  an 
inferior  intelligence  not  yet  sufficiently  awakened  and  developed 
to  adopt  the  relations  expressed  by  the  relative  position  of 
words  in  the  period.  In  the  same  way,  an  individual  might  be 
capable  of  comprehending  what  is  signified  by  1,  0,  and  a  sepa- 
rate sign  representing  one  hundred,  two  hundred,  &c.,  but 
would  be  unable  to  reason,  that  1  with  two  zeros  might  equally 
well  express  a  hundred  without  the  necessity  of  writing  the  word 
or  placing  a  hieroglyphic  against  it.  Certain  intellects  are  strong 
as  to  memory,  but  slow  in  ratiocination.  "We  ought  to  say 
of  languages  what  we  say  of  machinery  :  "  That  one  is  the  best 
that  gives  the  same  result  with  the  least  expenditure  of  force." 
The  English,  who  are  expert  mechanicians,  have  a  very  simple 
language. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  II5 


CHAPTEE  XXL 

SOCIAL  CONDITION.    {Contiiiued.) 

The  embryonic  state  of  numeration  is  repeated  in  all  the  other 
manifestations  of  intellectual  and  material  life  among  the  Indians 
of  the  Chaco. 

We  have  already  noticed  their  want  of  religion,  which  is 
still  in  the  state  of  mere  superstition.  And  although  we  must 
regard  religions,  in  so  far  as  form  constitutes  their  substance,  as  a 
collection  of  absurd  and  even  cruel  ceremonies,  often  the  result 
of  unconscious,  because  habitual  imposture  (see  the  discourses 
of  sacred  orators  of  various  sects),  still  the  absence  of  these 
forms  accurately  marks  the  absence  of  civilization  also  in  the 
history  of  a  people,  because  it  proves  them  to  be  incapable  of 
constructing  the  complicated,  formidable,  and  portentous  arma- 
ment and  equipment  of  religion. 

I  wish  it  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the  opinions  I  express 
on  religions  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  speculative  idea  which 
directs  them,  and  which  makes  them  worthy  of  respect,  nor  with 
the  historical  reasons  that  determine  them,  and  in  which  they 
find  their  power  ;  nor  yet  with  the  social  functions  they  fulfil, 
and  in  which  they  find  a  motive  for  their  expansion,  and  for  the 
resistance  they  offer  to  the  inevitable  changes  of  time.  But  it 
is  lamentable  that  mankind  has  not  yet  learned  to  look  for  the 
development  of  its  historical  causes  and  the  fulfilment  of  its  social 
functions  apart  from  religion,  because  the  coming  out  of  it 
involves  later  so  much  cost  and  hardship  that  it  makes  one  curse 
the  benefits  received  at  its  hands  in  former  times.  I  wish  to 
say  this  with  all  possible  respect  for  the  faithful  towards  all 
religions  past,  present,  and  future. 

The  Indians  distinguish  the  seasons  of  the  year  only  by  the 
various  harvests.  Thus  they  speak  of  the  epoch  of  algarroba, 
of  the  mistol,  of  the  cova,  &c.     How  would  it  be  possible,  in 


Il6  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

fact,  for  them  to  divide  the  year  into  months  or  moons,  if  they 
cannot,  count  beyond  four?  This  also  implies,  a  j^rioH,  that 
they  have  never  cared  to  comprehend  the  laws  of  the  earth's 
movements,  or  of  the  apparent  movement  of  the  sun. 

It  is  curious,  however,  that  they  divide  the  day  into  an 
immense  number  of  parts,  which  they  express  according  to  the 
height  of  the  sun,  and  which  take  the  place  of  our  hours.  They 
recognize  also  various  constellations  such  as  the  Pleiades,  Venus, 
the  Milky  Way,  and  the  Centaur.  They  have  no  word,  however, 
to  express  a  year. 

The  Mattaccos  have  a  word,  ch-lupp,  that  means  epoch,  and 
which  is  of  indeterminate  period,  like  the  epoch  with  us ;  they 
use  the  word  i-qud-la,  sun,  to  express  a  day,  and  i-gue-ldch,  moon, 
for  a  month.  Their  language  conforms  in  this  to  the  universal 
language  of  the  nations ;  with  us  it  has  remained  and  is  genuine 
in  the  language  of  poetry,  while  in  the  vulgar  tongue  it  has 
undergone  so  many  transformations  that  at  last  the  words  used 
as  equivalents  have  become  independent  of  their  original  meanings, 
sun  and  moon. 

Now  whether  they  liken  the  moon  to  a  lamp,  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  a  lamp  to  the  moon,  the  fact  remains  that  they  call 
by  one  and  the  same  name  the  moon  and  a  light. 

Not  so,  however,  with  fire,  to  which  they  seem  to  attribute 
some  special  property,  for  the  Chiriguans  condemn  those  to  be 
burned  who  have  died  in  evil  repute.  The  Tobas,  on  the  con- 
trary, and  some  Mattaccos,  burn  all  their  dead  indiscriminately. 
This  latter  practice  may  be  explained  by  their  desire  to  attain 
as  soon  as  possible  a  favourable  condition  for  the  deceased  person, 
who,  so  soon  as  all  his  flesh  is  consumed,  is  able  to  join  his 
companions  under  the  earth. 

Although  they  possess  no  knowledge  of  either  phosphorus  or 
sulphur,  nor  even  of  steel  (they  have  not  even  stone  in  these 
parts),  yet  they  can  kindle  a  fire  Avhen  they  please.  I  have 
already  related  how  by  rapidly  grinding  one  piece  of  wood  on 
another,  until  a  powder  like  ground  cofi'ee,  which  does  not  kindle, 
comes  from  it,  and  adding  some  very  combustible  material, 
on  which  they  blow,  a  flame  is  produced,  and  then  as  much  fire 
as  they  want.  One,  at  least,  of  the  pieces  of  wood  they  use  is 
chilca,  a  small  and  fragrant  tree,  both  resinous  and  porous,  which 
is  plentiful  throughout  the  Argentines. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  each  individual  Indian  does 
everything  by  himself,  and  singly,  and  hence,  it  has  been  argi\ed. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  11/ 

the  slowness  and  delay  in  their  actions.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  case.  Although  a  nomadic  people,  they  nevertheless  under- 
stand the  division  of  labour,  and  among  them  are  weapon-makers, 
canoe-builders,  makers  of  nets,  weavers,  &c.,  who  barter  these 
goods  to  their  comrades,  receiving  other  articles  in  exchange. 
Thus  they  have  a  beginning  of  arts  and  industries,  but  in 
embryo.  JSTor  are  the  right  words  wanting  to  describe 
them;  they  consist,  in  Mattacco,  of  the  word  expressing  the 
object  and  of  a  particle  denoting  the  function.  Hi  (h  nasal) 
denotes  possession  or  deposit ;  guu,  production  or  manufacture  ; 
kid  indicates  means  of  obtaining,  viz.  those  who  procure  certain 
things.  For  instance,  fish  is  jack-set,  fisheTman  jach-set-Jdd  ;  an 
arrow  is  luteJc,  makers  of  arrows  luiek-giiu,  possessors  of  arrows 
lutek-lii.  And  by  means  of  these  particles,  the  first  time  they 
see  a  travelling-trunk  or  a  birdcage,  they  name  it  at  once  imai- 
hi,  that  is,  a  guard-garment,  and  Imentie-lii,  a  guard-bird. 

One  of  their  most  advanced  industries  is  that  of  weaving,  in 
which,  as  I  said  before,  they  do  not  use  a  shuttle  but  a  splinter 
of  palm-wood,  with  which  they  draw  the  woof  together  by  hand  ; 
and  another  is  the  manufacture  of  nets,  which  are  sometimes 
fifteen  or  twenty  yards  long. 

But  their  most  remarkable  and  elegant  manufacture  is  that  of 
bags,  in  which  the  meshes  are  like  rippling  hair,  and  so  elastic 
that  a  small  one  will  acquire  considerable  size,  according  to  its 
contents,  while  the  network  will  remain  sufficiently  close  to 
prevent  their  escape.  They  make  use  of  designs,  but  exclu- 
sively geometrical  ones,  such  as  parallel  lines,  triangles,  and 
squares. 

Their  canoes  deserve  special  mention.  They  are  made  in  one 
piece  from  the  trunk  of  the  large,  cork-like  giuccian,  roughly 
hollowed  out,  and  then  launched. 

The  tools  used  by  the  Indians  are,  in  the  first  place,  the  shells 
of  a  large  kind  of  oyster,  like  those  vulgarly  called  cockle-shells 
in  Tuscany ;  these  are  found  in  great  quantities  in  the  lakes  of 
the  Chaco  ;  tiger- teeth;  very  hard  wooden  stakes ;  and  the  jaw- 
bones of  fishes,  such  as  the  imlometa,  with  which  they  also  cut 
their  hair  and  the  little  beard  they  possess. 

Far  from  being  ignorant  of  potters'  work,  they  are  less  inferior 
to  us  in  ceramic  art  than  in  any  other. 

The  cooking  of  food  no  doubt  contributed  greatly  to  the  birth 
of  this  industry,  but  reverence  for  the  dead  has  been  the 
determining  cause  of  its  development  and  comparative  progress. 


Il8  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

In  effect,  the  Mattaccos,  Tobas,  Chiulipi,  and  others,  who 
do  not  put  the  bodies  of  their  dead  in  jars,  use  rough  and 
unvarnished  vessels  for  cooking,  but  those  who  dwell  at  Santiago, 
and  the  Chiriguanos  in  Bolivia,  while  they  use  some  for  pitchers, 
have  others  besides,  very  highly  glazed,  painted,  and  orna- 
mented, in  the  largest  and  handsomest  of  which  they  enclose 
their  corpses. 

The  water-jars  are  nearly  always  made  with  a  narrow  neck  in 
the  thickest  part,  through  which  a  cord  is  passed ;  this  is  fastened 
in  front  and  secures  the  jar  on  the  bent  shoulders  of  the  bearer. 
This  fashion  of  carrying  burdens  is  far  less  graceful  than  our 
peasant  women's  way  of  bearing  them  on  their  heads,  and  makes 
the  bearers  look  like  beasts  of  burden ;  but  it  may,  perhaps,  be 
a  more  wholesome  mode. 

They  neither  understand  nor  practise  agriculture,  yet  they 
sometimes  sow  maize  (native  to  America)  and  sugar-cane. 
When  they  think  it  is  fit  to  eat,  they  gather  it  in.  They  do 
not  grind  the  maize,  but  eat  it  with  sugar,  fresh  boiled  or 
roasted ;  the  harvest,  therefore,  is  reaped  little  by  little,  and 
lasts  for  some  time.  A  hard  wooden  spade,  shaped  like  an  oar 
or  like  a  lance-head,  is  used  at  seed-time ;  the  man  digs  the 
ground  up,  the  woman  scatters  the  seed  and  covers  it,  and  all  is 
done.  They  sow  in  ground  that  has  been  burned,  and  is  fresh 
from  recent  rain. 

Harvest  is  reaped  in  common,  but  they  are  tenacious  of  the 
produce.  While  we  were  living  on  board,  with  provisions 
almost  all  exhausted,  and  longing  for  fresh  meat  and  vegetables, 
for  we  had  been  more  than  three  months  without  any,  a  gift  of 
ears  of  corn  and  of  sugar-canes  was  received  with  great  joy  from 
some  friendly  Indians — friendly,  but  who  afterwards  murdered 
our  interpreter.  The  sailors  discovered  where  the  maize  and 
sugar  were  growing,  and  went  secretly  and  took  some.  The 
next  day  they  returned  to  the  spot  on  the  same  errand,  but 
found  the  corn  and  sugar-cane  cut,  or  plucked  up  or  destroyed, 
in  short  utterly  useless.  And  not  one  of  those  Indians  showed 
himself  again. 

It  would  seem,  too,  as  if  the  Christians  did  not  wish  the 
Indians  to  be  agriculturists.  I  was  assured  that  the  former 
having  found  fields  sowed  by  the  Indians  of  the  frontier— 
friendly  Indians — destroyed  them  all,  and  that  from  that  date 
the  Indians  of  those  parts  have  never  cultivated  a  foot  of 
ground.     Such  conduct  springs  from  a  motive  of  self-interek, 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  II9 

and  seeks  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  taking  possession,  that 
would  be  recognized  as  legitimate  by  Argentine  law,  of  fertile 
land  which  the  border  Christians  look  upon  as  future  prey  for 
themselves. 

They  are  not  traders ;  how  could  they  trade  without  either 
agricultural  or  industrial  pursuits,  and  themselves  a  nomadic 
people  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality  ?  They  barter,  however, 
on  a  small  scale,  exchange  being  the  primitive  and  embryonic 
form  of  commerce.  They  do  not  even  possess  any  words 
corresponding  to  purchase  or  sale,  and  to  express  these  ideas 
they  would  seem  to  liave  gone  to  school  to  an  economist  in 
order  to  learn  the  do  ut  des^  the  formula  of  barter ;  the  Mattaccos 
for  instance,  when  they  wish  to  say  ice  sold,  say  atkioc  nikioc, 
i.e.  give  to  rwe,  I  give  to  thee. 

They  have  consequently  no  money ;  but  they  constructed  a 
word  for  expressing  it  when  they  saw  ours.  The  Mattaccos 
call  it  tdoc-kynat,  signifying  skins  of  metal,  kynat  being  the 
generic  name  for  any  metal  whatsoever.  ^0  metal  of  any 
kind  exists  on  the  table-land  of  the  Chaco. 

Nevertheless  the  inhabitants  of  the  Chaco  possess  a  certain 
kind  of  money,  in  embryo  as  usual,  in  a  material  which  is 
valuable  on  account  of  its  extreme  scarcity.  The  plant  that 
supplies  it  is  called  iirucu  at  Santa  Cruz,  in  Bolivia,  and  when 
the  fruit  is  boiled  for  a  night  and  a  day,  it  deposits  on  the 
surface  of  the  water  its  colouring  matter,  which  forms  itself 
into  balls  of  different  sizes.  The  colour  is  obtained  from  the 
rind  of  the  fruit,  which  is  the  size  of  an  orange.  Black  rinds 
produce  a  black  dye,  orange-coloured  produce  red,  and  white  ones, 
green.  The  two  latter  fruits  are  the  size  of  a  nut.  All  three  are 
different  species  of  the  urucu.  This  shrub  is  of  the  height  of  a 
man,  the  fruit  resembles  a  pomegranate  and  opens  when  ripe. 

This  substance  although  grown  and  manufactured  in  Bolivia, 
circulates  among  all  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco,  and  is  used  by 
them  to  stain  themselves  red  as  a  sign  of  love,  black  in  sign  of 
fear,  and  green  for  ornament.  The  colours  can  be  washed  off 
with  the  greatest  ease. 

Apropos  of  ornament,  the  Indians  of  these  parts  are  more  or 
less  tattooed.  I  have  seen  tattoo  to  a  great  extent  on  famous 
Toba  warriors  and  especially  on  women.  It  looks  like  the 
marking  of  small-pox,  and  is  in  geometrical  designs.  It  is 
effected  by  pricking  the  skin  with  a  big  thorn  dipped  in  an 
acrid  milky  substance,  that  leaves  an  indelible  mark  wherever 


120  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

it  falls,  and  which  is  absorhed  into  the  epidermic  tissue.  This 
substance  is  found  principally  at  Santa  Cruz,  in  Bolivia,  and  is 
called  in  Guarani,  as  is  likewise  the  plant  itself,  i-guo-qui.  It 
is  a  climbing  plant,  with  clusters  of  white  flowers?,  and  with  a 
round  fruit  from  which  a  powder  escapes  when  it  bursts  open. 
In  order  to  obtain  the  igiioqui,  one  of  the  clusters  is  broken 
off  before  it  is  ripe,  and  a  milky  fluid  exudes  from  the  stem, 
this,  during  the  operation  of  tattooing,  is  kept  in  water,  that 
the  milk  may  not  escape.  One  of  these  shrubs  was  seen  by  a 
Chiriguan,  twenty  miles  from  the  Christian  frontier,  on  the 
Yermejo  river,  at  a  spot  called  Lima  Nueva. 

Another  custom  closely  allied  to  that  of  tattooing,  the  end  to 
be  attained  being  the  same,  is  that  of  the  depilation  of  the 
skin,  which  is  universal  in  the  Chaco  and  possibly  also  among 
all  the  Indians  of  the  New  World. 

It  is  practised  with  a  view  to  ornamentation,  but  perhaps  the 
real  cause  is  health  and  convenience.  Perhaps,  also,  they  wish 
to  distinguish  themselves  in  this  way  from  the  other  animals 
which  are  hairy. 

Meanwhile,  whether  they  are  so  originally,  or  whether  the 
efibct  has  been  produced  by  the  gradual  selection,  consequent 
on  this  custom,  Indians  are  almost  entirely  hairless  on  face 
and  body,  and  with  very  few  exceptions  they  voluntarily  remove 
the  little  hair  they  have. 

Notwithstanding  the  completeness  of  their  language,  I  have 
been  unable  to  discover  any  songs,  or  music  of  any  kind.  All 
I  know  of  among  the  Mattaccos  is  the  following  attempt  at 
verse,  sung,  heaven  knows  how,  by  the  Chenas.  It  reveals, 
however,  a  notion  of  rhyme — 

"Bonica,  nambonica, 
Se-le-etie-no ; 
Bonica,  bonica, 
Nambonica,  nambonica." 

"  The  meaning  is  :  It  displeases  me,  it  pleases  me,  that  thou 
shouldst  embrace  me  ;  it  displeases,  me  it  displeases  me,  it 
pleases  me,  it  pleases  me."  Nor  have  they  dances ;  for  their 
wild  whirligigs  hand  in  hand  cannot  be  called  dancing.  They 
are  modest,  however,  for  the  men  and  women  whirl  round  in 
separate  rings,  not  touching  each  other. 

In  short,  all  that  is  imagination,  or  is  called  religion,  or 
poetry,  or  cancan,  is  completely  wanting  in  these  wild  tribes.** 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  121 


CHAPTER  XXII.    . 

SOCIAL  CONDITION.     {Continued.) 

Does  a  want  of  imagination  imply  also  a  want  of  heart  1  It 
has  been  frequently  stated  and  repeated  again  and  again  that 
the  ties  of  blood  are  neither  strong  nor  tenacious  among  Indians, 
and  the  assertion  is  based  on  observation,  on  reasoning,  on  the 
want  of  offspring,  and  on  the  practice  of  concubinage. 

I  think  this  too  hasty  a  judgment.  Accustomed  as  we  are 
to  Christian  traditions,  which,  by  the  way,  form  an  exception  to 
the  great  majority  of  others,  and  which  are  in  some  degree 
balanced  by  hidden  infidelities,  and  by  the  shameless  immorality 
of  prostitution,  it  seems  to  us  that  if  a  woman  is  not  united  to  a 
man  by  all  the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  and  if  she  is  not  the 
only  one,  every  proper  feeling  must  be  destroyed. 

The  contrary  could  be  demonstrated ;  but  I  will  limit  myself 
to  the  Indians,  among  whom,  although  polygamists,  I  have 
seen  instances  of  the  greatest  conjugal  tenderness. 

One  Indian  whom  we  had  on  board  with  us,  and  who  had  a 
beautiful  and  youthful  companion,  watched  over  her  and 
worshipped  her  like  the  Virgin.  The  Indian  who  had  been 
bitten  by  a  viper,  and  whom  we  cured  on  board,  was 
joined  by  his  wife,  who  nursed  him  for  twenty  days,  never 
once  leaving  his  side.  The  cacique  Pasquale,  whose  old  and 
ugly  wife  was  carried  off  in  a  sudden  raid,  prepared  an  invasion, 
followed  on  the  tracks  of  the  enemy,  fought  like  a  lion  and 
recovered  his  companion.  These  occurrences  took  place  under 
my  own  eyes  and  within  a  short  space  of  time. 

When  an  Indian  introduces  himself  to  you  and  asks  for  any- 
thing, he  never  forgets  his  children,  his  wives,  or  his  parents  ; 
and  if  he  receives  anything  divisible  he  shares  it,  not  only  with 
his  family,  but  with  his  comrades. 

I  have  always  seen  mothers  most  affectionate  to  their  children, 


122  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

and  it  is  well  known  that  the  wars  between  the  different  tribes, 
and  murder  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  same  tolderia,  are 
always  acts  of  revenge  for  offences  committed  against  comrades 
or  kin.  What  greater  proof  of  affection  can  be  given  than 
this? 

"  But  they  are  cruel,  and  kill  their  prisoners  of  war !  "  We 
can  hardly  reproach  them  for  this,  since,  until  recently,  we  did 
the  same  ourselves.  We  did  it  on  an  immense  scale  at  the  time 
of  the  Spanish  Conquest  towards  these  very  tribes,  and  we  do 
it  at  the  present  day,  when  we  can  do  so  safely  and  without 
risk  to  ourselves.  Only  a  few  short  years  ago  Austria,  the 
chartered  gendarme  of  the  signatories  of  the  Berlin  treaty, 
habitually  shot  the  defenders  of  their  country  when  prisoners 
of  war. 

This  custom  of  killing  their  prisoners  is  one  of  necessity  for 
the  personal  safety  of  the  Indians,  who  are,  through  their 
nomadic  life,  in  constant  danger  of  sudden  surprise ;  moreover, 
it  frees  them  from  the  shame  of  slavery  which  is  unknown 
among  them.  The  custom  is  also  of  the  greatest  importance  on 
account  of  the  alternation  of  victory  among  the  tribes,  by  which 
the  superior  of  the  two,  either  in  strength  or  in  intellect,  takes 
the  place,  for  a  while,  of  the  vanquished,  and  thus  affords  an 
opportunity  for  that  process  of  natural  selection  which  is  the 
scientific  basis  of  Darwin's  theory,  and  to  which  is  due  the 
gradual  improvement  of  races  belonging  to  the  organic  kingdom 
for  whom  the  battle  of  life  resolves  itself  into  mors  tua  vita 
mea. 

Are  these  Indians  cannibals'?  This  question  invariably 
occurs  in  connection  with  savages. 

In  America  anthropophagy  has  been  held  in  honour  by  Jews 
and  Samaritans,  by  barbarism  and  civilization.  The  Caribbean 
savages  and  the  non-civilized  Mexicans  lived  principally  on 
human  flesh.  The  mild  Peruvians  did  not  abhor  to  mingle 
human  blood  with  their  Paschal  feast.  They  steeped  their 
maize  bread  in  blood  taken  from  the  forehead  of  children. 

But  among  the  former,  cannibalism  was  limited  to  prisoners 
of  war,  and — death  for  death — it  was  considered  more  merci- 
ful and  more  advantageous  to  let  them  first  enjoy  them- 
selves and  grow  fat,  in  order  that  later  they  might  grace  the 
conquerors'  table. 

Thus  theChiululesandtheTlascalans,who  aided  the  Spaniards 
at  the  siege  of  Mexico,  were  horrified  that  the  latter  shouAi, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  12  3 

through  hunger,  have  eaten  the  flesh  of  their  own  comrades 
who  had  fallen  at  the  siege.  We  are  told,  moreover,  that  an- 
thropophagy had  a  share  in  the  immense  number  of  human 
sacrifices  at  Huitzlopotolili,  where  the  priests,  like  the  Levites 
of  old,  had  select  portions  of  the  victims  reserved  for  their  own 
table. 

Here  in  the  Chaco,  even  if  these  customs  existed  temporihus 
illis,  which  cannot  be  considered  as  certain,  cannibalism  either 
does  not  exist  at  the  present  day  or  is  minimized. 

I  say  nothing  of  the  custom  of  drinking  aloja  from  the 
skull  of  a  murdered  prisoner,  converted  into  a  cup  propitiatory 
of  vengeance  and  victory,  but  I  will  relate  a  circumstance 
which  will  afford  other  data. 

I  had  just  arrived  in  Buenos  Ayres  when  I  was  commissioned 
to  go  to  the  Chaco  and  divide  some  land  on  the  Kio  Salado, 
At  that  time  the  journey  from  Cordoba  to  Santiago  was  made 
entirely  by  coach.  Being  ignorant  of  the  customs  and  even  of 
the  language  of  the  country,  I  was  prepared  for  an  unpleasant 
journey,  when  I  happened  to  meet  with  a  Brazilian  of  French 
parentage,  who  was  going  to  Santiago  in  order  to  arrange  for  the 
purchase  of  a  large  number  of  mules  from  the  Taboada. 

He  was  an  experienced  traveller,  a  Frenchman,  and  amply 
provisioned,  and  the  prospect  of  his  companionship  was  most 
agreeable.  We  soon  made  friends,  and  the  six  days  of  the 
journey  passed  away  delightfully. 

On  our  parting  at  Santiago  he  said,  "  Friend,  if  you  spend 
some  months  in  the  Chaco,  I  hope  we  shall  meet  again ;  and  as 
I  shall  have  a  great  number  of  mules,  I  shall  also  have  plenty 
of  excellent  provisions.  If  we  meet  we  will  spend  a  couple  of 
days  together  in  honour  of  the  occasion.  We  will  have  good 
cheer  and  good  wine,  which,  by  that  time,  you  will  need." 

I  hailed  the  augury,  and  we  parted.  Six  months  after- 
wards (the  whole  of  which  I  had  passed  in  the  woods  and  about 
the  lakes  of  the  Salado),  on  a  day  of  unexpected  and  pouring 
rain,  falling  in  advance  of  the  rainy  season,  and  which  came 
down  continuously,  I  found  myself,  with  a  few  followers, 
separated  from  the  rest  of  my  companions.  Our  footmarks 
being  effaced  by  the  rain  washing  the  hard,  burnt  ground^  my 
men  would  not  consent  to  tiu'n  back  in  order  to  find  our  party. 
I  w^andered  about,  trusting  to  chance,  wet  through,  and  for 
four  and  twenty  hours  without  food  or  fire. 

All  at  once  I  heard  a  discharge  of  firearms,  then  silence. 


124  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

"My  comrades  are  letting  me  know  where  they  are,"  I 
exclaimed,  and  advanced  in  the  direction  of  the  sound. 

Then  a  box  of  matches  on  the  ground  caught  my  eye. 

"  What  can  this  mean  V  I  thought  to  myself.  "  We  have 
no  boxes  like  that." 

On  going  farther  I  found  some  clock  ornaments,  a  rifle, 
and  a  blood-stained  sword.  Then  my  hair  stifi'ened,  but  I 
proceeded  with  my  men. 

Suddenly  I  caught  sight  of  two,  and  then  three,  blood-stained 
bodies  ;  they  were  still  warm,  horribly  mutilated,  the  faces  soiled 
with  blood  and  dirt,  and  had  been  disembowelled. 

I  hastened  to  wash  the  face  of  the  corpses  and — my  heart  still 
aches  at  the  remembrance — I  recognized  my  fellow-traveller, 
the  Brazilian,  with  whom  I  had  interchanged  promises  to 
meet  again  in  the  Salado !  Ah !  I  cannot  forbear  from 
tears. 

Having  dug  a  grave  and  placed  each  corpse  on  a  cow-hide, 
one  above  the  other,  I  buried  them  in  this  humble  fashion, 
with  the  utmost  reverence. 

Meanwhile,  a  band  of  Mocovitos  appeared  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  who,  struck  their  mouths  with  their  hands, 
and  uttered  loud  shouts  as  they  drove  before  them  a  large  herd 
of  mules ;  then,  turning  towards  us,  they  scornfully  saluted  us, 
holding  up  the  smoking  and  still  bleeding  entrails  of  our 
friends. 

The  Indians  had  dogged  the  Brazilian's  steps,  and  when  he 
had  hastened  forward  with  his  men  and  some  of  the  less  tired 
mules,  and  was  stopping  at  the  fogon  for  maUj  they  had  fallen 
upon  him,  killed  him,  and  stolen  the  mules. 

The  Brazilian  had  defended  himself,  it  appeared,  like  a  lion, 
and  when  at  last  he  was  overpowered  they  had  disem- 
bowelled him  for  their  horrible  feast.  For  it  is  a  part  of  faith 
with  these  savages  that  the  heart  of  an  enemy  who  has 
died  bravely  lighting  imparts  valour  to  those  who  partake  of 
it. 

The  above  was  related  to  me  by  the  engineer,  Braly.  And 
such  scenes  as  these  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Chaco  ! 
They  are  in  contradiction  to  the  opinion  of  some  persons  who 
consider  the  Indians  an  inoffensive  people.  N"ot  more  than  two 
months  ago  a  band  of  this  very  tribe  withstood  more  than  lifty 
Christians,  among  whom  were  soldiers  and  National  Guards,  and 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  12$ 

put  tlieni  to  rout  with  the  loss  of  more  than  two-thirds  of  their 
number.^ 

We  are  very  far,  however,  from  endorsing  the  exaggerated 
accounts  of  Padre  Lozano  and  many  other  travellers  who  have 
written  on  the  Chaco,  probably  without  having  stayed  there 
and  without  any  acquaintance  with  the  Indians. 

I  have  seen  them  drink  the  blood  of  animals  killed  for 
our  use  with  avidity,  but  they  do  not  make  flesh-meat  their  ex- 
clusive food,  as  some  writers  have  stated ;  on  the  contrary,  their 
food  consists  principally  of  fish,  game,  roots,  and  wild  fruits, 
with  which,  and  with  the  honey  found  in  abundance  in  their 
woods,  they  also  make  fermented  drinks,  as  I  have  already 
described. 

It  would,  however,  be  unjust  towards  these  Indians,  if  I 
omitted  to  relate  a  circumstance  that  does  them  honour. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that  our  steamer  had  been  left 
with  the  crew  at  the  point  where  we  had  been  joined  by  the 
relieving  party,  together  with  whom  Koldan  and  I  rode  on 
horseback  as  far  as  the  Christian  frontiers,  a  distance  of  eighty- 
five  leagues.  Among  those  who  remained  behind  was  Don 
Felix,  the  Spanish  mason,  who  used  to  entertain  us  through 
the  night  with  singing  and  playing  the  guitar.  This  man  be- 
came tired  of  life  on  board,  which  was  duUer  than  ever  after 
our  departure,  and  his  ennui  at  last  reached  such  a  pitch,  that, 
at  his  own  request,  and  to  avoid  some  untoward  accident,  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  put  him  ashore  and  bade  him  God-speed. 

The  poor  fellow  had  soon  consumed  the  small  amount  of  pro- 
visions he  took  with  him,  and  found  himself  alone  and  un- 
armed in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  dangers,  and  altogether 
without  food,  for  it  was  not  yet  the  fruit  season.  He  wan- 
dered about  in  despair,  and,  endeavouring  to  reach  the  frontier, 
made  his  way  up  the  river,  sometimes  walking  along  the  shore 
and  sometimes  forcing  his  way  through  the  sharp  brambles  of 
the  woods  that  lay  between  one  point  of  the  river  and  another. 
He  could  of  course  have  returned  to  the  steamer  after  the  first 
day,  but  like  every  true  Spaniard,  he  was  too  proud  to  appeal 
to  the  compassion  of  any  one  who  had  insulted  him. 

Every    day    the   situation  became   worse;    sometimes   con- 
fused by  the  labyrinth  of  little  paths  before  him,  he   would 
1  To  this  must  be  added  the  encounter  with  the  Fontana  expedition, 
and,  subsequently,  the  massacre  of  Crevaux's. 


126  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

find  himself  shut  in  by  dense  woods  without  apparent  way  of 
escape,  and  then  with  the  strength  of  despair  he  would  plunge 
through  the  jungle,  and,  wounded  and  bleeding,  would  reach 
the  river-side,  where  only  hunger  awaited  him. 

This  existence  lasted  for  two  months,  during  which  he  met 
no  living  soul,  though  such  a  meeting  would  have  been  pro- 
bably an  additional  peril.  He  lived  on  roots,  leaves,  and  even 
on  grass.  Only  once  did  he  meet  with  a  tree  whose  fruit  was 
unknown  to  him,  and  he  ate  as  much  as  he  could  of  it.  But  this 
was  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  and  his  anxious  and  vain  search 
after  another  caused  him  desperate  fatigue. 

At  last  a  day  came  when  completely  exhausted,  absolutely 
without  food  and  incapable  of  further  exertion,  he  dragged 
himself  to  the  river-side.  He  bent  down  to  drink ;  but  was 
unable  to  rise  again,  and  remained  there  in  the  full  rays  of  the 
scorching  sun,  like  a  dead  body. 

How  long  he  lay  there,  and  how  he  escaped  wild  beasts  or 
yacares,  cannot  be  known;  but  it  may  be  that  twenty-four 
hours  had  not  elapsed,  when  a  confused  sound  struck  upon  his 
ear,  and  dusky  figures  seemed  to  be  encircling  him.  He  made 
a  slight  movement  to  repel  them,  and  fell  back  into  uncon- 
sciousness, which  lasted  until  he  felt  water  being  thrown  over 
him  and  heard  the  murmur  of  a  monotonous  chant.  On  open- 
ing his  eyes  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  Indians,  both 
men  and  women.  He  was  lying  on  a  skin,  and  was  being 
watched  until  he  should  return  to  life. 

This  was  an  ineffable  moment.  There  was  joy  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  renewed  life,  and  terror  of  greater  and  more  atro- 
cious evils  than  he  had  yet  encountered.  He  made  signs  that 
they  should  bring  him  a  packet  he  had  with  him  and  found  it 
untouched.  He  made  them  open  it,  and  divided  among  them 
the  white  cotton  goods  it  contained.  Then  he  asked  for  food, 
and  ate  of  the  coarse  food  of  these  savages  until  it  sickened 
him.  He  remained  with  them  a  few  days,  and  as  soon  as 
he  was  able  to  sit  upright,  begged  them  to  take  him  to  the 
frontier,  promising  that  they  should  be  rewarded  for  their 
trouble. 

One  day  an  uncertain  rumour  reached  us,  that  a  Christian 
had  lost  his  way  in  the  wilds  and  had  been  found  by  Indians, 
and  presently  we  saw  him  appear  at  the  door  of  our  rancho. 
He  was  tied  on  his  horse  and  supported  by  two  Indians.  He 
looked  like  a  ghost,  was  unable  to  articulate  a  word,  and  hts 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  12/ 

eyes  had  an  expression  of  horror.  At  first  we  remained  motion- 
less, in  spite  of  our  desire  to  help  him ;  then  we  approached, 
and  slipping  he  fell  like  a  bundle  of  clothes  into  our  arms,  wept, 
and  cursed  ! 

On  going  out  fishing  one  morning,  the  Indians  had  noticed 
a  motionless  human  body  afar  off  on  the  strand ;  they  drew 
near,  and  knew  it  by  the  clothes  and  hair  to  be  that  of  a  Chris- 
tian. Instead  of  robbing  and  murdering  him,  they  tended 
him  as  we  have  seen.  Then  they  sent  word  to  the  frontier, 
more  than  thirty  leagues  away,  that,  if  not  molested,  they  would 
bring  a  Christian  in.  On  their  arrival  they  were  deservedly 
rewarded. 

This  miraculous  escape,  however,  was  near  being  of  no  avail. 
Although  we  nursed  the  invalid  to  the  best  of  our  ability  ac- 
cording to  the  place  we  wire  in,  his  stomach  refused  or  rejected 
every  kind  of  food ;  he  became  weaker  each  day,  and  his  case 
at  last  seemed  desperate.  At  this  juncture  a  Bolivian  gentle- 
man, a  trader,  arrived  in  the  place,  and  suggested  a  plaster  of 
meat,  vinegar  or  wine,  and  I  know  not  what  besides,  to  be 
applied  to  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  and  whether  by  effect  or  chance, 
from  that  night,  which  seemed  likely  to  be  his  last,  he  began  to 
mend,  and  the  cure  was  commenced  which  three  months  after 
was  still  incomplete. 

Any  one  who  dwells  for  a  certain  length  of  time  among 
Indians,  will  be  led  to  remark  the  absence  of  any  deformity 
among  them.  Some  travellers  have  argued  from  this  that  the 
Indians,  like  modern  Spartans,  destroy  their  children  when  born 
with  any  defect.  Several  historians  are  of  the  same  opinion. 
But  although  I  can  confirm  the  fact,  I  explain  it  by  the  physical 
ap-d  social  conditions  of  the  Indians.  The  freedom  of  their  life, 
the  sufficiency,  in  general,  of  their  food ;  and,  whatever  the 
pious  may  say  of  it,  the  custom  of  their  women  to  wear  no 
clothes,  and,  consequently,  no  ligature  round  waist  or  chest ;  and 
the  climate,  which  is  healthy,  at  any  rate  for  them — are  material 
conditions  which  contribute  to  the  rarity  of  bodily  malformation 
in  their  offspring. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  continual  state  of  warfare,  the  fre- 
quent and  sudden  attacks,  the  custom  of  giving  no  quarter,  and 
the  danger  from  wild  beasts  and  reptiles,  must  quickly  put  an 
end  to  the  imperfect  among  them,  who  are  deficient  in  the 
elements  of  the  struggle  for  existence.  Deformed  children, 
moreover,  are  probably  exceptions  to  the  custom  by  which  the 


128  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

cliilclren  of  the  vanquished  are  spared  by  the  victorious  enemy, 
and  are  brought  up  in  his  tolderias  to  be  the  future  "warriors  or 
mothers  of  the  conquering  race. 

The  absence  of  deformed  individuals  is  sufficiently  explained 
by  these  considerations  ;  there  is  no  need  to  attribute  to  the 
Indians  the  custom  of  destroying  their  new-born  infants,  or  of 
suffering  them  to  perish ;  and  for  my  own  part  I  can  bring 
forward  a  positive  fact  in  contradiction  of  such  alleged  customs. 

In  the  very  heart  of  the  Chaco  I  came  across  an  Indian 
deaf-mute  of  the  age  of  thirty.  Now  if  there  be  a  defect 
that  renders  a  man  useless  and  unfit  for  the  society  of  his 
fellows,  it  is  surely  his ;  but  it  may  easily  occur  under  the  most 
favourable  physical  conditions,  when  it  is  the  result  of  inter- 
course between  persons  too  nearly  related  in  blood,  which 
is  not  infrequent  in  these  parts.  I  shall  not,  I  think,  be 
contradicting  myself  when  I  say  that  I  have  been  told  that 
among  the  very  rare  physical  defects  to  which  these  Indians  are 
liable,  deaf -mutism  is  the  most  general ;  at  the  same  time  I 
must  mention  that  I  have  never  seen  a  case  of  cretinism  or  of 
goitre  among  them,  though  both  are  very  common  in  the 
northern  and  western  parts  of  the  Eepublic. 

To  conclude,  however,  my  story  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  Indian. 
I  only  heard  and  saw  him  when  he  had  been  attacked  and  horribly 
mangled  by  a  tiger  while  gathering  wood,  an  additional  proof 
of  the  increased  difficulties  of  the  struggle  for  existence  in  these 
wild  regions  when  any  of  the  senses  are  wanting.  We  were 
called  in  to  cure  the  poor  fellow,  but  he  objected  strenuously, 
having  full  faith  in  his  sorcerers.  So  true  is  it  that  everywhere 
and  in  every  condition  of  society,  misfortune  is  the  most 
solid  support  of  superstition  and  of  her  civilized  sister, 
religion  ! 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  these  same  Indians  have 
assured  me  that  sometimes  mothers  will  let  their  children  perish 
when  there  is  no  father,  or  other  person  who  will  recognize 
them  and  assume  the  burden  of  their  maintenance. 

But  such  cases  must  occur  very  rarely,  and  do  not  invalidate 
our  arguments  concerning  deformity  when  we  remember  the 
striking  solidarity  that  exists  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
same  tolderia,  and  still  more  strongly  among  blood-relations. 
Such  cases  may,  indeed,  happen,  and  not  seldom  in  years  of 
famine,  which  however  can  never  be  very  sharp  on  account  of 
the  variety  of  food,  and  the  truly  wonderful  abstinence  that  thAy 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 29 

can  practise  when  urged  by  necessity,  and  for  which  they  make 
up  with  usury  in  a  season  of  plenty. 

Their  elasticity  of  stomach  is  really  extraordinary,  when 
idle  it  consents  to  an  extreme  sobriety,  but  in  the  open  air,  the 
pursuit  of  game  and  fish,  the  work  of  the  harvest,  and  the 
travelling  necessitated  by  these  things  and  by  their  wars,  joined 
to  iron  health  and  strength,  may  be  stuffed  to  any  extent. 

Either  from  identity  of  race,  or  more  probably  from  a  similar 
mode  of  life,  the  same  alternation  of  the  severest  abstinence 
with  enormous  voracity  is  found  in  the  gaucho,  and  in 
general  among  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  campo  in  the  Republic, 
and  probably  among  other  nations  under  the  same  social  con- 
ditions. So  it  is,  the  same  causes  will  ever  produce  the  same 
effects. 

These  Indians  are  tenacious  of  equality.  They  do  not  admit 
distinctions ;  and  the  women  are  the  first  to  combine  against 
those  among  them  who,  by  natuml  gifts  or  their  husband's 
partiality,  obtain  special  favours  and  ornaments. 

I  cannot  forget  a  lesson  which  I  had  on  one  occasion.  Tajo, 
who  instructed  me  in  the  Mattacco  language,  has  a  beautiful 
young  wife  of  gipsy  type,  with  a  certain  distant  resemblance  to 
one  of  the  handsomest  women  in  Buenos  Ayres.  He  was  very 
fond  of  her,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  could  not  do  better 
for  him  than  to  present  his  wife  with  some  ornaments  and 
articles  of  dress.  The  husband  joined  me  in  doing  the  same, 
so  that  the  girl  was  able  to  dress  and  adorn  herself  better 
than  all  the  others. 

When  she  appeared  among  her  companions  in  an  almost 
Oriental  costume  of  varied  and  brilliant  colouring,  the  admiration 
was  general,  but  so  also  was  the  protest. 

I  was  in  the  tolderia  once,  and  asked  to  see  the  beautiful 
Mattacco  in  her  new  dress  ;  this  I  considered  was  my  right,  but 
I  never  succeeded  in  obtaining  it.  The  Cacique  had  forbidden 
it,  because  the  other  women  complained  that  so  much  finery 
humiliated  them ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  the  poor  beauty 
had  been  obliged  to  distribute  her  dresses  among  them,  and  to 
wear  the  few  things  she  retained  one  at  a  time  and  very  seldom. 
There  are  sumptuary  laws  even  among  savages  ! 


130  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 


CHAPTER  XXIIT. 

SOCIAL  CONDITION^    {Continued.) 

Is  it  really  true  that  these  Indians  abandon  themselves  with- 
out measure  to  sexual  passion  1  and  that  they  exhaust  their 
dynamic  and  reproductive  powers  by  abuse^  as  has  been  fre- 
quently stated  1 

The  explorer  who  finds  himself  for  the  first  time  in  presence 
of  these  daughters  of  the  forests  in  a  state  of  nature,  without 
veil  or  garment  of  any  kind,  may  find  this  novel  spectacle  of 
nudity  full  of  danger  and  almost  irresistible  ;  but  in  fact  it  is 
not  and  cannot  be  so,  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  daily  life. 

Habit  weakens  impressions,  and  consequently  the  stimulus  to 
the  passions — which,  moreover,  are  not  excited  by  meretricious 
and  bold  caresses,  or  by  irresistible  coquetry. 

The  primitive  clothing  of  these  Indian  women,  always  in 
one's  sight,  the  menial  offices  they  fulfil,  and  liberty,  cause  the 
appetites  of  man  to  be  satisfied  by  their  exercise  in  such  due 
measure  only  as  contributes  to  health. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  who  is  ignorant  of  the  attraction  of 
forbidden  fruit?  But  this  is  a  thing  unknown  to  these  in- 
genuous children  of  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  how  could  the 
orgies  of  luxury  take  place  among  a  people  so  poor  and  so 
simple  1 

Moreover,  we  must  bear  carefully  in  mind  that  all  which  is 
deadly  to  man,  cannot  be  attributed  to  him  as  original  or  per- 
manent ;  how  then  has  it  been  formed  and  multiplied  1 

When  therefore  we  attribute  vices  to  the  savage,  we  should 
reflect  that  either  the  observer  may  be  mistaken  from  precon- 
ceived ideas  against  a  state  of  life  so  difi'erent  from  his  own,  or 
that  those  vices  have  been  introduced  by  contoct  with  other 
people,  and  are  foreign  to  the  ver}-  nature  of  savage  life. 

It  has  been  said  of  the  American  Indians  that  they  have 
revenged  themselves  for  the  Conquest  and  for  the  small-pox», 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I31 

that  we   brought    among   them,    bj   bestowing  on   Europeans 
venereal  disease. 

I  believe  this  to  be  one  of  the  usual  statements  made 
on  insufficient  grounds,  and  easy  to  disprove.  I  have  heard 
of  learned  works  in  which  the  scourge  in  question  is  referred  to 
a  very  remote  period.  Popular  feeling  (often  fallacious)  refers 
its  origin  to  France,  and  historians  solemuly  fix  the  date  as  the 
period  of  Charles  YIII.'s  invasion  of  Italy.  In  Leviticus,  chapter 
XV.,  are  the  following  words  : — 

"  When  any  man  hath  a  ruuniijg  issue  out  of  his  flesh, 
because  of  his  issue  he  is  unclean. 

"  And  this  shall  be  his  uncleanness  in  his  issue :  whether 
his  flesh  run  with  his  issue,  or  his  ^esh  be  stopped  from  his 
issue,  it  is  his  uncleanness." 

I  leave  to  annotators  the  true  signification  of  these  words. 

Meanwhile  this  scourge  is  unknown  among  the  Indians  of 
the  Chaco,  or  it  is  unknown  at  any  rate  where  Christians 
have  not  introduced  it.  And  although  this  may  be  explained 
by  saying  that  a  new  malady  disappears  or  becomes  weaker 
when  once  it  has  gathered  in  the  victims  predisposed  to  it, 
nevertheless  the  facts  are  as  I  hav«  given  them.  This  is 
the  scientific  theory,  and  in  my  opinion  it  is  supported  by 
the  modern  school  of  medicine,  and  seems  to  be  in  accordance 
with  Darwin's  theory  of  Selection.  Moreover,  where  this 
disease  exists,  the  Indians  do  not  escape  it ;  while  the  Africans 
are  either  exempt  altogether,  or  suffer  from  it  far  less  severely, 
as  every  gaucho  can  testify — the  various  races  existing  in 
the  country  having  afl'orded  opportunities  for  making  these 
observations,  which  I  note  here  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
may  happen  to  have  overlooked  them. 

It  is  known,  but  not  sufficiently  known,  that  these  Indians 
are  nomadic  ;  it  is  not  a  custom  with  them  to  keep  domestic 
animals,  the  few  they  do  keep  are  an  exception  that  proves  the 
rule. 

Even  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the  Spaniards  were  sur- 
prised by  the  want  of  domestic  animals  among  them,  and  this 
want,  which  prevails  throughout  the  whole  continent,  is  a  charac- 
teristic that  from  Kobertson  to  Humboldt,  and  down  to  the  very 
latest  explorer,  has  arrested  the  attention  of  historians  and 
philosophers. 

l!^omadism  still,  as  formerly,  exists  in  Asia,  but  domestic 
animals,  such  as  the  horse  and  camel,  have  always  been  well 

K  2 


132  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

known.  But  the  Laplanders,  the  Samoyedess,  the  Ciutci, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Kamtschatkan  Peninsula,  have 
domesticated,  the  former  the  reindeer,  and  the  latter  the  dog,  to 
draw  their  sleighs. 

To  what  then  must  we  attribute  the  undoubted  inferiority 
of  the  nomadic  Americans  1  Not  to  an  innate  incapacity 
certainly,  which  at  first  sight  might  appear  a  simple  and  con- 
venient solution,  because  in  that  case  Greenlanders  would  not 
have  kept  domestic  animals,  since  American  Esquimaux,  who 
are  of  the  same  race,  make  no  use  of  them,  although  the  bison, 
a  species  of  bull,  inhabits  the  polar  regions  and  can  be 
domesticated. 

Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  does  the  domestication  of  animals 
present  such  difficulties  as  to  require  a  very  elevated  capacity 
in  man,  since  these  nomads  have  succeeded  after  some  attempts 
in  domesticating  them,  and  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco  do  in  fact 
habitually  keep  ostriches,  chugnas  and  charatas,  or  wild  fowl,  and 
we  know  that  mute  dogs  were  found  domesticated  among  them. 

I  believe  that  the  fact  of  the  absence  of  domestic  animals  is 
due  to  three  circumstances  peculiar  to  this  continent  and  its 
inhabitants,  viz.  their  physical  conditions,  their  social  condi- 
tions, and  the  scarcity,  if  not  the  actual  absence,  of  animals  that 
can  be  domesticated. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  cold  on  this  continent,  for  easily 
explained  physical  reasons,  is  much  more  intense  than  in  the 
same  latitudes  of  the  Old  World.  Thus  the  temperate  zone  is 
far  more  circumscribed  here  than  there.  This  has  rendered  the 
care  of  animals  difficult,  and  the  means  of  feeding  them  extremely 
limited,  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  cold  regions  of  North 
America,  where  the  bison  is  found. 

But  these  difficulties  apart,  the  social  state  of  the  American 
nomads  makes  the  preservation  of  domestic  animals  almost  im- 
possible. For  a  time  the  same  nation  occupies  or  has  occupied 
immense  districts,  yet  that  nation  may  be  divided  into  small 
tribes  to  whom  iDclong  relatively  small  portions  of  land,  and 
these  tribes  will  wage  continual  war  upon  each  other.  It 
follows  that  the  first  condition  for  rearing  animals,  or  for  any 
other  peaceful  occupation,  i.e.  security,  will  be  wanting.  At 
this  very  time  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco,  although  they  know 
our  domestic  animals  and  attempt  to  rear  some  of  them,  only 
do  so  on  an  insignificant  scale,  because  the  fact  of  possessing 
..Ihem   is   an   incentive  to  neighbouring    tribes  to  attack    and 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.        1 33 

plunder  them.  If  their  social  state  had  reached  to  the 
point  of  teaching  these  Indians  to  dwell  together  in  large 
populations,  then,  although  nomadic,  and  in  spite  of  continual 
war,  they  could  always,  in  case  of  invasion,  have  placed  their 
animals  in  some  safe  spot  of  their  enormous  territory. 

Finally,  the  scarcity  of  tameable  animals  has  made  it 
easier  to  do  without  domesticated  animals,  and  this  in  its 
turn  has  rendered  large  social  aggregations  less  inevitable.  This 
scarcity  is  a  notorious  fact,  and  an  irresistible  proof  is  furnished 
by  the  Peruvians,  who,  though  owning  a  religion,  a  government, 
and  agragrian  institutions,  yet  among  the  larger  animals  have 
tamed  only  the  llama,  which  for  shape  and  strength  may  well  be 
called  the  camel  of  the  Andes.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Mexicans, 
albeit  they  have  a  government,  and  may  be  called  civilized,  and 
also  the  Bogotans,  have  only  domesticated  animals  such  as  we 
should  keep  shut  up,  viz.  rabbits  and  poultry,  because  there  are 
no  other  animals  that  can  be  tamed. 

The  same  Peruvians  who  domesticated  the  llama,  of  whose 
flesh  and  wool  they  made  use,  and  who  also  utilized  it  as  a 
beast  of  burden,  as  those  at  the  present  day  in  Bolivia, ^  had 
to  content  themselves  with  hunting  the  sheep  of  the  country, 
the  fine  wool  was  then,  as  now,  greatly  appreciated,  and  this  may 
be  the  reason  that  these  animals  cannot  be  domesticated.  The 
hunts  took  place  at  certain  fixed  periods,  and,  by  order  of  the 
Inca,  a  great  number  of  persons  assembled  and  enclosed  a  large 
extent  of  precipitous  country  with  a  thin  rope  supported  on  stakes. 
The  sheep  would  rush  together  and  huddle  in  a  small  space,  for 
to  them  the  smallest  obstacle  that  they  could  clear  at  a  single 
bound  appears  insurmountable.  Then  the  hunters,  drawing  in 
the  rope  by  degrees,  a  large  number  of  the  animals,  finding 
themselves  thus  enclosed  between  the  rope  on  one  side,  and  a 
precipice  on  the  other,  are  easily  captured.  The  chase  was 
restricted  each  year  within  certain  limits,  and  thus  the  danger 
of  extermination  was  avoided.  A  similar  plan  is  pursued  at  the 
present  day,  and  although  without  limitation  of  zone,  the  race 
of  sheep  does  not  seem  to  diminish. 

We  see  by  this  that,  had  there  existed  any  other  tameabl 
animals,  they  would  have  been  reduced  to  servitude,  and  we 
must   conclude,    by   analogy,   that   where   this   has   not   been 

^  The  llama,  when  trained  as  a  beast  of  burden,  carries  only  a  weight 
of  four  arrobas,  i.e.  fifty  kilograms ;  while  a  mule  can  carry  twelve, 
that  is,  one  hundred  and  fifty  kilograms. 


134  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

done,  animals  must  either  have  been  non-existent  or  scarce  in 
the  highest  degree,  which  we  know,  in  fact,  to  have  been  the 
case. 

The  result  has  been  a  very  sharp  line  of  demarcation  on  this 
continent  between  its  nomad  savage  races,  and  those  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  agriculture  ;  while  in  the  Old  World 
there  is  an  intermediary  state  combining  the  nomadic  and  the 
pastoral  life. 

The  absence  of  this  intermediary  state  is  sufficiently  explained, 
in  my  opinion,  by  the  non-existence  of  domesticated  animals,  or 
of  animals  that  could  be  domesticated.  Hence  I  believe  it  would 
be  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  any  one  suddenly  finding  himself  in 
presence  of  agricultural  nations,  such  as  Peru,  Mexico,  and 
Bogota — surrounded,  nevertheless,  by  multitudes  of  barbarous 
tribes — to  attempt  to  explain  the  anomaly  by  a  reference  to  the 
history  of  Asiatic  races,  and  the  hypothesis  of  an  invasion  by 
the  people  of  another  continent,  who  would  suddenly  have  intro- 
duced and  enforced  their  own  pursuits  in  these  regions.  The 
explanation  is  to  be  sought,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  natural  causes 
we  have  laid  down ;  and  so  far  as  Peru  is  concerned,  I  believe  I 
may  affirm,  with  due  knowledge  of  the  facts,  that  the  language 
spoken  there  officially  in  the  time  of  the  Incas  was  kindred  with 
that  spoken  by  the  savages. 

But  if  we  admit  the  kind  of  Deus  ex  machind  of  a  supposed 
invasion  or  immigration  by  a  people  of  the  Old  World  into  the 
regions  inhabited  by  the  above-named  nations,  the  question 
arises,  to  what  are  we  to  attribute  the  civilization  of  Peru  and 
Mexico  1  These  are  countries  where  we  find  institutions  of  which 
some  appear  to  be  copied  from  those  of  the  peoples  of  the 
Old  Continent.  We  find,  in  fact,  planets,  gods,  temjDles,  priests, 
nuns,  and  caste.  At  Mexico  a  calendar  that  Humboldt  found 
to  be  similar  to  the  Egyptian ;  at  Cuzco,  in  Peru,  a  period  of 
years  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Hebrews ;  strings  for  counting, 
like  those  of  one  time  in  China ;  a  pedagogic  government ; 
a  periodical  distribution  of  land ;  an  assemblage  of  marriages 
made  publicly  by  the  Inca,  recalling  to  one's  memory  the 
pedagogic  governments  and  the  agragrian  laws  of  the  Old  Con- 
tinent, the  jubilees  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the  marriage  customs  of 
the  Assyrians. 

The  question  is  one  that  arises,  and  has  always  arisen,  in  the 
mind  of  every  thoughtful  man,  but  the  solution  is  difficidt^ 
Some  of  the  greatest  historians  answer  it  in  this  way.     "  The 


GF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 35 

regions  occupied  by  those  empires  enjoy  a  beautiful,  but  enervating 
climate,  therefore  their  people  will  more  readily  accept  the 
discipline  of  civilized  life.  A  conqueror,  or  a  victorious  people, 
can  subdue  them  and  rule  them  with  despotic  sway,  ferocious  at 
Mexico,  mild  at  Cuzco,  but  invariably  terrible.  Human  genius, 
which  is  everywhere  human,  will  develop  here  in  the  same  way 
as  elsewhere  ;  hence  civilization  and  likeness  to  the  peoples  of 
the  Old  World." 

I  do  not  fully  endorse  this  reasoning,  especially  the  first  part. 
I  regret  that  I  am  unacquainted  with  the  physical  conditions  of 
Mexico,  but  I  know  those  of  many  parts  of  the  Empire  of  the 
Incas,  and  I  find  in  them  the  natural  explanation  of  the  fact. 

That  empire  resulted  from  necessity,  not  from  the  enervation 
of  its  inhabitants. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  Peru,  on  all  the  western  slopes, 
and  on  almost  all  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Andes,  and  in  Bolivia, 
life  is  not  possible  for  man,  or  even  the  lower  animals,  without 
agriculture,  and  agriculture  is  impossible  without  irrigation. 

These  two  facts  oblige  man  to  remain  in  one  spot  and  in 
association,  and  hence  to  live  under  laws,  and  to  constitute  and 
build  up  successively  arts,  discipline,  religion,  and  government. 
Despotism  explains  nothing.  Proud  nations  and  weak  ones 
have  alike  endured  it ;  they  endure  it  now,  and  will  endure  it 
in  the  future,  without  therefore  becoming  inferior  to  nations 
under  liberal  rule.  In  the  Chaco,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  Pampas, 
Brazil,  and  JS'orth  America,  the  soil  spontaneously  brings  forth 
fruits,  roots,  and  food  for  quadrupeds  and  poultry,  while  the 
rivers  and  lakes  afford  an  abundance  of  fish.  Hence  the 
necessity  for  union  and  co-operation ;  here  are  peoples  who  will 
probably  be  destroyed  by  others,  who  have  been  forced  into 
civilization  by  necessity,  and  have  thus  obtained  the  weapons  of 
victory,  in  preference  to  becoming  slaves  to  labour,  for  which 
there  is  no  need.  Nevertheless,  in  the  greater  part  of  these 
regions  the  climate  is  favourable  and  less  enervating  than  in  Peru, 
Bolivia,  and  Mexico. 

Now  let  us  imagine  that  either  for  the  purpose  of  making  war, 
or  from  the  need  of  expansion  —  those  two  most  powerful 
causes  of  emigration  in  masses — a  people  have  penetrated  into 
Peruvian  territory  (and  we  shall  soon  witness  such  an  occurrence), 
and  after  increasing  beyond  the  scanty  resources  of  that  poor 
soil,  ask  from  the  earth,  by  means  of  labour,  the  food  that  is 
needful,  and  that  cannot  be  sought  in  other  parts  inhabited  by 
numerous,  prosperous,  and  powerful  enemies. 


136  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

This  beginning  is,  in  my  opinion,  so  certain,  that  if  his- 
torians had  been  acquainted  with  the  necessary  physical  con- 
ditions of  these  regions,  they  could  not  have  adopted  any 
other ;  and  I  am  disposed  to  assert  that  even  in  Mexico  the 
conditions  of  soil  and  climate  are  such  that  life  and  production 
can  only  be  supported  by  labour. 

The  analogies  of  institutions  and  customs  with  those  of  the 
former  peoples  of  the  Old  Continent,  while  they  do  not  prove 
that  they  are  the  result  of  invasions  on  the  part  of  those 
nations,  yet  suggest  to  us  in  some  of  their  details  the  personal 
action  that  may  have  been  exercised  by  any  individuals  cast 
upon  these  shores  by  the  wrath  of  the  ocean,  and  who  re- 
mained on  them.  And  I  also  think  that  they  may  be  the 
result,  in  a  great  measure,  of  human  genius,  the  harmony  cf 
which  is  thus  revealed  through  space  and  time. 

But  if  we  grant  a  material  union,  or,  at  least,  a  prehistoric 
intercommunication,  beyond  the  memory  of  man,  between  the 
two  worlds,  then  we  must  declare  the  immense  inferiority  of  the 
Americans.  This  inferiority  was  either  original  in  the  races  com- 
posing the  population,  or  was  caused  by  the  material  conditions 
of  this  continent.  The  inferiority,  moreover,  is  shared  by  all 
species  of  American  animals. 

To  the  physical  and  natural  sciences,  and  that  little  loved 
one,  philology,  is  reserved  the  solution  of  the  most  important 
of  all  problems,  the  great  problem  of  Humanity, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 37 

part  IL 

FROM  THE  FRONTIER  TO  GRAN. 

CHAPTEK  I. 

THE    FRONTIER ARRIVAL. 

The  frontier  !  We  have  only  crossed  an  imaginary  line,  marked 
at  intervals  of  forty  or  sixty  kilometers  by  the  blue  and  white  flag 
floating  from  the  ramparts  of  the  moat-encircled  fortress — but 
by  how  great  a  distance,  moral,  political,  and  social,  are  we  not 
separated  from  the  Indian  territory  we  have  just  left  behind  us  ! 
In  other  parts  of  the  world  one  may  travel  for  hundreds  of 
miles  and  pass  through  a  dozen  difl'erent  countries,  and  yet  find 
everywhere  a  society  which  has  the  same  traditions,  customs, 
and  appliances  of  civilized  life,  and  forms  with  those  a  de  facto 
confederation  closer  than  can  be  efl'ected  by  written  con- 
stitutions. But  here,  separated  by  a  few  steps  only,  is  the 
naked  Eedskin,  with  his  bow  and  arrow,  on  one  side,  on  the 
other  the  soldier,  in  variously-coloured  uniform,  armed  with 
his  breechloader.  On  the  one  the  natural  law  of  retaliation, 
and  of  compliance  with  innate  tendencies ;  on  the  other  a 
written  code,  equal  and  superior  to  those  of  the  most  advanced 
nations,  compiled  by  such  jurisconsults  as  Velez-Sarstield  and 
Tejedor,  whose  names  are  known  throughout  the  whole  republic 
of  science  !  On  one  side  the  spontaneous  and  terrified  adju- 
ration of  evil  and  of  phantasms ;  on  the  other  the  artificial, 
incomprehensible  Christian  theogony.  On  one  side  nomadic 
races  expecting  from  inviolate  nature  spontaneous  fruits,  and 
happy  in  a  state  of  poverty  equal  for  all,  and  in  the  savage 
independence  consequent  upon  it  ;  on  the  other  the  agricul- 
turist, the  shepherd,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  the  magistrate, 
poor  and  rich,  master  and  servant ! 


138  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

We  reached  Fort  Gorriti  about  10  a.m.  We  know  already 
what  a  fort  is,  but  I  will  add  that  forts  are  almost  always  named 
after  some  distinguished  citizen.  On  asking  after  the  captain, 
who  was  a  friend  of  Signor  Roldan,  my  fellow-traveller,  we  were 
informed  that  he  had  recently  been  transferred  to  a  place  called 
Eivadavia,  at  twenty  kilometers'  distance,  in  order  to  assist  at 
the  provincial  legislative  elections,  which  threatened  to  be 
stormy. 

Roldan  had  a  brother  at  Rivadavia ;  we  lost  no  time,  there- 
fore, and  although  we  had  been  in  the  saddle  for  above  five 
hours,  we  mounted  fresh  horses,  and  accompanied  by  an  ensign 
and  two  men,  we  set  off  with  slackened  rein.  After  a  gallop  of 
two  and  a  half  hours  through  an  exuberant  growth  of  algarrobo, 
vinal,  chebracci  and  giuccian,  diversified  here  and  there  by 
pasture  land,  enclosed  sometimes  by  a  hedge,  we  reached 
the  settlement. 

No  one  expected  us ;  moreover,  it  was  dinner-time  and  Sunday ; 
the  few  streets  were  therefore  deserted,  nor  did  the  clatter  of 
five  horses  in  a  place  where  no  step  is  taken  except  on  horse- 
back, and  at  the  close  of  a  day  of  elections,  attract  attention.  We 
arrive  at  the  corner  block,  and  at  the  place  of  business  of 
Roldan's  brother ;  the  doors  are  shut,  we  knock,  nobody  comes. 
We  find  our  way  to  the  piazza,  this  is  likewise  deserted ;  tlien 
we  bend  our  steps  towards  a  leafy  giuccian  tree,  loaded  with 
bursting  fruit,  all  clothed  in  its  tufts  of  white  cotton. 

We  reach  the  house  ;  Roldan  ascends  the  steps,  knocks — 
and  the  two  brothers  are  in  each  other's  arms  !  They  are 
speechless  with  emotion,  and  can  find  no  other  expression  for 
their  delight  than  repeated  embraces,  until  they  exclaim  in 
turn,  "  Brother,  we  have  met  at  last ! " 

The  captain  and  the  others  long  for  their  own  turn,  and  a 
series  of  embraces,  hand-shakings,  interrupted  questions  and 
anticipated  replies  is  commenced,  amid  a  friendly  rivalry  of 
eagerness,  and  demonstrations  of  affection. 

Every  eye  is  wet,  except  perhaps  mine.  I  am  still  in  the 
saddle,  waiting  for  an  invitation  to  dismount,  with  legs  dangling, 
body  curved,  head  bent,  shoulders  up  to  my  ears,  and  hands  on 
my  saddle,  while  I  watch  the  scene  with  dry  eyes,  and  deep  in 
thought  I  contemplate  things  present  and  past,  and  in  the  far- 
off  distance.  It  was  a  scene  that  lasted  perhaps  five  minutes, 
but  was  indefinite  in  time  and  space  and  substance  to  me.  J^ 
know  not  what  happened  to  me,  but  never  have  I  felt  so  lonely 


(      OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 39 

as  at  that  momeat  in  the  midst  of  that  joyful  gathering.  Was 
I  mortified  at  being  left  out  by  all  those  good  people  ?  Was  I 
grieved  at  counting  for  nothing  in  their  joy  1 

And  then,  my  thoughts  suddenly  reverted  to  my  paternal 
home,  to  my  aged  mother,  my  beloved  brothers,  and  the 
friends  and  inhabitants  of  my  native  village.  And  suddenly 
it  seemed  as  if  I  too  had  lightly  bounded  up  the  hill,  had 
knocked  at  the  door  of  my  home,  and  had  been  answered 
by  a  cry  of  joy  and  delight ;  and  that  I  found  myself  encom- 
passed by  my  loved  ones,  called  by  my  boyhood's  name, 
and  apostrophized  in  a  thousand  exclamations.  All  this  seemed 
to  be  happening  in  the  hall  of  the  house,  while  the  neigh- 
bours stood  grouped  round  the  entrance,  telling  each  other 
the  news,  beckoning  to  me  with  their  fingers,  and  talking  about 
me.  And  then  it  seemed  to  me  that  visitors  began  to  arrive, 
and  that  in  the  little  drawing-room  there  was  a  great  crowd  of 
persons,  and  a  constant  succession  of  questions,  a  continual  influx 
of  fresh  visitors,  Avith  greetings,  questions,  answers,  and  excla- 
mations as  before.  And  then  all  at  once  a  dense  cloud  chilled 
me  to  the  heart,  as  I  recollected  the  burial-ground  where  so 
many  of  my  house  are  at  rest ! 

"  The  Senor  National  Engineer,"  explained  Signor  Natalio 
Roldan,  as  he  introduced  me  to  his  brother  and  the  rest  of  the 
family. 

We  shook  hands,  and  I  dismounted. 


140  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 


CHAPTER  II. 


RIVADAVIA. 


The  settlement  of  Rivadavia  consists  of  about  twenty  houses 
situated  round  a  square  and  along  the  neighbouring  streets.  It  is 
laid  out  on  the  same  plan  as  all  the  towns  and  districts  in 
America,  i.e.  straight  streets  about  nine  yards  in  width,  inter- 
sected at  distances  of  one  hundred  and  thirty,  by  others  at  right 
angles,  thus  forming  quadrangles.  The  land  thus  enclosed 
between  four  streets  is  called  manzana,  that  is,  a  table. 

In  new  districts  and  the  new  parts  of  towns,  for  which  a 
great  future  is  in  store,  the  width  of  the  streets  has  been 
increased  to  fifteen  or  twenty  yards. 

The  houses  are  built  of  unbaked  bricks,  made  of  clay  or 
other  plastic  earth,  and  worked  with  ground  straw,  dried  in  the 
Sim.  These  are  called  adobe  in  Spanish.  A  similar  system 
has  been  found  to  exist  among  the  Indians  of  Peru,  except  that 
the  adobe  are  round  instead  of  square.  The  same  clay  serves 
for  mortar  when  a  little  less  stiff,  and  for  plastering  the  walls. 
A  coating  of  whitewash  over  the  plaster  completes  the  busi- 
ness, and  gives  the  appearance  of  a  house  built  of  better 
materials. 

When  I  say  better  materials,  I  must  explain.  For  houses  of 
one  story  only  which  have  no  great  M^eight  to  sustain,  and  are 
not  to  be  used  for  the  same  purposes  as  higher  houses,  tlie  adobe 
is  serviceable  in  these  hot  climates,  for  it  necessitates  thick 
walls,  and  is  a  non-conductor  of  heat.  But  from  another  point 
of  view  there  are  so  many  objections  to  it,  that  the  habit  of 
employing  it  can  only  be  explained  by  the  necessity  of  economy, 
or  the  inability  to  procure  other  material.  For  these  reasons 
the  cities  of  the  Republic,  including  the  old  town  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  are  built  of  barro. 

The  roofs  are  thatched  with  straw,  and  for  the  most  part, 
are  daubed  over  with  several  coats  of  clay  called  barro.     The 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  141 

straw  resembles  that  of  our  straw  hats  when  untwisted,  and  is 
plentiful  throughout  the  Republic. 

The  interior  arrangements  are  extremely  simple.  Tlie  rooms 
are  few  in  number ;  sometimes  there  is  only  one.  With  rare 
exceptions  there  are  no  windows ;  on  the  other  hand  there 
are  plenty  of  doors,  some  on  the  street,  some  at  the  back  of  the 
house,  opening  on  to  a  covered  coridor  or  gallery.  Detached 
houses  also  have  these  galleries  or  verandahs  as  a  protection 
from  the  sun,  while  in  summer  they  are  used  in  preference 
to  sleeping-rooms,  for  the  stifling  heat  within  the  house  and 
the  insects  of  every  description  that  swarm  in  the  straw  of  the 
roof  and  the  barro  of  the  walls  oblige  one  to  sleep  out  of  doors. 

The  kitchen  is  always  detached  from  the  house,  to  which 
also  belongs  a  courtyard  or  garden,  called  patio  and  era. 

Another  mode  of  building  consists  in  enclosing  a  space  of 
any  width  that  is  desired,  of  one  or  two  yards  in  depth  and 
about  one  yard  in  height,  with  movable  planks.  The  soft 
earth  is  then  pressed  down  in  layers  at  the  foot  of  these  par- 
titions as  well  as  on  their  surface  as  fast  as  they  are  built  up, 
alternating  the  joins  of  the  blocks.  This  system  is  adopted 
more  especially  in  the  west  of  the  Eepublic,  and  must,  in  my 
opinion,  have  been  acquired  from  the  subjugated  Indians  of  the 
Peruvian  Empire,  which  was  dominant  there  also,  although 
historians  make  no  mention  of  it. 

Near  the  town  and  in  the  country,  standing  isolated  and  apart, 
are  numerous  dwellings,  called  ranchos,  built  in  various  ways, 
but  mostly  of  wood,  or  cane  reeds,  and  over  this  either  boughs 
or  harro.  These  ranchos,  now  so  well  known  to  travellers  in 
America,  and  to  those  who  write  or  read  concerning  them,  are 
run  up  as  easily  as  they  are  afterwards  abandoned,  and  they 
are  the  dwellings  most  generally  met  with  in  the  vast  country 
districts  of  these  regions. 

Since  we  are  on  the  subject  of  houses,  I  will  say  a  few  more 
words.  An  enramada  is  a  house  with  a  roof  made  of  branches 
fastened  at  the  four  corners  to  stakes  of  wood — and  there  is 
also  the  gaJpon.  This  serves  principally  for  stores,  but  as  it  is 
necessarily  of  large  size,  it  can  be  used  for  any  purpose.  It 
consists  of  a  large  gable  roof  with  sloping  sides,  covering  an 
extensive  surface.  The  two  sides  sometimes  reach  almost  to 
the  ground,  the  narrow  ends  remaining  open.  At  other  times 
the  space  is  enclosed  by  walls,  or  in  some  other  way.  A  galpon 
must  necessarily  be  large  and  in  an  airy  situation.     A  church, 


142  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

for  instance,  makes  a  model  galpon ;  I  speak  of  the  churclies 
in  these  parts,  when  there  are  any.  It  is  a  storehouse  for  men 
or  for  goods ;  both  the  name  and  the  construction  are  Chic- 
chuian,  and  both  have  been  adopted  by  Spaniards,  among 
whom  the  word  is  now  current,  and  is  used  to  express  a  maga- 
zine or  a  stable-yard,  &c. 

Estancias  are  all  alike  ]  there  is  the  house  with  its  corridors 
for  the  owners,  the  galpon  for  a  magazine,  the  enramada  used 
as  a  kitchen,  and  ranclios  for  the  labourers. 

Rivadavia  (so  named  after  the  great  historian  of  the  Argen- 
tines) is  not  an  agragrian  settlement ;  no  seed  is  sown ;  one 
might  say,  not  a  bushel  of  corn  is  raised  ;  and  it  is  not  even 
military.  Perhaps  it  will  become  so,  or  it  may  have  been  thus 
intended ;  at  the  present  time  it  consists  of  a  restricted  popu- 
lation at  headquarters,  with  a  municipality  extending  over  an 
immense  district  of  perhaps  a  couple  of  thousands  of  inhabitants, 
living  at  distances  of  fifty  kilometers  and  more.  But  a  day's 
journey  on  horseback  seems  a  trifle  to  any  one  accustomed  to 
long  distances. 

One  should,  however,  see  the  strength  of  passion  out  here, 
the  agitation,  the  scandals ! 

In  one  of  the  intervals  of  my  journeys  I  found  myself  at 
Rivadavia  on  Christmas  Eve,  noche  buena,  the  good  night,  as 
they  call  it  here.  A  family  of  the  name  of  Riocana  made 
ready  a  room  with  flowers,  plants  and  fruits,  arranged  a 
manger  in  imitation  of  the  one  in  which  it  is  supposed  Christ 
was  born  and  invited  us  to  celebrate  the  festival.  The  Roldans, 
the  captain,  myself  and  a  few  others  were  present,  and  we  all 
sang  a  hymn  to  the  Infant  Saviour,  magnifying  His  name,  and 
repeating  after  each  verse, — 

"  Albricias  !  albricias  !  albricias  !  se  den ! 
El  nino  Jesus  ha  nacido  en  Belen !  " 

the  meaning  of  which  is  :  "  The  firstfruits,  the  firstfruits  are 
ofi'ered  !     The  Child  Jesus  is  born  in  Bethlehem."  ^ 

"What  were  my  thoughts  at  that  moment  1  I  was  thinking 
of  her  who  gave  me  birth,  and  of  her  joy,  could  she  have 
seen  me  then  from  a  distance  of  7000  miles  !  How  greatly  my 
piety  would  have  pleased  her ! 

1  The  real  meaning  of  albricias  is  drink-money  given  to  the  bearer  of 
^ood  news,  *» 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I43 

The  owners  of  the  house  expressed  great  pleasure  at  the 
company  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  place,  as  they  called  us ; 
But  this  was  not  exactly  accurate,  because  the  colonel  of  the 
l!^ational  Guard  and  surveyor  for  the  province  would  not  con- 
descend to  associate  with  the  Uriburistos  (so  called  from  the 
family  name  of  Uriburu,  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  the 
Government)  ;  and  the  justice  of  the  peace  acted,  or  rather  did 
not  act,  in  the  same  way.  He  was  an  honourable  old  man, 
formerly  a  Senator  of  Congress,  and  now  from  reverse  of 
fortune  had  taken  refuge  in  the  Chaco,  where  with  the  help 
of  his  excellent  wife  he  was  endeavouring  to  make  a  provision 
for  the  present  and  future  wants  of  a  large  family.  Such 
reverses  are  often  seen  in  America,  and  such  courageous  spirits 
also.  Happy  is  the  country  where  work  and  ability  are  appre- 
ciated in  no  matter  what  position  in  society. 

On  the  next  evening  there  was  a  French  and  Creole  ball, 
in  the  same  room,  with  the  little  manger  still  standing. 
There  were  refreshments  in  plenty,  brandy,  cognac,  mate 
barley-water,  and  grapes.  A  guitarist  supplied  the  music, 
which  the  Creoles  accompanied  by  songs,  when  not  engaged  in 
conversation. 

Meanwhile  the  ball  went  on,  with  the  thrummings  of  the 
guitar,  the  false,  harsh,  nasal  notes  of  the  singers,  and  the 
jumping  and  tripping  of  the  gato  and  zamha  ;  wine  circulated 
freely,  and  many  were  the  ohligos  enlivening  the  conversation 
This  custom  of  the  ohligo  is  a  serious  one  indeed ! 

A  caballero  carrying  a  glass  of  spirits  gracefully  approaches 
a  senorita,  and  says  with  a  bow,  "Za  ohligo,  senorita"  and 
drinks  from,  it,  on  which  the  young  lady  must  do  the  same. 
She  then  reverses  the  process  with  "  Le  ohligo,  eahallero,  hasta 
concluirlo"  and  for  the  one  mouthful  she  has  taken,  the 
cavalier  must  empty  the  glass. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  scenes  that  frequently  follow  on 
country  balls  such  as  this  one,  and  the  obligations  that  a  girl 
may  contract.  But  people  must  have  amusement !  And  I  do 
not  think  La  Rochefoucauld  was  in  the  wrong  when  he  said, 
*'He  who  has  no  follies  is  less  wise  than  he  thinks  him- 
self!" 

On  leaving  the  ball  I  came  on  a  different  scene.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  street,  opposite  my  room,  the  only  one  on  the 
cuadra,  dwelt  a  shoemaker.  For  several  nights  a  faint  light 
had  shone  from  his  window,  and  on  the  preceding  night,  until 


144  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

three  in  the  morning,  when  I  fell  asleep,  I  could  hear  his  wife 
every  now  and  then  calling  in  a  sad  voice,  "  Caballero, 
Caballero."  I  could  not  understand  how  she  could  call  her 
husband  Caballero,  but  I  heard  afterwards  it  was  his  family 
name. 

The  next  morning  the  room  opposite  was  open  and  elegantly 
decorated.  It  seemed  to  be  prepared  for  some  festivity,  but  I 
took  little  notice,  as  I  habitually  refrain  from  occupying  my- 
self with  my  neighbours'  affairs. 

That  night,  on  returning  home,  I  saw  a  bright  light  in  the 
house  opposite  ;  it  was  crowded  with  men  and  women ;  there 
were  sounds  and  cries  and  ohligos  without  cessation,  accompany- 
ing Creole  dances.  I  approached,  and  there  in  the  middle 
of  the  room  on  a  wooden  couch  covered  with  a  soft  white 
cloth,  and  amid  wreaths  of  wild  flowers,  lay  the  corpse  of  a 
little  child  !  It  was  the  shoemaker's  little  daughter,  and  the 
f  esta  was  the  velorio  1    I  was  horrified  ! 

This  scene  lasted  all  night  and  the  next  morning,  until  the 
hour  of  burial,  with  only  one  interruption.  This  was  when  drink 
had  so  softened  the  father's  heart  that  he  could  not  preserve 
the  customary  composure,  and  he  broke  out  into  tears,  cries  of 
agony  and  imprecations,  and  would  have  destroyed  everj'thing ! 
But  it  did  not  last  long.  With  us,  also,  when  an  angel  dies, 
we  ring  not  the  passing-bell,  but  a  carillon ! 

Meanwhile  I  cannot  sleep,  partly  from  the  noise,  but  more 
from  disgust. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I45 


CHAPTER  IIL 

THE   ELECTIONS. 

The  elections  held  on  the  day  of  our  arrival  were  subsequently- 
annulled  by  the  provincial  Legislature  for  informality.  It 
was  therefore  necessary  to  proceed  to  new  elections  within  a 
certain  time.  The  Government,  which  had  been  defeated  on 
the  first  occasion,  endeavoured  to  influence  the  coming  elections 
by  appointing  local  authorities  devoted  to  it,  and  of  deter- 
mined character.  Salta,  the  capital  of  the  province,  is  about  600 
or  700  kilometers  from  Rivadavia,  a  nearly  desert  land  lying 
between  them  ;  this  can  only  be  traversed  on  horseback,  and 
in  fine  weather  the  journey  there  and  back  takes  twenty  days. 

One  day  we  received  news  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Alsina,  the 
head  of  a  great  party ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  National 
Guard  was  ordered  to  assemble  under  command  of  its  chief 
officers  at  certain  appointed  spots.  The  apprehension  of  possible 
disturbances  consequent  on  Alsina's  death  appeared  to  ex- 
plain this  unusual  call  to  arms.  In  obedience  to  orders  the 
National  Guard  and  the  indispensable  horses  were  soon  as- 
sembled at  about  ten  leagues  from  Rivadavia.  Meanwhile  it 
began  to  be  whispered  in  the  town  that  this  call  to  arms 
had  a  bearing  on  the  elections,  and  was  intended  to  secure 
the  votes  of  the  electors  belonging  to  the  National  Guard 
through  the  influence  of  prestige  and  discipline,  and  through 
them  the  votes  of  others.  On  Saturday  there  arrived  a 
cliasque — Chicciuan  for  messenger — informing  us  that  the  troops 
were  already  within  five  leagues,  that  they  were  being  feasted 
on  asado  de  vaca  con  cuezo  (beef  roasted  without  removing  the 
skin,  a  very  favourite  dish  with  the  natives),  and,  excited  as 
they  were  with  spirits  and  tobacco,  would  all  vote  for  the 
Government  candidates ;  also  that  on  Sunday  morning  they 
would  come,  a  few  at  a  time,  so  as  not  to  attract  attention,  into 

L 


146  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Rivadavia,  where  they  would  vote  in  a  body  in  presence  of  their 
superiors. 

The  alarm  of  the  opposite  party  may  be  imagined  on  finding 
such  a  trap  set  for  them,  with  the  certainty  of  defeat,  because 
the  Government  and  the  Legislature  were  on  the  other  side. 
Besides,  it  seemed  clear  that  this  system  of  conducting  the 
elections  was  against  the  spirit,  if  not  against  the  letter,  of  the 
electoral  laws,  which  required  that  public  notice  of  elections 
should  be  given  at  least  a  week  in  advance.  No  such  notice 
had  been  published  at  Rivadavia.  The  captain  of  a  fort 
twenty  kilometers  off  was  immediately  sent  for,  that  he  might 
use  his  influence  to  prevent  this  scandal. 

Early  on  Sunday  morning  an  unusual  stir  became  perceptible. 
At  intervals  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or  half  an  hour,  parties  of 
two,  tour,  or  six  horsemen  came  into  the  town.  Horsemen 
with  fluttering  ^07?c^os,  with  ample  and  many-coloured  chiripas, 
with  fringed  cahoncillos,  with  long  and  clattering  spurs,  boldly 
riding  their  mettlesome  steeds.  The  open  poncho  frequently 
disclosed  the  glittering  hilt  oiafacon  (a  weapon  between  a  short, 
broad  sword  and  a  dagger)  that,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  is  worn  at  the  waist,  sticking  upright  in  the  tirador 
(waistband).  Others,  holding  their  ponchos  by  the  borders,  en- 
deavoured to  conceal  some  larger  weapon.  All  made  for  the 
same  point,  whence  by  degrees  rose  a  clamour  that  increased 
with  the  fumes  of  drink  and  with  the  company. 

About  nine  o'clock  a  half -ruined  galpon,  formerly  a  church, 
was  thrown  open,  and  disclosed  the  Electoral  Board  composed 
of  SituazioiiisU.  (We  called  the  partisans  of  the  Government, 
and  therefore  of  the  situation^  by  that  name<) 

This  was  the  critical  moment.  The  Opposition  had  assembled 
in  a  house,  but  were  afraid  of  taking  action.  Should  they  pro- 
test ?  They  had  let  the  time  pass  for  doing  that.  Should  they 
vote  ?  This  would  be  to  sanction  their  own  defeat.  Remain 
passive  1  But  this  would  be  to  yield  the  victory,  which  must, 
on  the  contrary,  be  theirs,  were  the  proceedings  regular. 

At  last  it  was  resolved  that  they  should  present  themselves, 
holding  the  law  in  their  hand,  and  endeavour  by  persuasion  to  get 
the  elections  prorogued ;  and,  if  this  failed,  stop  them  by  force. 
Persuasion  was  a  rather  serious  undertaking,  although  the  law 
was  clear,  and  was  in  print  on  the  papers  they  carried ;  then  to 
use  force  was  the  alternative,  and  would  probably  end  in  the 
massacre  of  the  protesting  party.  », 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  147 

The  official  took  opportune  measures.  "With  two  orderlies 
who  had  accompanied  them,  and  three  other  soldiers  who  were 
passing  through  on  business,  one  of  whom  was  my  Indian  teacher, 
he  made  up  a  force  of  five,  and  stationed  them  in  readiness  to 
act  on  the  first  signal.  Then  he  with  eight  or  ten  others  issued 
from  the  house,  and,  making  a  circuit,  re-entered  the  galpon 
through  a  door  at  the  back,  and  confronted  the  Electoral  Board, 
who,  surprised  and  confused  by  the  audacity  of  the  Opposition, 
were  at  a  loss  how  to  proceed.  I  stood  apart,  watching  the 
drama. 

After  a  few  short  moments  of  amicable  discussion  the  dispute 
waxed  warm,  and  was  supplemented  by  shouts,  gesticulation, 
and  invective. 

*'  But  this  is  a  pronunciamiento  !  "  cried  the  president  to  the 
captain. 

"  Pronundamiento  indeed  !  "  replied  the  latter  ;  "  do  you 
think  that  because  I  am  a  soldier,  I  am  not  a  citizen  as  well  ? " 

"  This  is  an  attempt  against  the  majesty  of  the  law  ! "  ex- 
claimed the  secretary,  addressing  himself  to  Natalio  Eoldan. 

"  It  is  yours  that  is  an  attempt ! "  returned  Don  NataHo. 
"  The  law  is  on  our  side  ;  look  at  it ! "  and  he  held  out  the  sheet 
in  his  left  hand,  tapping  it  with  the  right. 

"  JS"ow  we  shall  see  ! "  exclaimed  the  commissioner,  and  he 
ordered  the  electors  of  the  National  Guard  to  advance  in  line, 
while  he  and  the  captain  left  the  enclosure,  and  those  who 
remained  engaged  in  discussion. 

Shortly  after  this  a  group  of  National  Guards  were  seen  ad- 
vancing on  foot,  ten  abreast,  from  the  back  of  the  piazza,  armed 
partly  with  carbines  and  partly  with  f aeons.  On  a  whistle  from 
the  captain,  the  five  soldiers  stood  in  readiness. 

The  National  Guards  advanced  about  twenty  steps,  and  a 
second  whistle  from  the  captain  brought  up  the  soldiers  from  one 
side  of  the  piazza,  where  they  were  stationed,  to  the  church. 

"  Forward,  forward ! "  shouted  the  Commissary  to  the 
Guards,  who  had  already  formed  into  four  bodies  of  two  ranks 
each.  A  third  whistle  brought  the  soldiers  between  the  door- 
way of  the  church  and  the  National  Guards,  who  were  half-way 
across  the  piazza. 

The  Commissary  and  the  captain  standing  side  by  side  formed 
a  curious  contrast.  The  latter  had  laid  aside  his  sword  on 
entering  the  electoral  precincts.  The  former  in  poncho  and 
chiripa,  the  other  in  a  plain  tunic  worn  with  some  elegance, 

L  2 


148  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

and  wide  cavalry  trowsers.  Both  carried  revolvers.  The 
Commissary  was  furious  at  his  position  having  been  taken  with 
so  much  ease ;  while  the  captain  was  as  calm  as  if  on  parade. 

The  commissary  shouted,  "  Forward,  hoys !  up  with  your 
f  aeons ! " 

And  the  captain,  "  Present  arms  !  carry  arms  ! " 

The  National  Guards  waver.  They  are  on  foot,  as  are  the 
soldiers ;  they  come  in  order  to  vote,  not  to  kill,  or  be  killed 
with  Remingtons  discharging  fourteen  shots  a  minute. 

The  commissary  vociferates :  "  Forward,  friends ;  don't  be 
afraid  ! — out  with  your f aeons — al  de — (he  meant  to  say  deguello, 
the  act  of  cutting  the  throat). 

"  Ready  !  "  cried  the  captain  at  the  same  moment,  and  five 
rifles  were  levelled  in  readiness  for  the  word  "  Fire  !  " 

It  was  a  solemn  moment ! 

There,  hke  a  point  in  the  vast  square,  stood  the  little  troop  of 
five  foot -soldiers,  in  linen  clothes,  rough  highlows,  and  red  caps, 
armed  at  all  points — breech-loaders,  cartridge-l3elts — slender, 
upright,  resolute,  and  ready  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  elegant 
officer  standing  on  their  right. 

Here,  a  parti-coloured  crowd  of  peasants,  in  ponderous ^oticAos, 
or  large  cloaks,  held  together  at  the  edges,  cliiripaSy  and  white, 
fringed  cahoncillos,  with  wrinkled  boots,  and  tattered  hats,  of 
various  shapes,  and  worn  in  different  ways,  like  men  always 
on  horseback,  and  who  have  only  just  dismounted,  and  stood 
awkwardly  on  their  feet,  balancing  their  carbines,  and  holding 
their  unsheathed  daggers  in  a  hundred  different  attitudes.  At 
the  back  of  the  galpon  were  a  number  of  cahalleros  in  two  files, 
one  in  front  of  the  other,  with  uncovered  heads,  composed,  but 
resolute  of  mien,  but  scrutinizing  countenance  and  calm, 
observing  by  turns  the  adversaries  in  front  and  the  troops  in  the 
square. 

All  the  rest  of  the  square  was  empty,  and  the  doors  of  the 
few  houses  near  were  either  shut,  or,  if  slightly  ajar,  disclosed 
upon  a  dark  background  white-robed  female  figures,  who  re- 
vealed their  presence  and  their  fears  by  the  stealthy  movement 
of  the  doors. 

The  silence  was  sepulchral ! 

It  seemed  as  though  we  could  hear  the  beating  of  our  hearts. 
And  how  all  hearts  were  beating  at  that  moment,  on  which  hung 
the  lives  of  scores  of  fellow-citizens,  of  comrades,  of  friends,  of 
relations !  »» 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I49 

But  suddenly  the  N'ational  Guards,  already  wavering,  broke 
— some  stood  firm,  some,  with  their  faces  to  the  enemy,  drew 
back.  There  was  confusion  in  their  ranks.  The  Commissary's 
orders  by  voice  and  gesture  are  no  longer  obeyed.  The  entire 
column  retreats,  disperses,  and  abandons  the  square  when  con- 
fronted with  those  five  rifles  that,  at  a  moment's  notice,  would 
have  scattered  death  and  destruction  around.  It  would  avail 
ij  nothing  to  recall  them  ;  victory  is  on  the  other  side,  on  the  side 

1  '        of  principle,  said  Eoldan.     On  the  side  of  discipline,  of  improved 
firearms,  and  of  courage,  say  I. 

I  do  not  wish  the  reader  to  retain  a  bad  impression  of  the 
National  Guards.  They  were  numerous,  it  is  true  ;  but  half  of 
them  at  least  were  at  heart  on  the  side  of  the  Oppositionists  ;  and 
all  of  them  knew  that  the  latter,  who  were  there  before  their  eyes, 
had  come  to  prevent  an  act  that  they  declared  to  be  illegal,  and 
which  the  Situationists  made  to  appear  so  by  the  unusual, 
lurtive,  and  scheming  manner  in  which  they  managed  it. 
Moreover,  their  arms  were  inferior,  and  then  they  were  fathers 
of  families  and  owners  of  property.  How  could  they  be  ex- 
pected to  tight,  or  to  wish  to  do  so  1 

At  this  point  some  one  says  to  me,  "  This  is  all  very  well,  but 
in  the  meantime  this  is  the  beautiful  Eepublic '?  Abuses,  civil 
wars,  anarchy,  misery  !  You  require  a  Dictator,  not  a  Republic ; 
or,  better  still,  a  king  ! " 

I  do  not  think  so.  In  politics  accomplished  facts  must  be 
taken  into  account.  Now  the  Republic  is  a  fact,  and  its  historical 
reason  appears  to  me  to  reside  in  the  other  fact,  that  its  in- 
dependence was  achieved  outside  of,  and  in  opposition  to,  the 
monarchy.  If  the  Bourbons,  when  Napoleon  drove  them  from 
Spain,  had  retired  to  South  America,  and  had  there  placed 
themselves  at  the  head  of  the  movement  of  independence  of 
the  mother  country,  they  would  probably  have  taken  root,  as 
the  House  of  Braganza  under  similar  circumstances  took  root  in 
Brazil.  But  the  Bourbons  were  too  much  in  love  with  the  vast 
and  glorious  kingdom  of  Spain,  containing  as  it  did  double  the 
number  of  inhabitants  of  the  whole  of  Spanish  America,  the 
population  of  which  was  at  that  time  three  parts  Indian,  and 
they  knew  not  how  to  practise  the  cheerful  self-renunciation  of 
the  House  of  Braganza,  when  driven  from  their  modest  Portu- 
guese throne. 

The  House  of  Bourbon,  with  the  authority  of  tradition,  with 
prestige  of  service  rendered  to  those  countries,  might,  with  the 


150  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

aid  of  other  elements,  have  constituted  an  aristocracy  of  birth 
and  wealth  to  be  the  base  and  nucleus  for  the  concentration 
around  itself  of  the  followers  Avho  would  by  degrees  have  arisen 
in  the  different  parties,  and  to  discipline  and  educate  them. 
This  we  may  believe,  and  it  was  much  to  be  desired. 

But  the  contrary  took  place.  Independence  became  possible, 
and  therefore  inevitable  ;  but  it  was  vigorously  resisted  by  Spain. 
In  order  to  attain  it,  the  people  rallied  round  the  most  conspicuous 
individuals,  and  by  them  were  led  to  victory.  Afterwards,  there 
being  no  superior  centre  of  attraction,  each  wanted  to  preserve 
supremacy,  and  this  was  only  possible,  firstly,  with  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  great  territorial  historical  and  natural  groups, 
historically  or  geographically ;  and  secondly,  by  the  federation,  in 
all  these  new  nations,  of  the  provinces  that  were  distinct, 
either  by  their  physical  or  social  characters,  or  by  the  part  they 
had  taken  in  the  war  of  independence. 

The  ideas  of  '89  had  indeed  taken  hold  of  those  classes  who 
had  directed  and  inaugurated  the  war  of  liberation  ;  but  the 
physical  and  social  conditions  of  these  countries  were  and  are 
little  adapted  to  such  ideas,  because  their  chief  men  were  and 
are  inspired  to  abdicate  a  part  of  their  liberty  in  favour  of  a 
conventional  personage,  not  supported  by  services  rendered. 
How  then  could  a  new  dynasty  take  root  1  How  the  old,  since 
they  had  shed  their  blood  to  free  themselves  from  it,  and  had 
conquered.  To  attempt  it  was  to  ensure  ruin.  This  was  proved 
in  the  case  of  San  Martin,  the  great  Argentine  commander,  who 
was  suspected,  and  perhaps  not  unjustly,  of  attempting  it  on 
behalf  of  another ;  and,  again,  Bolivar,  the  great  Columbian 
general,  who  was  accused  wrongfully,  I  think,  of  attempting  it 
for  himself. 

These  countries,  therefore,  separated  by  immense  distances, 
by  great  natural  demarcations,  and  by  the  limits  of  colonial 
administration,  felt  the  necessity  of  separating  into  diJBferent 
nations,  and  when  the  Eepublic  was  constituted  they  became 
federated  on  a  basis  of  the  widest  political  and  administrative 
liberty. 

Was  this  federation  an  evil  1  Was  this  basis  of  liberty  an 
evil  ]  The  occurrence  of  an  historical  fact  is  difficult  without 
the  operation  of  potent  reasons,  which,  while  they  have  made  it 
inevitable,  make  it  also  a  substantial  good — if,  indeed,  the 
expressions  bad  and  good  can  be  used  in  reference  to  political 
necessities.  '  > 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  15I 

I|^  must  also  be  observed,  that  if  we  only  recur  in  thought  to 
the  times  when  the  political  and  social  centres  were  separated 
one  from  another  by  hundreds  and  thousands  of  leagues  and  by 
intervals  of  months  of  travel,  before  railways,  telegraphs,  or 
even  stage-coaches  and  mails  had  shortened  the  distances  or 
facilitated  communication,  federation  was  a  primary  fact,  which 
was  written  in  the  constitutions  ;  and  because  it  was  a  fact, 
it  was  also  sanctioned  in  the  constitutional  laws.  It  may  come 
to  pass  that  in  time,  with  improved  communications,  and  altered 
relations,  federation  may  disappear ;  it  is  certain  at  any  rate  to 
be  modified,  first  in  the  actual  relations  between  the  provincial 
and  national  Governments,  and  next  in  the  written  laws.  But 
then  and  novv  it  was  and  is  so.  The  same  law  is  imposed  by 
similar  physical  conditions,  upon  Brazil,  where  notwithstanding 
the  monarchical  and  imperial  form,  the  provinces  are  true  con- 
fedeiate  States,  constituting  an  immense  empire. 

The  necessity  and  hence  the  excellence  of  the  federal  order  is 
granted;  but  it  is  denied  that  written  institutions,  however 
liberal,  have  been  or  are  good  for  these  people,  who  are  not 
supposed  to  be  ripe,  as  it  is  called,  for  liberty.  To  this  I  reply: 
The  evil  is  not  in  the  laws,  but  in  the  social  conditions. 
If  liberty  is,  in  fact,  illusory  among  some  nations,  it  would 
be  so  to  a  still  greater  extent  under  a  Dictator  or  a  despot. 
If  the  thirst  for  command  agitates  the  whole  country  at  election 
time,  and  frequently  renders  them  either  violent  or  fraudulent, 
this  very  thirst  has  made  and  would  make  it  quarrel  with  the 
ruler  who  was  not  made  one  by  election. 

If  the  Government,  in  order  to  keep  power  in  its  party, 
corrupts  or  coerces  the  electors,  the  same  Government,  if  abso- 
lute, would  certainly,  in  order  to  prevent  revolt,  corrupt  and 
coerce  the  citizens. 

But  we  have  had  peace ;  with  peace,  prosperity ;  and  with 
prosperity,  the  possibility  of  attaining  true  liberty. 

We  have  also  had  frightful  tyranny,  and  with  it  the  reverse 
of  the  medal.  Under  the  social  conditions  of  these  countries,  a 
Dictator  or  a  Life  President,  in  order  to  free  the  country  from  elec- 
toral agitation  and  from  the  anarchy  of  liberty,  would  be  quickly 
transformed  into  a  merciless  tyrant,  who  would  repress  his 
quarrelsome  fellow-citizens  in  their  distant  provinces  by  means 
df  a  crew  of  satellites  more  brutal  than  himself.  Rosas  was  an 
instance  of  this.     And  then,  besides  the  danger  to  peace,  is  the 


152  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

education  of  citizens  to  be  counted  as  nothing,  and  free  activity 
in  all,  for  the  moral  and  material  progress  of  the  country  1 

However  much  these  institutions  and  countries  may  he 
traduced,  the  fact  is,  that  power  alternates  between  the  two 
parties  ;  that  no  citizen  abandons  his  country  in  despair  on  account 
of  the  eternal  persecution  of  authority,  which  is  curbed  by  its 
precariousness.  And  according  as  wealth  and  political  education 
progress,  the  people  become  more  and  more  the  sovereign  power ; 
while  in  the  solid  reality  of  the  constitutional  guarantees,  and 
in  the  wide  horizon  now  open  to  all,  each  citizen  becomes  a 
better  and  a  happier  man. 

Lastly,  even  when  the  tendency  of  a  governor  is  towards  an 
abuse  of  his  power,  the  institutions  of  the  country  virtually 
exist.  Then  will  the  remembrance  of  fraud  and  violence  endure 
in  the  minds  of  the  citizens,  and  when  the  day  of  reparation 
comes,  society  resumes  the  suspended  tradition  with  the  mere 
disappearance  of  the  despot,  and  continues  to  confirm  and 
assimilate  it. 

To  conclude,  a  periodic  electoral  agitation,  in  order  to  gain 
the  magistracy,  is  better  than  permanent  political  agitation  in 
order  to  obtain  the  control  of  the  vote,  where  that  manifesta- 
tion of  the  popular  will  does  not  take  place. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 53 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

POBLACIONES — MISSIONS — CIVIC   GOVERNMENT. 

From  Eivadavia  I  was  to  go  to  Oran,  a  city  of  4000  inhabi- 
tants before  1871,  when  it  was  destroyed  and  depopulated  by 
an  earthquake.  The  distance  geographically  is  200  kilometers ; 
but  as  I  was  to  visit  on  my  way  that  point  of  the  River  Vermejo 
where  it  divides  into  two  branches,  the  distance  I  should  have 
to  cover  on  horseback  would  be  doubled,  and,  including  the 
return  journey,  quadrupled. 

At  the  fork  of  the  river,  the  stream  on  the  right  retains 
the  name  of  Yermejo,  that  on  the  left  taking  the  name  of  Teuco, 
from  Teuch,  a  word  meaning  river  in  the  language  of  the 
Mattaccos  who  live  on  its  banks. 

The  two  branches  run  with  many  windings  to  a  distance 
of  fifty  kilometers,  and  in  a  direct  line  for  a  distance  of  400 
kilometers,  thus  forming  a  large  oblong  island,  its  width  being 
one-tenth  of  its  length.  It  begins  at  about  100  kilometers 
within  the  frontier,  and  ends  at  the  mouth  of  the  Teuco,  300 
kilometers  below  the  frontier. 

In  the  Christian  territory  westward  from  the  frontier  the 
banks  of  the  island  and  those  on  the  farther  sides  of  the  two 
arms  of  the  river  are  partly  populated,  i.e.  they  have  been  sold 
as  allotments  or  presellas,  consisting  of  a  certain  number  of 
provincial  half-leagues,  equal  perhaps  to  1200  Aectores  under  con- 
dition that  the  purchaser  shall  build  a  rancho  and  set  up  a 
poblacion,  that  is  a  family  with  some  cattle.  When  the  pobla- 
cion  is  on  a  large  scale,  from  the  number  of  animals,  and  the 
extent  of  land,  and  consequently,  with  a  large  dwelling-house 
and  outbuildings,  it  is  called  an  estanda. 

Some  of  these  estancias  are  also  met  with  beyond  the  frontier 
within  a  radius  of  four  leagues  (twenty  kilometers),  the  farthest 
spot  legally  under  the  inspection  of  the  patrols  (comisiones)  from 
the  Forts;  beyond  this  distance   the  estancieros  are  deprived 


154  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

even  of  that  amount  of  protection.  The  love  of  gain,  however, 
induces  the  owners  of  estancias  to  push  still  farther  forward,  if 
the  bordering  country  (campo)  affords  good  pasturage. 

I  leave  you  to  imagine  the  kind  of  life  led  in  these  parts, 
surrounded  by  savages  and  wild  beasts,  at  long  distances  from 
the  nearest  inhabited  districts,  and  hundreds  of  leagues  from 
any  town.  And  nevertheless  I  have  met  with  ladies  in  these 
estancias.  I  can  assure  you  that  the  Argentine  lady  is  inferior 
to  none  in  the  world,  in  her  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  as  a  wife  and 
a  mother,  and  her  admirable  domestic  qualities. 

It  will  easily  be  understood  that  individuals  of  certain  classes, 
such  as  medical  men,  priests,  and  gendarmes,  are  rarely  found 
out  here,  or,  generally  speaking,  in  the  heart  of  the  Argentine 
countries.  But  life  seems  none  the  worse  for  their  absence. 
For  the  doctor,  there  is  sometimes  a  substitute  in  the  curandero 
— but  almost  always  in  a  sufficiently  salubrious  climate,  whole- 
some, though  plain  food,  and  a  frame  trained  to  this  kind 
of  life.  The  gendarme  is  replaced  by  the  strong  hand  of  the 
master  over  his  ^eowes  (labourers),  and  by  the  few  opportunities 
for  evil-doing,  with  the  exception  of  quarrels,  and  then  the 
guilty  party  can  always  lay  his  hand  upon  a  horse  and  escape. 
The  priest's  place  is  perfectly  well  filled  by  the  moral  sense 
innate  in  man,  and  practically  exhibited  when  required  by  the 
exigencies  of  human  society,  which  depend  in  their  turn  on  the 
state  of  that  society,  whether  the  fact  be  or  be  not  pleasing  to 
the  advocates  of  an  absolute  morality,  armed  at  all  points,  pre- 
existing in  the  head  of  Jove. 

And  then,  too,  the  priest  does  not  come  to  these  parts,  be- 
cause he  does  not  find  it  profitable  either  for  himself  or  for  his 
Church.  But  in  order  to  preserve  appearances,  he  sends  mis- 
sionary brothers,  who  are  as  incapable  of  teaching  savages  one 
step  in  civilization,  as  the  Indians  are  incapable  of  appreciat- 
ing their  good  intentions. 

On  this  subject  a  large  part  of  the  public  is  in  a  state  of 
mental  aberration,  and  some  of  the  governors  enact  a  ridiculous 
part  for  their  benefit.  It  is  believed,  and  the  belief  is  en- 
couraged, that  one  barefooted  friar  is  worth  a  battalion  of 
soldiers,  or  a  police  station,  and  funds  are  provided  and 
expended  on  this  account.     But  it  is  not  so. 

Savages  understand  nothing  about  incarnations,  transub- 
stantiations,  immaculate  conceptions,  and  indulgences.  And 
should   they,  when  those  who  are   born  amidst  these   beliefs 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 55 

either  laugh  at  them  or  become  mad  on  the  subject  1  The 
idea  of  reward  and  punishment  in  a  future  life,  by  which 
they  might  be  elevated  and  morally  improved,  is  not  new  to 
them ;  they  already  possess  it,  as  we  have  seen.  Hence  it  is 
more  natural  that  they  should  remain  in  the  faith  of  their 
fathers,  and  it  should  be  considered  more  moral  also,  by  those 
whose  morality  consists  in  the  impossibility  of  believing  what 
one  no  longer  believes,  or  in  cheating  and  lies.  The  savage  will 
learn  the  new  religion,  that  to  him  is  no  religion,  as  a  business, 
and  according  to  the  measure  imparted  to  him.  Where  is  the 
education  in  this  ?  Where  is  the  march  of  civilization  "i  We 
cannot  make  much  of  having  taught  him  to  gabble  the  creed, 
or  be  sprinkled  with  holy  water  ! 

A  battalion,  on  the  contrary,  by  preventing  robbery,  obliges 
the  savages  to  work  for  their  living,  and  the  station  offers  relief 
and  help,  in  the  day  of  want,  that  comes  even  to  the  nomad ! 
Meanwhile  the  hope  of  gain  attracts  them  to  the  new  life,  from 
which  they  are  not  able  to  withdraw,  and  into  which  they  will 
enter  as  one  of  its  necessary  parts  on  the  day  that  the  inevit- 
able progress  of  the  superior  race  must  despoil  them  of  the 
lands  that  they  do  not  cultivate.  This  is  education !  This  is 
civilization  ! 

The  missions  may  supply  convenient  resting-places  for  tra- 
vellers, as  in  Africa,  or  afford  opportunities  for  useful  scientific 
discoveries,  if  their  members  can  be  imbued  with  the  scientific, 
instead  of  the  religious  spirit ;  but  until  then,  I  cannot  see 
what  results  they  have  to  show,  with  the  exception  of  some 
acts  of  charity  and  courage,  such  as  the  rescue  of  prisoners,  a 
truly  noble  and  holy  deed.  Among  all  the  Indians  of  the  Pam- 
pas, not  one  has  joined  us  through  the  attraction  of  religion,  and 
the  same  is  the  case  with  the  Chaco  Indians.  If  a  few 
score  live  near  the  estancias  and  work  on  them,  it  is  because 
the  land  was  formerly  theirs,  or  because  they  felt  attracted  to 
the  new  life  and  became  unconsciously  bound  to  it.  If  some 
hundreds  go  to  the  sugar  haciendas,  it  is  because  paid  labour  is 
more  attractive  than  idleness  and  misery.  Let  us  enclose  them 
within  the  circle  of  civilization,  and  they  will  come  to  us  quicker 
than  if  enclosed  in  a  circle  of  friars.  And  if  this  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  absorb  them  within  the  period  judged  necessary  by  civil 
society,  invasion  and  force  must  be  employed,  not  preaching. 
The  missions  please  neither  savages  nor  citizens  ;  but  they  are 
liked  by  governors,  who  use  them  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving 


156  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

the  people  as  to  their  devotion,  and  foreigners  as  to  the  mild- 
ness of  their  rule. 

Meanwhile  there  is  strong  antagonism  between  the  pohladores 
and  the  missionaries,  and  some  years  ago  a  regular  pitched 
battle  took  place  between  them,  resulting  in  the  burning  of  the 
settlement  and  the  destruction  of  the  inhabitants.  A  monk, 
whose  name  I  forget,  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject  at  Genoa, 
on  his  return  to  Italy.  The  divergence  of  the  course  of  the 
Vermejo  subsequently  destroyed  two  new  houses  (I  have  already 
explained  what  these  houses  are)  built  by  these  same  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  neighbours  declared  and  still  declare  it  to 
be  the  finger  of  God!  Is  that  finger,  then,  a  two-edged 
sword  ?  Eventually,  at  the  time  of  electing  a  Deputy  to  Con- 
gress, the  estancieros  of  the  Rivadavia  district  united  their 
votes,  in  order  to  return  a  candidate  who  had  assisted  them  in 
their  legal  struggle  before  the  Salta  tribunals,  consequent  on  the 
battle  I  have  already  mentioned ;  and  at  the  present  time,  as  I 
am  writing,  this  same  gentleman,  Dr.  Oliva,  has  been  elected 
Governor  of  the  province. 

If  the  priest  be  wanting,  so  also  must  the  marriage  ceremony 
be  wanting,  which  is  celebrated  here  by  means  of  the  Church 
exclusively.  But  the  concubinage  prevailing  in  the  campo  is 
caused  rather  by  the  unwillingness  of  the  man  to  contract 
marriage  than  by  the  absence  of  the  priest,  because  from  time 
to  time  some  priest  makes  an  excursion  into  the  country, 
not  unprofitable  to  him,  if  he  be  a  poor  man  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  would  be  no  great  thing  to  ride  some  score  of  miles  for 
once  in  a  way,  as  in  fact  any  who  care  about  it  do.  It  would 
be  wrong  to  attribute  the  same  immorality  to  this  custom,  as  if 
it  prevailed  among  ourselves ;  the  circumstances  being  totally 
ditierent,  whether  as  regards  means  of  communication,  social 
conditions,  or  the  race  itself.  While  the  unmarried  man  who 
comes  to  these  wildernesses  is  nearly  always  white,  or  presumed 
to  be  so,  the  woman,  on  the  contrary,  is  almost  always  an 
acknowledged  half-caste.  Now  this  constitutes  a  social  inequality 
that  very  few  have  the  courage  to  face.  The  lower  orders — 
I  use  this  term  unwillingly,  but  in  order  to  make  myself  clearly 
understood — consist  of  a  breed  almost  entirely  native.  There- 
fore the  custom  of  concubinage  is  the  quickest  and  the  least 
costly.  We  must  add  that  it  preserves  freedom,  which  is  pre- 
cious to  a  people  who  have  it  ever  before  their  eyes  in  immense 
and   solitary  lands,  and  among  whom   the  women   age  very 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 57 

rapidly !  The  Argentine  laws,  however,  have  looked  to  this, 
and  have  decreed  that  a  natural  son  shall  inherit  name  and 
property  in  the  same,  or  almost  the  same,  manner  as  a  legitimate 
child,  and  that  he  shall  have  the  right  to  verify  the  father. 
The  learned  jurisconsult,  Velez-Sarsfield,  who  drew  up  this  law, 
was  equally  great  in  head  and  heart.  The  social  disorder,  there- 
fore, that  might  perhaps  be  dreaded  among  ourselves  .only 
appears  here  on  a  small  scale  in  consequence  of  this  provident 
law— which,  moreover,  promotes  fruitful  unions  and  the  blend- 
ing of  races,  and  thus  contributes  to  the  increase  and  improve- 
ment of  the  population,  objects  of  the  highest  importance  in  a 
country  such  as  this,  of  which  it  has  been  well  said,  to  govern  is 
to  populate. 

Nor  do  the  women  live  in  a  state  of  humiliation.  There  are 
few  countries  in  which  women  are  more  respected  than  here. 
Whether  from  Spanish  traditions,  or  from  habits  formed  under 
the  social  conditions  of  the  country,  when  the  population  was 
only  one-fifth  of  its  present  numbers,  and  each  individual  be- 
came of  increased  value  in  the  solitude  of  country  life,  women 
possess  extraordinary  influence,  and  are  loved  and  respected  by 
men.  During  the  atrocious  civil  wars  that  distracted  the 
country  for  the  first  fifty  years  of  its  independence,  woman  was 
alternately  the  guide  of  a  man's  life  and  the  companion  of  his 
misfortunes.  Hence  the  participation  of  women  in  the  very 
springs  of  politics,  which,  while  it  may  seem  imprudent,  never- 
theless excites  the  admiration  of  foreigners. 

The  respect  and  consideration  for  women  that  exist  in  the 
upper  classes  of  society  are  also  found  among  the  people,  either 
from  the  force  of  example,  or  from  innate  custom  produced  by 
the  causes  I  have  mentioned.     One  example  will  suffice. 

One  of  my  servants,  acting  as  guide,  was  a  poor  country 
labourer,  a  married  man  with  a  family.  After  a  couple  of 
months'  absence,  he  asked  me  to  write  in  his  name  to  his  wife. 
Not  quite  knowing  how  to  begin  the  letter,  I  asked  him  to  tell 
me.  After  a  moment's  thought  he  said,  "Write,  *M]/  esteemed 
lady/'" 

This  kind  of  tone  is  mutual — I  do  not  say  among  the  classes 
privileged  by  wealth  and  education,  for  there  it  is  a  matter  of 
course,  but  among  the  lower  classes  and  even  among  the  Indian 
nomads.  The  very  prostitutes  conceal  and  dislike  their  mode  of 
life.  The  calm  and  apparently  impassive  Indian  nature  conduces 
to  this  outward  bearing,  which  may  be  called  irreproachable. 


158  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Their  manner  of  walking  is  generally  majestic ;  and  their  way 
of  holding  their  arms,  which  has  so  much  to  do  with  the 
elegance  of  motion,  is  nearly  always  absolutely  correct.  Two 
Indian  sisters,  wives  of  the  same  Indian  husband,  who  had 
settled  among  the  Christians,  made  such  an  impression  on  me 
when  they  came  with  him  to  Rivadavia,  that  I  took  them 
for  two  ladies  in  disguise,  so  correct  and  elegant  were  their 
manners,  although  they  were  seated  on  the  ground  in  the  shade 
of  a  tree  at  the  side  of  the  street,  and  busy  over  a  child  of  the 
husband's  and  with  various  little  domestic  duties. 

In  order  to  understand  all  the  contingent  value  of  any  civil 
institutions  whose  social  and  individual  influence  is  so  much 
extolled,  and  also  the  conditions  of  their  merit,  it  is  necessary 
to  have  been  in  places  where  they  do  not  exist  or  act  in  a 
contrary  sense. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 59 


CHAPTER  V. 

DEPARTUEE   FROM    EIVADAVIA — FEATURES   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

In  the  middle  of  October  we  set  out  for  Oran.  A  few  vecinos 
accompanied  us  for  half  a  league,  and  then  Signor  ^N'atalio 
Roldan  and  I  continued  our  way,  attended  only  by  the  Santia- 
gueno  1  and  the  Chiriguan,  who  rejoiced  in  the  name  of  Sardina ! 

On  entering  the  territories  of  the  savages  we  found  ourselves 
on  a  vast  wooded  plain  sloping  imperceptibly  from  west  to 
east. 

Yet  on  this  immense  table-land  there  are  frequent  and  unex- 
pected breaks  in  the  ground.  These  are  due  to  the  action  of 
the  waters,  aided  by  the  friable  natute  of  the  soil  through  which 
they  wander.  The  forking  of  the  river  has  been  repeated  over 
and  over  again  since  the  primeval  times,  when  the  immense 
plain  first  came  into  existence,  and  the  abundant  waters  flowing 
over  it  formed  for  themselves  channels  in  which  they  were 
confined. 

Only  five  or  six  years  ago  Rivadavia  stood  on  the  brink  of 
the  river ;  now  it  is  half  a  league  away  and  is  reached  by  a 
series  of  steps  or  terraces.  The  ancient  bed  of  the  river  has 
become  an  immense  natural  tank,  retaining  the  water  all 
the  year  round,  and  replenished  afresh  during  the  floods.  It  is 
the  favourite  haunt  of  the  yacare,  a  kind  of  crocodile.  Deposits 
of  mud  will  gradually  fill  it  up  ,and  the  level,  being  thus  raised  by 
a  succession  of  layers,  will  remain  dry,  first  in  the  season  of 
drought,  and  later  during  the  moderate  rains.  Finally,  with  the 
lapse  of  ages,  joined  to  the  deepening  of  the  river's  course,  it 
will  remain  dry  even  in  the  great  floods,  unless  the  overflow, 
being  impeded  by  banks  formed  across  mouths  belonging  to  a 
former  period,  it  becomes  first  a  lake,  then  a  banado,  and  lastly 
a  marsh. 

^  Inhabitant  of  the  province  of  Santiago. 


l6o  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Sucli  is  the  genesis  of  the  existing  alluvial  lands.  They  are  due 
to  the  working  of  causes  still  in  activity,  and  which  every  year  are 
forming  a  more  extensive  and  closer  network,  in  the  meshes  of 
which  the  primitive  soil,  hroken  up  into  islands  of  different  size, 
is  enclosed.  This  soil,  so  long  as  it  endures,  will  retain  its  own 
altri  metrical,  physical,  and  vegetable  characteristics.  The  waters 
will  not  overcome  it,  though  they  never  cease  from  their 
operations,  sometimes  carried  on  with  insidious  caresses  of 
the  clay  foundation  of  the  perpendicular  banks,  and,  by  continual 
lapping,  bringing  it  down,  bit  by  bit,  into  their  bosom  ;  at  other 
times,  turgid  and  impetuous,  they  seek  to  destroy  it  by  force, 
assaulting,  dragging,  demolishing,  until,  laden  with  its  ancient 
forest-growth,  they  whirl  it  into  their  seething  currents. 

The  rings  of  the  net  already  formed  are  subject  to  similar 
action;  for  the  river,  conscious,  as  it  were,  of  its  irresistible 
strength,  both  for  building  up  and  for  destroying,  seems  to  take 
pleasure  in  undoing  its  own  work,  and  substituting  other  work 
for  it,  tracing  with  its  spume,  more  powerful  than  adamant,  a 
fresh  network  above  and  across  the  former  one,  which  is  unfitted 
to  resist  the  attack  on  account  of  its  brief  gestation  in  the  bosom 
of  the  waters. 

And  as  it  will  cost  nothing  to  the  land  that  in  the  beginning 
afforded  an  asylum  to  the  waste  of  waters  to  receive  on  its  soil 
the  axe-defying  quebracho  and  the  giuccian,  with  its  produce  of 
white  cotton,  these  trees  will  accompany  its  infancy  while  the 
waters  are  coiling  about  like  monstrous  serpents.  In  the  same 
way,  without  cost,  the  later  inhabitants  will  enjoy  the  fertility 
of  lands  producing  the  algarrobo,  the  chanar,  and  the  nutmeg, 
with  their  delicious  fruits ;  and  the  medium  lands  will  freely 
provide  for  health  and  cleanliness  in  the  growth  of  the  splendid 
and  elegant  pacara,  with  its  saponaceous  berries  ;  while  the  more 
recent  soil  hastens,  with  child-like  grace,  to  adorn  the  paths 
with  poplars,  willows,  and  silvery-leaved  shrubs  that  grow  in 
countless  profusion  along  the  wooded  banks. 

Alluvial  action  is  very  powerful,  and  exists  on  an  extensive 
scale.  During  our  journey  we  frequently  came  across  dried-up 
channels,  sometimes  many  leagues  in  length,  that  had  been  full 
of  water  three  or  four  years  previously.  And  it  is  certain  that 
if  suitable  engineering  works  are  not  carried  out,  the  existing 
arm  of  the  river  that  retains  the  name  of  Yermejo  will  soon 
form,  along  its  whole  length  of  nearly  a  thousand  kilometers, 
a   series   of  tanks    that    will    themselves   undergo   the   trans^ 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  l6l 

formations  I  have  described.  Fort  Aguirre  only  a  short  time 
ago  stood  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Teuco,  from  which  it  is  now 
lialf  a  league  distant,  and  a  "madrechon,"  or  natural  reservoir, 
has  taken  the  place  of  the  river. 

The  alluvial  lands,  formed  by  the  existing  currents  on  which, 
as  being  the  most  ancient,  the  highest  and  driest,  the  algarrobo 
flourishes,  are  always  lower  than  the  primitive  soil,  where 
the  quebracho  and  the  giuccian  grow ;  thus  forming  a  kind  of 
stair,  never  less  in  depth,  I  think,  than  a  couple  of  metres. 
The  steps  of  this  stair  are,  of  course,  not  always  very  distinct, 
for  the  length  of  time  in  which  atmospheric  agencies  have  beer 
at  work  has  allowed  the  parapets  to  slope,  and  time  has  filled  the 
space  between  the  two  soils  with  detritus  from  the  surface,  as 
is  easily  understood.  But  the  perpendicular  banks  of  the  river 
afford  clear  evidence  of  the  facts  I  state,  and  I  do  so  with  the 
greatest  confidence,  although  based  only  on  my  own  observations. 

Occasionally,  in  the  time  of  great  floods,  the  algarrobo  lands 
are  under  water,  but  never  the  quebracho ;  the  former  lie  at  a 
height  of  six  or  eight  yards  in  the  centre  and  west,  and  eight 
to  twelve  yards  and  more,  eastward,  in  Paraguay,  for  about 
thirty  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

This  first  stair  is  generally  succeeded  by  others  before  reach- 
ing to  the  river,  and,  as  its  course  is  more  or  less  circuitous, 
the  bank  on  the  outer  side  is  almost  always  perpendicular,  and 
of  greater  or  less  height  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil. 
The  inner  side  of  the  curve  is  alluvial. 

Now  this  alluvial  land  is  nearly  always  in  steps  or  terraces, 
and  seems  as  if  butting  against  a  high  bank.  One  can  actually 
see  these  steps  in  process  of  formation  by  the  river,  which  is 
very  muddy  when  swollen,  besides  which  the  friable  soil  on  the 
exterior  side  of  the  curve  is  easily  disintegrated,  and  thus  the 
absolute,  and  even  the  relative  position  of  the  steps,  is  frequently 
and  rapidly  changed.  This  occurs  when  a  huge  mass  of  earth 
falls  over  into  the  stream,  especially  when  trees  are  carried  away 
with  it,  or  when  the  unevenness  of  the  river-bed  fails  to  offer 
a  equal  and  homogeneous  resisting  power.  In  that  case  the 
t&rrace  becomes  stili  more  irregularly  formed. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  steps  or  stairways  in  the  bed  of  the 
river  are  owing,  not  to  one  year's  work  or  one  single  flood,  but 
to  the  normal  and  continuous  action  of  the  stream  in  ordinary 
seasons.  These  steps,  however,  are  shallow,  and  the  terraces 
very  narrow.     They  can  be  levelled  with  little  trouble. 

If 


1 62  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

Those  terraces  and  stairways  which,  from  their  size,  are 
important  features  in  the  aspect  of  the  country,  are  due  to  the 
heavy  floods  which  for  considerable  distances  deposit  wide 
terraces  four  to  six  yards  high,  their  width  being  increased  by 
the  debris  of  a  former  smaller  terrace — other  lesser  ones  are  due 
to  the  ordinary  floods.  Now,  a  different  degree  of  productiveness 
may  be  said  to  correspond  with  each  terrace,  because  the  com- 
position of  the  soil  in  each  must  vary  according  to  the  known 
laws  of  deposit,  and  on  account  of  the  depth  of  the  water  and 
their  longitudinal  distance  from  it,  which  is  a  considerable  ele- 
ment in  every  respect  in  this  country,  where  the  climate  is  so 
dry  that  agriculture  is  almost  impossible. 

To  give  an  idea  of  this,  Rivadavia  is,  or  rather  was,  at  a  distance 
of  half  a  league  from  the  river.  In  that  space  there  are,  as  it 
were,  four  stairways,  with  terraces  six  to  eight  hundred  yards 
long  covered  with  algarrobo,  and  soils  of  all  kinds,  marshy,  dry, 
sandy,  and  clay. 

Madrechons,  lakes,  and  swamps,  all  formed  by  the  same 
force,  constitute  with  the  terraces  the  only  features  of  the  soil 
that  break  its  monotony,  and  partially  alter  the  uniformity  that 
results  from  uniformity  of  climate. 


1 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  163 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  OUR  WAT  TO  ORAN — THE  RAINS  AND  AGRICULTURE — A  LEPER. 

We  proceeded  onwards  across  the  immense  level  plain,  broken 
by  the  natural  accidents  I  have  described,  and  clothed  with 
woods,  varying  according  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  but  so  fre- 
quent that  they  seemed  to  be  the  same,  only  with  darker  and 
different  shades  alternately  predominating. 

Every  eight  or  ten  kilometers  we  came  to  some  ranclio 
inhabited  by  i\\^  pohladores  oi  the  estate,  and  less  frequently 
to  the  dwellings  of  the  estancieros.  Our  march  was  arranged 
so  as  to  bring  us  at  nightfall  to  a  place  where  we  could  get 
water  and  pasturage  and  a  place  of  safety  for  our  horses.  On 
drawing  near  such  a  halting-place,  one  of  us  would  go 
forward,  and  riding  up  close  to  the  stockade  that  always 
surrounds  a  house  in  the  cawpo  would  clap  his  hands  together, 
and  on  the  appearance  of  the  owner  salute  him  with  the 
words : — 

"  Ave,  Maria  ! " 

*'Ave,  Caballero!" 

The  customary  courtesies  were  then  immediately  exchanged, 
and  our  wants  were  named  ;  the  traveller  remaining  on  horse- 
back until  the  sacramental  words,  "  Bajese  or  apeese"  that  is, 
"  Condescend  to  dismount,"  authorize  him  to  put  his  foot  to  the 
ground. 

iS'ot  to  wait  for  this  invitation  would  be  uncivil  and  pre- 
suming, and  would  be  offensive  to  the  master  of  the  house. 
Moreover,  the  dogs  that  are  always  growling  round  the  estancias 
in  large  numbers  might  make  one  pay  dearly  for  such  a  breach 
of  good  manners. 

When  we  have  entered  the  enclosure,  and  are  seated  in  one 
way  or  another,  we  are  questioned  as  to  whence  we  come  and 
Avliither  we  are  going.  We  speak  of  the  drought  {seca\  and  of 
the  locusts,   the  two   great   scourges  of  the  Republic,  of  the 


1 64  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 

pasturage,  the  cattle,  and  the  harvest.  Meanwhile  mate  is 
handed  round,  the  horses  are  led  to  the  potrero  (an  enclosed 
feeding- place),  asarlo  is  prepared,  and  beds  are  got  ready. 

My  fellow-traveller  was  shorter,  stouter,  and  fairer  than  I, 
and  looked  the  more  important  of  the  two.  Consequently, 
whenever  there  was  a  bedstead,  that  is,  .a  hurdle  of  cane  reeds, 
or  a  network  of  leather  fastened  to  a  frame  supported  on  four 
posts,  it  ahvays  fell  to  him,  and  he,  as  an  experienced  traveller, 
never  declined  the  honour.  For  me  there  remained  only  the 
ground,  as  hard  as  bricks,  on  which  I  stretched  the  montura, 
i.e.  my  saddle,  for  a  bolster,  the  carona  or  leathern  horse-cloth 
to  keep  me  from  the  damp,  the  pellones  or  sheepskins  with  the 
w^ool  on,  that  form  the  cushion  of  the  saddle,  for  a  mattress, 
and  the  coj^erte  del  campo  for  blankets. 

But  sometimes  we  shared  alike,  and  then  I  experienced  a 
certain  pleasure,  because,  as  we  all  know,  "  an  evil  shared  is 
half  a  joy,"  and  because  equality  is  the  ideal  of  mankind  "ever 
by  envy  or  other  hatred  moved."  However,  when  the  contrary 
was  the  case,  I  easily  resigned  myself,  well  knowing  the  hope- 
lessness of  contending  against  nature,  who  had  chosen  to  favour 
my  friend. 

When  the  asado  was  ready,  it  was  brought  in  threaded  on 
a  wooden  spit  and  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  circle,  each  one 
of  us  helping  himself  with  his  knife  to  cJmrrascos,  small  juicy 
portions,  smoking  hot.  Earthy,  yellowish,  oleaginous,  tepid 
water  from  the  neighbouring  tank,  a  mouthful  of  Cognac  or 
brandy,  a  cup  of  tea  or  cotfee,  and  a  cigar  accompany  and 
crown  this  frugal  repast. 

Flesh-meat  was  seldom  wanting,  because,  when  travelling,  we 
generally  came  to  one  place  or  another  where  it  was  slaugh- 
tered ;  not,  however,  that  this  country  is  the  California  of  flesh- 
meat,  as  supposed,  and  as  indeed  it  was  at  one  time  ;  quite  the 
contrary  ;  a  fat  beast  here  in  the  Chaco,  w^here  the  meat  is  the 
most  savoury  of  any  in  the  Republic,  costs  not  less  than  twenty 
or  thirty  scudi,  without  the  skin.  And  the  meat  is  far  from 
being  so  fat,  savoury,  or  nutritious  as  in  Europe  !  Beasts  are 
slaughtered  from  time  to  time  in  every  estancia,  and  the  flesh 
cut  into  the  thinnest  possible  strips ;  these  are  dried  in  the  sun 
or  at  the  Are,  either  with  or  without  salt.  The  meat  when 
thus  treated  is  called  charqui^  from  a  Chicciuan  word  used  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  Republic ; — a  proof  that  the  custom  in 
question  was  known  to  the  aborigines.     When  dried  iu  thiS 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 65 

way,  it  shrinks  to  about  a  third  of  its  bulk,  and  if  the  weather 
is  not  damp  will  keep  for  weeks. 

But  what  I  may  truly  assert  to  have  been  wanting  was 
bread.  In  the  whole  of  the  Chaco  proper  not  a  hundred  sacks  of 
grain  is  harvested.  The  cause  is  simple  enough.  The  climate 
is  so  dry  during  the  growth  and  ripening  of  cereals  that  they 
almost  always  fail,  if  not  artificially  irrif^ated,  and  on  this 
table-land,  with  rivers  running  in  very  deep  channels,  that 
cannot  be  accomplished  without  mechanical  means  or  an  ex- 
tended system  of  canals,  for  which  the  time  is  not  yet  come. 

Flour  is  therefore  purchased  at  a  distance,  and  brought  in 
from  time  to  time  on  mules,  for  the  most  part  from  Catamarca, 
Rioja,  and  even  farther,  a  distance  of  a  thousand  or  Jftfteen 
hundred  kilometers. 

This  dryness  of  climate  is  so  disastrous  that  even  maize, 
which  is  indigenous  in  America,  is  frequently  ruined  by  it, 
although  sown  expressly  in  the  bed  of  former  tanks,  near 
running  water,  and  although  it  comes  to  maturity  in  forty 
days. 

I  affirm  that  agriculture  in  the  centre  of  the  Chaco  within  a 
limit  of  four  to  five  hundred  kilometers  in  breadth,  and  of  some 
thousands  in  length,  is  the  most  hopeless  of  pursuits,  and  it 
would  be  the  greatest  imprudence  in  the  world  to  undertake  it. 
And  this  because  of  the  unfavourable  dryness  of  the  climate. 

Within  the  boundaries,  however,  of  the  Parana  and  the 
Paraguay  the  climate  is  less  unfavourable,  on  account  of  the 
close  proximity  of  immense  masses  of  water  which  advan- 
tageously affect  the  climatic  conditions  prevailing  over  this 
portion  of  the  continent.  The  district  in  question  is  from  fifty 
to  a  hundred  kilometers  in  width,  and  of  the  same  length  as 
the  unfavourable  district  mentioned  above.  Here  agrarian 
colonization  might  be  attempted  by  men  possessed  of  large 
capital  and  clear  judgment,  who  would  refmin  from  importin<4 
families  accustomed  to  the  high  and  frigid  peaks  of  the  Alps 
into  these  tropical  climates  and  low-lying  lands.  Such  im- 
migration has  been  and  is  still  practised,  with  very  serious  and 
grievous  results  to  individuals  and  to  the  colonies. 

And  since  I  am  on  the  subject,  let  me  proceed.  Considered 
from  an  agricultural  point  of  view,  we  may  remark  on  the 
west  of  the  central  district  another  district  bounding  it  on  that 
side,  as  the  coast  bounds  it  on  the  east.  It  lies  against  the 
mountains  that,  starting  from   the  Parana  and  Paraguay,  rise 


1 66  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

at  a  distance  of  1000  or  1500  kilometers  from  their  left  banks, 
and  follow  a  corresponding  course.  In  this  district,  on  the 
skirts  of  the  mountains,  the  numerous  and  not  very  deep  water- 
courses, and  still  more  the  sloping  nature  of  the  ground,  would 
easily  admit  of  water  being  brought  from  short  distances  for  the 
purpose  of  irrigation.  The  Chaco  is  situated  in  latitudes  where 
the  cold  south-east  winds  are  always  and  necessarily  reacting  on 
the  warm  and  comparatively  moist  winds  blowing  from  the 
E<|uator ;  hence  the  atmosphere  becomes  cooled,  and  with 
diminished  temperature  is  unable  to  hold  in  suspense  the  same 
amount  of  vapour,  which  consequently  escapes  suddenly  in  rain. 

In  order,  however,  to  produce  this  phenomenon,  since  the 
south-east  winds  increase  rapidly  in  temperature  as  they 
approach  nearer,  the  moisture  of  the  equatorial  winds  must  be 
such  as  to  saturate  the  opposite  winds  that  have  slightly  risen 
in  temperature  as  they  travelled,  but  have  received  no  increase 
of  moisture  on  their  way,  because  they  have  only  passed  over 
an  enormous  and  arid  territory ;  and  they  must  also  be  so 
laden  already  with  humidity  that  the  atmosphere  will  be 
saturated  at  the  same  moment  that  its  temperature  falls  by 
contact  with  the  winds  from  the  south-east. 

Now  these  circumstances  are  not  of  very  frequent  occurrence, 
but  the  contrary ;  hence  rain  falls  very  rarely,  except  during  the 
last  months  of  summer  and  the  first  autumn  months,  when  the 
difference  in  temperature  between  the  two  winds  I  have  men- 
tioned is  very  much  greater.  But  even  in  these  months  there 
is  little  rain  in  the  centre  of  the  Chaco,  because  the  equatorial 
winds  are  not  so  laden  with  moisture  as  to  be  unable  to  endure 
a  fall  of  15°  or  20°  without  breaking  into  rain,  while  they  are 
sufficiently  hot  for  this  great  fall  to  cause  by  reaction  positive 
hurricanes,  known  as  tormente  di  terra,  of  such  violence  as  to 
drive  away  the  previous  atmosphere  from  before  them,  as  they 
sweep  over  the  huge  plain. 

In  the  western  district  against  the  mountains,  it  happens 
instead  that  these  hurricanes  suddenly  meet  with  an  obstacle  in 
the  hills,  and  saturate  the  atmosphere,  which,  aided  by  the  cold 
of  the  high  mountain  peaks,  3000,  4000,  and  5000  yards  in 
height,  discharges  the  condensed  vapours  in  rain. 

This  effect  in  the  western  district  (or  della  falda,  as  it  is 
called)  may  easily  occur,  and  thus  we  have  rain  there,  although 
not  very  often,  at  other  seasons  besides  those  I  have  mentioned^ 
Together  with  the  facilities  of  irrigation  already  indicated,  and 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  167 

the  almost  tropical  climate,  this  would  conduce  to  prodigious 
fertility.  The  width  of  the  district,  however,  is  very  limited. 
It  is  only  from  five  to  ten  leagues  broad,  according  to  the  height 
and  configuration  of  the  mountains,  and  only  commences  when 
these  have  attained  a  height  of  2000  yards,  because  only  then 
does  it  begin  to  possess  numerous  perennial  streams  of  a  certain 
volume.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in  these  latitudes  there 
are  no  eternal  snows  at  a  less  height  than  5000  yards  ;  this  is 
attained  by  Mount  Zenta,  the  highest  peak  in  the  chain  from 
which  flows  the  Vermejo. 

I  have  made  a  rather  long  digression  over  a  handful  of  flour, 
but  have  not  useful  books  been  written  on  the  history  of 
a  drop  of  water  ?  And  I  have  much  more  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  I  reserve  it  for  another  time,  should  an  opportunity 
present  itself.  What  I  have  already  said  will,  in  that  case, 
serve  as  an  introduction,  for  repetition  helps  us  to  understand 
new  and  distant  ideas. 

To  return  to  our  subject,  viz.  bread.  Here  in  the  campo,  and 
with  few  exceptions  in  many  of  the  cities  of  the  Republic  also, 
the  bread  is  baked  in  small  separate  ovens,  generally  built  of 
unbaked  brick,  and  in  the  shape  of  half  an  orange.  The  heat 
is  consequently  only  sufiicient  to  bake  small  rolls  or  buns  in 
the  shape  of  shuttles,  and  these  are  the  loaves.  Being  made 
of  very  hard  and  little-leavened  dough,  they  crumble  almost  into 
flour  a  few  hours  after  baking.  Nevertheless,  when  fresh  the 
bread  is  good,  although  it  lies  like  a  ball  in  the  stomach.  When 
hot,  the  scent  is  most  fascinating  to  a  frugiverous  European, 
existing  on  flesh-meat  in  a  tropical  climate. 

But  I  was  destined  to  endure  the  tortures  of  Tantalus  con- 
cerning that  bread.  One  morning  we  were  passing  quickly  by 
a  spot  where  three  women  in  white  gowns  with  sleeves,  the 
only  garments  worn  in  such  heat,  were  making  loaves  of  the 
whitest  flour.  I,  who  had  the  greatest  craving  for  bread  (for 
my  comrade  and  our  two  men  were  Argentines,  and  consequently 
satisfied  with  meat),  halted  for  a  moment  to  buy  a  couple  of 
francs'- worth.  The  women  were  very  well  behaved,  therefore  I 
was  not  annoyed  at  having  to  wait  a  little.  But  when  I  opened 
my  saddle-bags  to  have  the  bread  put  in,  I  saw  that  the  woman's 
hand  was  thickly  covered  with  a  kind  of  ulcer  then  prevalent 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  Chaco !  What  could  I  do  1 
Disgust  was  stronger  than  hunger,  and  greatly  disappointed, 
although  laden  with  bread,   I  rejoined  my  companions,   who 


1 68  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

made  merry  over  my  piteous  silence  and  the  bread-hunger  I  had 
never  felt  so  strongly  before ! 

This  loathsome  malady  was  a  kind  of  leprosy,  and  it  attacked 
immense  numbers  of  people  that  year.  It  was  said  that  excoria- 
tions suddenly  developed  into  it.  Some  deaths  took  place.  It 
was  attributed  to  the  extraordinary  dryness  of  the  year,  owing 
to  which  the  water  had  become  impure,  the  air  more  epidemical, 
cleanliness  more  difficult,  and  food  absolutely  destitute  of 
vegetable  matter,  while  the  heats  were  the  same  as  ever,  and,  as 
some  persons  added,  to  a  universal  taint  of  syphilis.  It  was 
expected  that  the  epidemic  would  cease  at  the  season  of  rains. 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape,  although  not  a  little  afraid  of 
the  complaint. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 69 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DISEASES   OF   ANIMALS — FORAGE — DISTRIBUTION     OF   HERBACEOUS 
FLORA   IN    PASTURE-LANDS. 

Incredible  but  true  !  One  of  the  most  difficult  things  to  find 
in  this  country  of  horses  by  the  million  is  a  good  mount.  And 
this  is  intelligible.  No  one  either  lends  or  gives  his  best,  espe- 
cially in  horses.  Contentedly,  therefore,  we  mounted  our  sorry 
jades — mancarrones,  as  they  are  called  here— and  not  without 
embellishments  of  sores  and  galls.  Our  two  attendants  were 
old  hands,  and  knew  how  to  put  their  steeds  discreetly  on  their 
mettle,  although  heavily  laden  with  our  belongings.  But  I 
must  candidly  admit  I  have  little  skill  in  horsemanship,  notwith- 
standing five  years'  practice,  and  I  could  not  succeed  in  raising 
the  spirits  of  mine,  or  of  any  one  of  mine,  for  I  changed  sundry 
times  during  our  journey  to  Oran.     It  was  dreadful ! 

In  the  beginning  I  had  rejoiced  at  the  look  of  a  fine  toi^dillo, 
i.e.  dapple-grey  horse,  that  was  offered  me.  But  I  was  doomed 
to  disappointment !  He  proved  to  be  achuqchado — that  is,  he 
had  eaten  a  sort  of  grass  that  apparently  fattens  horses,  but 
destroys  their  wind.  This  grey  had  been  running  wild  for 
many  months,  and  when  he  was  caught  was  found  in  the  state 
I  have  described.  There  is  no  other  cure  than  to  turn  him  into 
a  wholesome  pasture,  and  work  him,  a  little  at  a  time,  for  some 
months. 

But  achuqchiaturay  so  called  from  the  symptoms  exhibited 
by  the  animal,  which  trembles  as  with  ague,  or,  as  it  is  called  in 
Chichucha,  chuqcho,  is  nojjhing  when  compared  with  a  terrible 
disease  of  tlie^  shoulders  rcalled  deslomadura,  resulting  almost 
invariably  in  dea^"""  ^  r<^  -^  <'  -  7    v     • 

It  shows  itself  in  two  ways :  the  one  is  by  rapid  emaciation, 
weakening  the  horses  so  that  they  lose  their  sight,  and  at  last 
fall  and  cannot  rise  again  ;  the  other  by  a  kind  of  paralysis  of 
the  hind-quarters,  beginning  in  that  part  of  the  animal  between 
the  haunches  and  the  ribs. 


^2^ 


170  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

In  both  cases,  but  especially  in  the  latter,  they  drag  their 
hind-legs  after  them,  and  when  no  longer  able  to  stand,  fall  down 
dead.  It  is  said  that  the  flesh  on  the  quarters  of  these  animals 
is  found,  on  examination,  to  be  putrid,  full  of  matter,  and  stink- 
ing ;  and  if  eaten  by  dogs  or  lions,  they  swell  up,  emit  a  horrible 
stench,  and  burst. 

The  disease  carries  off  whole  herds  of  horses  in  a  short  time, 
and  sometimes  mules  also,  and  the  complete  disappearance  of 
these  animals  from  the  Bolivian  province  of  Cicuitos,  adjoining 
the  Argentine  department  of  Oran,  is  said  to  be  due  to  this 
malady.  Cicuitos  formerly  abounded  in  caballadas.  It  is 
curious  that  strong  and  well-fed  horses  are  said  to  fall  victims 
to  it  rather  than  thin  and  weak  ones.  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  imported  from  Brazil  through  the  Bolivian  provinces  of 
Santa  Cruz  and  Cicuitos  ;  appearing  first  in  one  place,  then  in 
another,  then  back  again  to  the  first,  and  continually  extending 
farther,  until  it  becomes  a  matter  of  the  gravest  importance. 

Certain  phenomena  partly  explain  the  disappearance,  some- 
times rapid,  sometimes  slow,  of  many  fauna  and  flora — such  as 
flaccidity  of  caterpillars,  and  the  oidiiim  and  phylloxera  in  the 
vine. 

Horses  and  mules  are  subject  to  another  disease  called 
tembladera,  from  the  shivering  with  which  they  are  seized.  It 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  preceding  one,  although  some 
of  the  symptoms  are  similar.  JDeslomadura  attacks  Creole 
horses  in  preference,  while  imported  animals  do  not  suff'er  from 
it  until  they  have  been  a  year  or  more  in  the  infected  district. 

The  contrary  is  the  case  with  tembladera^  which  is  said  to 
be  caused  by  antimonial  vapours  absorbed  by  the  animals 
during  their  passage  through  certain  districts.  The  road  through 
the  Argentine  province  of  Catamarca,  which  is  travelled  by 
mules  oil  their  way  to  Andalgala,  laden  with  minerals 
excavated  from  the  mountains  of  the  province,  runs  through 
some  localities  of  the  kind,  and  is  strewn  with  carcasses. 

Deslomadura  shows  itself  after  the  rains,  and  especially  in 
those  districts  submerged  during  the  full  floods  and  exception- 
ally arid  in  the  dry  season.  There  is  no  known  remedy ;  blood- 
letting is  of  no  avail.  Brine  plasters  and  friction  with  tiger's 
grease  are  said  to  be  useful ;  but  recovery  is  so  rare  that  one 
cannot  safely  attribute  it  to  any  particular  cause. 

The  existence  of  the  fossil  horse  in  South  America  miglit^ 
lead   us  to  suspect  that  dominant  diseases   such   as   we  have 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I /I 

described  may  have  totally  destroyed  the  race  in  very  remote 
ages.  This  should  be  a  guide  and  a  warning  to  breeders  to 
preserve  these  invaluable  animals,  which  were  imported  here 
from  Europe  at  the  comparatively  recent  period  of  the 
Conquest. 

And  a  propos  of  the  diseases  of  animals,  the  Oranese  have 
assured  me,  that  north  of  Oran,  where  the  ground  is  already 
rising  some  hundred  yards,  that  is,  to  a  height  of  600  or  700 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  although  the  pasture-land  is  of  tlie 
usual  kind  and  remarkably  fine,  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  raise 
cattle.  They  do  not  breed,  and  die  in  two  or  three  years 
time.  This  is  in  the  mountainous  district,  not  on  the  plain 
properly  called  Chaco. 

Since  I  am  on  the  subject  of  cattle,  let  me  say  a  few  words 
on  their  food-stuffs  here  in  the  Chaco.  They  are  all,  of  course, 
natural,  and  consist  of  grasses,  shrubs,  and  trees. 

Among  those  with  tall  stems,  mimosas  supply  the  largest 
amount  of  food.  Their  leaves  are  eaten  by  goats,  and  their 
fruit  by  beasts  of  large  size.  The  carob-tree  or  algmroho,  the 
cassia  or  tusca,  the  chanar,  the  jujube-tree  or  mistol,  the  duraz- 
nlllo,  similar  in  shape  to  the  peach-tree,  called  durazno  in 
Castilian,  supply  forage.  The  Algarrobo,  the  Vinal,  the  Tusca 
and  the  Tatane  with  their  pods,  the  Chanar  and  the  Mistol 
with  their  fibrous  integuments  supply  fruit  which  is  eaten 
so  soon  as  it  falls,  and  forms  a  splendid  food  for  man  as  well 
as  beast.  These  fruits  last  for  three  or  four  months,  beginning 
with  the  Chanar  and  Mistol,  followed  by  the  Algarrobo,  whose 
fruit  is  more  abundant  and  of  a  finer  quality  and  ripens 
in  succession  ;  the  Tusca  and  the  Vinal  coming  last  of  all. 
The  time  of  year  for  these  excellent  food-stutfs  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  time  when  forage  is  scarcest,  or  fails  utterly 
through  prolonged  drought,  the  rains  not  beginning  to  fall  in 
the  regions  where  these  trees  abound,  until  the  latter  half  of 
summer,  as  I  have  stated  already,  while  the  fruit  ripens  in 
these  latitudes  during  the  greater  part  of  the  first  half.  Yet  in 
districts  far  from  the  river  and  deprived  of  lakes,  the  want  of 
water  devastates  the  cattle  at  these  seasons  and  annuls  the 
benefits  of  this  easily  procured  food — moreover,  in  some  years 
the  food  itself  is  scarce. 

Cattle  are  sometimes  obliged  by  want  of  water  to  have 
recourse  to  leaves  of  the  cactus  plant  or  prickly  pear ;  and  not 
cattle  only,  but  men  also,  as  it  happened  to  myself.    At  first  this 


172  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

seems  like  assuaging  one's  thirst  by  eating  ham,  but  afterwards 
one  feels  it  slightly  alleviated.  In  time  of  famine  stale  bread 
is  good. 

The  principal  shrubs  affording  forage  are  the  following  : — the 
suncho  and  the  hoho^  also  called  the  white  willow.  They  grow 
on  the  flat  banks  of  rivers,  scarcely  out  of  the  water,  and  pro- 
duce a  yellow  fat,  less  prized  than  white  fat ;  the  garravatOy 
a  kind  of  mimosa,  with  branches  almost  creeping  along  the 
ground  and  covered  with  short  but  formidable  thorns  like  the 
claws  of  a  cat,  whence  its  name ;  the  evil-smelling  calakchin, 
which  is  highly  fattening,  but  imparts  an  unpleasant  flavour  to 
meat  and  milk ;  and  the  chuqcho,  which,  although  eagerly 
devoured,  weakens  the  animal,  as  I  said  before. 

But  the  natural  pasturage,  here  called  pasto,  affords  the  prin- 
cipal support  to  cattle,  and  is  divided  into  pasto  duro,  i.e.  hard 
or  strong  food,  if  the  grasses  of  which  it  is  composed  lasts  more 
than  two  years,  and  pasto  tenere,  or  soft  food,  when  they  are 
annual  or  biennial. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  one  campo,  or  extent  of 
ground,  and  another.  The  one,  covered  with  algarrobo  woods, 
&c.,  and  with  few  and  scattered  herbs,  will  support  only  five  or 
six  hundred  head  of  cattle  on  the  square  league ;  the  other, 
consisting  of  pure  herbaceous  pasture-land,  will  feed  from  two  to 
three  thousand.  Both  may  be  equal  in  richness  of  soil,  but  the 
first  will  support  about  one-fifth  of  a  head  per  hectare,  and  the 
second  an  entire  head.  The  explanation  is  obvious,  grass  will 
grow  very  little,  if  at  all,  under  trees. 

The  natural  distribution  of  pasturage  offers  a  splendid  lesson 
to  the  attentive  observer  on  what  may  be  called  vegetable 
selection.  It  is  confirmed  also  by  the  distribution  of  tall- 
stemmed  plants,  due  apparently  to  the  single  fact  of  the 
difference  of  age  in  the  soil,  after  allowing  for  latitude  or  its 
equivalent,  viz.  height  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Not  that 
this  lesson  may  not  be  studied  in  our  own  country,  where,  if 
the  materials  for  it  do  not  exist,  their  absence  must  be  attributed 
to  the  violence  of  man ;  but  here  we  have  it  pointed  out  and 
repeated  on  a  vast  scale  over  an  immense  and  unbroken  plain, 
where,  the  indications  being  more  marked,  more  simple,  and 
more  certain,  because  they  are  absolutely  natural,  the  lesson  is 
more  eloquent. 

We  have  already  hinted  that  notwithstanding  the  uniformity 
of  the  plain  or  country  over  which  stretches  this  vast  extent 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I73 

of  forest,  which  must  be  looked  upon  as  the  northern  continua- 
tion of  the  grassy  pampas  of  the  south,  there  are,  nevertheless, 
various  accidental  irregularities  due  to  the  action  of  the  waters, 
the  deposits  from  which  have  been  unequally  distributed. 
These  irregularities  hold  the  original  plain,  as  it  were,  in  a 
net,  whose  meshes  are  constantly  becoming  thicker  and  closer 
along  the  rivers,  within  a  zone  of  some  leagues  on  either 
bank,  in  which  the  river  has  oscillated  since  its  beginning. 
This  is  called  consequently  the  zona  di  oscillazione,  although  it 
is  in  fact  undefined,  and  is  always  augmenting  on  account  of 
the  facility  with  which  the  original  soil  is  permeated  by  the 
river. 

Well,  then,  in  one  and  the  same  latitude,  and  at  levels 
differing  irom  each  other  by  a  few  feet  only,  you  will  see  as 
many  different  pastures  in  the  same  district  as  will  correspond 
simply  with  a  scale  of  a  few  feet. 

Why  so  1  Because  that  scale  represents  a  different  period  of 
formation  ;  not,  of  course,  a  geological  period,  but  one  of  those 
into  which  the  existence  of  the  river  has  been  divided  up  to 
this  very  day.  Consequently  there  is  not  only  a  difference  of 
duration,  during  which  any  given  fibrous  growth  may  easily 
have  predominated  and  imparted  a  particular  character  to  the 
pastures,  but,  more  than  this,  there  is  a  difference  in  the  com- 
ponent parts  and  in  structure,  which  causes  varying  conditions 
of  growth. 

I  am  aware  that  I  am  saying  no  new  thing  ]  but  I  believe 
that  in  general  little  attention  has  been  given  to  this  subject, 
and  I  write  for  the  generality.  Learned  men,  if  I  have  any 
among  my  readers,  will  find  their  opinions  confirmed  by  observa- 
tions made  in  the  presence  of  these  vast  solitudes. 

While  navigating  the  Vermejo,  the  first  thing  that  struck 
me  was  the  presence  of  clover  along  the  dampest  parts  of 
the  sloping  banks,  where  the  crumbling  soil  belonged  to  the 
most  ancient  period.  I  thought  the  seeds  might  have  been 
brought  thither  by  the  river,  which  higher  up  in  its  course 
might  have  run  through  fields  of  clover ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
the  forage  grown  in  the  mountainous  districts  is  the  medi- 
cinal trefoil,  of  which  there  was  no  trace  here,  nor  did  I  see 
it  during  my  ride  of  160  leagues  through  a  territory,  half 
Indian,  half  Christian,  and  thus  w^as  led  to  conclude  that 
the  trefoil  I  mention  is  indigenous.  The  Mattacco  Indians 
call  it  chiu-asset-locq,  i.e.  stag-forage.     This  may  be  a  secondary 


174  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

reason  for  the  name  given  by  them  to  a  cow  which  is  also 
a  ruminating  animal,  chiu-nasset-tdch,  i.e.  a  large  deer.  In 
Chichuio,  trefoil  is  called  mosco-jujo. 

Clover,  which  is  u  biennial,  grows  spontaneously  in  the 
dried-up  shallows,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  lakes,  tanks,  or 
ponds,  as  well  as  on  the  banks  of  the  river  itself.  We  found 
it  most  serviceable  during  our  journey  across  the  Indian  territory. 
I  saw  scarcely  any  on  the  Christian  country.  I  attribute  the 
scarcity  to  the  cattle,  who  are  fond  of  it,  although  I  found  it 
bitter  to  the  taste,  and  who  exist  in  great  numbers  among  the 
Christians,  while  the  Indians  hardly  own  any.  There  are  two 
principal  kinds  of  trefoil.  The  importance  of  this  food,  in  an 
agragrian  point  of  view,  must  be  my  excuse  for  having  dwelt  on 
it,  and  I  must  add  that  1500  kilometers  south  there  are 
natural  fields  of  clover  on  this  same  river  Negro,  and  the  same 
are  found  on  other  rivers  of  the  Pampa  and  in  the  Chaco. 

In  solitary  districts  enclosed  by  forests  covering  the  country 
there  are  fields  of  simhol  which,  from  a  distance,  might  be 
taken  for  corn.  It  is  a  gramineous  plant  and  grows  to  more 
than  the  height  of  a  man  on  horseback ;  it  is  perennial,  and 
even  when  burned  grows  again.  It  reigns  as  a  sovereign, 
despotic  and  exclusive,  but  it  cannot  escape  the  caresses  of  the 
trajtiojitana,  a  climbing  plant  that  entwines  it,  and,  mingling, 
its  own  leaves  with  those  of  the  simhol,  affords  a  most  appetizing 
food. 

On  land  almost  equally  dry  and  high  there  are  vast  meadows 
consisting  exclusively  of  aibe,  a  bush  supplying  a  hard  and 
bitter  food,  never  eaten  but  from  necessity,  and  in  its  natural 
state,  but  it  does  not  fatten  or  give  a  factitious  fat ;  it  has  the 
appearance  of  hay. 

On  level  but  somewhat  high  ground  we  find  the  coda  di 
volpe,  or  fox's  tail,  which  is  equal  for  fattening  to  the  medicinal 
trefoil. 

We  find  also  in  succession  the  pacjlia  rossa,  or  red  straw, 
growing  to  a  height  of  over  a  yard  and  a  half,  and  used  also 
for  thatching  roofs ;  two  kinds  of  Afata,  remarkable  for  their 
larfTe  rhomboidal  leaves — this  is  a  favourite  food,  and  fattens 
well — and  a  trailing  plant  called  erha  poglia,  with  a  tliick, 
broad,  round  leaf,  provided  with  thorns  at  the  axis.  It  is  eaten 
only  out  of  necessity,  but  is  held  to  be  a  remedy  for  ague 
(chuqcJio),  pains  in  the  stomach,  and  boils. 

The  best  food  is  perhaps  the  panto  crespo,  so  called  from  its 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I75 

crisped  appearance.     It  is  eaten  both  in  a  green  and  dry  state. 
It  attains  to  half  a  yard  in  height,  and  likes  a  dry  soil. 

The  white  and  red  dog-grass,  on  the  contrary,  prefers  a 
rather  cold  soil,  compressed,  beaten,  and  hard.  It  appeared  to 
me  to  be  more  abundant  in  the  western  country.  It  is  an 
excellent  food  for  cattle  here,  just  as  it  is  at  home. 

The  following  plants  grow  in  low  and  moist  ground : — the 
cehadilla  or  orzuola,  i.e.  barley,  the  reed-cane,  the  clover,  as  I 
have  already  said,  and  the  camalote^  a  large-polled  willow,  almost 
a  trailing  plant,  and  yet  growing  higher  than  a  man.  It  is  found 
in  fens  and  in  very  wet  ground,  such  as  the  lowest  islands, 
and  entangles  itself  in  such  a  way  that  when  washed  away  by 
the  great  floods  it  moves  in  masses  like  little  floating  islets. 

There  are  many  other  herbs  and  small  plants  that  I  have 
forgotten,  but  of  those  as  well  as  of  the  others  that  I  have 
mentioned,  the  most  characteristic  by  situation,  extent  and 
appearance  are,  in  my  opinion,  the  Simbol,  the  Aibe,  the 
Pasto  Crespo,  the  Cebadilla,  and  the  Camalote. 

A  plant,  useless  as  forage  but  characteristic  in  other  respects, 
is  the  coiiadera,  so  called  from  its  hollow-shaped  leaves,  which 
are  very  long  and  notched  at  the  edge,  and  which  cut  like  a 
sharp  saw.  From  the  centre  of  the  thick  bush  springs  a  long 
reed  like  those  in  marshes ;  it  is  four  or  tive  yards  in  height, 
with  a  handsome  tuft  at  the  top.  Each  shrub  is  of  great  height 
and  size,  and  stands  out  distinctly  from  the  others.  It  grows 
on  the  low  parts  of  high  table-land,  where  they  are  washed  by 
the  rain-courses.  The  size  of  these  shrubs,  their  large  numbers, 
and  the  great  extent  covered  by  them,  constitute,  together  with 
the  river  deposits,  an  actual  formation  as  they  push  forward, 
their  foliage  and  structure  offering  an  adequate  resistance  to 
the  force  of  the  waters,  by  which  they  might  otherwise  be 
washed  away. 

1'he  nio  is  remarkable  for  its  poisonous  properties ;  it  is  fatal 
to  horses  and  cattle  who  eat  it,  but  at  the  same  time  atfords  a 
proof  of  their  intelligence.  For  if  the  herd  is  new  to  the  locality 
where  it  grows,  some  animals  invariably  fall  victims  to  the 
poison,  but  after  a  while  they  recognize  the  danger,  avoid  it,  and 
in  some  way  convey  the  warning  to  other  cattle  who  arrive 
there  subsequently,  and  who  apparently  do  not  touch  the  herb. 
The  Nio  is  found  principally  in  Tucuman  and  in  Jujuy. 

Land  differs  greatly  in  value,  not  only  by  reason  of  the 
quality  and  amount  of  pasturage,  but  also  on  account  of  situa- 


176  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

tion.  The  provincial  government  of  Salta  has  a  law  by  which 
certain  lands  are  given  as  mercedes,  i.e.  gratis,  with  an  annual 
charge  of  4.80  per  thousand  on  the  reputed  value.  The 
provincial  square  league  is  valued  at  6000  francs,  and  is  equivalent 
to  about  1350  hectares,  or  5000  Spanish  varas.  An  obligation 
is  also  incurred  of  raising  a  house  within  the  year,  and  putting 
at  least  fifty  head  of  cattle  on  the  land. 

Other  land  is  put  up  to  auction,  and  has  hitherto  fetched  a 
very  low  price.  In  the  department  of  Gran,  near  the  frontiers, 
it  has  been  sold  at  250  francs  the  league.  Some  campos  taxed 
at  500  Bolivian  piastres,  equivalent  to  2000  liras,  failed  to  find 
a  purchaser  at  100  Bolivians.  In  better  and  less  exposed 
situations  they  have  fetched  200  Bolivians,  and  as  much  as  600 
in  the  department  of  Anta. 

The  land  when  purchased  has  no  further  burden  than  the 
land-tax,  which  is  now  4.80  per  thousand.  The  owner  is  not 
obliged  to  place  people  on  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  official  taxation,  cattle  are  valued  at  the 
average  price  of  ten  Bolivians,  or  forty  liras,  per  head.  The 
value  of  an  ox-hide  varies  from  six  to  twenty  francs  ;  its  weight 
is  in  general  35  lbs.,  or  one  pesada^  equal  within  a  little  to 
sixteen  kilogrammes.  A  cow-hide  weighs  about  22  lbs.,  or  ten 
kilogrammes. 

The  expenses,  legal  and  otherwise,  of  obtaining  possession 
amount  to  500  Bolivians  per  league.  The  spit  costs  more  than 
the  meat ! 

The  wild  cattle  of  the  Chaco  are  the  finest,  largest,  and  best 
for  eating  of  any  that  I  saw  in  the  Argentines,  and  this  not 
only  on  account  of  the  breed,  but  also  because  of  their  feeding ; 
some  of  the  imported  calves  attaining  to  a  superior  development 
in  this  region.  The  climate,  and  possibly  the  food  afforded  by 
the  algarrobo  and  other  plants,  may  contribute  to  this,  for 
mutton  here  is  so  savoury  that  it  seems  to  resemble  beef — at 
least  so  it  appeared  to  me. 

The  cattle  wander  quite  at  liberty,  the  owner's  brand  being 
duly  registered.  It  is  impressed  with  hot  iron  at  the  age  when 
the  males  undergo  the  usual  operation,  which  is  effected  by 
twisting  and  crushing.  Estanderos^  however,  who  own  fine 
pastures,  enclose  their  campo,  if  able  to  do  so,  by  a  dry  hedge, 
but  this  is  frequently  burnt  down  by  accident  or  malice.  But 
almost  always  near  the  house  in  every  estancia  there  is  a  potrero, 
or  enclosed  pasture    of   good  quality,   intended  specially  fot 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  IfJ 

horses.  Notwithstanding  the  great  distances  and  the  immensity 
of  the  woods,  it  is  rare  to  lose  an  animal,  unless  killed  on  the 
spot  by  the  thief,  because  the  owner's  brand  is  known  and 
easily  recognized  by  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  district.  And 
as  every  one  rides  about  a  good  deal,  it  is  difficult  to  escape 
meeting,  sooner  or  later,  with  some  one  who  will  deem  it  his 
duty  to  inform  you  that  he  bas  seen  an  animal  with  the  brand 
of  such  or  such  an  owner  in  the  estancia  of  another.  Moreover, 
if  an  animal  has  been  sold,  it  should  bear  the  brand  of  the 
original  owner,  reversed,  under  tbe  old  brand,  and  the  new 
owner's  mark  placed  upright.  Thus  even  stolen  liides  may  Ije 
recognized. 

Cattle-breeding  is  still  the  best  business  in  the  whole 
Eepublic.  If  no  epidemic  occurs,  capital  is  doubled  in  three  or 
four  years.  Hence  the  colossal  and  increasing  wealth  of  some 
great  esfancieros. 


178  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   GHACO 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A    NIGHT   AT   THE   MOUTH   OF   THE    CHAPAPA. 

After  five  days'  journeying  we  reached  the  river  at  a  place 
called  Bella  Vista,  where  there  was  a  boatman  and  his  chalana^ 
i.e.  a  narrow,  flat-bottomed  boat  suitable  for  floating  over 
shallows.  Thence  we  were  to  go  up  stream  for  about  thirty 
kilometers  until  we  should  roach  the  bifurcation  of  the  river, 
which  it  was  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  my  journey 
to  survey. 

Along  the  whole  way  we  had  met,  at  the  end  of  three  days' 
journeying,  with  only  one  little  settlement,  consisting  of  a  few 
wooden  and  harro  houses,  called  Villa  del  Carmen  ;  the  usual 
leprosy  was  prevalent,  and  we  had  crossed  a  region  of  former 
channels  of  the  Kio  that  are  still  deep,  although  dried  up. 
Two,  four,  or  eight  years  ago,  the  river  rushed  impetuously 
through  channels  that  are  now  sand-pits,  and  did  not  even 
s]:>are  the  two  ^Missions  established  at  Sauzal,  but  washed 
them  away  in  its  whirlpools — providentially,  says  vulgar  report. 
The  Missions  have  been  re-established  two  days'  journey  lower 
down,  near  Rivadavia,  at  a  place  called  Pozo  del  Tigrc.  When 
I  passed  them,  the  fathers  in  charge — there  were  but  two,  I 
think — were  absent ;  nor  were  there  any  tolderias  of  Indian 
catechumens,  so  that  the  mission  seems  to  be  of  a  somewhat 
intermittent  character.  Moreover,  the  fear  of  ariother  flood  has 
made  them  seek  for  higher  and  firmer  ground,  which  is  likewise 
less  damp. 

The  whole  length  of  the  route  I  saw  neither  priest  nor  frior, 
and  only  one  on  arriving  at  Oran.  It  is  true  that  these  parts 
arc  not  adapted  for  a  profitable  propaganda,  because  the  Indians 
decline  to  be  converted,  and  the  population  is  scanty,  poor,  and 
scattered  at  great  distances.  The  clergy,  therefore,  muster  their 
forces  in  the  cities,  where,  since  the  suppression  of  religious 
orders  in  Italy,  they  have  largely  increased,  and  acquire  graater 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I79 

influence  every  day,  partly  by  the  traditional  ability  of  this 
powerful  ecclesiastical  institution  and  partly  by  the  talents  of 
some  of  the  fathers.  Among  these  I  cannot  refrain  from 
mentioning  Father  Pio  dei  Bentivoglio,  a  man  of  letters,  a 
philosopher  and  a  gentleman ;  Father  Georgi,  orator,  musician, 
and  architect ;  the  Fathers  Donati  Marco  and  Porreca  Quirico, 
models  of  charity  and  humanity,  who  more  than  once  have 
risked  their  lives  in  endeavouring  to  rescue  Christian  prisoners 
from  the  Indians,  and  in  braving  the  pestilential  diseases  that 
have  ravaged  the  country. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  through  one  of  those  numerous  in- 
versions of  things  that  cannot  fail  to  strike  a  philosopher- 
historian,  the  Catholic  clergy  are  gaining  in  America  in  the 
same  proportion  as  they  are  losing  in  Europe  ;  although  ulti- 
mately the  destiny  of  both  continents  must  be  substantially 
the  same,  in  this  respect  as  well  as  in  all  other  social  con- 
ditions. 

•  Starting  from  Bella  Vista,  we  four  began  to  descend  the 
river ;  the  two  men  being  Carontos.  At  times  the  waters  flowed 
over  an  immensely  wide  bed,  which  so  diminished  its  depth 
that  we  were  obliged  to  land,  in  order  to  lighten  the  boat 
until  the  difficult  bit  had  been  overcome  ;  and  at  other  times 
the  stream  rushed  through  a  deep  and  narrow  gorge,  and 
disaster  seemed  imminent.  We  soon  recognized  that  the  river 
voyage  we  had  undertaken  would  be  long  and  dangerous,  but 
what  could  we  do  1  We  could  look  for  no  help  in  the  deserts 
through  which  the  river  flowed. 

Close  to  a  spot  called  Po^o  de  la  Oreja  (Well  of  the  Ear)  Ave 
saw  some  Indians  on  the  bank.  Thinking  we  might  obtain 
assistance  from  them,  we  drew  near.  But  not  one  would 
come  with  us  for  all  our  promises  of  gifts  and  our  assurances 
that  we  should  turn  back  after  a  few  days.  Their  invariable 
reply  was  that  their  enemies  were  a  little  lower  down,  and  that 
they  feared  an  attack.  Some  bloody  fray  had  probably  taken 
place,  and  they  feared  the  customary  Biblical  and  Indian 
reprisals. 

(Groups  of  Indians  are  often  met  with  on  Christian  territory  ; 
on  the  frontiers,  however,  they  live  either  in  the  midst  of 
the  riverside  forests,  or  are  attached  to  some  esfmicia,  where 
they  work  for  the  owner  when  required.  But  they  invariably 
retain  their  own  religion  and  their  own  ways  and  customs,  and 
public  rumour  does  not  fail  to  accuse  them  of  being  the  authors 

y  2 


l80  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

OT  instigators  of  robberies  and  murders  that  are  laid  to  the 
charge  of  Christians.  When  I  passed  through,  there  had  lately 
been  an  attack  by  Indians  in  which  one  Christian  youth  had 
been  slain  and  some  cattle  stolen.  Similar  accidents  are  un- 
avoidable in  these  parts. 

A  little  later,  at  eight  or  ten  kilometers  from  Bella  Yista,  we 
remarked  a  rancho  on  the  bank,  and  our  S|)irits  rose.  But  we 
could  obtain  no  assistance,  the  owner  being  away.  The  horizon, 
however,  seemed  to  be  clearing  in  the  direction  of  security. 

We  continued  our  way  down  stream.  At  one  point  we  saw 
three  oxen  sticking  in  the  mud ;  the  endeavour  to  assuage  their 
thirst  had  destined  them  to  a  terrible  death.  Troops  of  vultures 
were  collected  on  the  neighbouring  trees,  awaiting  the  banquet 
provided  for  them  by  the  cruel  fate  of  these  poor  animals. 
But  either  from  cowardice,  or  preference  for  putrid  meat, 
none  of  the  foul  birds  attempted  to  hasten  the  end.  A  little 
lower  doAvn  we  caught  sight  of  an  Indian  through  the  thick 
foliage  of  the  wood.  He  stood  as  it  were  in  a  frame,  just  like 
the  illustrations  in  books  of  travel,  bow  and  arrows  in  the  left 
hand,  lance  in  the  right,  and  club  at  his  belt.  We  invited  him 
to  join  us ;  but  he  refused  for  the  usual  reason—  fear  of  enemies. 
Then  we  told  him  of  the  oxen  in  the  mud ;  he  replied  he  dared 
not  go  to  them,  because  it  was  late  and  he  was  afraid  of  tigers. 

Finally,  at  dusk,  we  reached  the  bifurcation  of  the  river,  at 
the  point  called  Boca  de  la  Cliapapa, 

We  had  not  even  a  dog  with  us,  hence  our  sleeping  at 
night  was  rather  a  serious  matter,  on  account  of  wild  beasts. 
Making,  however,  a  virtue  of  necessity,  we  lighted  big  fires,  and 
spread  out  our  couches  in  the  usual  way  on  the  edge  of  the 
river,  at  a  spot  some  distance  from  any  tiger  track. 

The  next  morning  we  were  startled  by  the  furious  barking  of 
dogs,  and  a  moment  afterwards,  at  the  distance  of  a  few  yards, 
we  saw  a  large  tiger  plunge  into  the  river,  and  swim  rapidly 
across.  A  pack  of  hounds  were  in  pursuit,  and  behind  them  a 
group  of  horsemen  at  full  gallop,  armed  with  lances,  carbines, 
and  daggers.  They  crossed  the  river  and  began  to  gain  on  the 
fierce  brute ;  he  had  been  seized  by  the  dogs  before  he  could 
reach  the  shore  of  the  other  arm,  and  had  turned  at  bay,  half 
sheltered  in  the  thicket  at  the  foot  of  an  old  tree.  The  hunters 
came  up,  and  belore  the  creature  could  spring  forward  he  was 
brought  to  the  ground  by  a  musket-shot  and  then  finished  with 
a  spear  through  his  heart.     A  brief  and  fortunate  conflict.   », 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  l8l 

This  tiger,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  neighbourhood,  was  the 
same  that  a  few  weeks  before  had  been  pursued  by  two  famous 
tiger-hunters.  Their  aim  had  failed,  and  one  escaped  by  flight, 
while  the  head  of  the  other  was  so  mangled,  his  eyes  being 
almost  torn  out,  that  he  expired  shortly  afterwards.  Signor 
Vianello,  a  captain  in  the  mercantile  marine,  had  the  skin. 

Tigers  habitually  follow  one  track,  as  do  most  wild  animals. 
This  is  detected  by  the  tiger-hunters,  as  the  track  of  a  hare  is 
by  sportsmen. 

The  return  journey  was  much  more  difficult,  as  we  were  going 
against  stream.  Moreover,  the  weather  was  threatening,  and 
we  had  no  protection  against  rain.  We  set  otf,  hoping  to  reach 
the  ranclio  at  Pozo  de  la  Orc^'a,  but  at  nightfall  we  had  made 
but  half  the  distance.  The  situation  was  becoming  serious.  A 
suffocating  heat  had  been  succeeded  by  a  south  wind  which 
was  fast  covering  the  sky  with  clouds,  and  was  blowing  with 
increasing  violence.  Our  men  told  us  to  hasten  all  our  pre- 
parations for  sleeping  and  eating,  for  the  rain  would  soon  be 
upon  us.  We  halted,  therefore,  at  the  first  convenient  spot, 
fixed  up  a  kind  of  tent  over  the  boat  with  our  ponchos,  and 
arranged  a  sleeping-place  at  the  bottom,  where  we  were  packed 
like  anchovies,  side  by  side. 

We  cooked  some  pieces  of  fish,  and  had  scarcely  had  time  to 
make  a  little  tea,  when  down  came  the  rain,  preceded  and 
accompanied  by  a  furious  and  chilling  wind,  and  we  understood 
that  a  Toledan  night  was  commencing  for  us. 

A  most  wretched  night !  The  recollection  depresses  me  even 
now,  although  the  memory  of  them  is  supposed  to  be  the  con- 
solation of  past  fatigues. 

We  were  in  the  midst  of  the  wilderness,  in  utter  darkness, 
amid  the  warring  of  the  elements,  the  shrieking  of  the  wind, 
the  beating  of  the  rain,  the  rolling  of  the  thunder.  Between 
the  claps  we  could  hear  the  roaring  of  the  swollen  and  angry 
river,  and  the  noise  made  by  parts  of  the  banks  breaking  away 
and  tumbling  over  into  the  water,  and  in  the  glare  of  the  light- 
ning looking  like  enormous  masses  that  must  overwhelm  us. 
It  was  horrifying.  Then  the  rain  dripping  from  the  tent  on 
our  bed-coverings  forced. us  to  remain  completely  motionless, 
so  as"  to  prevent  its  reaching  our  persons.  At  the  same  time  we 
had  to  contend  with  the  wind,  which  blew  first  on  one  side 
of  the  tent,  then  on  the  other,  and  against  the  rain,  that  rushed 
through  every  aperture,  threatening  to  inundate  us.     Then,  too, 


1 82  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 

there  was  the  contention  between  sleep,  a  still  more  imperious 
tj-rant  than  fatigue,  discomfort,  cold  and  constant  resistance. 
Meanwhile,  there  was  no  sign  of  intermission  in  the  hurricane, 
nor  any  prospect  of  repose. 

At  earliest  dawn  we  proceeded  on  our  way  through  ceaseless 
rain.  We  selected  the  least  wet  of  our  clothes  and  put  them 
on  like  chiripas  and  jxinchos,  as  tlie  best  way  of  keeping  the 
damp  from  us.  Towards  noon  the  rain  ceased,  but  the  weather 
remained  threatening,  and  we  could  not  even  manage  to 
break  our  fast  with  tea ;  we  longed  to  reach  the  raiiclw.  But 
we  came  to  a  spot  where  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  breast  the 
current  that  threatened  to  overturn  us  at  every  bend  of  the 
river,  and  we  were  obliged  to  land.  Each  of  us  made  a  bundle 
of  his  clothes  and  away  we  went,  completely  naked,  our  bundles 
on  our  shoulders,  following  the  edge  of  the  stream  and  towing 
our  boat  along  the  best  way  we  could. 

Still  fasting,  we  arrived  at  nightfall  at  the  ranclio  of  Pozo  de 
la  Oreja,  leaving  our  boat  half  a  kilometer  off.  Meanwhile  the 
cold  became  so  intense  that  the  Chiriguan  who  had  been 
despatched  to  fetch  the  clothes  left  in  the  boat  was  seized  with 
cramp  and  would  have  died,  had  we  not  sent  a  horse  to  fetch 
him  back.  I  leave  you  to  imagine  the  impression  produced  on  us 
by  that  ranclio.  There  was  a  splendid  fire  to  dry  us ;  a  boiling 
hot  asada  to  restore  our  strength,  and  the  lattice-work  of 
boughs  fixed  at  about  a  yard  and  a  half  in  height,  so  as  to 
diminish  the  danger  of  tigers,  seemed  like  a  royal  bed  to  our 
wearied  limbs. 

The  next  day  we  returned  to  Bella  Vista  loaded  with  fish,  of 
which  thousands  had  been  washed  ashore. 

"  These  are  fine  stories  to  tell  when  they  are  over."  Quite  so. 
If  they  were  not  followed  by  a  train  of  colds  and  catarrhs  that 
hasten  by  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  approach  of  an  ailing  old 
a.aje,  with  the  prospect  in  addition  of  passing,  like  a  broken- 
winded  horse,  from  the  stables  to  the  knacker's  cart. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 83 


CHAPTER  IX, 

THE   PASSAGE    OF     THE     VERMEJO     (OR     VERMILIOn)     RIVER — THE 
DELTA EROSIONS    AND    FLORA. 

We  have  arrived  within  a  few  leagues  of  the  mountains  in 
which  arise  the  streams  that,  after  a  long  course  through  the 
various  valleys  lying  at  their  feet,  unite  and  form  the  Yermejo 
river.  We  have  1  olio  wed  the  river  throughout  almost  its 
whole  course,  and  have  reached  a  suitable  point  for  studying 
its  hydrography.  It  is  therefore  time  that  we  should  pause 
awhile,  and,  mentally  retracing  the  route  we  have  pursued,  take 
this  opportunity  of  sketching  its  history,  its  present,  and  its 
future.  The  analogous  conditions  of  other  rivers  of  this  region 
renders  the  study  which  we  are  about  to  undertake  still  more 
profitable,  because  they  give  its  results  a  general  application. 

We  can  easily  imagine  an  epoch  when  this  immense  plain 
was,  so  to  speak,  the  sister,  and  even  the  twin-sister,  of  the 
Pampa.  These  two  plains  of  somewhat  similar  aspect  extend 
throughout  the  continent,  from  Magellan  to  the  Equator.  The 
repeated  alternations  of  submersion  and  emersion,  of  which 
there  are  traces  in  the  stratification,  which  retains  marks  of  a 
vegetation  distinct  from  that  of  the  higher  land,  and  visible  in 
the  perpendicular  banks  of  the  river,  suffice  to  destroy  any 
hasty  hydrographical  theory,  such  as  a  preordained  dilierence 
in  the  vegetation  of  each  stratum. 

At  a  later  period  the  plain  became  extended  and  slanted 
imperceptibly  from  north  to  south  in  the  same  direction  as  the 
course  of  the  great  rivers,  the  Paraguay,  Parana,  Uruguay,  and 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  stretched  out  either  east  or  west,  accord- 
ing to  the  distance  of  the  Andes  range,  or  of  the  mountain 
ranges  opposite  them  ;  never,  however,  to  a  greater  extent 
than  200  or  300  yards  m  a  length  of  700  or  1000  kilo- 
meters. 

At  that  epoch  the  Mar  Dolce,  that  in  later  times  was  called 


1 84  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

by  lying  greed  the  Silver  Eiver  (Rio  de  la  Plata),  was  twice 
its  present  size,  the  two  tributaries  of  which  it  consisted  com- 
bining in  one  full  stream  along  its  whole  course,  while  at  a 
subsequent  period  they  were  again  separated,  and  remained 
distinct  and  apart  among  the  numerous  islands  they  encircled, 
although  circumscribed  in  their  flow  and  subdivided  by  many 
an  outlet. 

'J'hen,  the  waters  rolled  precipitously  through  the  narrow 
rocky  channels  and  steep  mountain  passes,  and  sought  their 
level  as  they  flowed  over  the  vast  plain  beneath,  wandering 
liappily  over  the  gentle  slope  that  drew  them  to  the  east  and 
south,  while  this  twofold  invitation  was  seconded  by  the  irre- 
sistible laws  of  nature ;  and  thus  flowing  neither  directly  east 
nor  absolutely  south,  they  yet  turned  much  more  in  the  former 
than  in  the  latter  direction.  And  in  this  same  direction,  and 
ibllovving  the  features  of  the  soil  as  produced  by  the  very  waters 
themselves,  and  at  times  actually  coerced  by  their  own  products, 
they  excavate  an  ever  deepening  and  narrowing  channel,  with  a 
maximum  of  regularity  and  a  minimum  of  force. 

The  soil,  which  is  still  recent,  especially  when  it  has  been 
elaborated  in  a  short  time,  and  in  shallow  waters,  is  therefore, 
when  brought  to  light,  insufficiently  compact,  becomes  easily 
divided  by  tlie  action  of  the  current,  which  at  one  moment  subtle 
and  persuasive,  and  at  another  swollen  and  impetuous,  seeks 
to  force  open  a  permanent  channel. 

In  the  early  but  brief  period  when  the  waters  lay  level  on  the 
plain,  the  floods  may  have  contributed  to  form  a  covering  to  the 
immersed  surfaces,  but  the  channel  of  the  river  soon  became 
sufficient  for  its  wants,  compensating  in  width  for  any  deficiency 
in  depth,  until  equilibrium  was  restored. 

On  the  first  occurrence  of  inundation,  the  soil  being  unable 
to  resist  the  lateral  pressure  of  the  current  that  was  unchecked 
by  the  very  slight  declivity  of  its  course,  afforded  at  once  an 
ample  space  for  innumerable  windings,  and  from  the  first 
moment  that  the  bed  of  the  river  sufficed  to  contain  the  mass 
of  waters,  the  process  of  disintegration  on  one  side  and  of 
deposit  on  the  other  was  set  up,  the  latter  being  inferior  to  the 
former  both  as  to  level  and  as  to  bulk. 

Hence  the  extraordinary  tortuosity  of  the  rivers  of  the  Chaco, 
and  of  this  river  Vermejo,  the  windings  of  which  measure  320 
leagues  over  a  geographical  distance  of  130.  Hence  tl^e 
terraces ;  hence  the  inevitable  lowering  of  the  absolute  level  of 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 85 

the  land  when  the  rivers  shall  have  completed  the  disintegration 
of  the  primitive  soil,  and  shall  have  substituted  a  soil  composed 
of  their  own  deposits,  the  highest  points  of  which  are  at  present 
two  yards  lower  than  the  opposite  soil.  Hence  the  all u vials 
which  have  formed  the  islands  of  the  Parana  and  the  Uruguay, 
and  which  follow  on  the  deposits  or  deltation  of  the  mouths  of 
those  rivers,  and  will  end  by  filling  up  the  estuary  of  the  Plata. 

The  development  of  the  rivers,  their  depth,  and  the  friability 
of  the  soil  give  rapid  extension  to  this  process,  and  great  results 
must  ensue  in  a  relatively  short  time,  geologically  speaking. 

In  fact,  if  we  may  suppose  (and  the  hypothesis  is  rational) 
that  the  lateral  erosion  of  the  primitive  soil  proceeds  at  the 
rate  of  two  yards  a  year  along  the  whole  course  of  the  river, 
the  soil  subtracted  annually  by  the  Vermejo  alone  from  the 
territory  of  the  Chaco  would  amount  to  6,400,000  cubic  yards, 
equal  to  an  island  ten  yards  deep  by  1000  in  width,  and  with 
a  frontage  of  640 — that  is,  one  of  the  largest  islands  in  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata.  We  can  now  understand  that  the  disintegration 
of  the  mountains  in  the  deltation  of  the  Parana  and  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata  does  not  equal  in  importance  that  of  the  plain,  and  the 
importance  of  the  latter  is  increased  when  we  reflect  that  the 
process  is  being  repeated  under  similar  conditions  by  the  Pilco- 
mayo  and  the  Salado,  the  other  two  rivers  of  the  Chaco. 

According  to  this  hypothesis  the  surface  of  the  basin  of  the 
Vermejo  plain,  which  is  equal  to  9000  square  leagues,  will  have 
lost  two  yards  in  level  70,000  years  after  its  emersion,  and  will 
then  have  yielded  450,000,000,000  cubic  yards,  which  will 
represent  an  island  ten  yards  deep,  500  kilometers  long,  and 
ninety  kilometers  wide,  i.e.  twice  and  one-fourth  the  surface  of 
the  estuary  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  which  contains  nearly  20,000 
square  kilometers.  In  other  words  a  mass  of  earth  sufficient  to 
fill  the  estuary  four  times  over,  supposing  the  average  depth  to 
be  five  yards. 

Nor  is  this  all.  This  disintegrating  action  of  the  river  tends 
towards  changing  the  character  of  the  vegetation  in  the  Chaco, 
because,  according  to  my  experience,  the  plants  growing  on  the 
primitive  soil  or  on  the  emeiged  lands  differ  from  those  clothing 
the  alluvial  lands,  the  former  belonging,  generally  speaking,  to 
timber-giving  trees,  such  as  the  quebracho,  the  urunday,  and 
the  palo-santo.  But  we  will  revert  to  this  when  treating  of 
the  forest  flora. 

The  change  which  thus  takes  place  without  the  agency  of 


1 86  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

climate  afifords  us  an  excellent  explanation  of  analogous  con- 
ditions in  Denmark  with  respect  to  the  pine  and  the  oak,  which 
have  been  replaced  by  the  beech,  the  last  named  even  retaining 
the  name  of  one  of  its  predecessors.  The  cause  is  usually 
referred  simply  to  change  of  climate,  while  the  renovation 
of  the  superficial  stratum  may  have  largely  contributed  to  it  as 
well  as  the  law  of  natural  affinities.  Hence  a  detailed  study  of 
the  Chaco,  with  particular  reference  to  relative  altimetry  and  to 
the  amount  of  vegetation,  might  supply  us  with  the  chronological 
data  of  the  period  in  which  this  territory  first  made  its  appear- 
ance ;  data  no  less  certain  than  those  adopted  in  respect  of  other 
regions  by  such  geographers  as  Morlot,  Forel,  and  Arcelin. 

In  fact,  if  we  assume  a  lateral  disintegration  of  the  hordofirme^ 
or  primitive  soil,  at  the  rate  of  two  superficial  yards  a  year  along 
the  whole  course  of  the  river  for  320  leagues  over  the  plain,  we 
obtain  a  complete  change  of  the  surface  of  the  Yerraejo  country 
and  a  lower  level  for  the  soil  in  70,000  years  from  its  appearance. 
And  if  we  suppose  that  at  the  present  time  the  surface  we  are 
treating  of  has  risen  to  one-half  of  the  whole,  as  is  in  fact  the 
case,  more  or  less,  we  still  find  that  the  age  of  the  Chaco  terri- 
tories amounts  to  not  less  than  35,000  years.  In  any  case  it  is 
my  opinion  that  the  first  appearance  beneath  the  light  of  the 
sun  of  these  lands  that  are  now  called  the  Gran  Chaco  from  a 
Chicciuan  word  ^  does  not  date  back  to  the  glacial  epoch.  The 
existence  of  that  epoch  on  this  continent  and  in  these  latitudes 
is,  to  my  mind,  an  indubitable  fact.  In  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Acconquica  Mountains,  in  the  provinces  of  Catamarca  and 
Tucuman,  and  at  a  height  of  2000  or  3000  yards  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  latitude  27°  S.,  I  saw  huge  masses  like  high 
hills  clothed  with  thick  and  ancient  forests,  but  Avith  all  the 
characteristics  of  Morenica  formation,  and  I  observed  also  single 
masses  on  high  and  isolated  peaks. 

Following  the  river  back  from  its  mouth  to  the  moun- 
tains, the  recent  perpendicular  banks  disclose  a  formation  of 
the  strength  of  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  in  the  first  cutting  of  the 
geographical  length  of  thirty  leagues,  and  of  the  strength  of  ten 
yards,  and  even  less  as  it  reascends. 

^  According  to  a  dictionary  printed  at  Lima  in  1754  cliacu  means  the 
hunting  of  wild  beasts.  In  the  Chaco  itself  I  was  told  that  chacic  mean  s 
a  place  where  animals  are  coufiued.  The  pohladores  say  habitually 
efitos  chacos  for  "  these  fields."  In  the  Italian  edition  chaco  is  rendereJd 
by  lake. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  1 87 

This  formation  rests  upon  a  substratum  called  tosca^  of  a 
soapy  and  partly  magnesian  nature,  and  consequently  not 
c^asily  friable.  This  is  revealed  in  the  lower  parts  by  small 
streams  of  water,  which  give  place  to  the  rapids  or  natural 
cataracts  {arrecifas)  at  seven  or  eight  points. 

Tosca,  sometimes  of  a  bluish  colour,  at  others  somewhat 
red,  has  a  tendency  to  splinter  into  small  scales,  and  might  be 
termed  magnesian  schist.  The  scales  are  very  soft.  In  other 
districts  there  are  toscas  of  a  different  kind. 

The  formation  above  the  tosca,  and  which  may  be  called  the 
visible  part,  is  again  subdivided  into  stratifications  from  two  to 
four  yards  in  depth,  those  strata  nearest  the  bottom  and  towards 
the  mouth  of  the  river  being  finer,  more  clayey,  deeper  in 
colour,  and  consequently  more  compact,  while  the  upper  strata, 
as  we  ascend  the  river,  become  fainter  in  tint,  coarser,  less 
clayey,  less  compact,  and  of  a  sandy  nature,  in  accordance  with 
the  mechanical  laws  of  deposit. 

I  say  deeper  in  colour  and  consequently  more  compact, 
because  colouring  depends  on  the  presence  of  metallic  oxides, 
and  every  one  knows  the  agglutinative  force  of  these  latter. 

On  the  other  hand  the  parallelism  between  these  stratifica- 
tions and  the  uniformity  in  every  sense  of  the  inclination 
of  the  surface,  point  to  a  common  grand  cause  of  origin,  which 
has  acted  at  intervals  between  one  and  another  emersion,  during 
which  each  would  become  clothed  with  vegetation  which  would 
at  a  later  period  be  submerged  in  the  waters,  and  give  place  to 
newly  formed  surface. 

These  operations  must  have  occurred  when  the  climate  of 
these  regions  was  in  the  same  relative  condition  as  at  present, 
because  the  vegetation  was  evidently  fine  and  multiform  in  the 
lower  cutting,  and  there  was  a  surface  of  dark  earth  or  humus, 
produced  from  its  accumulated  residuum,  as  at  the  present 
time,  while  both  are  scanty  in  the  centre  until  close  to  the 
mountains.  In  the  same  way  the  dark  part  of  the  lower 
stratifications,  corresponding  with  a  former  vegetation,  lies 
relatively  high,  while  it  is  thin  and  sometimes  almost  imper- 
ceptible in  the  centre,  where  the  climate  at  the  present  day 
is  likewise  arid. 

And  then,  as  now,  there  existed  alkalis  in  the  earth,  which 
are  indicated  by  incrustations  and  nitrous  efflorescence  on  the 
uncovered  parts  of  the  banks,  the  same  elements  are  exhibited 
at  the  present  day  in  the  salnitrali  frequently  covering  the  sur- 


l88  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

faces  less  elevated  from  the  water,  and  by  the  growth  oijumes 
and  cactus  on  the  higher  ground,  and  of  hobos  and  other 
shrubs  on  the  low-lying  soil  scarcely  out  of  reach  of  the 
current.  The  ashes  of  all  these  plants  yield  an  abundance  of 
potash  and  soda  that  hitherto  has  only  been  used  for  domestic 
purposes. 

Thus  we  find  the  same  climate  and  the  same  materials 
then  as  now,  and  the  same  conditions  at  the  period  of  the 
formation  of  the  deepest  strata  as  at  that  of  the  actual  alluvial 
lands. 

Yet  this  identity  of  original  causes  is  not  accompanied  by 
identity  in  floral  phenomena.  We  have  pointed  this  out 
already.  Because  the  physical  conditions  of  the  soil,  which,  if 
we  except  extremes,  are  the  most  influential  in  dertermining 
vegetable  life,  vary  according  to  the  amount  of  the  deposits 
and  according  to  the  length  of  time  during  which  all  the  energies 
have  been  in  action.  The  result  of  these  same  energies  alters 
the  chemical  order  of  the  elements  to  which  they  are  due,  either 
by  chemical  reaction,  or  by  the  products  of  vegetation  giving 
back  to  mother  earth  the  aliments  received  from  her,  trans- 
formed and  enriched  by  new  ones  absorbed  from  the  atmosphere. 

Hence  the  variety  of  the  herbaceous  and  forest  flora  that 
respectively  cover  similarly  situated  soils.  Hence  the  aptitude 
f(^r  new  growths,  and  for  agriculture,  varying  according  to  the 
above-named  conditions. 

Such  is  the  past  history  of  the  Yermejo.  What  of  the 
present  1 

The  work  of  ages  is  still  going  on — erosion  on  the  one  hand, 
and  alluvial  formation  on  the  other,  in  the  shape  of  terraces, 
and  the  later  floods  either  carrying  away  the  previous  deposits  if 
these  lie  in  their  way,  or  adding  fresh  deposits,  if  the  former  are 
only  reached  by  exceptionally  full  floods.  As  we  have  already 
mentioned,  the  alluvial  soil  brought  by  the  river  is  a  couple  of 
yards  lower  than  the  original  soil,  which  is  known  in  the  locality 
as  hordo  firmie^  and  is  never  inundated  by  the  floods. 

Some  of  the  alluvial  soil  is  several  yards  in  depth,  although 
deposited  as  it  were  almost  instantaneously,  so  great  is  the 
quantity  carried  by  the  waters,  and  washed  down  almost  in  one 
mass  from  the  surrounding  land,  of  which  a  large  proportion 
is  crumbling.  Other  alluvials  are  again  deposited  over  these, 
without  obliterating  them,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  hohos^ 
very  straight  poplar-like  shrubs,  with  their  leaves  silvered  on 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  1 89 

the  lower  side.  These  trees  are  of  rapid  growth  and  burgeon - 
alter  four  or  six  years,  hardly  before,  if  an  abundant  supply  of 
water  be  wanting.  Their  boles  traverse  three  or  four  different 
layers  of  alluvial  deposit ;  their  roots  therefore  are  three  or  four 
yards  below  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

After  this  fashion  does  the  river,  year  by  year,  pursue  its 
task  ;  causing  changes  of  every  kind,  as  it  alternately  flows 
along  the  banks  of  the  hordo  Jinne,^  or  over  its  own  alluvial 
deposits.  The  number  of  these  changes,  their  symmetry,  their 
correspondence  with  the  disintegration  of  the  land,  the  constant 
deposits,  and  the  consequent  steps  or  terraces,  cannot  fail  to 
make  a  deep  impression  on  the  spectator,  notwithstanding  that 
he  understands  the  inevitability  of  them,  from  physical  and 
mechanical  laws. 

The  Yermejo  divides  into  two  amis ;  the  stream  on  the  right- 
hand,  which  in  the  greatest  droughts  carries  one-fifth  of  its 
waters,  is  much  more  winding  in  its  course  than  that  on  the 
left-hand,  named  the  Teuco,  which  carries  the  remainder.  The 
cause  of  this  inequality  is  simply  the  inferior  flexibility  of  the 
larger  mass  of  water,  and  in  the  lesser  influence  on  this  of  the 
numberless  accidents  to  which  the  river  is  exposed ;  while  its 
course  being  not  so  tortuous,  it  consequently  spreads  out  less, 
and  hence  the  zone  in  which  the  river  exercises  its  erosive  and 
sedimentary  action.  The  state  of  fulness,  moreover,  in  the 
smaller  stream  being  proportionately  more  abnormal,  the  acci- 
dental channel  formed  during  the  shallow  season  is  altogether 
inadequate  at  the  season  of  fulness,  and  the  waters  therefore 
force  into  existence  an  adequate  channel,  and  in  so  doing  destroy 
many  sinuosities  formed  in  the  time  of  shallows,  and  thus  con- 
tribute to  greater  changes  than  would  take  place,  had  the  bed 
of  the  river  been  at  firet  less  winding  and  less  uneven. 

We  may  therefore  assert,  however  paradoxical  it  may  seem, 
that  the  displacements  of  the  river — or  I  will  say  of  rivers — 
are,  under  like  circumstances  of  easily  disintegrated  soil  and 
heavy  floods,  in  inverse  proportion  to  their  mass  of  water.  This 
is  demonstrated  by  the  magnificent  Paraguay  and  the  gigantic 
Parana  and  Uruguay.  I  do  not  say  this  of  the  Eio  de  la  Plata, 
which  is  principally  governed  throughout  its  immense  course 
by  the  tides.  The  ebb  and  flow  of  these  are  perceptible  for  some 
scoiesof  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  case  is  the 

^  Bordo  fiyme,  as  it  is  called,  is  land  that  is  never  submerged  by  tli« 
floods  5  I  have  lendcred  it  sometimes  by  emerged  land. 


190  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

same  with  the  Uruguay  and  Parana.  Yet  even  so,  these  rivers  are 
not  exempt  from  the  law  of  perpetual  displacement  which  is 
inevitable  from  the  crumbling  condition  of  their  banks.  It 
is  certain  that  if  we  could  compare  their  course  to-day  with 
that  of  a  century  ago,  or  more,  we  should  notice  remarkable 
changes  in  the  line  of  their  shores,  independently  of  the  effects 
produced  by  the  deltation  or  depositation,  as  I  will  call  it,  of  sedi- 
ment from  the  rivers  of  the  Gran  Chaco,  which  tends  to  lengthen 
these  rivers  at  the  expense  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  as  well  as  to 
choke  the  greater  part  of  this  latter  and  the  other  rivers. 

In  the  landslips  of  the  hordo  Jirme,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the 
alluvial  soil,  an  immense  number  of  trees  are  precipitated  into 
the  water  and  remain  fixed,  either  on  account  of  their  foliage,  or 
because  the  greater  part  of  those  of  the  hordojirme  are  much 
heavier  than  water.  Immovable  banks  impervious  to  water  are 
thus  very  frequently  formed ;  the  stream  therefore  rushes  to  the 
sides  and  forms  a  new  channel. 

Sometimes  one  of  these  trees,  either  falling  singly  or  becoming 
isolated  on  its  short  journey,  remains  head  downwards,  and  its 
trunk,  not  being  strong  enough  to  form  a  bank,  becomes,  if  un- 
seen, the  most  terrible  enemy  to  the  keels  of  boats.  These  trunks 
are  called  raigones.  In  any  case  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  know  that 
it  is  extremely  rare  for  a  tree  to  be  carried  any  great  distance  by 
the  stream,  or  for  timber  to  float,  on  account  of  the  manner  of 
its  fall. 

In  other  respects  the  soil  forming  the  bed  of  the  river  is,  by 
reason  of  the  timber  that  has  fallen  on  it,  or  by  geological 
accidents,  more  capable  of  resisting  the  action  of  the  stream 
than  is  the  soil  of  the  banks  to  resist  the  friction  of  the  lateral 
currents.  The  waters  therefore  overflow  and  form  almost  in- 
numerable shallows,  which,  however,  are  easily  cleared  by  means 
of  spirals  or  steam-wheels. 

The  bottom  of  the  river-bed  is  at  present  crossed,  as  we  have 
said,  by  seven  or  eight  veins  of  chalky  magnesia,  difficult  to 
corrode.  These  diminish  the  amount  of  water,  and  cause  rapids 
and  cataracts  {arrecifas). 

All  these  features  render  navigation  so  difficult,  that  it  is 
only  possible  in  vessels  of  light  draught,  and  during  the  season 
of  deep  waters.  To  these  causes  of  the  division  of  the  river 
into  two  branches,  we  must  add  another  important  one. 

The  limits  within  which  so  far  the  Vermejo  has  oscillated, 
may  be  considered  to  include  from  ten  to  fifteen  leagues  In 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  IQI 

width ;  and  as  this  increases,  a  somewhat  analogous  course 
is  pursued  by  the  Pilcomajo  {Bird  river,  in  Chichuan),  running 
north  of  the  Vermejo.  At  no  distant  date,  perhaps,  a  junction 
may  be  effected  between  the  lower  parts  of  the  two  rivers.  The 
uniform  level  of  the  country  will  facilitate  this. 

The  land  watered  by  the  Vermejo  may  be  estimated  at  13,000 
square  leagues,  of  which  a  fourth  part  is  mountainous,  and  the 
remainder  consists  of  plains. 

The  mountain  portion,  or  higher  basin,  is  comprised  within 
lat.  S.  21°  to  25°,  and  within  three  degrees  of  longitude;  the 
lower  portion,  or  basin,  is  comprised  between  the  Equator  and 
27°,  i.e.  within  three  and  a  half  degrees  of  latitude,  and  five  of 
longitude. 

The  lower  Vermejo  crosses  the  Gran  Chaco  from  north-west  to 
south-east  for  a  geographical  distance  of  1 30  leagues,  between  the 
Juntas  del  San  Francisco  and  its  fall  into  the  Paraguay.  It 
runs  a  course  of  320  leagues,  making  a  curve  about  every  quarter 
of  a  league.  It  is  confined  on  the  east  by  Chaco  Central,  which 
lies  between  the  Vermejo  and  the  Pilcomajo. 

The  comparative  narrowness  of  the  hydrographical  basin,  with 
its  six  degrees  of  latitude,  and  the  uniformly  eastward  position 
of  the  mountains  from  north  to  south,  cause  the  volume  of 
its  waters  to  depend  on  a  very  usual  order  of  climatological 
phenomena.  The  rainy  season  occurs  only  in  summer,  from 
December  to  March,  and  the  melting  of  the  snow  on  all  except 
the  very  highest  mountains  occasions  heavy  floods,  which  are 
succeeded  by  extreme  droughts  in  part  of  winter  and  spring. 

During  the  time  of  floods  the  masses  of  water  are  enormous ; 
in  the  middle  of  the  dry  season — that  is,  in  the  month  of  July — 
I  measured  eighty  cubic  yards  jDer  second,  and  in  the  next 
drought,  in  October,  fifty  cubic  yards. 

At  about  fifteen  leagues  from  the  Juntas  del  San  Francisco, 
which  are  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  the  river  divides 
into  two  branches  :  the  one  on  the  east,  or  left  hand,  is  called  the 
Teuco,  from  the  Mattacco  word  meaning  "  river ;"  and  that  on 
the  west,  or  right  hand,  retains  the  name  of  Vermejo,  Teuch-tach, 
or  "  Great  River  "  in  Mattacco.  "When  I  was  sailing  in  those 
waters,  the  Teuco  contained  four-fifths  of  the  total  bulk  of  the 
stream,  and  the  rest  formed  the  Vermejo. 

The  two  arms  of  the  river,  with  a  distance  between  them 
varying  from  five  to  ten  leagues,  are  reunited  after  a  course  of 
200  leagues,  at  a  distance  by  river  of  ninety  leagues  from  the 


192        EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

spot  where  it  empties  itself  into  the  Paraguay.     This  spot  is 
called  ^oca  del  Teuco. 

During  this  last  course  of  ninety  leagues,  corresponding  to 
fifty  leagues  in  a  straight  line  by  land,  we  come  to  parts  that 
look  like  artificial  canals ;  in  ihese  places  we  find  for  the  most 
p;iit  the  clay  banks  I  have  already  mentioned  \  here,  too,  the 
river  runs  deepest. 

At  1 40  leagues  by  water  from  the  Boca  del  TeucOy  and  follow- 
ing the  banks  of  the  river,  is  Eivadavia  on  the  present  frontier, 
and  ninety  leagues  fuither  on  las  Jimtas  del  San  Francisco,  near 
which,  at  eight  leagues  farther  north,  is  Oran. 

In  all  this  long  distance  from  the  fall  into  the  Paraguay  to 
the  Juntas,  there  is  not  one  single  hill ! 

The  water  is  brackish,  on  account  alike  of  its  scarcity  and  its 
muddiness ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  contains  an  immense  variety 
of  fish,  thus  providing  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  with 
unfailing  and  palatable  food.  Some  kinds  weigh  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  kilograms,  without  counting  the  yacare  or 
crocodiles  that  weigh  tw^o  or  three  times  as  much. 
Is  this  river  navigable  1 

With  a  steamboat  drawing  one  yard,  it  would  be  navigable 
for  at  least  half  the  year,  with  no  further  trouble  than  forcing 
the  flow  of  water  through  one  arm  only,  which  arm  should  be 
the  T^uco,  since  it  already  bears  four-fifths  of  the  whole  bulk  of 
the  river.  The  cost  of  such  an  undertaking,  together  with  the 
annual  expense  of  maintaining  it  in  working  order,  would 
amount,  I  calculate,  to  a  sum  of  23,000  scudi. 

In  order  to  make  navigation  possible  throughout  the  year,  a 
system  of  dredging  away  the  sandbanks  must  be  brought  into 
operation,  the  tosca  must  be  destroyed,  and  the  raigones  cut 
away.  These  works,  supposing  the  dredging  machines  to  be 
used  for  hauling,  when  not  wanted  on  the  river,  would  absorb 
about  50,000  scudi  per  annum.  In  all,  70,000  scudi  per 
annum. 

I  do  not  speak  of  locks  or  weirs.  The  expense  would  be  too 
great  at  such  a  distance  for  commercial  enterprise. 

There  should  be  also  a  system  of  steam  transports  of  various 
draught  for  serving  the  markets.  Those  of  one-yard  draught 
and  of  eighty  tons'  burden  should  ply  between  the  Foce  nel 
Paraguay,  or  the  cities  of  Humaita  or  Corrientes,  and  Kiva- 
davia  on  the  Christian  frontier ;  others  of  half  a  yard  draught 
and  thirty  tons'  burden,  between  Eivadavia  and  las  Juntas  d*4 


•        OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  I93 

San  Francisco,  or  practically  Oran.  It  is  useless  to  dream  of 
sailing-vessels  in  such  a  sinuous,  deeply-lying  river,  with  its 
banks  crowned  with  woods  and  swarming  with  Indians. 

The  cost  of  a  voyage  from  Corrientes  to  las  Juntas  and 
vice  versa,  including  interest  on  the  value  of  the  vessel  and  its 
fittings,  and  the  redemption  of  mortgage,  would  amount,  allow- 
ing for  the  highest  charges,  to  about  4000  scudi,  with  which  a 
160-ton  burden  could  be  carried  at  a  rate  of  twenty-four  scudi 
and  three-quarters.  Suppo^sing  the  Indians  to  remain  harmless 
(and  an  adequate  system  of  national  defence  could  be  promptly 
organized),  the  above  sum  would  be  reclaimed  to  two-thii-ds. 
Full  particulars  of  this  plan  are  stated  in  one  of  my  official 
reports. 

At  this  cost,  increased  by  the  annual  charges  for  maintaining 
the  river,  which  we  have  estimated  at  70,000  scudi,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  South  Bolivian  trade,  and  part  of  the  trade 
from  the  north  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  would  find  its  way 
along  the  Yermejo  and  the  Parana.  The  marvellously  fertile 
province  of  Oran  would  develop  on  a  large  scale  the  agricul- 
tural industry  for  which  it  is  adapted,  and  of  which  there  are 
examples  in  the  valley  of  San  Francisco,  where  their  important 
establishments  for  the  manufacture  of  sugar  for  local  consump- 
tion exist.  The  Gran  Chaco,  that  immense  forest  region  full  of 
precious  materials  for  civil  and  maritime  building  purposes  and 
for  valuable  cabinet  work,  and  inhabited  by  scattered  tribes  of 
wandering  Indians,  and  isolated  by  its  very  immensity  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  would,  by  means  of  this  central  artery,  throb- 
bing through  thousands  of  kilometers,  be  placed  in  immediate 
and  easy  contact  with  the  emporiums  of  consumption,  of  pro- 
duction, and  of  civilization. 

Five  hundred  thousand  scudi  wisely  expended,  and  the 
navigation  of  the  Yermejo  would  be  a  splendid  success. 


194         EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  X. 

AT    FORT    3ARM1ENT0 — HOSPITALITY — TWO    BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 
OPINIONS. 

From  Bella  Vista,  where  the  end  of  our  last  chapter  left  us,  our 
route  lay  directly  Il^T.N'.W.  to  Fort  Sarmiento,  so  named  in 
honour  of  the  former  President  of  the  Republic.  It  is  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Comandancia  of  the  dragoon  regiment  that  garri- 
sons the  whole  frontier,  a  length  of  500  kilometers. 

The  climate  becomes  less  dry  as  we  approach  comparatively 
near  to  the  mountains,  and  the  land  being  more  under  culti- 
vation the  chebraccio  and  the  giuccian  become  scarcer,  and  the 
chanar,  the  giuggiolo,  the  vinal,  and  the  carob  with  its  hang- 
ing tufts  of  half-ripe  pods  begin  to  abound.  This  fruit  excites 
equally  the  appetite  of  both  horse  and  Tider,  who  amicably  unite 
in  stripping  the  boughs,  the  one  with  his  teeth  and  the  other  with 
his  hands.  The  meals  thus  taken  in  common  with  one's  horse  give 
rise  to  very  curious  and  awkward  scenes,  when,  owing  to  the 
strong  resistance  of  the  berries,  the  bough  gives  one  a  violent 
box  on  the  ear,  or,  almost  unseating  the  rider,  puts  his  bones  out 
of  joint,  twists  his  muscles,  and  flays  his  hand.  Tlie  horse  next, 
having  recovered  the  shock,  plants  his  head  between  his  legs, 
sniffing  round  after  the  scattered  fruit,  and  forces  his  rider  to 
begin  his  equestrian  acrobatics  all  over  again. 

It  will  be  understood  that  our  horses  had  no  resemblance  to 
those  poetically  celebrated  Arab  steeds,  who,  returning  to  the 
inn  after  a  long  and  weary  day's  journey,  will  not  even  look  at 
the  food  provided  for  them  until  called  to  it  by  their  master. 

Tlie  rain  that  had  fallen  two  days  before  had  revived  the  fields 
and  refreshed  the  foliage  of  the  trf-es,  and  purified  and  cooled 
the  air,  so  that  heaven  and  earth  alike  seemed  to  smile  on  the 
travellers. 

In  these  tropical  climes,  after  the  brief  winter  sleep,  a  little 
rain  is  sufficient  to  awaken  all  nature  to  an  exuberant  Vege- 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  195 

tation,  but,  alas  !  it  is  equally  ephemeral,  if  not  continually 
replenished  by  the  life-giving  moisture.  The  drought  that 
ior  some  months  yet  follows  on  the  early  rains  blights  the 
promise  of  the  fields,  and  the  burning  heat  of  the  sun  increases 
in  power,  until  at  last  the  plentiful  waters  of  the  latter  half  of 
summer  force  into  sudden  and  exuberant  growth  the  grasses 
and  herbs  that  in  a  few  short  hours  will  conceal,  beneath  a  sea 
r  of  redundant  vegetation  higher  than  a  man  on  horseback,  the 
fields  that  only  a  little  while  before  were  absolutely  bare. 
These  rapid  alternations  and  this  sudden  and  marvellous 
exuberance  have  frequently  led  travellers  to  form  erroneous 
opinions  as  to  the  productiveness  of  regions  such  as  these,  if  un- 
acquainted with  the  annual  cycle  of  the  climate,  and  with  its 
regular  and  successive  phases.  To  acquire  a  knowledge  of  these 
facts  in  any  given  country  is  the  first  duty  of  the  conscientious 
traveller  who  wishes  to  describe  and  to  judge  with  accuracy. 

Thus  journeying,  we  arrived  after  a  long  day's  march  at  Fort 
Sarmiento.  This  fort  is  situated  near  a  tank,  by  which  it  is 
supplied  Avith  water,  sometimes  good,  sometimes  bad,  depending 
on  the  dryness  of  the  season.  But  within  the  last  few  weeks  a 
well  has  been  sunk  in  the  very  middle  of  the  piazza,  and  another 
at  a  short  distance,  and  Fort  Sarmiento  is  thus  superior  to  any 
other  houses  or  villages  within  a  circuit  of  100  leagues.  And 
yet  there  is  water  to  be  had  at  a  depth  of  fifteen  or  twenty  yards. 
But  what  is  to  be  done  if  the  thing  has  never  been  seen  to  be 
done  ?  There  is  no  well  in  Rivadavia,  and  the  municipal 
authorities  have  discussed  the  subject,  I  know  not  how  often, 
without  ever  coming  to  a  conclusion,  although  it  is  a  public 
work  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  country. 

The  population  of  Fort  Sarmiento  is  essentially  military. 
Vast  barracks,  some  houses  built  of  harro,  including  a  handsome 
one  belonging  to  the  commandant,  and  others  of  timber,  all  of 
them  thatched  with  straw  and  mud,  surround  the  piazza.  These 
and  a  few  more  scattered  round  constitute  the  whole  village, 
which  is  inhabited  by  the  soldiers,  their  wives  and  children,  and 
a  few  tradesmen  and  their  families.  It  is  customary  here  for 
soldiers  to  be  accompanied  by  their  wives,  to  whom  Government 
allows  half-rations.  There  is  nothing  more  picturesque,  and 
sometimes  a  little  grotesque  too,  than  an  encampment  or  military 
march  in  time  of  war,  above  all  when  the  camp  is  broken  up. 
How  often  have  I  not  longed  for  a  De  Amicis  to  describe  these 
and  many  other  scenes  ! 

o  2 


196  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

A  delightful  surprise  awaited  us  at  Fort  Sarmiento,  and  made 
our  three  days'  visit  seem  like  a  country  holiday. 

The  commander  of  the  regiment  was  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Emiliano  Perez  Milan,  a  brave  officer,  who  on  one  occasion  was 
struck  by  a  ball  in  the  knee  when  leading  his  soldiers  to  the  attack 
during  the  war  in  Paraguay,  and  immediately  on  his  recovery 
rejoined  his  regiment.  On  another  occasion,  his  men  having 
mutinied,  he  left  his  bed  before  daybreak,  seized  a  revolver,  and 
wi-apping  a  ijoncho  about  him,  faced  the  mutineers  alone,  and 
disarmed  them. 

As  I  was  already  known  to  him,  and  he  was  besides  a  friend 
of  Eoldan's,  we  were  received  with  the  greatest  hospitality. 
How  comfortable  it  was  !  What  a  contrast  to  the  Boca  de  la 
Cliapapa,  and  to  every  other  place  we  had  visited  the  last  five 
months  !  The  house  was  large  and  cool,  there  were  beds,  there 
was  water  from  a  well,  there  were  pleasant  meals,  with  bright, 
youthful  company  and  gentlemanly  men,  and — there  were 
also  savoury  and  varied  dishes.  Two  kinds  of  soup,  one 
of  which,  called  locro,  made  from  maize,  was  excellent ;  an 
asada  a  la  crioglia^  cutlets  a  la  Milanese,  and  algarrobo  aloja^ 
prepared  by  the  skilful  hand  of  our  hostess ;  wine  and  beer. 
There  were  roots  also  and  some  few  dishes  of  green  vegetables 
— too  delicious  in  these  regions  where  kitchen-gardens  are 
not  !  And  then  some  sweets,  either  of  milk  and  honey,  or 
of  preserved  apple-quince,  or  of  some  other  kind ;  and,  last  of 
all,  a  cup  of  magnificent  Yunca  cofifee,  and  a  scented  Havana 
cigar.  Could  more  be  desired  1  I  felt  like  a  prince,  and  I  thought 
princes  could  not  have  a  better  time  of  it  than  I.  Moreover, 
in  the  hottest  part  of  the  afternoon  beautiful  earthen  vases 
were  brought  in  filled  with  old  aloja,  amber-coloured,  crystal - 
clear,  sparkling  and  cool ;  and  a  little  later  we  had  our  choice  of 
tea,  or  mate,  or  both ! 

In  the  evening  of  this  delightful  day  there  was  a  military 
ball.  Everything  is  military  here,  and  once  again  the  fair 
Tucuraan  ladies  bore  away  the  palm  from  their  Argentine 
sisters,  as  did  the  officers  from  the  citizens,  whose  claims  as 
guests  were  quite  eclipsed  by  their  gold  lace.  The  ball  was 
held  on  a  clearing  covered  by  a  straw  roof,  and  with  the  four 
sides  open. 

At  about  a  league  away  the  colonel  had  set  up  a  tan-yard,  that 
we  went  over.  A  flint  hatchet  had  been  discovered  there  during 
excavations  for  a  well ;  and,  to  my  great  disappointment,  this  had 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC,  I97 

been  given  a  few  weeks  before  to  the  official  paymasters  from 
Buenos  Ayres,  who  had  returned  thither.  The  search  for 
fossils  in  these  parts  might  lead  to  great  discoveries,  especially 
in  the  direction  of  the  Oran  Cordillera.  I  remember  seeing 
some  years  ago,  in  a  precipitous  part  between  Oran  and  the 
Juntas  of  San  Francisco,  some  bones  of  a  gigantic  animal  that 
according  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood  no  longer 
existed.  Other  explorers  have  remarked  similar  fossils  in  the 
north,  in  the  river-gorges  of  a  road  leading  to  Bolivia,  super- 
posed on  a  stratum  of  chalk.  This  stratum  is  probably  the  con- 
tinuation of  a  chalk  formation  that  I  remarked  at  the  foot  of  the 
Precordillera,  farthest  east  between  Cordoba  and  Oran,  extending 
for  about  a  thousand  kilometers  and  forming  banks  of  great  size, 
and  high  hills  that  seem  once  to  have  been  the  coast,  when  the 
present  Argentine  table-land  was  covered  by  the  sea.  A  true 
geological  horizon  is  thus  presented  to  us. 

N^ear  the  tan-yard  {curtieinbre)  there  were  many  wild  mul- 
berry-trees, or  mora,  as  they  are  called  here.  They  grow  in 
large  quantities  in  the  woods  between  this  neighbourhood  and 
the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  The  mora  attains  a  very  great 
height ;  the  trunk  is  of  close  fibre,  and  is  used  for  articles  of 
furniture  and  for  carts  ;  the  leaf  resembles  that  of  our  mulberry, 
but  is  smaller ;  the  fruit  is  the  same  as  ours ;  a  milky  fluid 
exudes  from  the  stalk  when  the  leaves  are  plucked. 

The  tan  is  made  from  the  bark  of  the  cebil,  a  large  tree  like 
our  sorb-apple,  but  with  smaller  leaves.  It  grows  at  first  on  the 
plains  immediately  contiguous  to  the  mountains,  and  extends  to 
a  considerable  height  up  the  slopes.  The  extent  covered  by 
this  tree,  its  importance  and  its  characteristics  are  sufficient 
reasons  for  taking  it  into  account  when  determining  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  flora.  There  are  two  kinds,  the  icliite  and  the 
red.  The  timber  is  not  adapted  for  building,  but  is  used  for 
ploughs  and  carts ;  the  bark  resembles  cork,  and  that  of  the  red 
is  preferred,  as  being  less  knotty,  for  the  knots  cannot  be  split 
through,  and  therefore  the  timber  is  less  good.  The  bark  con- 
tains from  14  to  15  %  of  tannin.  The  worst  is  that  the  tree 
dies  when  stripped  of  its  bark ;  and  in  Tucuman,  consequently, 
where  there  are  many  tan-yards,  the  cehil  is  beginning  to  be 
very  costly,  especially  as  its  growth  is  not  at  all  rapid. 

As  we  are  on  the  subject  of  tanning,  I  will  add  that  the  leaf 
of  the  Quebracho  Blanco  (Aspidosperma  quebracho),  which 
abounds  in  the  Chaco  and  in  the  forests  of  Santiago,  contains 


198  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

27*50%  of  tannin  ;  it  is  not,  however,  so  far  as  I  know,  made 
use  of  on  any  large  scale,  although  it  has  the  quality  of  not 
colouring  the  hides,  like  the  cehil,  and  acting,  therefore,  as  a 
corrective  of  the  latter. 

But  to  return  to  Fort  Sarmiento.  Besides  all  the  delights  I 
have  mentioned,  there  was  another,  the  crown  of  all.  This 
was  a  line  library  belonging  to  the  colonel,  full  of  military  and 
other  histories,  of  works  on  science  and  literature,  and  of  those 
liandbooks  that  make  science  popular  by  presenting  it  under  an 
attractive  form,  such  as  the  works  of  Mantegazza,  of  Flammarion, 
and  of  Jules  Verne.  Writers  such  as  these  are  the  evangelists 
of  science,  and  however  loudly  learned  pedants  and  sophistical 
teachers  may  declaim  against  the  usurpations,  the  transfigurations, 
and  even  the  inaccuracy  of  these  authors,  the  fact  remains,  that 
through  them  and  by  their  means  the  public  learns  and  enjoys 
the  truths  of  science  distilled  in  their  laboratories,  where  but  for 
such  writers  they  would  remain  inaccessible  to  the  people,  who 
would  not  appreciate  them  if  not  presented  under  an  attractive 
form. 

When  wandering  in  foreign  countries,  one  always  seeks, 
especially  at  first,  for  something  that  appertains  to  one's  own 
native  land.  I  looked  round,  therefore,  for  Italian  authors. 
One  only  had  the  honour  of  being  a  guest,  but  to  me  and  to 
the  owner  of  the  library  he  was  a  host  in  himself.  I  speak  of 
Cesare  Cantu  and  his  "  Universal  History  "  (Storia  Universale) 
in  a  handsome  Spanish  translation. 

I  have  met  with  this  history  in  all  parts  of  the  Republic, 
thanks  to  the  public  circulating  libraries,  that,  during  the 
presidency  of  Sarmiento,  were  extended  in  every  direction  with 
the  aid  of  the  National  Government,  who  granted  in  every  case 
a  sum  equal  in  amount  to  that  collected  in  the  neighbourhood. 
They  are  now  ruined  by  the  mismanagement  of  taxes,  and  are 
struggling  with  numberless  local  difficulties,  the  chief  of  which 
are  the  long  distances. 

I  have  often  wondered  why  Cantu  is  not  even  a  senator,  and 
then  I  have  reflected  that  he  must  have  declined  the  honour, 
because  it  would  have  been  a  disgrace  to  Menabrea  at  least,  if 
not  to  Cairoli  and  Depretis,  not  to  have  offered  him  a  nomina- 
tion. I  am  aware  that  he  has  been  accused  of  historical  in- 
accuracy on  certain  very  intricate  questions,  but  I,  who  cannot 
unravel  them,  am  struck  with  admiration,  not  only  for,  the 
gigantic  lines  on  which  his  work  is  laid,  but  also  for  his  lucid 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  I99 

and  beautiful  style.  I  learned  more  of  tlie  history  of  American 
independence  in  twenty  pages  of  his  work,  than  in  any  special 
history  of  the  subject. 

It  is  said  that  "  he  has  not  the  philosophic  mind."  I  grant 
it,  but  he  is  a  model  of  the  grand  historical  style,  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  subject,  the  grouping  of  facts,  in  conciseness,  in 
clearness,  and  in  the  literary  style  which  is  so  greatly  appreciated 
in  other  authors. 

"  But  his  history  is  written  in  favour  of  the  Catholic  Church." 
I  remarked  this  myself,  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  forget 
the  kind  of  subterfuge  made  use  of  with  regard  to  a  letter  on 
the  analogy  between  Christianity  and  pre-existing  Buddhism 
written  by  a  missionary  named  De  Giorgi  to  the  Propaganda  at 
Kome.  Cantii  transcribes  it,  either  in  the  appendix  to  one  of 
his  volumes  or  among  his  authorities,  but  in  Latin  ;  and,  however 
familiar  the  style,  it  is  not  easy,  and  the  greater  number  of 
readers  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  make  it  out.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  translates  many  other  documents.  But  after  all,  this 
is  only  one  of  the  many  sides  of  the  work,  and  although  open 
to  criticism,  as  are  some  other  points,  the  larger  remaining 
jwrtion  does  not  thereby  lose  its  value. 

Besides,  are  there  not  numberless  historians  who  devote 
their  skill  to  the  service  of  a  cause  1 — and  who,  nevertheless, 
are  approved  by  the  majority  of  readers  1  It  is  merely  a 
question  of  sympathy  with  the  writer's  views.  !Now  let  him 
who  is  without  sin  cast  the  first  stone. 

In  the  public  library  of  a  mining  district  I  met  with  another 
book  by  an  Italian  author  ;  the  "  Lezioni  di  Geologia,"  by  the 
Abate  Stoppani,  a  well-known  name  in  Italy,  To  a  vast  scientific 
erudition,  he  adds  a  style  so  splendid,  that  it  is  a  real  creation 
applied  to  the  discoui-se  on  the  earth. 

I  feel  that  I  owe  much  to  Stoppani,  although  I  do  not  even 
know  him  by  sight.  The  full  discussion  of,  and  his  own  views 
on,  the  circulation  of  the  atmosphere  as  based  on  the  theories 
of  Dana  and  Maury,  and  his  hypothesis  on  the  upheaval  by 
consensus  of  the  mountainous  systems,  have  been  to  me  as  a 
mariner's  compass  among  the  climatic  and  geographical  phe- 
nomena I  have  observed  in  my  explorations  of  the  Argentine 
regions. 

The  hypotheses  of  parallelism  in  the  upheavals,  deduced  from 
the  fact  of  the  relative  position  of  the  Lebanon  and  the  Anti- 
Lebanon,   of   the  Alps  and  the   Pre- Alps    (see    tlie    "  Kuova 


200  KIGIIT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

Antologia"  of  four  or  five  years  ago),  explained  by  the  com- 
parison of  a  carpet  which,  when  pressed  down  on  one  side, 
moves  in  parallel  folds,  is  in  my  opinion  confirmed  on  an 
immense  scale  in  the  book  of  nature  by  the  aspect  of  several 
mountain  chains  that  in  the  centre  and  north  of  the  Republic 
are  all  parallel  with  the  Andes,  with  which  they  may  be  said  to 
form  the  Argentine  Cordillera,  which  includes  both  narrow 
valleys  and  wide  plains. 

This  parallelism  and  simultaneous  action  struck  me  yet 
more  forcibly  when  walking  in  S.  Luis  Street,  Mendoza,  in 
company  with  the  engineer  Ceresetto,  a  former  disciple  of 
Stoppani's,  I  perceived  that  the  road,  200  kilometers  in  length 
and  running  in  a  straight  line  from  east  to  west,  traversed  a 
series  of  hills,  the  direction  of  which  was  from  south  to  north, 
like  that  of  the  above-named  mountains.  This  disposition  of 
the  hills  (the  wrinkles  in  the  carpet)  continues  in  diminishing 
as  it  reaches  their  sides,  which  form  a  chain  as  far  as  the 
Desaguadero  river,  that  flows  in  a  northerly  direction,  and 
the  undulations  are  distant  from  each  other  in  inverse  pro- 
portion to  the  height  of  the  Sierra  S.  Luis  and  to  the  chain  of 
the  Andes.  This  undulation  is  the  true  cause  of  the  collection 
of  the  waters  in  the  Bacino,  as  it  has  been  instinctively  named 
by  the  people.  The  volume  of  water,  however,  is  very  in- 
significant, and  is  not  to  be  compared  with  that  which  descends 
directly  from  the  Andes  and  waters  the  plains  and  cultivated 
fields  before  uniting  with  the  river. 

I  do  not  venture  to  suggest  the  perusal  of  the  whole  of 
Stoppani's  work.  It  consists  of  three  volumes,  of  which  two 
are  in  large  octavo.  The  type  is  clear,  but  extremely  minute, 
and  the  notes  almost  microscopical ;  these  two  volumes  contain 
more  than  two  thousand  pages.  They  are  fatiguing  to  read, 
notwithstanding  the  author's  sparkling  style ;  but  the  first 
volume  (I  am  speaking  of  the  edition  of  1873  or  1874),  which 
treats  of  "  Terrestrial  Dynamics,"  and  which  is  the  shortest  and 
perhaps  the  best,  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  student 
before  the  conclusion  of  his  college  course,  because  the  topics 
of  which  it  treats  should  form  part  of  the  curriculum  of 
secondary  studies,  like  physics  and  other  natural  sciences. 
And  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  the  subject  more  clearly 
treated. 

"  This  work,  then,  is  of  surpassing  excellence  1 "  Yes,  it 
is  a  great  work,  but,  being  human,  it  is  not  perfect,  though  it 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  20I 

may  seem  rash  in  me  to  say  so.  To  sum  up,  I  have  read  it 
through,  and  some  parts  of  it  more  than  once,  and  am  therefore 
in  a  position  unusual  to  critics,  especially  the  great  ones.  But 
to  return.  I  do  not  enter  into  the  science  of  it,  for  I  know- 
nothing  of  that ;  let  me  speak  of  what  may  be  called  the 
literary  side. 

To  begin  with,  the  author  is  too  argumentative.  It  may  seem 
strange  to  call  this  a  fault,  but  I  consider  it  one  in  a  scientific 
work.  The  eagerness  of  the  autlior  to  demonstrate  his  con 
elusions,  his  enthusiastic,  nay,  almost  irritable  advocacy  of 
views  which,  if  true,  are  true,  and  which,  if  not,  can  be  made  so 
by  no  effort  of  rhetoric,  does  not  appear  to  me  a  good  scientific 
method.  It  must  at  first  confuse  the  student,  sometimes  annoy 
him,  and  often  compromise  the  author. 

The  very  honesty  which  leads  the  writer  to  correct  in  the 
edition  I  have  mentioned  some  conclusions  to  which  he  had 
come  in  an  earlier  edition,  is  apt  to  shake  the  confidence  of  the 
reader,  and,  if  he  is  a  pupil,  to  expose  him  to  severe  mortification. 

The  student,  as  such,  espouses  his  author's  cause,  and  supports 
all  his  teaching  through  thick  and  thin,  and  then  some  fine 
day  may  find  himself  confuted  out  of  the  mouth  of  his  own 
master !  The  latter,  in  his  turn,  cannot  but  find  himself 
trammelled  by  the  previous  hot  polemic,  and  the  confidence 
he  had  inspired  lessened  by  his  change  of  sides. 

There  are,  moreover,  two  other  serious  defects,  which  to  my 
mind  are  anti-scientific :  these  are,  firstly,  the  absolutism  of 
certain  theses  ;  and  secondly,  intolerance  and  contempt  for  his 
opponents,  who  are  for  him  enemies. 

Our  author  bases  this  character  of  his  on  his  prof oujid  scientific- 
rmivictions.  But  may  not  his  opponents  put  forth  a  like  claim  1 
They,  however,  are  more  reserved,  and  do  not  take  it  at  all  that 
themselves,  their  pupils,  and  the  public  should  accept  their 
conclusions,  with  all  the  conditions  that  are  presented  with  them. 

But  Stoppani  is  exasperated  by  the  conclusions  of  others,  if 
contradictory  of  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures,  which  he 
ingeniously  interprets  so  as  to  harmonize  with  the  henceforth 
unanswerable  truths  of  science.  But  I  ask,  are  not  these 
very  interpretations  that  harmonize  science  and  the  Bible 
precisely  the  fruit  of  profane  truths  denied  in  the  beginning  by 
the  authorized  exponents  of  Scripture  with  such  positive  con- 
viction and  such  contemptuous  intolerance  ?  And  why  should 
it  be  surprising  that  the  learned  and  the  curious,  not  concerning 


202  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

themselves  with  Biblical  doctrines,  should  take  advantage  of  every 
kind  of  data  in  order  to  draw  rational  conclusions,  and  should 
leave  to  the  expositors  of  Scriptural  tradition  the  task  of 
harmonizing  the  two  1 

It  is  not  only  useful,  it  is  honest  and  right  to  he  prudent,  in 
order  faithfully  to  serve  science,  which  is  jeopardized  if  tram- 
melled by  former  beliefs  extraneous  to  her.  Our  author  is 
indignant  at  the  hypothesis  of  tertiary  man  ;  and  excluding  or 
omitting  the  greater,  interpreting  the  lesser  spaces  of  time  at- 
tributed to  the  quaternary  epoch,  deduced  by  some  naturalists 
from  geological  data — none  of  them  very  convincing — proceed- 
ing in  sequence  with  traditional  and  archaeological  elements,  he 
places  the  appearance  of  man  at  an  epoch  that  makes  it  agree 
with  the  words  of  Scripture.  It  is  a  fine  demonstration, 
although,  of  course,  somewhat  lame,  and  will  be  found  interest- 
ing both  by  poets  and  ladies  who  care  to  seek  for  it  at  the  end 
of  the  second  volume.  But  the  basis  is  unsound.  For  it  is  in 
fact  demonstrated  that  it  is  impossible  to  prove  the  existence 
of  man  in  the  tertiary  period.  Yes,  by  the  author  and  some 
others,  to  his  and  their  satisfaction,  and  to  that  of  others, 
perhaps,  up  to  the  moment  at  which  he  wrote,  but  can  it  be  so 
for  the  futurel  A  priori  the  answer  must  be  in  the  negative,  since 
mammals  are  shown  to  have  existed  in  the  secondary  period, 
and  the  following  facts  refute  such  a  premature  and  positive 
conclusion,  albeit  accompanied  by  anathema.  Quatrefages,  in- 
deed, who  is  beyond  the  suspicion  of  the  most  orthodox,  who 
at  the  time  that  Stoppani's  work  was  published  suspended  his 
judgment  on  this  difficult  and  transcendental  question,  came 
later  to  the  conclusion  that  the  existence  of  tertiary  man  is 
proved  by  the  fresh  discoveries  of  the  Abbe  Bourgeois  at  Thenay, 
and  those  of  Professor  Cappellini  at  Monte  Aperto.  Moreover, 
he  came  to  the  opinion  that  tertiary  man  is  proved,  and  not 
only  as  belonging  to  the  last  period  of  the  tertiary  epoch,  but 
also  to  the  middle  period,  and  also  he  does  not  hesitate  to  accept 
the  idea  of  man  as  still  more  remote. 

Now,  one  such  proof,  if  accepted,  relegates  man  to  an  antiquity 
with  which  it  is  impossible  to  make  the  Bible  (ransacked  to 
establish  an  opposite  conclusion)  agree,  unless  by  means  of  a 
retractation  like  the  famous  one  concerning  the  immobility  of 
the  earth.  Such  a  retractation  would  be  dangerous  and  scandalous 
to  timid  souls  and  upright  minds,  in  proportion  to  the  fury,  and 
intolerance  with  which  the  contrary  thesis  has  been  supported. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  203 

But  the  incompatibility  of  science  as  the  servant  of  dogma, 
with  science  as  the  servant  of  truth,  is  shown  most  clearly  in 
the  question  that  will  henceforth  be  called  Darwinism.  Our 
author  here  pushes  anger  and  intolerance  to  the  verge  of 
insult. 

According  to  the  Darwinian  theory,  living  organisms  are  the 
product  of  progressive  evolution  in  embryonic  form,  which  by 
exercise  of  forces  of  complex  kinds,  called  natural  selection, 
and  developed  in  different  directions,  with  successive  subdivi- 
sions, has  given  place  to  the  infinite  variety  of  past  and  present 
existing  organisms. 

This  theory,  which  is  corroborated  both  by  fact  and  reflection, 
commends  itself  so  strongly  to  the  mind  by  its  simplicity,  and 
to  the  understanding  by  its  force  and  depth,  that  it  would 
probably  have  been  accepted  universally,  with  an  immense 
longing  to  search  into  its  truths,  only  that  it  clashed  with  the 
previous  cosmogonies  sanctioned  by  ancient  religions.  The 
theory  was,  therefore,  received  with  indignation,  when  it  was 
extended  to  the  origin  of  man.  The  self-esteem  of  men  was 
appealed  to  in  order  to  controvert  it ;  and  it  was  confounded 
with  atheism  and  materialism,  which,  although  no  less  worthy 
of  respect  than  any  other  opinions,  are  not  necessarily  either 
admitted  or  rejected  by  the  Darwinian  theory.  Stoppani  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  ask  whether  Darwinians  are  not  ashamed  of 
having  been  born,  now  that  they  renounce  their  origin  from 
Adam.  No !  there  is  no  disgrace  in  admitting  the  lowliness 
of  our  origin,  it  is  our  duty  to  recognize  it,  when  so  it  is ;  and 
the  vaunt  of  Themistocles  that  the  nobility  of  his  family  origi- 
nated in  himself  may  even  likewise  be  justified.  Man's  worth 
is  not  to  be  measured  by  what  he  or  his  ancestors  may  have  been, 
but  by  what  he  is.  There  is  no  divine  righteousness  that  can 
be  preferred  before  the  righteousness  of  the  human  conscience, 
and  this  conscience  teaches  us  that  rewards  and  punishments 
must  be  awarded  to  the  man  as  he  noAV  exists,  not  to  a  man 
who  existed  in  the  past  and  is  now  no  more. 

What  1  Has  the  Eternal  Father  who,  according  to  the 
orthodox,  calls  to  His  bosom  the  souls  of  those  who  are  like 
Him,  lost  all  power,  and  have  we  lost  all  merit  because  the  root 
of  our  genealogical  tree  is  an  organic  monod  instead  of  an 
image  of  clay  ? 

But  such  a  theory  is  atheism  and  materialism  !  By  no 
means  !     How  do  we  deny  God  by  affirming  that  a  Creating 


204  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Power  and  a  Preordinating  Mind— instead  of  manifestinir  itself 
by  the  numerous  isolated,  intermittent,  non-coordinate  acts  of 
will  which  would  be  necessitated  by  the  separate  creation  of 
each  of  the  innumerable  species  belonging  to  the  vegetable  and 
animal  kingdoms — should  have  created  one  solitary  germ,  and 
pre-ordained  for  it  the  laws  according  to  which  it  should 
develop  in  the  numberless  directions  which  correspond  to  the 
combination  and  the  empire  of  these  very  laws  ? 

How  do  we  deny  the  soul  by  affirming  that  the  vital  force 
acquires  new  virtue  as  it  becomes  incarnated  in  progressively 
higher  organisms,  until  at  last  it  attains  to  human  life,  and  sees 
before  it  the  destiny  which  is  attributed  by  religion  to  man  'i 
Because,  in  fact,  the  reasonableness  and  the  justice  of  this 
destiny  actually  reside,  according  to  the  declarations  of  philoso- 
phers and  doctors  and  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  on  the 
faculties  by  which  man  is  distinguished  from  other  creatures. 
]S"ow  these  faculties  are  not  denied  by  the  fact  of  attributing 
to  them  the  various  gestations  of  Darwinism. 

This  Darwinian  theory,  independently  of  all  metaphysical 
considerations,  and  although  not  exempt  from  the  severity  of 
scientific  criticism,  presents  itself,  nevertheless,  with  such  an 
impress  of  simplicity,  of  fulness,  of  harmony,  and  of  gravity, 
that  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  learned  and  the  unlearned  to 
study  it  with  profound  attention,  and  to  welcome  it  as  a  hope 
that  brightens  the  future  of  science  and  of  the  speculative 
intellect. 

For  my  own  part,  I  parody  the  saying  on  behalf  of  the 
existence  of  God,  that  "if  the  Darwinian  theory  did  not  exist, 
we  should  have  to  invent  it,"  because  the  mind  and  the  soul  of 
man  may  in  it  find  rest  in  contemplation  of  the  progression  and 
concatenation  of  organisms,  and  from  that  of  the  irrationality 
of  their  existence  in  such  large  numbers,  if  their  appearance 
must  be  attributed  to  an  equal  number  of  acts  of  an  omniscient 
and  omnipotent  will. 

We  much  enjoyed  our  agreeable  and  instructive  conversation 
with  the  gallant  colonel,  but  so  soon  as  the  storm,  of  which 
the  climatological  instruments  included  among  his  astronomical 
ones  had  warned  us,  had  passed  away,  we  decided  on  resuming 
our  journey,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  we  took  a 
regretful  leave  of  our  kind  hosts,  and  started  for  Oran. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  20$ 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE    CHUQCHO — REPTILES,    BIRDS,    QUADRUPEDS. 

The  poor  colonel !  An  attack  of  paralysis,  brought  on  by  the 
chuqcho,  might  have  kept  him  in  bed  for  a  long  time.  But, 
fortunately,  the  regimental  surgeon,  Signor  Baldi,  from  Lucca, 
a  man  esteemed  and  liked  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  expe- 
rienced in  this  kind  of  malady,  diagnosed  the  disease  at  once, 
and  saved  him. 

The  chuqcho  is  the  same  as  our  marsh  fever.  It  breaks  out 
frequently  in  the  summer  and  autumn  seasons  in  the  northern 
provinces  of  the  Republic,  in  localities  on  or  near  the  mountains, 
where  the  redundant  vegetation,  added  to  a  high  temperature 
and  a  moist  atmosphere,  determines  the  production  of  marshy 
miasma.  The  provinces  of  Salta  and  Tucuman,  and  sometimes 
those  parts  of  Catamarca  also  that  are  situate  on  the  plain  near 
hills  and  villeys,  are  visited  with  this  scourge.  Oran,  which  is 
shut  in  among  mountains,  and  stands  in  the  midst  of  dense 
and  luxuriant  forests,  suffers  from  it  to  a  still  greater 
degree. 

It  has  already  been  remarked  by  naturalists  that  the  southern 
hemisphere  suffers  less  from  marsh  miasma  than  the  northern  ; 
it  exists  in  the  latter  as  far  as  59°  lat.  N.,  while  in  the  former  it 
does  not  habitually  reach  from  beyond  the  tropic  to  24°  lat.  S. 
I  can  add  from  personal  observation  that  miasma  is  not  only 
affected  by  latitude,  but  by  orographical  conditions  also — which, 
interfering  with  the  free  circulation  of  the  air,  and  thus  caus- 
ing the  atmosphere  to  be  more  easily  saturated  with  moisture, 
constitute,  together  with  the  latitude,  a  region  possessing  the 
three  conditions  mentioned  above,  viz.  redundant  vegetation, 
moisture,  and  heat.  These  conditions  are  thus  supplied  even 
more  easily  than  by  the  great  masses  of  running  water  and  the 
low-lying  plains  of  the  Parana  and  the  Paraguay  in  the  same 
latitude.    Marsh  fevers  prevail,  therefore,  in  the  Republic  as  far 


206  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

as  30°  lat.  S.,  in  the  places  and  under  the  orographical  conditions 
aforesaid. 

From  Fort  Sarmiento  we  proceeded  towards  Oran,  a  distance 
by  road  of  thirty-four  leagues,  but  only  twenty  in  a  direct 
line,  which  is,  however,  impracticable.  We  skirted  the  line  of 
the  tropics,  and  our  shadows  no  longer  accompanied  us  on  our 
left  side,  but  were  sometimes  in  front,  sometimes  behind,  ac- 
cording to  the  time  of  day ;  and  at  last  we  drew  near  Oran  in  a 
W.N.W.  direction. 

It  was  the  middle  of  October.  The  sun  was  in  its  dog-days' 
strength,  and  the  plants,  miser-like,  after  the  earliest  hours  of 
the  day,  gathered  round  them  and  beneath  them  all  the  shade 
that  would  have  been  so  grateful  to  the  wayfarer ;  while  the 
lizard  and  the  viper,  stationed  at  the  edge  of  the  belt  of  shade, 
made  all  approach  dangerous. 

All  was  silence,  not  a  rustling  leaf  heralded  a  refreshing 
breeze  to  play  on  our  foreheads  and  assuage  the  burning  heat 
within  us ;  not  a  warbling  note  to  encourage  our  progress 
from  the  innumerable  singing-birds  that  were  hidden  among 
the  leaves,  or,  with  ruffled  feathers,  perched  motionless  on  the 
branches,  or  slowly  fluttered,  as  we  approached,  from  one  twig  to 
another. 

But,  at  long  intervals,  there  was  a  shrill  and  prolonged 
whistle,  like  that  of  a  steam-engine.  This  was  the  song  with 
which  the  coyuyOy  a  large  sort  of  cicada,  announces  and  rejoices 
over  the  maturity  of  the  caruba. 

As  we  drew  near  to  the  stagnant  waters,  the  frog,  hidden 
under  the  grass,  would  suddenly  splash  in,  and  for  a  moment 
the  widening  circles  would  simulate  life,  as  the  fetid  bubbles 
rose  to  the  surface;  while  the  stupid  toad  fancied  he  was 
escaping  danger  by  hiding  his  ill-formed  head  in  the  first  ostrich 
egg-hole  he  saw  before  him. 

Our  horses,  overcome  with  the  heat,  were  insensible  to  the 
spur ;  and  the  riders,  wearied  with  useless  endeavours,  left  their 
steeds  to  their  own  devices. 

Our  progress  was  slow,  but  not  the  less  fatiguing.  At  dusk 
we  lighted  upon  a  numerous  vanguard  of  the  new  flora.  These 
were  chehils.  We  were  within  a  little  of  finding  ourselves 
prisoners  until  the  next  day,  each  step  through  the  plantation, 
of  more  than  three  leagues  in  length,  was  so  full  of  difficulty. 

We  reached  our  halting-place  late  at  night,  having  made 
thirteen  leagues.     This  was  an  estancia  called  Rosario  ;  the  fW 


OF  THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  20/ 

inhabitants  were  already  asleep,  and,  stretching  ourselves  on  the 
ground,  we  followed  their  example.  Our  slumbers  were  accom- 
panied by  the  wailing  of  women  in  a  neighbouring  tolderia,  as 
they  mourned  over  the  body  of  a  man  who  had  died  of  a  disease 
only  recently  developed  among  them,  and  by  which  they  were 
being  decimated. 

The  next  morning  the  mountains  rose  distinctly  in  view,  and 
we  could  see  their  crests  now  and  again  as  far  as  Fort  Sar- 
miento,  standing  out  against  the  horizon  like  immense  stretches 
of  landscape  suspended  between  earth  and  sky.  We  were  at 
that  moment  ten  leagues  away  from  the  nearest,  yet  we  saw  it 
clearly  and  distinctly.  In  cloudless  weather  the  atmosphere 
throughout  the  Republic  is  so  diaphanous,  that  European  eyes, 
even  when  educated  to  the  transparency  of  southern  skies,  are 
often  deceived  as  to  distance.  1  have  frequently  experienced 
this  on  the  railway,  being  able  to  distinguish  the  huts  of  the 
settlers  and  the  stations  at  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  kilo- 
meters ;  a  more  delightful  prospect  awaits  me  whenever  I  go  to 
Tucuman  and  suddenly  catch  sight  of  the  majestic  amphi- 
theatre of  mountains  by  which  that  province  is  enclosed  on  the 
west  and  north,  while  I  am  still  at  a  distance  from  it  of  200 
kilometers. 

After  travelling  for  thirty  kilometers,  we  halted  for  luncheon 
at  the  house  of  a  wealthy  Spanish  estanciero,  who  was  said 
to  own  more  than  10,000  head  of  cattle.  The  hour  and  the 
heat  of  the  season  made  the  conversation  turn  on  reptiles. 
We  M^ere  told  of  several  vipers  whose  bite  is  dangerous  to  man 
and  beast,  and  of  the  belief  entertained  by  Creoles  and  Indians 
that  the  skin  of  a  serpent,  dried  and  worn  round  the  head,  is 
a  remedy  for  violent  headache.  This  idea  prevails  throughout 
the  Republic  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  campo. 

A  virtue  even  superior  to  this  resides  in  the  lizard  and  the 
chameleon,  whether  raw  or  cooked,  as  a  cure  for  syphilis. 
Some  marvellous  cures  are  reported.  It  is  said  that  if  the  belly 
of  a  living  toad  be  applied  to  erysipelas  a  cure  is  effected.  This 
belief  is  shared  by  everybody  here,  whether  civilized  or  savage ; 
and  the  skin  powdered  and  rubbed  on  the  gums  is  said  to  be  a 
cure  for  scurvy. 

As  to  the  application  of  one  body  to  another,  there  seems  no 
reason  to  reject  a  j^riori  certain  opinions,  when  accompanied  by 
circumstances  that  induce  reflection.  Neither  mystic  signs  nor 
cabalistic  words  are  in  question  in  these  cases.     I  should  add 


208         EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

that  an  ointment  of  toad-grease,  dissolved  in  boiling  oil,  and 
collected  on  the  lid  of  the  stew-pan,  has  been  of  proved  efficacy 
in  cases  of  quinsy.  A  colleague  of  mine,  who  was  educated 
in  England,  Engineer  Pardo  Saltegno,  knew  it  to  be  efficacious 
on  two  occasions  in  the  case  of  his  brother,  a  lawyer. 
Another  of  my  colleagues,  Engineer  Yaliente,  had  ■  suggested 
it  to  Pardo,  who  thus  escaped  the  operation  he  had  under- 
gone on  a  former  occasion,  and  which  was  impending  a  second 
time  several  years  later.  My  own  brother  was  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  his  leg  from  erysipelas  in  Italy,  but  was  unex- 
pectedly cured,  shortly  after  binding  two  live  frogs  for  a  whole 
night  on  the  atfected  part.  He  knows  how  they  tortured  him  ! 
I  was  a  child,  but  I  remember  it. 

Snakes,  including  vipers,  are  very  greedy  for  milk  in  these 
parts.  There  are  plenty  of  anecdotes  on  the  subject,  as  in  Italy. 
I  knew  a  lady  in  Rivadavia,  the  wife  of  an  Englishman,  with 
whom  I  was  also  acquainted,  who  nearly  lost  a  precious  infant 
through  a  viper  that  found  its  way  to  the  child's  bed.  The 
mother  discovered  it  one  day  at  the  hour  of  siesta,  and  after- 
wards, on  making  a  search  through  the  house,  its  mate  was 
found  on  the  straw  roof. 

It  is  wonderful  that  these  vipers  so  continually  glide  among 
persons  sleeping  on  the  ground  without  disturbing  them,  and 
do  not  bite,  even  when  unconsciously  touched  by  the  sleeper. 
This  proves  not  onl}'^  the  intelligence  of  the  creature,  but  also 
that  it  only  strikes  in  self-defence. 

The  ampalagua,  so  common  in  the  province  of  Santiago,  is 
very  rarely  met  with  in  these  parts.  This  snake  is  four  yards 
in  length  and  about  the  tenth  of  a  yard  or  rather  more 
in  diameter.  Its  colour  is  the  same  as  that  of  our  common 
snakes.  My  men  destroyed  a  female  containing  a  number  of 
eggs,  with  yolks  three  times  the  size  of  the  yolk  of  a  fowl's 
Ggg.     I  do  not  know  what  stage  of  pregnancy  had  been  reached. 

A  coral-snake  lying  on  an  iron  rod  and  trodden  upon,  gave 
a  sort  of  electric  shock  to  a  friend  of  mine,  who  felt  too 
much  disgusted  to  repeat  the  experiment.  These  vipers  are 
distinguished  by  coloured  rings,  white,  red,  and  black,  on  the 
back. 

There  is  also  a  species  of  animal,  half-newt,  half-lizard,  with 
a  short  tail,  vulgarly  called  sierra  morena,  from  being  marked 
with  a  saw  {sierra)  on  the  back.  It  is  the  colour  of  wood,  lives 
in  trees,  and  is  venomous.     It  is  extremely  dangerous.  ' 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  209 

The  iguana,  on  the  contrary,  is  harmless.  It  is  an  enormous 
newt,  and  is  sometimes  a  yard  in  length,  and  in  that  case  is 
fifteen  or  twenty  centimeters  in  diameter.  It  is  amphibious, 
the  skin  speckled  a  dull  red  and  green,  and  changing  its  colour 
according  to  the  light.  It  is  eaten  by  the  natives,  and  the  short, 
thick  tail  is  (considered  a  delicacy. 

The  turtle  is  as  much  honoured  in  the  kitchen  here  as  with 
ourselves.  It  is  in  general  very  much  larger  than  our  turtles, 
and  the  shell  is  superior — being  so  delicately  carved  in  geome- 
trical patterns  at  the  edge  of  each  octagonal  scale  that  it  looks 
like  the  Avork  of  some  skilful  engraver. 

Venomous  insects  are  not  wanting.  There  are  scorpions  and 
tarantulas,  like  those  in  the  Tuscan  marshes,  only  uglier,  and 
innumerable  absurd-looking  spiders  with  bodies  as  big  as  a 
baby's  fist  poised  on  the  tips  of  its  fingers.  They  are  hairy, 
extremely  prolific,  and  carry  their  young  astride  on  their  ])acks 
when  first  hatched.  They  make  their  nests  up  trees  and  in 
roofs.     They  are  said  to  be  venomous. 

In  contrast  with  these  ugly  and  poisonous  spiders  are 
the  numerous  kinds  of  bees,  whose  honey— or  milk^  as  the 
Chiccuan  word  has  it  (millsqui,  like  the  German  milch  and 
English  milk) — is  so  delicious  to  man  and  to  many  wild  animals. 
One  kind  of  bee,  called  alpamillsqui,  makes  its  honey  on  the 
ground  (alpa),  in  hives  divided  into  several  compartments  of  five 
centimeters  in  length  and  one  in  diameter,  from  each  of  which 
a  different  kind  of  honey  is  extracted,  according  to  the  prevail- 
ing flowers  entering  into  its  composition.  Then  there  is  the 
stio-simi,  or  sand-bee  ;  the  moro-moro,  that  produces  a  rapidly 
crystallizing  honey  in  small  quantities,  but  so  strong  that,  on 
one  occasion  having  taken  a  little  while  fasting,  I  became, 
as  it  were,  intoxicated.  There  are  many  other  kinds  of  bees 
that,  like  the  two  last  named,  deposit  their  honey  in  the  trunks 
of  trees.  All  these  are  harmless  ;  they  do  not  sting ;  and  look 
like  flies,  from  which  they  are  only  distinguishable  by  their 
persistence  and  viscosity  when  they  alight  on  the  hands  and 
face,  and  use  their  trunks  for  sucking.  The  two  species  of 
tchiguanas,  on  the  contrary,  resemble  our  European  bees.  The 
larger  sort  builds  a  large  ball  of  concentric  layers  like  an  onion, 
and  the  smaller  makes  a  small,  spherical  nest,  each  stratum  of 
which  is  divided  into  several  open  cells,  as  in  wasps'  nests. 
These  bees  suspend  their  nests  to  the  branches  of  shrubs. 

The  firefly  here  is  much  larger  than  in  Italy,  and  is  as  useful 

p 


210  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

as  it  is  pretty.  It  carries  on  its  shoulders  two  bright  and  con- 
tinuous lights,  a  millimeter  in  diameter,  and  which  give  them 
light  enough  for  their  purposes.  Fair  ladies  wear  them  in  their 
hair  at  fetes  and  parties.  This  firefly  (pyrophorus  punctatissi- 
mus)  is  vulgarly  called  tuco  or  tiLcco  in  the  north  of  the  Republic, 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  tuc-cho  or  tuchco,  according  to  my  self- 
made  vocabulary,  means  a  star  in  the  dialect  of  the  Mocovitans, 
who  are  a  completely  savage  tribe. 

Close  to  the  dwelling  of  our  host,  and  encircling  a  group  of 
nests  on  a  tree,  were  a  number  of  chattering  lories,  a  kind  of 
parrot,  screaming  loudly  and  incessantly  ckie'CkiCy  which  has 
come  to  be  their  name  among  the  Mattaccos. 

There  are  two  principal  families  of  lories,  the  montardces,  or 
wood-parrots,  and  the  harrancliera  parrots,  from  barranca, 
which  is  Spanish  for  bank.  They  may  be  seen  in  large  flocks 
excavating  their  nests  in  the  perpendicular  banks,  where  they 
arrange  them  in  rows  on  different  levels  like  a  dovecote.  They 
make  their  nests  in  communities,  joined  one  to  the  other. 
Neither  in  size  nor  colouring  are  they  to  be  compared  with 
those  generally  imported  to  Europe.  There  are  very  beautiful 
kinds  in  Brazil  and  Paraguay,  large  and  admirably  tinted. 

The  birds  of  the  Chaco,  as  far  up  as  Gran,  are  pretty  much 
the  same  as  those  found  in  the  centre  of  the  Republic,  and 
are  not  remarkable  for  brightness  or  variety  of  colouring.  It 
is  curious,  however,  that  nearly  all  of  them  are  hooded  or 
tufted,  just  as  nearly  all  the  plants  have  thorns  either  at  the 
point  of  their  leaves  or  at  the  junction  with  the  stalk. 

But,  if  not  brightly  plumaged,  the  smaller  birds  are  mostly 
songsters,  beginning  with  the  blackbird,  of  which  there  are 
many  kinds,  larger  than  ours.  They  are  very  tame,  besides, 
for  nobody  hurts  them ;  powder  and  shot  are  too  expensive,  and 
the  culinary  art  is  not  sufficiently  advanced  to  make  use  of 
them. 

And  then,  who  would  like  to  deprive  his  own  home,  or  the 
shaded  wayside,  of  the  morning  and  evening  concerts  provided 
by  amorous  pairs  of  these  little  songsters  in  the  hottest  seasons 
of  the  year  "J 

The  exquisite  colihri  or  humming-bird  is  wonderful  for  its 
small  size ;  and  the  yica-jlores  for  its  habit  of  sucking  its  food 
from  honeyed  flowers.  It  suspends  its  nest,  which  is  the  size  of 
half  an  egg-shell,  to  a  straw  hanging  from  the  roof  of  a  dwelling. 
The  lively  cardinal  bird  is  most   elegant  and  pleasing, '  with 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  211 

bright  scarlet  mitre,  grey  belly,  and  white  breast.  The  poetic 
strain  of  a  Zanella  would  be  needed  for  its  praise. 

"  How  splendid  !"  one  exclaims  on  seeing  the  flame-coloured, 
spoon-billed  flamingo ;  while  the  appearance  of  the  largest  of 
piscivorous  birds,  the  white  and  grey  julo,  reminds  one  of 
metempsycosis.  Thejulo  remains  motionless  on  the  shore,  on 
the  watch  for  prey,  for  whose  destruction  nature  has  gifted 
him  with  long  and  strong  legs,  a  long  neck,  and  an  immensely 
long  beak,  which  is  joined  without  suture  to  the  bald  bony 
head  that  is  not  distinguishable  from  it. 

More  fortunate  than  their  brethren,  in  that  they  can  poise 
themselves  in  the  air,  and  that  as  yet  the  lord  of  creation  has 
not  learnt  the  art  of  flying,  the  smaller  wild  duck  and  the  wild 
duck  proper,  as  well  as  the  snow-white  swan,  which  disdains 
not  to  be  in  company  with  them,  delight  in  circling  round  in 
graceful  flight  and  in  displaying  their  strength  and  their  skill 
in  natation,  which  man  has  indeed  learnt  to  imitate,  but  will 
never  equal. 

Larger,  more  expert,  and  stronger  on  the  wing,  but  similar  in 
colour  and  in  habits  to  the  turkey,  is  the  chaca,  which  screams 
its  own  name  along  the  solitary  river  shores.  Chacas  collect 
together  in  lar^e  flocks  on  the  ground,  guarded  in  front,  at  the 
back,  and  on  the  two  sides  by  sentinels  on  the  wing,  who  from 
the  tops  of  the  highest  roofs  look  out  for  danger  and  give  due 
warning. 

The  toucan,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  solitary  habits,  and  hides  in 
the  densest  foliage  of  the  woods,  attracting  attention  alike  by 
the  beauty  and  the  awkwardness  of  his  many-tinted  orange- 
coloured  beak.  It  is  as  large  as  his  head,  six  times  as  long,  and 
as  light  as  cork,  and  contrasts  strongly  with  the  diminutive  size 
of  his  body,  and  with  its  colouring,  which  resembles  that  of  a 
bluish-black  pigeon  with  whitish  breast. 

Judging  from  the  colouring  of  the  paloma,  which  is  like  that 
of  the  migratory  pigeons  of  Argentaro,^  as  well  as  from  the 
domestic  instinct  which  makes  these  birds  assemble  in  large 
families  round  inhabited  spots,  and,  alns  !  from  the  taste  of 
their  flesh,  I  conclude  them  to  be  the  brethren,  perhaps  the 
elder  brethren  of  pigeons  who,  under  innumerable  aspects  and 
served  with  innumerable  sauces,  are  one  of  the  most  valuable 

'  A  mountain  in  Tuscany,  on  the  sea-coast,  visited  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year  by  large  flocks  of  pigeons. 

P   2 


212  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

resources  of  the  domestic  hearth  of  the  tyrant  man,  as  well  as 
the  most  striking  example  offered  by  the  Great  Master^  in 
proof  of  his  favourite  theory  of  evolution. 

I  am  brought  to  the  same  conclusion  by  the  affinity  between 
the  domestic  cock — disguising  his  slavery  under  the  glory  of 
his  plumage  and  the  pleasures  of  the  harem,  unknown  to 
liberty — the  charata  inhabiting  the  plains,  and  the  j[?a?;a,  a 
larger  bird,  inhabiting  the  hills.  Both  are  wild,  both  incapable 
of  long  flight  or  long  running,  both  flutter  from  bough  to 
bough,  and  both  are  coff"ee-coloured. 

I  should  like  to  see  every  house  protected  against  reptiles 
and  insects  by  ostriches  that  frequent  the  fields  and  thick 
forests  of  these  Chacos.  They  do  not  differ  in  the  slightest 
degree  from  those  that  scour  the  Pampas,  though  less  than  half 
the  size  of  their  African  brethren.  I  am  ignorant  as  to  the 
worth  of  their  plumes  or  of  the  down  from  their  breast. 

The  chuna  is  very  similar  in  the  uniform  grey  of  the  feathers ; 
it  is  of  moderate  size  and  of  the  same  domestic  habits.  When 
attacking  a  reptile,  it  avoids  a  close  encounter,  and,  rising 
suddenly  in  the  air,  falls  repeatedly  upon  the  enemy,  until  the 
latter,  weakened  by  blows  of  continually  increasing  violence, 
becomes  an  easy  and  unresisting  prey. 

The  intelligence  of  the  chuna  is  surpassed  by  that  of  the 
condor,  or  great  American  vulture,  of  which  there  are  two  kinds, 
the  smaller,  who  frequent  the  plains  near  the  mountains ;  and 
the  larger,  who  dwell  on  the  highest  peaks  of  the  chain  and 
only  descend  into  the  high  contiguous  valleys. 

The  condor  is  grey,  with  black  feathers  at  the  extremity  of 
the  wings,  and  with  a  white  patch  sometimes  on  the  back, 
which  is  uncovered  when  the  wings  are  extended,  and  can  be 
seen  from  below  as  he  gyrates  in  space. 

He  has  formidable  claws,  a  powerful  hooked  beak,  bare  and 
wrinkled  throat,  and  fierce  eyes.  Standing  upright,  he  measures 
about  a  yard,  and  from  wing  to  wing  when  outstretched,  from 
two  to  three  yards. 

These  birds  are  dangerous,  even  for  adults.  They  are  not  of 
solitary  habit,  like  the  eagle,  but  congregate  together  on  the 
mountain  peaks  where  they  dwell,  and  do  not  disdain  the  com- 
pany of  the  cuei-vo,  another  bird  of  prey  of  two  species,  the 
larger  of  which  is  similar  to  the  condor  in  size,  strength,  and 

I, 

'  Darwiu. 


OF  THE   ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  2I3 

habits ;  nor  of  the  carancJio,  a  hawk  frequenting  the  plains 
and  the  hills.  I^ot  only  do  they  tolerate  the  companionship  of 
these  birds,  but  they  make  use  of  them  for  securing  their  own 
safety  at  their  expense. 

The  strength  and  cunning  of  the  condor  makes  him  a  scourge 
to  cattle.  With  a  troop  of  companions  he  attacks  the  cow  an<l 
her  calf  j  some  hover  round  the  mother  beating  their  wings 
until  she  becomes  confused  and  wanders  away  from  the  calf, 
which,  unconscious  of  danger,  bellows  with  raised  head  and 
open  mouth.  The  rest  of  the  brigade  then  swooping  down 
drag  out  its  tongue  with  a  sudden  stroke  of  their  talons,  and 
then  put  out  its  eyes.  Thus  the  mother  no  longer  hears  the 
son,  and  the  latter  cannot  see  the  mother,  who,  terrified  by  the 
fierce  condors,  wanders  farther  and  farther  from  the  poor  blind 
calf,  that,  without  strength  to  defend  itself,  soon  falls  a  victim. 

If  the  cow  has  any  previous  experience  of  her  enemies'  mode 
of  attack,  she  stands  over  her  calf,  and  frequently  defends  her- 
self with  such  success  as  to  put  her  cruel  foes  to  flight. 

In  the  case  of  lambs  and  kids,  resistance  is  impossible ;  with 
two  strokes  of  the  talon,  all  is  over. 

To  get  rid  of  this  terrible  scourge,  the  estancieros  have  for 
some  years  past  made  use  of  strychnine.  They  insert  it  into 
numerous  wounds  made  in  the  carcase  of  an  animal,  either 
slaughtered  for  the  purpose,  or  that  has  been  fortunately  dis- 
covered when  newly  dead. 

At  first  the  condors  remain  round  the  carcase,  tearing  it  and 
feeding  from  it.  But  after  a  while  they  detect  something 
wrong,  and  refuse  to  touch  the  suspected  flesh  ;  and  even  if  it 
is  removed  at  night  to  another  place,  they  recognize  it  again. 

In  order  to  convince  himself  of  the  truth  of  his  suspicion, 
the  condor  waits  until  the  caranchos  and  crows  have  thrown 
themselves  first  on  the  prey ;  if  they  do  not  fall  dead,  the 
condors  plunge  down  from  the  mountain- tops  and  hill-sides,  and 
fall  upon  the  carcase,  while,  in  the  contrary  event,  they  remove 
to  a  distance. 

At  present,  therefore,  strychnine  is  of  no  use,  except  to  get  rid 
of  a  few  novices  who  are  ignorant  of,  or  who  despise  the  danger. 

The  condor,  when  full  to  repletion,  is  slow  in  flight,  and  is 
obliged  to  throw  himself  into  space  from  a  height  like  the 
swallow.  Sometimes  on  these  occasions  he  can  be  despatched 
by  blows  from  a  stick,  but  tliis  happens  very  seldom. 

Among  the  quadrupeds  of  the  Chaco,  the  tajjir  or  anta  (the 


214  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

Chiccliuan  name  by  which  he  is  called  in  these  parts)  is  remark- 
able for  its  strange  structure.  It  resembles  both  the  horse 
and  the  pig.  The  Mattaccos,  in  fact,  call  a  horse  jelatatch,  or 
large  tapir.  Above  all,  when  in  a  sitting  posture,  supported  on 
the  forelegs,  it  looks  like  a  horse,  from  the  waist  upwards.  The 
skin  is  dark  coffee-brown,  almost  black,  and  of  a  texture  between 
horse  and  bull.  The  tail  is  like  a  pig's  ;  the  hoofs  cloven,  with 
four  front  toes  and  three  behind  ;  the  intestines  are  similar  to, 
if  not  the  same  as  those  of  the  horse ;  the  excrements  are  those  of 
the  ass.  This  animal  has  small,  pig-like  eyes  and  ears;  the  cervix 
is  armed  with  a  bony  projection  of  immense  power.  The  legs 
are  short  and  massive ;  body  thick  and  short,  of  most  inelegant 
shape,  yet  with  swift  action  nevertheless.  It  has  a  movable  nasal 
appendage,  resembling  a  diminutive  proboscis  with  the  nasal 
orifices  at  the  end  ;  and  twenty-four  teeth,  twelve  in  each  jaw, 
arranged  in  groups  of  four,  of  which  there  is  one  in  front  and 
one  on  each  side  ;  the  teeth  are  shaped  like  the  teeth  of  horses. 
The  creature  is  herbivorous  ;  and  being  a  pachyderm,  the  hide 
is  excessively  hard  and  most  valuable  for  harness,  especially  the 
shield-like  part  along  the  spine.  The  liver  is  large,  thirty  centi- 
meters by  forty,  and  consists  of  three  lobes  ;  the  centre  one 
being  subdivided  at  the  base  into  four  others,  which  are  partly 
placed  over  it,  and  into  two  smaller  ones  above.  The  tapir 
plunges  willingly  into  and  under  the  water,  like  the  hippo- 
potamus. The  one  we  killed  was  one  yard  in  height,  and 
about  one  and  a  half  in  length ;  its  proboscis  measured  twenty 
centimeters.  It  was  fuU-growm  and  was  separated  from  its 
female,  by  which  it  was  generally  accompanied,  as  well  as  by 
another  couple  or  two.  It  is  found  in  the  thickets  of  the 
tropical  regions,  on  the  plains,  and  on  the  hills.  Hence  it 
abounds  in  the  Chaco  and  in  Tucuman,  but  avoids  inhabited 
places,  although  easily  tamed. 

The  flesh  is  sweetish,  like  horse-flesh,  and  excessively 
hard ;  the  taste  remained  in  my  mouth  for  several  days. 
Its  weight  may  be  about  that  of  a  medium-sized  horse,  or 
perhaps  rather  more,  on  account  of  its  corpulence  and  mas- 
si  veness. 

I  have  given  a  detailed  description  of  this  creature,  because 
I  have  read  inexact  ar^counts  of  it,  written  perhaps  by  persons 
who  had  not  seen  the  brute.  I  derive  its  name  from  its  copper 
colour,  anta  being  Chicchuan  for  copper,  and  not  iov  large  h^ast, 
as  so  many  writers  have,  I  know  not  why,  asserted.     There  are 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC  21 5 

great  numbers  of  dwarf  dogs  and  dwarf  fowls  in  these  parts,  not 
from  individual  defective  growth,  but  the  race  is  dwarfed. 

The  tiger  feeds  not  only  on  quadrupeds  large  and  small,  but, 
like  our  own  domestic  cat,  on  poultry  in  times  of  dearth,  and 
even  on  fish.  To  obtain  the  latter  he  stands  on  watch  in  some 
suitable  place,  often  the  trunk  of  a  tree  that  has  fallen  in  the 
river,  and  either  clutches  it  with  his  claws  as  it  swims  by,  or 
with  one  blow  of  his  paw  flings  it  on  the  bank. 

For  killing  horses  and  cattle  he  hunts  against  the  wind,  that 
his  prey  may  not  detect  him  by  scent.  He  springs  on  the 
crupper  and  attacks  the  head,  tearing  the  creature's  neck  with 
his  strong  teeth  and  claws.  When  it  has  fallen,  he  prefers  the 
breast,  leaving  the  remainder  to  the  vultures,  who  are  never 
absent  from  the  festival. 

The  puma  is  the  other  large  carnivorous  animal.  The  vulgar 
name  for  it  here  is  lion,  but  this  is  about  as  appropriate  as  the 
name  of  horse  given  to  the  llama  by  the  Chinese  when  they  dis- 
covered America  on  the  Pacific  side,  or  that  of  tapir,  given  by 
the  Mattaccos  to  the  horse.  The  American  male  lion  has  no 
mane,  nor  a  tuft  to  his  tail,  nor  is  he  as  large  as  the  lion  of 
Africa.  He  is  a  large  cat,  if  I  may  say  so,  entirely  grey ;  about 
eighty  centimeters  in  height,  and  a  yard  and  twenty  centi- 
meters in  length.  He  can  be  domesticated,  but  even  his  master 
must  be  cautious,  while  strangers  must  not  go  near  him.  He 
attacks  the  smaller  quadrupeds,  such  as  goats,  sheep,  and  deer, 
but  he  does  not  like  the  woods.  When  pursued,  he  climbs 
trees,  and  dares  not  descend  among  the  pack  of  hounds  at  the 
foot.  The  hunters,  who  have  climbed  into  adjoining  trees,  then 
have  recourse  to  the  lasso,  and  strangle  him.  The  puma  will 
attack  a  man  asleep,  and  even  the  hunters  in  extreme  cases. 

While  they  are  cubs  the  tapir  and  the  roebuck  are  striped 
with  white,  and  the  puma  has  small  dark  spots.  They  lose  this 
adventitious  colouring  afterwards,  but  it  indicates  some  vanished 
traits  of  progenitors. 

The  ant-bear  is  a  most  curious  and  ugly  creature.  It  derives 
its  name  from  feeding  on  these  insects,  which  are  found  in 
enormous  numbers  in  the  Chaco.  They  build  cities,  consisting 
of  thousands  of  cone-shaped  hills  about  a  yard  in  height,  in 
each  of  which  are  billions  of  these  most  intelligent  insects. 

The  ant-bear  is  usually  dwarf,  and  crawls,  as  it  were,  along  the 
ground ;  it  is  over  a  yard  in  length,  with  a  long,  sharp  snout, 
more  like  a  fleshy  appendage ;  its  coat  is  dark  yellow,  with  stitf 


2l6  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

bristles.  Those  along  the  spine  are  long  and  black ;  the  tail 
has  a  crook,  with  which  it  holds  its  cub,  which  clambers  on 
its  back.  At  Rivadavia  a  cub,  whose  mother  had  been  killed, 
refused  the  milk  offered  it,  unless  it  was  allowed  to  climb  on  the 
carcass  of  the  dead  mother.  It  makes  its  way  about  by  jumping, 
with  the  muzzle  on  the  ground. 

The  forelegs  are  armed  with  claws,  and  are  of  enormous 
strength.  They  form  the  bear's  sole  means  of  defence  ;  he  sits 
on  his  hind-quarters,  and  contends  successfully  even  with  tigers. 
The  tongue  is  excessively  long  and  thin,  and  used  with  such 
twirling  rapidity  that  it  reminds  one  of  a  venomous  asp  when 
in  action.     It  is  a  prehensile  instrument  for  procuring  food. 

The  wild  cat  or  wood-cat  is  a  great  enemy  to  fowls,  both  wild 
and  domestic  ;  I  killed  a  speckled  one.  There  are  many  kinds 
of  deer,  and  the  roebuck,  called  corzuela^  also  other  lesser 
ruminants. 

I  must  also  mention  the  stmarrone,  or  wild  bull,  which  has 
escaped  from  the  estancias.  It  is  a  terrible  brute  to  meet ;  a 
man  has  barely  time  to  seek  safety  in  a  tree,  when  the  creature 
stations  himself  at  the  foot,  and  endeavours  to  tear  it  up  by  the 
roots.  Once,  when  on  the  top  of  a  steep  and  solitary  mountain, 
I  saw  the  Indian  who  was  with  me  turn  pale  on  hearing  the 
trampling  of  simarrones. 

Hares  are  very  abundant ;  they  are  larger  than  with  us,  and 
slightly  different.  Their  speed  is  great,  attaining  two-thirds  of 
a  kilometer  per  minute,  as  I  had  an  opportunity  of  verifying 
once  in  the  province  of  Santiago,  when  a  frightened  hare  rushed 
along  the  metals  in  front  of  the  locomotive. 

An  animal  called  the  hiscacha  is  part  fox,  part  hare,  part  cat ; 
its  flesh  is  not  very  palatable,  it  is  nocturnal,  lives  in  holes,  is  most 
prolific,  and  does  great  damage  in  the  fields,  selecting  by  pre- 
ference those  near  inhabited  spots.  The  owl,  called  lechuza  in 
Spanish,  shares  in  its  retreat.  I  wondered  at  seeing  owls  so 
frequently  in  the  Pampas,  because  at  home  with  us  they  live  in 
solitary  ruined  towers. 

Wild  rabbits  are  also  excessively  abundant ;  in  size  and  colour 
they  might  be  mistaken  for  tailless  moles.  They  are  delicious 
morsels  for  falcons  and  vipers,  Indians  and  Christians,  as  we  ex- 
perienced ourselves  after  living  for  months  without  flesh-meat. 
But  the  idea  is  repugnant  to  Italians. 

Among  semi-aquatic,  not  to  say  amphibious  animals,  ^  the 
largest,  though  not  the  most  common,  is  the  carpincho,  a  kind 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  21/ 

of  white  pig,  bristled  like  the  porcupine,  with  bearded  snout, 
slow  in  its  movements,  and  which  avoids  danger  by  long-con- 
tinued immersion  under  water.  The  flesh  is  good  eating ;  it 
weighs  about  forty  kilograms  ;  it  is  a  pachyderm. 

The  water  wolf^  is  of  dwarf  size,  weighing  at  most  fifteen 
kilograms,  the  head  is  cat-like  and  extremely  intelligent ;  the 
skin  is  valuable,  and  the  flesh  good.  It  saves  itself  from 
danger  like  the  carpin(5ho,  but  with  more  ability,  making  the 
most  astonishing  springs.  I  have  only  met  with  it  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  Vermejo,  where  the  water  is  deep  and  brackish. 

In  the  same  localities,  and  likewise  higher  up  the  river,  we 
find  the  otter,  or  nutria  in  Spanish.  The  skin  is  a  most  valuable 
article  of  commerce ;  the  flesh  is  good  to  eat.  It  weighs  from 
five  to  seven  kilograms.  Its  movements  are  slow  on  land,  but 
it  is  thoroughly  at  home  in  the  water,  where  it  gambols  and 
disports  itself  in  view  of  the  hunter.  The  skin  of  the  otter  and 
that  of  the  wolf,  both  brown,  supply  the  greater  part  of  winter 
clothing. 

We  do  not  find  in  the  wooded  plains  of  the  Chaco  the  sheep, 
with  its  beautiful,  almond-shaped  black  eyes,  that  lives  in 
deserted  fields ;  or  the  llama,  a  beast  of  burden  ;  or  the  untam- 
able vicuna,  with  its  valuable  fleece;  or  the  domesticated 
alpaca,  which  represents  our  own  flocks  at  home,  and  that  lives 
on  the  unforested  mountains.  All  these  are  ruminants,  all 
have  long  necks  frequently  curved  in  artistic  attitudes,  and  all 
are  graceful  and  stupid  in  their  ways. 

3  Commonly  so  called  j  if  not  carnivorous,  it  is  certainly  piscirorons. 


2l8  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN    CHACO 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHANGE    OP   LANDSCAPE — PROGRESS    OF   THE   REPUBLIC  — 
IRRIGATION. 

We  were  eager  to  reach  Gran,  the  most  tropical  city  of  the 
Argentines,  situate  in  the  midst  of  a  region  in  which  the  irony 
of  Fate  showers  with  one  hand  every  requisite  for  the  most 
astounding  fecundity,  and  with  the  other  restricts  the  means  of 
fructification  within  an  angle  hundreds  of  leagues  from  any 
centre  of  consumption  or  of  traffic,  and  subject  to  volcanic 
convulsions. 

At  about  two-thirds  of  our  day's  journey  we  came  to  the 
skirts  of  the  chain  of  hills  enclosing  on  the  east  the  basin  of 
Oran,  which  is  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  high  chain  of  the 
Zenta.  This  name,  like  that  of  Oran,  is  African,  either  trans- 
planted here  by  the  pious  patriotism  of  the  first  colonists,  or,  as 
some  assert,  so  named  in  consequence  of  their  analogous  destiny, 
which  was  originally  that  of  a  penal  settlement. 

The  forests,  denser  and  more  lofty,  no  longer  consist  of 
algarrobo,  nor  of  innumerable  kinds  of  mimosa  with  their 
minute  and  deeply-notched  leaves,  nor  of  aromatic  flowering 
plants  ;  but  sebillos,  with  knotty  and  wrinkled  bark,  begin  to 
predominate,  and  lapachos  with  their  roseate  flowers  and  hard 
timber,  suitable  for  all  kinds  of  buildiiig  purposes  ;  and,  further 
up,  the  china-china^  with  its  fragrant  resin,  and  the  purgative 
sarsaparilla. 

It  is  curious  that  the  chebraccio,  that  flourishes  in  the  very 
driest  regions,  should  be  numerously  represented  here,  and  by 
trees  of  exceptional  height  or  size. 

We  ascended  the  cordon  called  Loma  de  la  Embarcacion  by 
a  path  that  wound  sometimes  down  a  deep  ravine,  and  some- 
times at  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  the  steep  sides  of  which 
revealed  the  most  capricious  stratifications — tokens  of  tlie  local 
eflects  of  repeated  volcanic    convulsions.      There    are    traces 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  219 

remaining  of  the  earthquake  of  1871,  when  a  gulf  of  some 
yards  in  width,  and  many  leagues  in  lengtli  from  east  to  west, 
opened  in  the  direction  of  Oran,  crossing  the  whole  basin  and  the 
hills,  and  lowering  by  noontide  the  surrounding  land  to  the 
extent  of  one  yard.  Time  has  obliterated  any  distinct  traces 
in  the  plain  near  Tabacal,  but  landslips  are  still  visible  on  the 
hills. 

Having  reached  the  summit,  we  easily  descended  the  other 
side  by  a  kind  of  road  that  had  been  cut  through,  and  which 
led  us  through  a  forest  vegetation  continually  increasing  in 
beauty  until,  late  in  the  evening,  we  reached  the  plain. 

The  bogs  formed  by  the  rains  and  by  the  floods  of  the 
Yermejo,  which  river  runs  along  the  western  skirt  of  the  cordon 
and  a  few  leagues  lower  down  joins  the  S.  Francisco,  takes  a 
curve  to  the  south-east,  and  begins  its  course  across  the  plain  of 
the  Gran  Chaco — the  bogs,  I  say,  formed  by  the  rains,  were 
filled  by  an  extraordinary  quantity  of  frogs  of  a  thousand 
different  species.  The  croaking  of  these  creatures  made  our 
voices  inaudible  to  each  other  at  the  distance  of  a  few  yards. 

The  damp,  close,  heavy,  and  cold  atmosphere  made  us 
anxious  to  leave  these  wilds  behind  us,  where  every  mouthful 
of  air  seemed  fever-laden.  To  this  was  added  the  misery  of 
mosquitoes.  Countless,  persistent,  stinging,  greedy,  insatiable, 
undaunted,  they  reduced  us  to  desperation.  Exaggeration 
becomes  impossible  in  describing  the  misery,  the  restlessness, 
the  fury  these  plagues  of  nature  produce.  One  must  have 
travelled  in  these  parts,  or,  what  is  still  worse,  have  lived  on 
board  a  vessel  at  anchor,  surrounded  by  forest,  in  the  mitlst  of 
a  summer  calm,  to  understand  the  amount  of  suffering  endured 
from  these  tyrants  of  one's  existence.  It  is  necessary  to  eat 
before  dusk,  to  go  to  bed  when  the  meal  is  scarcely  at  an  end, 
to  enclose  oneself  in  a  mosquito  curtain  as  in  a  sepulchral  urn, 
to  endure  a  stifling  heat  and  an  overwhelming  perspiration,  and 
to  lie  awake  till  dawn.  There  is  nothing  to  be  done  beyond 
tossing  and  turning  on  the  little  bedstead  of  half  a  yard  wide, 
while  all  the  time  there  is  a  beautiful  moon  shining,  or  a  starry 
sky,  and  one  knows  that  with  two  steps  out  of  doors  and  a  fan, 
one  could  spend  a  night  in  Paradise.  'Kov  is  this  all,  for 
somehow  or  other  a  mosquito  always  finds  its  way  inside  the 
curtains,  followed  by  several  more.  One's  hands  are  soon 
insufficient  for  self-defence,  and  with  smarting  shoulders,  and 
face  aching  from  one's  own  boxes  on  the  ears,  and  burning  with 


220  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

a  childish  rage,  one  must  wait  seven  or  eight  hours  for  the 
early  breeze  heralding  the  approach  of  dawn. 

We  crossed  the  river  at  night  on  a  flat-bottomed  boat,  and  in  a 
few  moments  were  hospitably  received  at  a  military  post  called 
La  Emharcacion. 

Here  we  met  with  an  old  acquaintance,  Colonel  Napoleon 
Uriburu,  commandant  of  the  northern  frontier  of  the  Gran 
Chaco,  with  whom  we  spent  a  week  or  ten  days. 

This  young  and  able  officer  holds  a  distinct  place  in  the 
military  and  political  life  of  the  country ;  and  there'  are  pages 
in  his  life's-  history  that  deserve  to  be  known.  I  am  confident 
that  the  reader  and  he  will  forgive  me  if  I  say  a  few  words 
concerning  him.  His  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  how  men  are 
made.  When  a  lad  he  worked  on  his  own  estancia,  and  being 
inquisitive,  ambitious,  and  extremely  intelligent,  he  learnt  their 
native  language  from  the  Indians  who  came  harvesting  to  the 
estancia,  lived  among  them,  and  ended  by  occasionally  adopting 
their  mode  of  life  when  more  convenient,  while  he  worked  and 
studied.  Belonging  to  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families 
in  the  province  of  Salta  and  the  Republic,  he  next  entered  the 
army,  thus  adopting  the  most  exalted  career  afforded  by  this 
country,  and  entered  the  military  college.  During  the  Para- 
guayan war  he  had  the  honour  of  being  chosen  to  bear  the  good 
tidings  of  victory  to  the  general-in-chief  and  the  President  of 
the  Republic,  gaining  promotion  by  so  doing.  Later,  he  was 
ordered  to  make  a  military  reconnaissance  of  the  Chaco  from 
Humaita  to  Oran,  and  succeeded  to  the  fullest  extent,  without 
even  the  loss  of  a  single  horse,  though  in  the  midst  of  Indians, 
who  are  adepts  at  horse-lifting.  He  published  proclamations 
to  the  Indians  in  their  own  language,  gave  them  presents, 
and  made  friends  of  them  for  the  time  being. 

In  1874  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel,  and  while  in  com- 
mand of  the  Northern  Division,  occupied  in  quelling  the  revo- 
lution which  had  broken  out  in  that  year,  he  gave  proofs  of 
extraordinary  activity  and  ability.  Since  then  he  has  received 
various  important  commands  from  the  National  Government, 
and  has  been  acknowledged  as  the  head  of  a  party  in  his  native 
province  and  in  that  of  Jujuy.  A  few  months  after  our  meeting 
him.  General  Roca,  the  War  Minister,  being  in  need  of  an 
officer  whose  fidelity  was  above  suspicion  for  the  command  of 
the  right  wing  in  the  expedition  to  Rio  Negro  against  i^he 
Indians  of    the  Pampas,   selected  Uriburu,  who  has  now  for 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  221 

eight  months  been  fighting  against  them.  All  the  heaviest 
fighting  has  fallen  to  the  right  wing,  -which  is  posted  against 
the  Cordillera,  across  the  river  Nauquen,  and  is  constantly- 
attacked  with  desperation.  He  has  thus  obtained  the  rank  of 
colonel. 

Physically  he  is  the  true  type  of  his  countrymen.  Rather 
above  middle  height,  slight  of  figure,  with  muscles  of  steel, 
brown  complexion,  dark  and  sparkling  eyes,  jet  black  hair 
and  beard,  well-bred,  and  of  distinguished  appearance. 

He  likes  illustrative  conversation.  He  is  studious,  hard-work- 
ing, and  active.  He  has,  if  he  chooses,  a  great  future  before  him 
in  this  Republican,  democratic,  restless  nation. 

Now,  whether  it  be  from  race,  or  climate,  or  food,  or  the 
freedom  enjoyed  even  by  children,  or  all  these  together,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  people  of  the  Argentines  are  remarkably  intel- 
ligent, and  have  a  truly  astonishing  quickness  of  perception. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  they  possess  corresponding  good 
sense ;  but  this  is  acquired  in  a  great  measure  by  studious 
cultivation  of  the  intellect,  and  by  living  in  the  midst  of  fully- 
developed  and  complicated  social  conditions.  Education  and 
social  development  are  spreading  daily  throughout  the  country, 
which,  in  a  few  short  years,  has  made  gigantic  strides  in 
population,  in  the  development  of  wealth,  and  of  the  means  of 
wealth,  and  in  the  progress  of  learning.  Banks,  railways, 
telegraphs,  and  other  public  works,  agrarian  and  industrial 
machinery,  have  come  into  operation  in  such  proportions  as  to 
remind  one  of,  and  even  to  surpass,  Italy  in  the  first  twenty 
years  of  her  national  existence — I  say  surpass,  by  reason  of  the 
relatively  or  individually  greater  wealth.  When  we  consider 
the  number  of  inhabitants  is  only  2,000,000,  and  that  there  is 
a  corresponding  amount  of  railways  and  of  telegraphs,  equal,  if 
not  superior,  to  the  like  proportion  in  North  America  and  in 
England. 

Then  the  national  system  of  education  and  that  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Buenos  Ayres,  has  taken  root  and  been  regulated  and 
developed  so  as  to  change  the  face  of  the  country  in  this  respect 
within  a  few  years.  Two  universities,  a  national  college  in 
each  of  the  fourteen  provinces,  museums  of  physics,  chemistry 
and  natural  science,  might  well  be  envied  by  many  of  the 
largest  cities  of  Italy.  There  are  numerous  Government 
libraries,  academies,  and  scientific  societies ;  and,  above  all, 
general  elementary  instruction  is  of  obligation  in  conjunction 


222  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

with  secondary  studies,  and  these,  again,  with  professi(nial 
studies.  I  am  speaking  now  with  due  knowledge  of  the  facts, 
for  I  have  been  present  at  the  examinations  both  as  examiner 
and  as  an  interested  spectator.  Splendid  results  must  be,  and 
are  in  fact,  obtained  from  a  generation  passing  through  such  an 
apprenticeship  as  this.  And  expectation  is  the  more  legitimate, 
since  before  the  present  system  of  preparation,  such  self-made 
men  as  Sarmiento,  Alberdi,  Mitre,  Rawson,  Lopez,  Tejedor,  to 
name  only  the  greatest,  and  the  lamented  Guttierrez  and  Velez- 
Sarstield,  have  risen  up  from  among  the  Argentine  people,  and 
would  be  remarkable  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

The  next  morning  our  spirits  were  raised  by  the  sight  of  an 
unaccustomed  spectacle.  The  immense  plain  was  succeeded  by 
a  valley  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  hills  and  mountains,  the 
former  clothed  with  thick  forests,  and  the  arid  and  wild 
landscape  through  which  we  had  been  journeying  for  ten 
days  was  replaced  by  a  vast  chess-board  of  cultivated  fields, 
growing  cereals,  oranges,  and  bananas.  Then  instead  of  the 
rastrillada  or  beaten  track  made  by  the  footsteps  of  animals 
across  the  country,  like  our  own  dogane,  traces  of  which  still 
remain  in  the  Marerama,  the  road  lay  across  fields  flanked  by 
thick  and  wide  quick-set  hedges  concealing  the  canals  beneath 
their  luxuriant  vegetation. 

For  although  the  climate  of  Gran  is  comparatively  moist,  the 
harvest  could  not  be  depended  on  unless  the  fields  were 
artificially  watered.  Irrigation  is  practised  in  the  Argentines 
wherever  the  existence  of  running  streams  and  the  slope  of  the 
land  make  the  necessary  works  inexpensive.  This  is  the 
case  in  the  districts  adjoining  the  mountains,  or  enclosed  within 
them,  and  consequently  throughout  the  northern  and  western 
extremities  of  the  Republic.  In  the  west  the  rivers  and  torrents 
are  few  in  number  and  poorly  supplied  with  water,  and,  for  the 
most  part,  disappear  as  soon  as  they  reach  the  plain.  But  it  is 
at  this  juncture  that  the  industry  of  man  has  been  applied  to 
dealing  witli  the  scarcity  of  the  element,  and  has  worked 
wonders  by  adapting  the  simplest  means  to  his  purpose. 
Doubtless  a  professional  engineer  would  add  many  improvements, 
and  perhaps  would  entirely  recommence  the  work,  but  the 
agriculturist  is  well  aware  that  the  extra  cost  involved  in  a 
]>erfect  system  would  swallow  up  all  his  profit,  and  contents 
himself  with  the  actual  state  of  things. 

The  provinces  of  Catamarca,  Rioja,  S.  Giovanni,  Mendoia, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  223 

and  S.  Luigi  owe  all  their  prosperity  to  the  small  amount  of 
irrigation  they  are  able  to  effect,  the  aridity  of  the  climate 
forbidding  the  growth  of  even  a  blade  of  grass  outside  of  the 
irrigated  districts — but  these,  on  the  other  hand,  are  veritable 
oases.  S.  Giovanni  is  distinguished  by  wise  use  of  the  treasure 
— for  water  is  indeed  a  treasure — and  Mendoza  by  the  extent 
of  its  irrigation,  that  amounts  to  100,000  hectares. 

In  order  to  cut  a  canal  for  irrigation  the  country  folk  use  no 
other  level  than  that — of  water  !  They  begin  excavating,  and 
as  long  as  the  water  runs  without  injuring  either  the  bottom  or 
the  sides,  the  work  is  considered  satisfactory. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  art  of  irrigation  was  introduced 
into  this  country  by  the  Spaniards,  by  whom  it  was  held  in 
honour  ah  antiquOy  principally  through  the  works  of  the  Arabs 
when  they  were  dominant  in  the  south.  But  it  is  more  likely 
that  they  found  the  art  already  known  to  the  natives,  and  that 
they  only  continued  and  extended  its  practice.  All  the  con- 
quered proviiices,  in  fact,  and  those  of  Salta  and  Jujuy  in  the 
north,  Oran  included,  were  inhabited  by  subjects  of  the  empire 
of  the  Incas.  History  does  not  tell  us  this,  but  I  assert  it,  and 
I  believe  I  can  prove  it  on  another  occasion.  Now,  every  one 
knows  that  the  Incas  were  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  art  of 
irrigation,  and  practised  it  on  a  gigantic  scale — gigantic,  of 
necessity,  because  without  irrigation  not  a  poqcha  of  maize  could 
have  been  gathered  throughout  the  whole  of  the  immense 
empire  {21.  poqcha  was  a  measure  for  grain),  and  in  those  very 
provinces  irrigation  is  flourishing. 

It  is  true  that  in  Tucuman,  a  province  included  among  those 
I  have  named  and  among  other  Inra  populations,  and  dependent 
on  them,  irrigation  is  not  practised  to  the  same  extent,  although 
it  is  being  much  extended  on  account  of  rice,  sugar,  and  tobacco 
plantations  ;  but  in  the  first  place  we  must  understand  that  it  is 
less  imperative  in  re.eions  adjacent  to  the  mountains,  and  then 
we  must  remember  that  Tucuman  maintained  a  kind  of  auto- 
nomy and  held  a  special  position  with  regard  to  the  Incas. 
These  rulers  had  not  colonized  it  by  expelling  the  original 
inhabitants  and  replacing  them  by  their  own  legions,  because 
the  Tucumans,  according  to  my  interpretation  of  a  passage  in 
Garcilaz  de  la  Vega,  had  offered  friendship  to  the  Incas  long 
before  the  latter  were  in  a  position  to  injure  them,  and  had 
subsequently  facilitated  the  imperial  conquests  south  of  Tucu- 
man.    They  thus  escaped  the  scourge  of  the  Mitmacs^  or  Inca 


224  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

colonists,  who  were  despatched  into  conquered  countries  and 
very  speedily  reduced  them  to  their  own  level. 

How  beautiful  is  a  banana-tree  !  The  stem  is  from  four 
to  six  yards  in  height,  with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of 
fifteen  to  twenty  centimeters ;  the  green  leaves  are  thirty  to 
forty  centimeters  in  width  and  more  than  two  yards  long. 
They  are  rolled  where  joined  to  the  stem,  and  fall  by  their  own 
weight  into  a  succession  of  graceful  curves,  one  above  the  other, 
crowned  at  the  summit  by  immense  clusters  ?of  bananas  lying 
on  the  leaves  beneath.  The  tree  lasts  three  years.  During 
this  period  numerous  shoots  spring  every  year  from  the  roots, 
each  of  which  bears  fruit  and  dies  in  the  third  year,  so  that  one 
year  afterwards  the  whole  of  the  beautiful  plantation  has  ceased 
to  exist,  the  soil  being  exhausted  of  the  aliments  necessary  for 
the  plant. 

And  what  of  the  orange-trees  ?  They  attain  to  an  extra- 
ordinary size,  and  some  trees  produce  10,000  oranges.  They 
are  planted  in  rows  in  the  orangeries,  and  form,  as  it  were,  so 
many  porticoes  to  the  leafy  vaults,  where  no  ray  of  the  sun 
can  ever  penetrate,  so  that  the  ground  beneath  is  bare  of  all 
vegetation.  They  form  consequently  a  providential  refuge  for 
travellers  in  this  torrid  clime. 

We  proceed  onward  for  another  seven  leagues,  and  when 
half-way  we  find  ourselves  in  a  magnificent  forest,  surprising  us 
by  its  density  and  the  variety  and  height  of  its  plants,  which, 
imprisoned  on  all  sides,  dart  up  in  clusters  in  search  of  light 
and  air  to  the  height  of  thirty  yards  and  more. 

The  forest  is  succeeded  by  a  stony,  barren,  and  waterless 
country.  At  last,  on  reaching  a  height,  we  can  distinguish 
Oran,  and  are  at  once  reminded  of  its  past  ill-fortune  and  the 
presages  of  its  recurrence  in  the  future. 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  225 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

ORAN. 

Only  nine  years  ago,  a  traveller  bound  northwards  could  have 
descried  a  few  miles  beyond  the  tropics,  close  to  the  Indian 
frontier,  and  a  little  above  the  centre  of  a  vast  basin,  a  small  but 
beautiful  city,  with  wide  streets  lying  at  right  angles,  with 
whitish  houses  of  one  and  two  storeys,  surrounded  by  ever 
fruitful  orange-trees,  with  numerous  canals  through  which  the 
crystal  waters  from  the  skirts  of  the  neighbouring  Cordillera 
brought  fertility  to  the  rich  lands,  which  by  their  produce  con- 
ferred wealth  on  their  owners,  and  enabled  them  to  make  their 
homes  beautiful  and  delightful.  The  basin  in  which  stands 
the  city  is  slightly  undulating  in  the  centre,  bounded  at  the 
east  and  north  by  pleasant  hills,  and  on  the  west  by  a  succession 
of  mountains,  rising  step  by  step  to  the  highest  summit  of  the 
Andes.  They  were  then  fitly  crowned  by  the  ancient  and 
dense  forests  that  clothe  the  greater  part  of  the  plain  and  all 
the  skirts  of  the  hills,  reaching  at  last  to  the  edge  of  the  snowy 
mantle  of  the  Zenta,  and  comprising  the  greatest  variety  of 
si)ecies,which,  growing  luxuriantly  in  this  rich  soil  and  favourable 
climate,  interlace  their  branches  and  mingle  their  intoxicating 
perfumes,  while  they  increase  and  multiply  in  marvellous 
fashion.  Then,  too,  the  cultivation  of  rice,  plantations  of  sugar- 
cane and  tobacco,  rows  of  banana-trees,  and  ever  verdant  fields 
repaid  the  care  of  the  inhabitants,  whose  labours  were  sweetened 
by  the  ceaseless  song  of  birds,  while  the  perfumed  air,  laden 
with  a  thousand  sweet  scents,  invited  all  to  delicious  repose. 
A  sudden  shock  of  earthquake,  followed  by  a  second,  occurred 
eight  years  ago — and  great  houses  as  well  as  humble  cottages 
w^ere  shaken  to  the  ground.  Perchance  nature  repented  of 
her  crime  and  woidd  not  aggravate  it  by  claiming  human 
victims,  with  the  exception  of  one  young  maiden  whom  she 
selected  to  propitiate  her  wrath.  Poor  child  !  she  had  fled 
from  danger,  rushing  from  her  bed  at  the  first  alarm,  but  her 
mother,  ignorant   of  fate,   drove   her  back  with  assurances  of 

Q 


226  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN    CHACO 

safety,  and  she  fell  crushed  on  the  very  threshold !  All  was 
ruin  and  desolation. 

Three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  fled  in  terror  from  tlie 
sudden  and  terrible  peril ;  much  of  the  cultivated  land  and  of 
the  plantations  ceased  to  exist  for  want  of  the  labour  required 
to  keep  them  in  order;  the  neglected  streamlets  either  for- 
sook their  recently- constructed  channels,  or  formed  into  angry 
pools  at  their  intersection,  while  numbers  of  frogs,  emboldened 
by  impunity,  assembled  together,  croaking  in  discordant  and 
never-ending  chorus. 

It  was  melancholy  to  see  masses  of  ruins  in  every  direction  ; 
the  larger  the  building,  the  worse  was  the  destruction.  On 
one  side  a  shapeless  mound  of  earth,  on  another  shattered, 
broken,  or  cracked  walls ;  here,  door-jambs,  rafters,  and  doors, 
either  overthrown  or  standing  upright  like  military  columns 
amid  the  general  disaster;  and  nettles  and  weeds  of  all  sorts 
springing  up,  flourishing  and  multiplying  amid  the  broken 
rubbish  of  what  was  until  recently  a  humnn  dwelling. 

Farther  on  there  are  disroofed  and  dismantled  houses,  whose 
walls,  bare  and  split,  offer  a  safe  retreat  for  the  amorous  embraces 
of  lizards  and  vipers.  Ah  !  if  it  be  allowable  to  compare  small 
things  with  great  ones,  these  ruins  recall  to  mind  those  of  some 
cities  in  the  Tuscan  marshes.  There,  also,  is  a  fierce  sun,  a 
clear  sky,  a  splendid  vegetation,  mountains  on  each  side,  a 
wide  plain  in  front  and  a  desert  within ;  there,  also,  perennial 
shade,  among  broken  fragments,  of  the  evergreen  olive,  as  here, 
of  the  orange-tree  and  the  little  noisy  stream  tumbling  and 
frothing  until  it  reaches  the  plain,  where  its  waters  creep  slow 
and  neglected  about  the  city  walls,  carrying  death  where 
formerly  they  brought  life  and  fertility. 

Among  the  houses  formerly  constituting  the  town  of  Oran, 
there  may  still  be  seen  a  few  that  escaped  the  catastrophe. 
Their  dislocated  walls  seem  to  be  staggering  under  the  weight 
of  the  thatched  roof,  and  new  dwellings  have  been  and  are 
being  built  on  ready-made  and  plastered  timber  framework  and 
wooden  lattices,  to  lill  them  up  again  ;  while  behind  these,  or 
standing  detached  in  the  rectangular  fields  at  the  back  of  the 
orchards,  are  solitary  and  poor  little  cottages. 

This  corner  of  the  Kepublic,  however,  is  an  absolute  garden. 
The  very  atmosphere  seems  a  poem,  so  fragrant  is  it  with  the 
scent  of  the  gaggio,  the  brea,  the  chanar,  the  thousand  species 
of  aromatic  plants,  the  orange-tree,  and  with  the  flowers '  that 


J 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  22/ 

enamel  the  meadows  and  bloom  on  the  gigantic  plants  of  the 
forest,  and  the  resin  that  exudes  from  their  trunks.  Is  it  not 
poetry  to  admire  the  lofty  mountains,  the  lovely  hills,  and  the 
well-watered  plain,  the  astonishing  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  the 
beneficent  sun?  Is  it  not  poetry  to  contemplate  the  forests 
with  their  innumerable  species  of  plants,  growing  separately  in 
other  places,  but  in  this  region  united  and  attaining  gigantic 
dimensions,  such  as  the  willow,  the  algarrobo,  and  the  chebraccio 
— common  trees,  indeed,  but  highly  useful — the  chebil,  the 
cedar,  the  walnut,  the  lapaccio,  the  quinquina,  the  aliso,  and 
many  others.  These  forests  cover  the  greater  part  of  the  plain, 
the  entire  hills,  and  the  skirts  of  the  mountains  to  a  great  height 
and  for  a  distance  of  4000  square  kilometers.  Is  there  not 
poetry  in  Yerba  mate,  in  cocoa,  in  the  tea-plajit — all  of 
indigenous  growth, — in  the  banana,  the  chirimoya,  the  sugar- 
cane, in  cotfee,  tobacco,  or  rice  (all  so  valuable  in  commerce), 
not  to  speak  of  other  commoner  products  1 

Has  this  country  a  future  before  it  1  It  has  an  immediate 
and  magnificent  future,  if  the  Yermejo  becomes  safe,  periodical, 
and  permanent  for  commerce.  When  this  is  an  accomplished 
fact,  the  valuable  productions  of  this  privileged  zone  will  be 
obtained  at  a  small  cost  through  the  labour  of  the  thousands  of 
Indians  who  rove  through  the  immense  Chaco;  and  when  cheaply 
transported  to  the  coast  will  be  able  to  vie  with  the  products 
of  other  regions.  And  Oran,  being  situate  on  the  skirts  of  tl" 
Cordilleras  and  possessing  the  finest  harbour  on  the  river,  will 
become,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  a  necessary  and  convenient 
emporium  for  the  international  carrying  trade  with  the  south 
of  Bolivia,  now  carried  on  at  a  loss  of  four  months'  time,  and 
1000  francs  per  ton  for  transport. 

When  this  shall  have  come  to  pass,  the  traveller  in  the 
tropics  will  find  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Zenta,  and  skirting 
the  Indian  territory,  a  wealthy  and  prosperous  city,  risen  from 
its  ruins,  and  surrounded  by  beautiful  country.  And  instead 
of  feeling  called  upon  to  recount  a  melancholy  history  of 
^Maremma  desolation,  he  will  imagine  himself  transported  to 
the  delightful  environs  of  Florence.  In  the  shade  of  orange- 
trees,  listening  to  the  song  of  the  blackbird  amid  the  perfumed 
breezes,  and  the  sweet  murmur  of  the  stream,  he  will  rest 
during  the  burning  heat  of  a  tropical  day,  and  there  will  come 
to  him  sweet  dreams  of  love,  country,  life,  the  earth,  and — 
who  knows'? — perhaps  even  of  heaven  ! 

Q  2 


228  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

MENDOZA. 

The  disaster  of  Oran  reminds  me  of  the  still  greater  misfortune 
that  befell  another  of  the  jewels  in  the  belt  encircling  the 
Republic — I  refer  to  Mendoza. 

This  city  is  the  Turin  of  the  Argentines.  It  is  situated  on 
the  skirts  of  the  Cordilleras,  whose  endless  ridge  of  snow-clad 
peaks  can  be  discerned  at  a  distance  of  fifty  leagues,  and  is  the 
last  trading-point  with  Chili,  j\ist  as  Turin  is  between  Italy 
and  France. 

Railways  will  bring  it  into  rapid  communication  with  tlie 
Atlantic,  and  when  once  corinected  with  its  harbours,  Mendoza 
will  be  the  richest  market  for  commerce  between  the  two 
oceans. 

The  city  has  had  a  presentiment  of  its  future  destiny,  and 
is  hastening  to  prepare  for  it. 

If  you  could  only  see  it  always  in  gala  dress  ! 

Mendoza  is  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  agreeable  city 
in  the  Republic. 

The  principal  street  is  a  fine  avenue,  a  league  in  length  and 
thirty  yards  in  width,  planted  with  a  double  row  of  plane-trees, 
poplars,  and  weeping  willows,  and  watered  by  two  running 
streams  that  divide  the  foot  pavement  from  the  road.  All  the 
streets  are  laid  at  right  angles  and  are  fifteen  or  twenty  yards 
wide,  and  are  also  ornamented  with  trees  on  each  side.  The 
houses  are  either  on  the  streets,  or  stand  a  little  way  back  in 
pretty  little  gardens,  and  are  of  various  kinds,  some  being 
simple  and  modest,  and  some  elegant  and  picturesque,  but  all 
of  them  only  one  storey  in  height,  so  as  to  minimize  the  dreaded 
perils — alas  !  already  experienced — of  earthquakes. 

Mendoza  possesses  the  finest  public  promenade  in  the  Re- 
public. It  consists  of  a  large  octagonal  garden  situated  in  a 
piazza  of  four  quadrants.     In  the  centre  is  a  spacious  artificial 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  229 

lake  surrounded  by  a  labyrinth  of  paths,  kiosks,  grottoes, 
fountains,  trees,  shrubs  and  rare  flowers  both  native  and 
foreign. 

Yet  this  city  has  been  in  existence  only  twelve  years.  She 
is  the  lovely  daughter  of  a  fair  mother,  who,  while  still  young 
and  beautiful,  succumbed  fifteen  years  ago  to  a  most  terrible 
fate. 

It  was  on  the  Wednesday  of  the  week  that  is  called  Holy  by 
the  Nazarenes,  in  the  year  1861  of  their  era. 

The  inhabitants  were  engaged  in  the  customary  practices  of 
their  religious  worship  in  the  splendid  and  numerous  temples 
raised  for  the  purpose.  The  priests  were  preaching  to  the 
crowds,  who  extended  to  the  piazzas,  on  the  Passion  of  the 
God  whom  300,000,000  of  men  acknowledge  as  the  Redeemer 
of  mankind.  The  sun  had  set,  and  the  contrite  crowds  were 
returning  to  their  homes,  indifferent  to  the  beauty  of  the 
wonderfully  clear  sky,  illumiuQjd  by  a  brighter  moon  than  usual, 
and  to  the  cool  zephyr  that  was  seeking  to  refresh  these  igno- 
rant children  of  the  soil  after  a  stifling  day,  when  suddenly  the 
earth  trembled,  darkness  obscured  the  heavens,  a  loud  noise 
struck  on  the  ears  of  those  who  might  thenceforth  be  called 
the  survivors,  and  the  humblest  dwellings  and  proudest  temples 
fell  alike  in  fragments,  becoming  sepulchres  for  those  most 
devoted  to  their  God  and  their  Lares. 

Fire,  water,  and  repeated  shocks  increased  the  horrors  of  the 
catastrophe. 

The  momentary  deathlike  silence  was  succeeded  by  the 
piercing  cries  of  the  wounded,  either  buried  under  the  ruins 
that  had  fallen  upon  them,  or  in  fear  of  being  crushed  by  the 
tottering  masonry,  or  in  dread  of  the  river,  that,  suddenly 
arrested  in  its  course,  was  threatening  to  overflow  and  drown 
them.  To  these  terrors  was  added  that  of  fire,  which  fed  by 
the  inflammable  materials  scattered  about  amid  the  ruins, 
came  forth  in  volumes  of  flame  to  hasten  the  death  of  the 
dying ! 

HoAv  can  I  describe  the  heartrending  spectacle  ?  Out  of 
15,000  inhabitants  10,000  perished,  and  the  city  was  entirely 
destroyed. 

The  survivors  wandered  fearfully  for  many  months  round 
their  beloved  city,  made  all  the  dearer  by  her  misfortunes,  and 
sanctified  by  the  graves  of  her  sons ;  they  hesitated  to  pitch 


230  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

their  tents  on  such  scenes  of  desolation,  and  yet  were  unable 
to  forsake  the  necropolis  of  their  dear  ones. 

But  aifection  prevailed ;  and  the  new  city  grew  up  at  the 
side  of  the  former  one,  and  we  may  say  of  Mendoza,  as  poets 
have  sung  of  the  fabled  Phoenix,  that  she  has  risen  from  her 
ashes  with  renewed  beauty. 


i 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  23 1 


CHAPTER  XY. 

THE    BASIN     OF     LA.    PLATA THE    PAMPAS     AND     FOREST     REGIONS 

• — THEIR       RKLATIONS     TO     CLIMATE      AND     AGRICULTURE     IN 
THE   ARGENTINES. 

We  climbed  the  Zeiita,  whose  peak  is  almost  always  clad  in 
snow,  at  a  point  near  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn,  5000  yards 
above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and  like  Jules  Verne,  having 
provided  ourselves  with  optical  instruments,  we  plunged  into 
ethereal  space  on  the  mighty  wings  of  the  condor,  and,  turning 
towards  the  east,  gazed  on  the  horizon. 

An  immense  wooded  plain  lay  beneath  us,  extending  700 
kilometers  to  the  River  Paraguay,  which  itself  flows  for  another 
1500,  until  near  the  southern  extremity  of  the  continent  or  the 
Magellan  Strait,  where  the  forests  begin  to  show  themselves 
again,  preceded  by  dwarf  and  scanty  woods. 

The  eye  instinctively  follows  the  course  of  the  Vermejo,  on 
whose  banks  we  had  lingered  so  long.  We  marked  its  tortuous 
course  to  the  south-east,  until  it  falls  into  the  Paraguay  almost 
opposite  Humaita.  It  turns  slightly  to  the  left,  and  for  a 
distance  of  thirty  or  forty  leagues  runs  parallel  with  the  River 
Pilcomayo  which  falls  into  the  Paraguay  at  Assuncion. 

By  attentively  watching,  we  could  discern  on  our  right, 
but  very  far  off,  and  looking  like  a  silver  thread  among  the 
woods,  only  visible  here  and  there  by  the  light  reflected  from 
its  various  curves,  the  Rio  Salado,  a  river  running  parallel  to 
the  Vermejo,  at  a  distance  of  forty  to  sixty  leagues  from  its 
right  bank  until  near  the  mouth  of  the  Parana,  along  the  side 
of  which  it  flows  for  a  long  distance,  until  at  last  it  falls  into 
it  near  the  city  of  Santa  Fe. 

The  Pilcomayo,  the  Vermejo,  and  the  Salado  are  the  three 
rivers  of  the  Gran  Chaco. 

,  Directing  our  gaze  beyond  the  Paraguay,  we  discern  other 
plains,  woods,  and  lakes,  and  some  few  hills  ;  and  turning  a 
little  to  the   right   we   discern  the  Upper   Parana,    and   still 


232  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

further  off,  and  more  to  the  right,  the  Upper  Uruguay.  Be- 
tween them  lies  a  chain  of  lakes,  among  which,  shining  in  the 
refulgent  rays  of  the  sun.  is  the  famous  Lake  Ibera,  from  which 
the  chain  takes  its  name. 

It  is  early  morning,  and  the  plain  through  which  run  the 
Paraguay,  the  Parana,  and  the  Uruguay,  is  covered  with  a 
veil,  transparent  as  gauze  in  some  places,  and  in  others,  near 
the  rivers  and  lakes,  like  an  opaque  and  clinging  sheet. 

In  the  higher  regions,  on  the  contrary,  the  atmosphere  is 
clear,  and  on  the  side  of  the  horizon  whence  the  sun  will 
rise,  the  crests  of  the  mountains  stand  out  distinctly.  Later 
in  the  day  they  will  be  concealed,  and  crowned  by  the  white 
clouds  that,  having  lain  all  night  in  mist  upon  the  plains, 
are  travelling  from  the  Equator  to  the  Atlantic  in  a  southerly 
direction. 

Let  us  lift  up  our  eyes. 

Before  us  is  a  colossal  amphitheatre  of  mountains  that, 
starting  from  the  higher  plains  (which  here  are  close  behind 
them,  and  connect  them  by  other  mountain  chains  with  the 
Cordillera  of  the  Andes  still  further  in  the  background), 
turn  on  our  left  side  towards  the  Equator,  and  stand  in 
battle  array  facing  the  east,  slightly  curving  in  our  direction 
in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe,  then  extend  in  mighty  ranges  to 
the  Atlantic,  where  they  diminish. 

Behind  us,  to  the  west,  the  horse-shoe  is  completed  by  the 
chains  of  the  Zenta,  of  the  Acconcha  or  Tucuman,  and  of 
Cordova,  which  vanishes  in  the  Pampas. 

In  the  amphitheatre  before  us  the  harsh  and  rugged  oro- 
graphical  architecture  seems  to  have  intended  to  carve  out  in 
gigantic  relief  three  huge  fans,  with  battlemented  and  intricate 
edges.  The  interstices  between  the  ribs  appear  as  if  richly 
silvered,  and  the  fan  itself  seems  to  be  carved  with  innumer- 
able patterns,  no  two  of  which  are  alike,  and  yet  all  are  formed 
in  the  same  mould ;  admirable  art  of  the  Master !  In  this 
grand  production,  there  is  not  one  line,  however  slight,  that 
does  not  spring  from  another  more  important  one  ;  not  a  silver 
rivulet  unconnected  with  another  of  larger  size,  although  an 
unaccustomed  eye  may  fail  to  discern  as  much,  among  the  ser- 
pentine meanderings  and  the  boldly  cut  edges  of  the  capricious 
and  able  Artificer. 

The  sticks  of  the  fans,  as  we  face  them,  are  neither  straig^it 
nor  curved  according    to   any  geometrical   rule,    but  twisted, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  233 

knotty,  and  roughly  broken,  like  the  artificial  enclosures  of 
an  English  garden.  At  the  lowest  part,  where  all  the  ribs 
are  joined,  or  rather  at  the  hilt-point,  where  all  the  three 
fans  meet,  there  is  a  handle  of  suitable  size  and  glittering  like 
silver. 

The  mists  rose  presently  to  the  mountain  tops,  and  the  plain 
lay  clear  and  distinct  before  us.  Wonderful  to  relate,  the 
three  glittering  silver  handles  are  the  rivers  Paraguay,  Upper 
Parana,  and  Uruguay.  The  tw^o  first,  after  hundreds  of  leagues 
of  separate  existence,  join  in  one,  under  the  name  of  the 
Parana,  a  little  below  Humaita,  and  almost  opposite  the  Argen- 
tine city  of  Corrientes.  The  other,  that  is,  the  Uruguay  and  the 
Parana,  after  1500  kilometers  of  an  almost  parallel  course,  unite  a 
little  above  Buenos  Ayres  and  form  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  or  the 
Mar  Dolce,  as  it  was  called  by  its  first  discoverers,  which  at  that 
point  is  thirty  kilometers  in  width,  by  a  length  of  270  ;  and 
at  the  mouth,  where  it  falls  into  the  Atlantic,  between  Monte- 
video and  Cape  S.  Antonio,  is  160  kilometers  wide. 

The  immense  basin  thus  spread  out  before  us  is  therefore 
the  basin  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata ;  it  is  in  the  shape  of  a  horse- 
shoe, the  open  part  or  base  lying  against  the  Atlantic^  and  the 
upper  part  towards  the  Equator,  and  embracing  twenty  degrees 
of  latitude  from  the  Equator,  equal  to  more  than  as  many 
hundreds  of  kilometers,  and  fifteen  degrees  of  longitude.  The 
abundant  waters  of  this  basin  proceed  almost  entirely  from  the 
Torrid  Zone,  and  are  precipitated  on  the  slopes  of  La  Plata  from 
the  chain  of  mountains  I  have  described,  the  opposite  sides  of 
which  supply  the  equally  large,  nay,  even  more  extensive  basin 
of  the  Amazons. 

The  basin  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  therefore  includes  the  greater 
part  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  part  of  South  Bolivia,  the 
whole  of  the  Republic  of  Paraguay,  situated  between  the  Upper 
Parana  and  the  Paraguay  rivers,  from  the  latter  of  which  it 
takes  its  name,  and  the  whole  of  Banda  Oriental  or  Uruguay, 
M'hich  is  bounded  by  the  River  Uruguay,  by  La  Plata  and  by 
the  Atlantic,  and  has  Montevideo  for  its  capital,  situate  on  the 
mouth  of  the  Plata,  and  also  a  great  part  of  the  Brazilian 
empire. 

The  immense  plains — perhaps  the  largest  in  the  world — of 
the  Pampa  and  the  Gran  Chaco,  the  one  grassy,  the  other 
wooded,  lie  in  the  western  portion  of  the  basin,  on  the  right 
and  along  the  estuary  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  the   Parana,  and 


234  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

Ihe  Paraguay,  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Cordilleras,  and  then 
by  the  mountains  of  Cordova,  Tucuman,  and  Oran. 

The  Pampa  that  extends  also  in  a  southerly  direction  for 
hundreds  of  leagues  along  the  Atlantic  follows  the  course  of  the 
Kio  de  la  Plata  from  its  mouth  up,  and  also  that  of  the  Parana 
towards  the  Equator  for  600  or  700  kilometers,  according  to  the 
situation.  It  is  succeeded  by  woods  consisting  of  algarrobo  (carob- 
trees)  and  other  inferior  mimosas,  and  later,  by  forests  of  che- 
braccio,  urunday,  lapaccio,  palo-santo,  and  of  many  other  kinds, 
valuable  for  the  most  part  for  timber,  carpentry,  or  cabinet  work. 

Is  there  no  evident  cause  for  the  marked  division  of  the 
plains  into  grass  in  the  south  and  forest  in  the  north,  by  a  long 
and  sinuous  boundary-line  from  east  to  west,  following  closely 
the  parallel  of  30°  ?  Or,  at  any  rate,  is  there  no  connection 
between  this  fact  and  the  climatic  phenomena  and  the  nature  of 
the  soil  in  the  two  regions  ? 

I  am  riot  aware  that  the  connection  has  been  observed,  but 
it  exists,  and  I  have  been  able  to  recognize  it  in  part  during  my 
exploration  of  these  regions. 

I  apprehend  that  in  the  region  of  the  Pampa  there  is  one 
order  of  climatic  phenomena  and  another  in  the  forest,  or  Chaco 
region.  In  the  former  the  rainy  season  is  in  winter,  while  here 
in  the  forests  it  is  in  summer.  There  the  climate  is  less  dry, 
here  it  is  dry  to  excess.  The  rains  are  brought  on  by  the 
action  of  the  winds.  Now,  the  winds  that  prevail  in  the 
Pampa  are  not  the  same  as  those  that  blow  across  the  Chaco,  or, 
at  any  rate,  prevail  at  different  seasons.  In  the  Chaco  and 
throughout  the  centre  and  northern  parts  of  the  Eepublic,  or, 
in  other  words,  throughout  the  forest  region,  the  winds  are  from 
the  south,  coming  cold  and  dry  from  the  South  Pole,  and 
occasioning  the  rains,  and  frequently  terrible  storms,  by  contact 
with  the  hot  and  moist  winds  from  the  north. 

Now,  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  part  taken  by  the  winds 
in  carrying  and  distributing  organic  germs,  whether  vegetable 
or  animal  ?  I  contend  that  the  forests  of  the  north  and  centre 
of  the  Republic,  and  the  absence  of  forest  in  the  Pampa  are  both 
due  to  the  action  of  the  winds. 

I  do  not  propose  to  trace  the  origin  of  these  winds,  although 
I  believe  they  form  part  of  the  general  system  of  atmospheric 
currents,  albeit  considerably  modified  by  local  circumstances. 
I  will  therefore  take  for  granted  that  these  winds  that  rage  so 
furiously  in   summer    through    the    northern    regions  of  the 


I 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  235 

Republic  are  the  same  that  in  winter  blow  over  the  Pampa. 
This  being  the  case,  we  shall  always  be  confronted  with  the  fact 
that  in  summer  the  winds  of  the  forest  districts  may  export 
from  the  flora  of  other  regions  germs  that  would  not  exist  in 
winter,  when  plants  are  sleeping,  or,  at  any  rate,  are  not 
flowering,  and  vice  versa  with  respect  to  the  other  hemisphere. 

The  further  properties  of  climate,  heat,  moisture,  pressure, 
&c.,  have  afforded  the  necessary  conditions  for  the  development 
of  the  germs. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  analogy,  not  to  say  the  identity,  of  the 
American  flora  in  the  regions  north  and  south  of  the  Equator, 
in  Mexico,  in  Brazil,  in  the  Argentines,  and  in  Chili,  is  never- 
theless surprising. 

I  have  said  that  in  the  forest  regions  of  the  Republic  the  cli- 
mate is  drier  than  in  the  Pampa,  or  rather  that  it  is  dry  to  excess. 

It  is  a  wonderful  fact,  this  existence  of  immense  forests 
covering  tens  of  thousands  of  square  kilometers  that  nevertheless 
do  not  produce  a  climate  more  moist  than  that  of  the  Pampa 
covered  with  grass  only,  while  every  day  we  hear  the  changes 
rung  on  the  influence  of  trees  in  procuring  rain.  So  it  is, 
however,  and  the  fact  being  evident  here  on  a  colossal  scale 
should  make  us  perceive  the  inaccuracy  of  the  contrary  opinion, 
and  hence  the  error  of  those  persons  who  expect  from  the 
planting  of  the  hills  and  the  afi'oresting  of  the  Pampa  an 
alteration  in  the  climate,  and  the  exaggeration  of  those  others 
who  inform  us  of  the  new  and  abundant  rainfall  in  the  afforested 
districts  of  the  Suez  Canal.  In  truth,  whatever  influence  may 
be  granted  to  the  presence  of  forests  on  climate  is  very  small 
with  respect  to  the  various  cosmical  circumstances,  the  posi- 
tion of  districts  with  regard  to  the  sun,  the  existence  of 
mountain  ranges,  and  the  presence  of  oceans.  The  influence 
of  woods  must  be  limited  and  local  in  the  extreme,  viz.  to  pro- 
tect some  fields  from  the  action  of  certain  winds,  and  to  purify 
or  vitiate  the  air  of  some  given  locality.  The  evaporation 
from  the  soil  is  not  lessened,  neither  is  its  fertility  increased. 
One  field  is  a  thousand  times  more  absorbent  and  fertilizing 
than  an  entire  tropical  forest.  The  humus  will  teach  us  this ; 
it  covers  to  a  certain  depth  the  surface  soil  of  the  Pampa,  while 
it  is  scarcely  ever  seen  in  the  greater  part  of  the  forest  surface 
soil  in  the  Gran  Chaco.^ 

^  Darwin's  latest  observations  on  earth-worms  may  throw  consider- 


236  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

The  climatic  conditions  in  the  two  regions  of  Pampa  and 
forest  afford  us  a  priori  a  criterion  confirmed  by  fact  with  regard 
to  agriculture  I  assert  that  agriculture  is  impossible  in  the  forest 
regions  without  artificial  irrigation,  saving  only  a  strip  of  land 
bordering  on  the  Rivers  Parana  and  Paraguay,  which  has  the 
benefit  of  dews  and  mist  from  proximity  to  great  masses  of 
water. 

I  am  aware  that  a  learned  writer  who  has  lived  for  many 
years  in  these  parts  has  published  a  contrary  opinion ;  but  my 
statement  is  not,  on  that  account,  the  less  true.  The  writer 
to  whom  I  allude  takes  his  stand,  it  appears,  on  the  theory  of 
alternation  of  crops,  which  has  caused  such  great  improvement 
in  agriculture,  and  which  is  based  on  the  well-known  fact,  that 
similar  plants,  nourishing  themselves  in  the  soil  with  the  same 
aliments,  exhaust  the  land,  become  themselves  impoverished, 
and  hence  are  unable  to  give  the  product  required  for  industrial 
purposes. 

Hence  the  periodical  and  artificial  alternation  in  husbandry 
of  one  crop  with  another.  ISTature  follows  the  same  course 
in  the  Pampas,  but  at  much  longer  intervals  than  the  art  of 
man. 

However,  concerning  the  substitution  of  an  herbaceous  plant 
for  one  of  forest  growth,  it  would  be  worth  w^hile  to  examine 
whether  this  theory  is  not  only  equally  good,  but  is  not  in  fact 
all  the  stronger,  for  the  great  dissimilarity  between  the  two 
growths ;  or  whether  this  diff'erence  might  not  be  too  great.  I 
concede  willingly  every  latitude  in  the  application  of  the  theory 
of  alternation,  but  there  remains  a  factor  of  which  either  our 
learned  writer  is  ignorant  or  which  he  has  overlooked ;  that 
factor  is  the  climate.  A  tropical  climate  where  the  rainfall 
in  summer  and  autumn  is  preceded  by  eight  or  nine  months  of 
complete  drought,  where  there  are  neither  dews  or  mists,  nor 
iinder-currents  of  water  near  the  surface  of  the  soil,  is  un- 
favourable to  agriculture.  And  such  are  the  conditions  for 
the  most  part  of  the  forest  zone.  Irrigation  may  nevertheless 
produce  extraordinary  results,  in  conjunction  with  the  elevated 
temperature  of  the  zone. 


able  light  on  this  question  of  the  vegetable  soil  of  the  Pampa  and  of  the 
forests.  The  name  might  even  be  changed  to  animal,  or  rather  organic, 
soil,  from  the  concurrence  of  the  two  causes. — Authok's  Note.         ^ 


OF  THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  237 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

THE  FOREST  FLORA  OF  THE  PLAIN — ITS  DISTRIBUTION — CONCLU- 
SIONS   CONCERNING    THE    SOIL,  THE    CLIMATE,    AND   AGRICULTURE. 

Independently  of  the  latitude  and  of  other  climatic  conditions 
such  as  drought  or  moisture,  &c.,  the  forest  flora  of  the  plain  is 
distributed  according  to  the  age  of  the  soil,  as  we  have  seen  in 
the  case  of  herbaceous  plants. 

The  heaviest  timber  grows,  generally  speaking,  on  the 
emerged  or  original  soil,  called  by  the  colonists  hordo  jiriwi^ 
and  not  liable  to  submersion.  The  red  chebraccio  is  the  best 
timber  for  constructions  under  water  or  underground  or  level 
with  the  ground ;  for  dyeing,  and  for  tanning  leather-;  it  does 
not  rot,  and  this,  added  to  its  weight,  which  is  greater  than 
that  of  the  oak,  makes  it  above  all  excellent  for  railway 
sleepers,  for  the  weight  itself  contributes  to  the  solidity  of  the 
permanent  way.  Tlien  there  are  the  urundayand  the  lapaccio, 
of  similar  properties  for  building  purposes,  the  latter  being  even 
superior  for  carpentering  ;  and  the  palo-santo  for  costly  cabinet- 
work ;  all  this  wood  weighs  from  1*20  to  1'50  the  same 
volume  of  water,  and  is  true  hard  timber.  With  them  we 
find  the  giuccian,  the  cotton-tree,  as  flaccid  and  almost  as  light 
as  cork,  the  so  ft- wooded  chebraccio  hianco,  used  by  cartwrights 
and  for  any  buildings  under  cover,  with  a  leaf  adapted  for 
tanning  leather ;  it  is  more  lofty  and  richer  in  foliage  than  the 
chebraccio  Colorado,  although  there  is  a  certain  likeness  in  the 
stems  of  the  two  trees,  but  the  last  named  is  more  like  a  cork- 
tree both  in  leaf  and  in  bough,  which  are,  however,  drooping 
like  those  of  the  large  olive-tree. 

On  the  land  formed  by  the  earliest  alluvial  action  of  the 
river,  the  oldest  and  highest  land  therefore,  and  consequently 
very  seldom  submerged  (the  level  of  this,  we  have  already 
said,  is  always  higher  than  that  of  any  other  alluvial  land), 
we  find  the  algarrobo  or  carob-tree,  of  the  various  kinds  already 


238  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN  CHACO 

described  ;  the  giuggiolo  or  mistol,  the  brea  (pitch),  various 
species  of  arome,  and  others  of  less  importance  ;  all  of  them 
being  in  general  ill-adapted  for  building  on  account  of  the 
slenderness  and  want  of  height  of  their  trunks  ;  the  algarrobo, 
however,  forming  an  honourable  exception. 

The  algarrobo  associates  with  the  flora  of  the  emerged 
regions,  and  visits  them  in  their  own  domain,  while  it  straight- 
way invades  the  lands  of  more  modern  date  than  those  in 
which  it  was  cradled,  and  makes  common  cause  with  the  beauti- 
ful pacara,  and  other  botanical  families,  and  with  the  chanar, 
tliat  D'Orbigny  takes  as  the  basis  of  his  geographical  classifica- 
tion. 

At  a  higher  elevation  than  the  algarrobo,  but  where  the 
ground  is  sufficiently  depressed  to  retain  at  least  the  rainfall, 
and  growing  on  strips  of  land  from  north  to  south  about  ten 
leagues  long  and  a  few  kilometers  in  widili,  we  find  the  palm- 
tree  of  the  Chaco.  The  leaves  of  this  tree  are  fan-like,  and 
grow  in  a  tuft  at  the  top  of  the  smooth,  polished  stem  that  is 
marked  with  slightly  depressed  rings,  showing  where  the  leaves 
have  fallen  off  every  year.  The  trunk  is  ten  to  fifteen  yards 
in  height,  and  is  used  for  roofing  and  for  beams  and  telegraph 
posts ;  the  fruit  grows  in  clusters  of  nuts,  but  is  not  edible  by 
man.  Wherever  this  palm-tree  grows,  all  other  trees  and  shrubs 
disappear. 

On  the  alluvial  lands  of  still  later  formation,  which  comprise 
the  islands^  so  called  because  they  lie  very  low  and  are  washed 
by  the  river  on  or  near  which  they  are  situated,  the  flora  is  of 
a  different  character,  and  is  composed  of  willows,  alders,  hobos, 
and  other  shrubs.  All  these  are  also  found  along  the  Parana 
in  the  Pampa,  and  wherever  there  is  running  water.  This  flora 
of  the  islands  is  of  an  insignificant  character,  and  found  within 
narrow  limits. 

We  also  find  in  the  Chaco,  but  nearer  to  the  mountains,  the 
earlier  colonies  of  sebillos,  mulberry-trees,  tipas,  laurels,  and 
other  trees,  which,  however  they  may  be  surrounded,  or  even 
intermingled  with  chebraccios  and  algarrohos,  must  not  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  flora  of  the  Chaco,  but  to  tliat 
of  the  mountain  skirts,  which  follows  different  laws ;  the  case 
is  the  same  with  the  cedar,  the  walnut,  and  others  besides. 

The  trees  above  mentioned  are  not  the  only  ones  composing 
the  forest  flora  of  the  Chaco  ;  they  are,  however,  the  most  Re- 
nowned, and  almost  the  only  ones  known  to  commerce.     Their 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  239 

dimensions  (I  am  not  speaking  of  those  on  the  mountain-skirts) 
are  far  from  being  extraordinary.  In  the  centre  of  the  Chaco, 
where  the  cUmate  is  excessively  dry,  trees  are  weak  and  scarce ; 
and  even  in  more  favourable  localities  the  trunk  is  not  very 
tuU,  a  serious,  though  common,  defect  in  these  hard-timber 
trees. 

These  groups  intersect  the  territory  in  all  directions,  and  this 
is  intelligible,  since  their  existence  depends  on  the  action  of  the 
Kio  during  the  long  ages  of  its  capricious  course.  There  is, 
nevertheless,  a  kind  of  cantonment  of  some  less  widespread 
plants.  Thus  the  urunday  flourishes  in  a  more  humid  zone 
along  the  banks  of  the  Paraguay  and  the  Parana,  and  the 
lapaccio,  after  vanishing,  suddenly  appears  again  alone  and 
pre-eminent  among  the  flora  of  the  mountain  slopes.  The  palo- 
santo,  on  the  contrary,  flourishes  in  the  centre  of  the  Chaco 
territory,  where  the  climate  is  much  more  dry. 

But  the  chebraccio,  the  foliage  of  which  from  afar  off  resembles 
that  of  our  lesser  olive  and  that  of  the  green  oak,  clings  to  its 
emerged  soil,  and  follows  it  through  every  change  of  climate, 
provided  only  there  be  sufficient  warmth. 

The  algarrobo  is  still  more  eclectic,  and,  like  a  creature  of 
spirit  and  resource,  accepts  every  kind  of  soil,  provided  there  be 
no  question  of  mud,  or  mire,  so  as  to  injure  growth ;  and 
it  will  live  in  any  climate  suitable  to  forest-trees,  while  always 
shrinking  from  damp  and  cold.  But  as  if  it  were  the  soul  of 
arboreal  society,  its  companion  trees  do  not  appear  where  the 
algarrobo  is  absent,  yet  they  will  accompany  it  in  its  incursions 
towards  the  Pampa. 

The  presence  of  this  tree  in  all  the  forests  of  the  plain,  its 
appearance  as  a  visitor  in  other  districts,  the  vast  extent  of  its 
own  kingdom,  its  wealth  and  liberality — for  both  the  fruit  and 
the  wood  are  used  on  a  very  large  scale — and  finally  its  never 
completely  abandoning  its  congeners  of  the  forest,  since  the 
forest  may  be  said  to  begin  when  we  see  the  algarrobo — all 
these  are  reasons,  in  my  opinion,  for  calling  the  region  of  forests 
of  the  plain  by  the  name  of  the  algarrobo  zone. 

Yet  it  may  possess  a  rival  in  the  chanar,  especially  as  the 
claims  of  the  latter  have  already  been  allowed,  and  have  thus 
acquired  some  importance  ;  and  in  truth  the  chanar  of  the  Chaco 
holds  its  head  high,  so  as  to  rival  the  algarrobo  and  the  pacara, 
with  whom  it  is  sometimes  found,  in  elegance  and  majesty,  and 
no  one  could  then  take  it  for  the   same  tree  that  in  colder 


240  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

regions  grows  so  poor  and  mean.  But  I  cannot  make  up  my 
mind  to  give  it  the  preference,  because  it  loves  neither  the 
company  of  the  chebraccio,  nor  on  the  same  soil,  nor  the  higher 
plains  where  the  algarrobo  dwells.  The  chaiiar  turns  away 
from  a  very  dry  climate,  which  is  the  natural  atmosphere  of  its 
vegetable  companions ;  it  is  among  the  last  new-comers,  and 
stands  alone  in  certain  spots;  while  rickety,  barren, and  ill-formed, 
it  runs  through  the  Pampa  in  lines  like  the  beads  of  a  rosary. 

Nor  can  its  yellowish  seeded  berry  induce  me  to  change  my 
opinion,  although  it  has  often  been  grateful  to  my  palate  when 
ripened  in  a  torrid  clime,  and  the  syrup  made  from  it  has  fre- 
quently cured  me  of  cough  ;  but  how  can  it  be  put  on  a  par  with 
the  berry  of  the  algarrobo,  which  has  enabled  me  and  my  horse 
to  defy  the  desert  with  a  loaf  made  from  its  flour  in  one  saddle- 
bag, and  a  handful  of  its  pods  in  the  other? 

Beyond  the  algarrobo  region  and  south  of  it  we  find  another 
plant  called  calden,  which  appears  to  extend  some  hundreds  of 
kilometers  to  the  south,  as  far  as,  if  not  farther  than  the  Rio 
Negro.  It  does  not  seem  to  grow  on  the  actual  plain,  but  on 
the  territories  adjacent  to  the  first  rajige  of  hills  (Lomas)  that 
precede  the  Cordilleras  by  some  score  of  leagues. 

This  plant  reigns  alone,  or  almost  alone ;  and  resembles  the 
algarrobo  so  closely  in  bark,  leaf,  and  pod,  that  it  has 
been  mistaken  by  some  persons  for  the  latter.  Yet  to  me  the 
foliage  appears  straighter,  and  less  ample.  The  trunk  is  usually 
short ;  the  timber  is  valuable,  on  account  of  its  veining,  for 
cabinet-work,  and  is  strong  enough  for  buildings  under  cover ;  it 
is  very  fragile,  and  retains  its  native  humidity  for  a  long  time.  The 
woods  composed  of  this  tree  are  scant}'',  at  least  those  that  I  saw. 

I  cannot  give  more  precise  and  comparative  particulars,  because 
I  only  explored  part  of  the  region  where  it  grows,  which  begins 
at  a  distance  of  some  leagues  south  of  Cordova,  and  seems 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Pampa.  It  must  be  a  variety 
of  the  algarrobo,  and  similarly  must  grow  on  ground  that  is 
at  least  equal  to  the  highest  level  next  to  that  of  the  che- 
braccio, as  we  have  noted  when  speaking  of  the  forest  region  of 
the  plain,  of  which  it  must  form  a  zone  apart  by  geological 
situation,  and  hence  by  climate,  if  not  by  soil. 

From  this,  we  may  deduce  that  the  forest  flora  aff'ords  a 
geological  theory  which  may  be  stated  as  follows :  Wherever 
the  chebraccio  predominates,  there  the  land  is  either  original, 
or    of   emersion;    where   the    algarrobo    prevails    (when   not 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  24 1 

mixed  with  the  chebraccio),  the  land  is  a  remnant  from  a 
far  distant  epoch  ;  where  the  pacara,  and  still  more,  where  the 
chaiiar  predominates,  the  land  is  a  remnant  of  a  more  recent 
time,  and  in  some  spots  may  date  as  it  were  from  yesterday, 
according  to  the  complexion  of  the  individual  trees  relatively 
to  the  atmosphere.     Seeing  the  uniformity  of  the  geological  and 

,  forest  phenomena,  this  criterion  may  be  applied  generally  from 
the  Chaco  to  the  rest  of  the  wooded  regions  of  the  Republic  ; 
and  by  the  connection  between  the  lands  and  the  aquiferous 
soils,  we  may  utilize  such  a  criterion  thus  :  Where  the  flora  is 
of  hard  timber  (chebraccio,  &c.),  the  lower  soils  are  more  com- 
pact, more  clayey,  more  nitrous ;  hence  less  permeable,  and  yield- 
ing brackish  and  salt  water.  And  where  the  flora  is  soft- wooded, 
still  more  where  it  is  flaccid,  the  lower  soils  are  more  sandy,  less 
saline,  permeable,  in  communication  with  the  river- currents, 
affording,  therefore,  good  water  at  a  depth  corresponding  with 
that  of  the  rivers. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  country,  without  arguing  so  much  on 
the  subject,  act  on  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  when  they 
excavate  their  wells,  as  I  had  occasion  to  learn  when  I  was 
constructing  railroads. 

I  concede  that  my  deductions  may  not  appear  strictly  accurate 
to  those  who  have  only  travelled  by  land  and  through  the  less 
typical  regions  of  the  Chaco,  but  nevertheless,  and  without 
troubling  myself  about  accidents  of  detail  that  may  eventually 
make  them  appear  erroneous,  I  put  them  forward  with  confidence. 
We  have  seen  how  the  forest  flora  can  give  us  agrarian 
criteria,    which    I    formulate    as  follows :    In   the   algarroba 

■  region,  which  comprises  the  whole  forest  range  of  the  central 
and  northern  parts  of  the  Eepublic,  agriculture  is  a  ruinous,  not 
to  say  impossible,  pursuit  without  the  help  of  artificial  irriga- 
tion,  while  with  it  splendid  results  are  attainable.  The  banks 
of  the  Parana  and  the  Paraguay,  and  their  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, are  an  exception,  however,  as  are  also  some  spots 
adjoining  the  mountains,  where  the  earth  will  bring  forth  her 
fruits  without  irrigation. 

The  fate  of  agriculture  and  of  pasturage  must  depend  on  the 

.  immigration  of  men  and  of  capital,  or  colonization.  With 
regard  to  the  Chaco,  the  conditions  of  productiveness  and  of 
economy  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : — 

The  littoral  of  the  Eiver  Paraguay  within  the  torrid  zone  is 
favourable  to  the  highest  industrial  agriculture  when  applied  to 

li 


242  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

sugar-cane,  tobacco,  and  coffee,  and  backed  up  by  the  large 
capital  necessary  for  raising  water  for  irrigation,  for  defence 
against  the  Indians,  who,  for  good  pay,  will  help  in  the  work, 
being  able  to  resist  the  extremes  of  their  native  climate, 
and  for  the  cost  of  the  plant  and  machinery.  The  remainder 
of  the  land,  as  well  as  the  portion  just  mentioned,  is  adapted 
for  pasturage  and  for  colonization  by  families.  The  water- 
highway,  the  proximity  to  centres  of  production  and  consump- 
tion already  in  existence,  the  forests  to  subdue  and  utilize,  the 
land  given  gratuitously,  or  nearly  so,  are  all  very  advantageous 
conditions  ior  the  culture  of  these  districts.  The  centre  of  the 
Chaco,  on  the  contrary,  where  the  hot  climate  is  noxious  to 
colonists,  and  where  the  Indians  attack  them  and  carry  ofif  their 
cattle,  is  favourable  to  pasturage  only  in  some  scattered  spots, 
and  to  the  formation  of  roads  only  along  the  banks  of  the 
rivers ;  but  the  dry  and  hot  climate,  and  the  presence  of  the 
Indians,  will  always  prove  sources  of  annoyance  to  colonists. 
The  cost  of  raising  water  from  the  deeply-imbedded  rivers 
would  not  be  recouped  by  the  produce  or  crops.  Within  the 
frontier-line,  which  lies  at  a  distance  of  500  kilometers  from  the 
Paraguay  and  the  Parana,  the  danger  from  Indians  no  longer 
exists,  but  the  best  lands  are  already  allotted. 

The  districts  adjacent  to  the  mountains  and  near  the  rivers 
that  run  from  them,  are  adapted  for  the  highest  culture  of  the 
same  crops  I  have  already  mentioned  when  speaking  of  the 
littoral,  but  not  without  large  capital,  which  is,  moreover, 
required  for  the  purchase  of  the  land.  The  Indians  will  supply, 
as  they  do  now,  the  necessary  labour,  but  the  enormous  dis- 
tances for  transport  offer  difficulties  that  can  be  lessened  only  by 
the  navigation  of  the  Vermejo,  if  ever  this  becomes  an  accom- 
plished fact.  On  the  above-named  spots  and  in  the  rest  of  the 
aforesaid  districts,  colonization  and  pasturage  prudently  carried 
out  has  succeeded  and  will  succeed,  although  with  the  economic 
disadvantages  of  long  distances  for  transport  of  goods,  and  the 
high  price  of  the  land,  and  with  the  physical  drawback  of 
dangerous  fevers  ai.d  ague. 

At  the  present  time  the  littoral  of  the  Paraguay  and  the 
Parana,  with  the  numerous  intersecting  streamlets  (nachos),  is 
best  adapted,  both  physically  and  economically,  for  the  outlay 
of  large  capital,  and  for  the  labour  of  colonist  families,  who, 
however,  must  be  emigrants  from  countries  that  are  neither  cold 
nor  mountainous.  ' 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  243 


\ 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

FOREST  FLORA  OF  THE  MOUNTAIN — ITS  DISTRIBUTION — CONTRAST 
BETWEEN  THIS  AND  THE  PRECEDING  FLORA — CONCLUSIONS 
AS    TO    ALTIMETRY,    CLIMATE,    AND    SOIL. 

The  afforesting  of  the  mountains  that  bound  the  Gran  Chaco 
on  the  west  is  subject  to  these  three  fundamental  conditions  ; — 

1.  Exposure  to  the  south  and  south-east  winds. 

2.  A  humid  atmosphere. 

3.  A  warm  atmosphere. 

These  three  act  reciprocally  on  each  other.  The  south  and 
south-east  winds  bring  on  the  rains  by  cooling  the  atmosphere. 
Humidity  is  necessary  in  order  to  supply  the  rain,  and  heat, 
besides  being  required  to  provide  the  necessary  thermal  con- 
ditions for  any  given  species  of  plants,  is  necessary  also  to 
hold  in  suspense  a  larger  amount  of  vapour,  and  to  allow  of  its 
precipitation  into  rain  by  sudden  cooling,  which,  on  contact 
with  the  said  winds,  will  be  the  greater  in  proportion  to  the 
elevation  of  the  temperature. 

There  is  a  fourth  condition,  viz.  height  above  the  level  of 
the  sea.  But  this  influences  the  species  of  the  plants  solely, 
because  the  three  conditions  first  mentioned  are  always  essential 
to  the  existence  of  forest  on  the  mountains. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  in  the  parts  farthest  from  the  torrid 
zone  the  mountains  will  be  less  wooded,  and  plants  of  the  same 
species  will  be  either  different  or  less  numerous,  or  altogether 
absent ;  and  that  in  the  lower  and  backward  ranges  the  same 
phenomena  wall  be  observed.  In  the  first  case  the  temperature 
is  not  sufficiently  high,  in  the  second  the  winds  I  have  named 
-do  not  reach  the  more  distant  mountains,  but  are  stopped,  as  it 
M^ore,  by  a  wall  formed  by  the  first  mountain  range. 

It  also  follows  that  those  spots  where  the  mountains  form 
a  semicircle  under  the  conditions  I  have  named,  will  enjoy, 
on  a  larger  scale,  the  results  I  have   indicated,  because    heat 

K  2 


244  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

and  humidity  will  he  more  concentrated,  and  the  winds  will 
te  moistened  and  arrested  in  their  course. 

What  I  have  said  concerning  the  mountains  on  the  western 
edge  of  the  Cliaco  is  true  likewise  of  those  other  mountains 
that  bound  on  the  south  the  forest  region,  situate  in  the 
north  and  centre  of  the  Republic.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  we  are  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  that  consequently 
the  south  being  nearer  the  Antarctic  Pole  is  the  colder, 
and  the  north,  which  is  nearer  the  Equator,  the  warmer  region. 
I  take  this  opportunity  of  remarking  that  it  would  prevent 
confusion  if,  at  a  suitable  time,  geographers  were  to  adopt  a 
nomenclature  better  adapted  to  the  analogy  between  the 
climatic  conditions  of  the  two  hemispheres. 

The  influence  of  the  above  active  causes  extends  not  only 
over  the  mountain-slopes,  but  also  over  the  adjacent  table-land, 
and  this  in  proportion  to  the  energy  with  which  those  three 
causes  are  put  into  operation. 

The  spots  in  which  Gran  and  Tucuman  are  situated  are 
therefore  highly  favoured  on  account  of  the  semicircle  formed 
by  the  mountains.  Gran  in  particular  being  nearer  the  tropics. 

The  southern  portion  of  the  Tucuman  range,  on  the  other 
hand,  and  the  whole  of  the  Cordova  range  are  unfavourably 
situated  for  the  opposite  reasons,  and  thus  are  almost  completely 
bare  of  forest  growth. 

The  Gran  or  Zenta  range,  that  of  Tucuman  or  Acconchica,  and 
that  of  Cordova  (I  use  tlie  popular  names  for  the  sake  of  clear- 
ness and  conciseness),  situated  respectively  farther  and  farther 
from  the  torrid  zone,  consist,  each  of  them,  of  various  parallel 
chains  of  mountaitis,  divided  by  deep  and  narrow  valleys  called 
canons  on  account  of  their  shape. 

Now,  the  difference  between  one  range  and  another  by 
reason  of  its  position  with  reference  to  the  three  causes  I  have 
named  is  palpable,  remarkable,  and  most  surprising.  Thus  the 
declivities  directly  exposed  to  the  winds — that  is,  the  easteru 
slopes- — are  much  more  wooded  than  those  on  the  opposite,  or 
western  side ;  and  the  foremost  range  is  more  wooded  than  the 
second,  until  passing  from  one  range  to  another  we  exchange  a 
humid  zone  of  magnificent  forest  for  another  of  excessive  aridity 
and  bareness. 

The  Pucara  region,  of  which  I  shall  treat  presently,  furnishes 
us  with  a  remarkable  instance  of  this,  within  an  extent  o:^  a  few 
kilometers  from  east  to  west. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  245 

We  may  thus  account  apparently  for  the  barren  desolation  of 
the  mountain-ranges  standing  behind  those  I  have  mentioned, 
and  farthest  to  the  east,  and  of  the  Cordillera  itself  with  its 
peaks  of  7000  yards  in  height,  althougli  situated  many  hun- 
dred kilometers  west  of  the  above.  In  any  other  way  their 
denudation  would  be  inexplicable,  since  such  mountains  belong 
geographically  to  the  forest  zone  as  we  have  defined  it. 

Meanwhile  the  phenomenon  of  a  jlora  of  the  plain  existing 
and  being  developed  in  a  dry  climate,  and  another  similar  one 
of  the  mountains  needing  humidity  for  its  formation  and 
development  is  no  less  extraordinary.  Both  require  the  same 
conditions  of  heat.  The  most  salient  ditierence  in  the  aspect 
of  the  two  is  that  the  flora  of  the  plain  is  smaller  in  the 
trunk,  and  especially  less  lofty,  and  that  in  general  the 
leaves  are  deeply  notched  and  very  small ;  while  the  mountain 
flora  is  of  large  and  lofty  trunk,  and  with  larger  leaves, 
thus  bearing  a  resemblance  to  the  European  flora.  It  is 
singular  that,  generally  speaking,  the  timber  of  the  flora  of  the 
plain  resists  the  action  of  water  better — being,  in  some  cases, 
absolutely  incorruptible — than  that  of  the  flora  growing  in  a 
damp  climate.  Is  this  a  caprice,  a  compensation,  or  a  law  of 
nature  % 

Having  set  forth  in  the  preceding  chapter  the  principal  con- 
ditions on  which  the  presence  and  development  of  the  arboreal 
flora  depend,  and  having  roughly  defined  the  superficial  extent  of 
the  forest  region,  letme  say  a  few  words  on  its  vertical  distribution. 

I  will  proceed  as  before  on  the  data  of  personal  observa- 
tion made  while  exploring  the  mountains  and  plains  of  the 
forest  region,  and  I  will  permit  myself  some  few  repetitions 
for  the  sake  of  clearness. 

As  with  us  the  zone  of  the  oak,  that  of  the  chestnut,  and 
that  of  the  beech,  are  vertically  distinguished, — a  nomenclature 
which  has  served  since  in  agronomia,  and  in  practical  agricul- 
ture, to  divide  the  mountainous  regions  into  so  many  agrarian 
zones,  to  which  corresponds  a  climate  and  soil  of  certain  known 
properties ;  so  an  analogous  distinction  may  be  made  in  these 
parts  with  the  same  results,  although  the  state  of  cultivation  in 
the  country  renders  it  of  less  practical  importance  than  among 
ourselves.     Still,  it  will  help  us  to  place  our  ideas  in  order. 

The  forest  region  of  the  Argentines — I  speak  of  that  portion 
of  it  with  which  we  are  occupied;  that  is,  the  north  and  centre — 
must  be   divided,  in  the  altimetrical   sense,  into  three  zones, 


246  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

which,  being  named  according  to  the  plants  distinguished  by 
their  greater  respective  expansion  united  to  their  importance, 
ought  to  take  the  name  of  the  algarrobo  or  carob-tree  zone,  the 
sebil  zone,  and  the  aliso  zone. 

In  the  regions  where  the  pine  is  found,  a  fourth,  the  pine 
zone,  must  be  added.     It  lies  between  the  sebil  and  aliso  zones. 

The  algarrobo  zone  includes,  as  we  have  seen,  the  whole 
plain;  it  begins  at  a  height  of  50  to  100  yards,  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  ends  at  a  height  of  300  or  400,  according 
to  the  latitude.  Most  of  the  hard  timber  is  found  in  this  zone, 
viz.  the  red  chebraccio,  the  urunday,  nandubay,  palo-santo, 
palo-ferro,  guajacan,  iscajanta,  and  others  whose  specific  weight, 
generally  speaking,  exceeds  that  of  water. 

The  presence  of  the  algarrobo  mostly  indicates  a  dry  climate; 
its  forest  companions  nevertheless,  or  those  trees  that  must  be 
included  in  this  vast  zone,  admit  of  differences  which  may  give 
room  to  sub-zones,  like  that  of  the  somewhat  humid  urunday,  or 
of  the  palo-santo  and  the  excessively  dry  jiatai  algarrobo. 

With  regard  to  agriculture  it  is  unfortunate,  but  as  we  have 
seen,  not  the  less  certain,  that  throughout  the  great  algarrobo 
zone,  unless  irrigation  be  employed,  the  climate  forbids  any 
great  prosperity,  owing  to  the  absence  of  rain  and  of  atmo- 
spheric moisture,  except  in  the  sub-zone  of  the  urunday  and 
likewise  in  that  of  the  nandubay,  or  in  localities  very  specially 
situated.  But  wherever  irrigation  is  practised,  splendid  results 
are  obtained  ;  and  the  sub-zone  of  the  patai  algarrobo  is  singu- 
larly favourable  to  the  culture  of  the  vine  and  the  olive,  when 
duly  irrigated.  In  that  of  the  palo-santo,  and  the  conter- 
minous zones,  on  the  other  hand,  the  chaguar  testile,  of  which 
we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  and  the  aji  or  pepper-tree  grow 
spontaneously. 

Wherever  there  are  rivers  in  the  algarrobo  zone,  we  find 
what  may  be  termed  an  island  zone,  going  up  the  valleys 
among  the  high  mountains,  whose  flora  consists  principally  of 
various  kinds  of  willows,  of  seibos  and  bobos.  Only  certain 
kinds  of  willows  that  are  almost  like  forest  trees,  and  form 
beautiful  groves  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  are  available,  and 
that  to  a  limited  extent,  for  building  purposes. 

Kext  above  the  algarrobo  zone  comes  that  of  the  sebil,  wliicli, 
in  its  lower  part,  shelters  some  of  the  inferior  flora,  while  sup- 
porting among  them  numerous  colonies  of  its  own.     This,  zoh\) 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  247 

comprises  the  lands  adjacent  to  the  mountains  where  the  climate 
is  sufficiently  moist,  and  the  slopes  to  the  remarkable  height 
of  1000  or  1500  yards  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  according 
to  the  latitude,  diminishing  towards  the  south  on  account  of 
the  excessive  dryness  of  the  climate. 

This  is  the  region  of  the  timber  most  valuable  for  its 
size,  its  adaptation  to  various  uses,  and  the  large  number 
of  trees.  The  sebil,  of  which  there  are  three  kinds,  is  at 
the  present  time  the  basis  of  one  of  the  most  important 
industries  in  the  interior  of  the  Eepublic,  viz.  the  tanning 
of  skins.  Growing  with  or  near  the  sebil,  we  find  the  two 
cedars,  the  white  and  the  pink ;  the  lapaccio,  that  we  have 
remarked  likewise  in  the  sub-zone  of  the  urunday,  the 
walnut,  the  laurel,  the  tatane,  the  pacara,  the  mulberry, 
the  tipa,  the  male  oak,  the  orco-moglie,  the  fragrant  china- 
china,  the  palo-lancia,  the  palo-blanco,  and  many  others,  in- 
cluding the  biscote,  whose  wood  resembles  ebony.  It  is  very 
scarce,  requiring  both  dryness  and  heat,  so  that  but  for  its 
altimetrical  situation  it  should  rather  be  classed  with  the  flora 
of  the  algarrobo  zone. 

It  is  in  the  sebil  region  that  we  find  the  colossal  trees,  of 
numerous  kinds,  and  in  immense  quantities,  that  have  made 
tropical  forests  so  famous.  Tucuman  and  Oran  bear  away  the 
palm  of  wealth  in  this  flora. 

In  the  lower  part  of  this  zone,  that  is  to  say  on  the 
plain  or  table-land  adjoining  the  mountain  skirts,  and  particu- 
larly in  the  provinces  of  Tucuman,  Salta,  and  Jujuy,  agrarian 
industry  has  been  developed  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar-cane,  rice,  and  tobacco.  In  the  section  nearest 
the  tropics  we  find  the  requisite  conditions  for  a  great  develop- 
ment of  agrarian  industry,  in  the  numerous  and  abundant 
streams  which,  flowing  from  the  neighbouring  heights,  make 
irrigation  easy,  and  likewise  afford  a  gratuitous  motive  power  ; 
making  amply  remunerative  the  large  capital  employed,  where 
transport  does  not  imply  vast  expense. 

Agriculture  scarcely  exists  in  the  upper  part  of  the  zone  I 
am  describing,  on  account  of  the  excessive  labour  required  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  declivities  of  the  hills,  and  of  the  quantity 
of  excellent  land  in  more  advantageous  situations. 

The  cultivation  of  the  vine  and  the  olive  wiU  not  be  suc- 
cessful in  general  in  all  the  sebil  zone,  because  of  the  rains 
and  humidity,  which  are  excessive  for  these  plants,  and  prevail 


248  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

at  unsuitable  seasons,  that  is,  at  the  setting  of  tlie  blossom,  and 
at  the  maturity  of  the  fruit.  Pasture,  on  the  contrary,  would 
be  very  suitable,  notwithstanding  the  large  portion  of  the  land 
occupied  by  trees,  for  the  grass  grows  beneath  their  foliage 
owing  to  climatic  influences,  including  that  of  light,  which  is 
admitted  by  the  incline  of  the  mountain  sides. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  249 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


FOREST   FLORA   OF   THE    MOUNTAIN — THE  ALISO    ZONE    NOMENCLA- 
TURE— FUTURE    DESTINY    OF    CERTAIN    FLOWERS. 

As  we  come  forth  from  the  splendid  vegetation  I  have  briefly 
described,  we  meet  after  a  short  interval  with  the  first  repre- 
sentatives of  the  forest  zone  of  the  aliso,  which  after  a  while, 
are  succeeded  by  extensive  and  dense  woods,  consisting  almost 
exclusively  of  that  tree.  The  spectacle  they  present  is  entirely 
different  from  the  last,  and  resembles  that  of  European  forests 
of  a  single  species  of  tree. 

The  aliso  is  found  at  the  height  of  2000  or  2500  yards 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  according  to  the  latitude;  and 
consequently  crowns  many  of  the  lower  ranges  of  hills,  and 
clothes  the  sides  of  the  higher  mountains.  It  has  a  tendency, 
in  my  opinion,  to  push  its  way  farther  into  the  lowlands,  and  on 
comparing  it  with  the  preceding  flora,  it  would  seem  that  the 
latter  begins  to  extend  itself  from  below,  while  the  aliso  works 
downw^ards  from  the  heights,  and  the  two  are  thus  endeavour- 
ing to  come  into  contact. 

The  aliso  (a  variety  of  the  alnus)  is  our  alder,  and  is  of  two 
kinds,  which  are  much  alike  in  appearance  and  in  properties. 
It  is  lofty  and  upright  with  a  diameter  from  twenty  to  forty 
centimeters ;  it  is  very  abundant  and  scattered,  holding  the 
same  place  in  the  flora  of  these  parts  that  is  held  by  the  beech 
in  the  European  flora ;  and  the  timber  also  is  similar.  It  is 
little  known,  nevertheless,  if  not  absolutely  unknown,  and  for 
this  reason  I  will  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject. 

The  timber  is  adapted  for  building  under  cover  and  will 
resist  water.  In  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  of  Catamarca,  a 
master-beam  of  the  roof,  more  than  seventy  years  old,  was 
found  the  best  for  replacing;  1800  years  ago,  Pliny  de- 
clared this  timber  to  be   indestructible,    and  builders    inform 


250  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

us  that  the  lacustrine  cities  of  Venice  and  Holland  have  the 
greater  part  of  their  houses  supported  on  stakes  of  aliso,  other- 
wise alder,  driven  in  below  the  water. 

The  height,  therefore,  of  the  aliso  and  its  lightness,  make  it 
admirable  for  building,  because,  generally  speaking,  timber  that 
will  resist  water  in  this  country  is  very  deficient  in  length. 
The  difficulty  of  access  to  the  regions  of  its  growth  would  not 
constitute  any  serious  obstacle  if  the  system  of  transport  by 
water,  as  practised  in  the  Alps  and  in  North  America,  were 
adopted.  Such  a  system  would  be  quite  practicable  here  by 
reason  of  the  numerous  streams  running  through  every  mountain 
pass,  and  by  this  means,  the  other  forests  that  form  the  wealth 
of  this  mountainous  district  could  be  utilized. 

The  aliso  is  only  met  with  on  the  summits  of  mountains,  or 
on  the  declivities  exposed  to  the  south  and  south-east  winds. 
At  an  equal  height,  but  on  summits  and  declivities  sheltered 
from  those  winds,  we  find  pasture-land,  provided  there  is 
moisture  sufficient. 

Grasses  grow  freely  under  aliso-trees,  because  in  general 
there  are  no  climbing  plants,  nor  even  shrubs  about  their  roots, 
the  temperature  not  being  sufficiently  high. 

This  region  or  zone  of  the  aliso  is  favourable,  therefore,  to 
pasture-land,  and  together  with  the  region  of  natural  meadows 
lying  above  it,  offers  immense  advantages  for  estancias,  for 
summering  cattle. 

Between  the  sebil  and  the  aliso  zones,  we  occasionally  find 
interpolated  the  pine  zone,  which  seems  to  fill  the  void  we 
have  noticed  where  the  pine  is  absent.  This  tree  appears  to 
like  very  tropical  latitudes,  at  any  rate  they  seem  to  be  the 
centre  of  its  diffusion,  since  it  is  not  met  with  until  the  north- 
west of  Gran  and  on  the  hills  of  the  Upper  Parana.  I  am  told 
it  grows  also  at  Tafi,  north  of  Tucuman. 

A  curious  and  very  unexpected  mountain  vegetation  is  that 
of  the  reed-cane,  or  cana  brava  as  it  is  called  here.  We 
suddenly  come  across  it  in  the  aliso  zone,  on  the  more  marshy 
spots,  which  are  nearly  always  dark  and  miry,  in  bushes  con- 
sisting of  hundreds  of  high  reeds,  that  entangled  with  each 
other  and  with  those  of  the  neighbouring  bushes,  form  an 
archway  under  which  a  man  may  pass  on  horseback.  They 
frequently  make  quite  a  labyrinth  of  galleries  through  which 
one  may  wander  over  immense  mountain  tracts. 

A  similar  reed  cane,  called  cana  tacudra,  growing  along  the 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  25 1 

rivers,  in  the  lower  plains  of  tropical  Chaco,  attains  such 
dimensions  that  it  is  used  for  props  in  roofing. 

On  the  heights  of  the  aliso  zone,  we  also  wonder  to  find  the 
arborescent  salvia  and  the  samhiico,  called  sanco,  the  leaves  of 
which  are  said  to  have  medicinal  properties. 

The  zone  of  the  mountain  flora  above  mentioned  may  be 
subdivided  into  sub-zones.  But  besides  the  absence  of  suffi- 
cient data  from  which  to  generalize,  I  have  already  said  enough 
to  indicate  the  characteristic  features  of  the  forest  zone,  espe- 
cially with  regard  to  climate  and  consequently  to  agriculture 
and  pasture,  which  was  one  of  our  principal  objects. 

Many  of  the  plants  I  have  named  serve  for  dyeing  and 
tanning  purposes,  and  some,  besides  those  I  have  noted  here 
and  there,  are  fruit-bearing  ;  among  which  we  may  remark  the 
mato,  bearing  a  cherry  that  is  good  to  eat  raw,  and  which 
makes  also  a  fermented  drink,  and  the  arrayan,  a  shrub  bear- 
ing a  kind  of  currant  which  can  be  used  in  the  same  way  as 
the  mato.  Besides  these  there  are  several  enredadei'as,  in- 
cluding the  tasiy  with  a  hairy,  milky  fruit  like  an  egg,  and 
another  plant  bearing  a  kind  of  bean,  and  which  has  supplied 
the  ]\Iattaccos  with  a  name  for  our  beans.  The  leaves  of  many 
plants,  especially  of  the  large  family  of  moglias,  yield  a  fragrant 
scent  when  rubbed  ;  the  same  with  the  flowers  of  the  numerous 
varieties  of  acacia  and  mimosa,  particularly  the  tusca  and  the 
ciurchij  which  are  the  same  as  our  cassia  {gaggio). 


SciEXTiFic  Nomenclature  of  the  said  Plants. 


Asi  (pimento) 
Algarrobo 

„         bianco 
Aliso 

Algarrobillo    . 
Arroyan  . 
Biea 
Cedro 
Ciaguar  . 


Ciaguar  (textile) 
Ciaguio    . 
Ciurchi   . 
Chebraccio  hlanco 


„  flojo  (si: 

Cortadera 


Capsicum,  microcarpum. 
Frosopis  algarroho. 

„       alba. 
Alnus  ferruginea  (var.  Alisus). 
Acacia  moniliformis. 
Eugenia  unifiora. 
Caesalpinia  praecox. 
Cedrela  Brasilensis  (var.  Australis). 
Gurliaea   decorticans   {delle    papi- 

glionacee). 
Una  Bromeliacea. 
Nieremhergia  hippomanica. 
Prosopis  adstringens. 
Aspidosperma  Chebraccio. 


Colorado  (red)        .     Loxopterygiutn  Lorentzii. 


ub)  .         .     lodina  rhombifolia. 

Gynerium  Argentinum. 


252 


EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 


Garabato 

„        shrub 
Giuccian  (Tuchdn)  . 
Guayacan 

Jume  (delle  salicornie) 
Lanza 
Lapaccio 

Laurel    . 
Mato 

Mistol     . 
Moglie  or  Moje 

Mora 

Niandubay  (Nandubay) . 
Nio-Nio  (venomous  herb) 

Nogal 

Ombu      .        .         .         .         . 
Pacara     .         .         .         .         . 
Pahn  of  the  Gran  Chaco 
Palo  bianco    .... 
Palo-santo       .         .         .         . 

Pino 

Eoble  (male  oak)     . 
Salcio  (willow) 
Sambuco  (sauco)     . 

Salvia 

Sebil 

Seibo 

Soconto  (coloured,  climbing) . 

Tala 

Tasi  (climbing) 

Tatane  (Espinillo  of  the  North) 

Tipa 

Tuna 

Tusca      .         .         .         .         . 
Yinal 


Acacia  tucumanensis. 

,,      stihscandens. 
Choris'ia  insignis. 
Caesalpina  melano  car  pa. 
Spirotachys  vaginata. 
Myrsine  marginata. 
Tecoma    (gen.  belonging  to    the  Bigo- 

gniacee). 
Nectandra  jiorphyria. 
Eugenia  'mato  {belonging   to  the  Mir- 

tacee). 
Zizyphxis  vuistol. 
Belot  ging  to  the  Terebentinacee. 
Geho  Americano. 
Acacia  cavena. 
Baccharis  cordifolia. 
Yuglans  nigra  (var.  Boliviano^. 
Pirconia  dioica. 
Euterolobium  timbavva. 
Copernica  Cerifera  { 
Belonging  to  the  Rubiacee. 
A  Zygophyllea. 
Podocarpus  angustifolia. 
Belonging  to  the  Leguminose. 
Salix  Humboldtiana. 
Sambuccus  Australis,  S.  Peruviana, 
Salvia  matico. 
Acacia  €ebil. 

An  Erythrina  (Christa-galli). 
Galium  hirsutum. 
Celtis  Tala. 

Morrena  Brachy Stephana  (Asclep.). 
Belonging  to  the  Leguminose. 
Machaerium  fertile. 
Cactus. 

Mimose  fam.  {Acacia  aroma  ?). 
Prosopis  ruscifolia  (Mimose  family). 


The  question  may  be  asked  whether  the  flora  of  these  regions 
is  in  a  state  of  progression  or  on  the  contrary,  either  stationary 
or  retrograding.  There  are  indications  in  some  species,  of  one 
of  these  three  conditions.  For  example,  in  the  sand  of  the 
arid  Eacino  di  Belen,  after  long  journeying  across  bare  and 
saline  land,  we  come  suddenly  upon  a  magnificent  forest  of 
patai  algarrobos,  of  ancient  growth  and  large  bulk,  not  a  young 
tree  among  them.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this 
flora  will  not  be  renewed  and  must  disappear. 

In  the  forests  of  Tucuman,  within  the  sebil  zone,  it  is  ex- 
tremely rare  to  find  a  young  cedar,  although  there  are  plenty' of 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  253 

ancient  cedars  of  stupendous  size.  I  do  not  think  we  can  refer 
the  destruction  of  the  young  trees  to  cattle,  which  do  not  exist 
in  sufficient  number.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  chebraccio 
in  the  centre  of  the  chehracciaU.  This,  however,  may  be  ex- 
plained by  the  famous  "  struggle  for  existence  ;"  air  and  light, 
if  not  soil,  are  wanting  to  the  young  shoots  in  the  thick  of  the 
forest.  But  even  on  the  skirts,  young  trees  are  very  scarce  in 
the  chebraccio  and  cedar  forests,  and  among  the  other  trees  in 
the  sebil  zone,  and  do  not  seem  to  exist  in  sufficient  proportion 
to  replace  the  former  growth  when  it  shall  have  perished, 
although  in  general  the  growth  is  excessively  slow,  and  hence 
the  decay  of  the  individual  tree  very  remote.  But  these  remarks 
show  us  that  where  the  axe  anticipates  the  destruction  of 
Nature,  while  it  cannot  hasten  its  productive  power,  it  would 
be  well  to  regulate  the  felling  of  timber,  and  to  fill  up  the 
vacuums  thus  created,  so  as  not  to  exhaust  the  forest  long  before 
the  period  popularly  assigned  to  its  duration. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  chebraccio  of  the  Chaco  has 
a  tendency  to  become  scarcer  as  the  lands  of  emersion  disappear. 
The  danger,  however,  is  remote,  on  account  of  the  vast  extent 
of  the  territory,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  conditions  of  climate 
and  of  vegetation  suited  to  its  reproduction  will  previously 
alter.  But  on  the  hills  (Lomas)  of  the  provinces  of  Santiago 
and  Catamarca,  even  this  danger  does  not  exist,  and  there  yet 
remains  territory  for  this  tree  to  invade. 

In  the  sebil  zone  the  forest  has  already  spread  over  almost  all 
the  available  territory,  only  leaving  part  of  the  strip  dividing 
it  from  the  aliso.  The  latter,  on  the  contrary,  has  still  a  vast 
territory  before  it,  which  it  is  hastening  to  conquer  by  visible 
forward  extension  every  year.  The  aliso  is  in  the  period  of 
expansion. 

I  have  not  remarked  in  the  sebil  and  algarrobo  zones  any 
tree  with  a  tendency  to  predominate  over  the  others.  It  is  not 
impossible,  however,  that  some  that  may  be  imported  into  the 
still  virgin  forests  may  produce  that  result.  I  have  spoken  of 
territory  to  be  conquered ;  but  then  do  not  the  forests  spread  all 
at  once  over  the  ground  they  occupy  or  will  occupy  ?  My  answer 
is  this  :  afforestment  seems  so  have  proceeded  by  irradiation,  as 
it  were,  from  various  nuclei  of  isolated  woods,  ever  increasing 
in  size,  until  uniting  together  they  have  constituted  immense 
forests. 

Certain  isolated  forest  centres  are  still  frequently  met  witli, 


254  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

both  in  the  Chaco  and  in  Santiago,  the  expansion  of  which,  hy 
irradiation,  seems  established  not  only  by  ratiocination,  but  by 
the  facts  as  narrated  to  me  by  some  timber  contractors,  that  in 
the  heart  of  these  so-called  islands  the  trees  are  of  older 
growth  and  a  large  average  of  them  split  under  the  saw, 
or  are  defective  in  other  ways,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  the 
outside  trees  are  smaller  and  younger,  and  exempt  in  larger 
proportion  from  the  defects  I  have  mentioned.  These  circum- 
stances appear  to  justify  me  in  an  assumption  that  is  based 
on  reason,  and  is  moreover  confirmed  by  the  habits  of  the  aliso. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  255 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  PUCARA  COUNTRY. 

At  a  height  of  2500  yards  above  the  sea,  on  the  range  of 
mountains  that  divides  from  north  to  south  the  two  provinces 
of  Tucuman  and  Catamarca,  and  at  a  point  where  they  join 
other  ranges  that  turn  east,  west,  and  north,  we  come  sud- 
denly upon  a  large  basin,  twenty  kilometers  by  thirty,  surrounded 
by  a  circle  of  mountains  of  various  heights,  among  which  the 
Aconguija  rise  majestically,  nearly  always  crowned  with  snow 
for  a  distance  of  5000  yards  downward  from  the  summit. 

This  basin  contrasts  greatly  with  the  surrounding  landscape, 
and  is  itself  in  strong  contrast  with  its  condition  in  the  past. 

It  still  retains  the  name  by  which  it  was  known  to  the 
aborigines,  who  inhabited  it  in  large  numbers,  and  is  called  the 
country  or  campo  of  the  Fucard.  The  word  means  strength  in 
the  Aimara  language,  and  red  in  the  Chiqchuan,  both  of  which 
appellations  are  appropriate,  the  one  on  account  of  the  general 
colouring,  and  the  other  on  account  of  formerly  existing  fortifi- 
cations, of  which  some  fragments  yet  remain. 

The  explorer  who,  crossing  tlie  mountain  range  at  this  point, 
delays  his  steps  for  a  while,  ma}-  find  here  an  opportunity  of 
acquiring  special  iniormation. 

On  his  right  hand  there  is  a  narrow  range  of  hills  2000 
yards  in  heigut,  the  eastern  slopes  of  which,  facing  the  south- 
east winds,  are  clothed  with  magnificent  forests  that  spread  out 
at  the  base  and  form  splendid  wooded  skirts  to  the  fertile  plain 
of  Tucuman  lying  at  his  feet.  Tlie  western  and  steeper  de- 
clivity is  thick  with  beautiful  woods,  which,  however,  betray 
their  recent  origin  by  being  chiefiy  grouped  where  a  line  of 
counterforts  has  sheltered  them  when  still  young  from  the 
prolonged  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the  spray  of  a  precipitous  torrent 
has  charged  the  atmosphere  with  moisture.  Then  comes  a 
second  range,  higher  by  1000  yards  than  the  first,  with  wider 


256  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

crest,  with  the  lower  part  of  its  eastern  slopes  comparatively 
denuded  of  forest,  and  the  higher  parts  clothed  with  woods  of 
aliso- trees,  while  the  summit  is  crowned  with  meadows.  The 
western  declivity  of  this  range,  entirely  bare  of  arboreous  plants 
and  with  very  scant  pasture,  encloses  on  one  side  the  campo 
that  lies  beneath  at  a  depth  of  500  yards. 

On  the  west  of  the  Fucara  the  horizon  is  bounded  by  low- 
lying  barren  hills ;  beyond  a  bare  and  rocky  precipice  800 
yards  high,  lies  the  vast  Bacino  di  Belen,  enclosed  on  all 
sides  by  high  mountains  and  by  the  Cordillera,  whose  snow- 
clad  Famatina  can  be  discerned  from  an  immense  distance. 
This  mountain  is  rich  in  mines ;  the  table-land  is  extremely 
arid  and  for  the  most  part  sandy,  but  with  some  oases  of  ancient 
algarrobos  (carobs),  which,  however,  are  not  reproductive.  In 
tlie  concave  centre  of  the  mountain  there  is  an  immense  tract 
of  whitish  hue,  thirty  leagues  by  three,  consisting  of  salt-mines. 
During  the  brief  season  of  light  rain  these  become  an  immense 
marsh  or  bog. 

The  Campo  del  Pacara  is  the  turning-point  between  the 
grassy  ranges  on  the  east  and  the  bare  sand-banks  of  the  west. 
It  is  itself  arid  and  burning,  but  affords  sustenance  to  cattle 
during  some  months  of  the  year. 

Its  elevation,  however,  and  the  encircling  hills,  among  which 
the  Alpine  Aconquija  on  the  north  is  like  a  star  surmounting  a 
diadem,  would  seem  to  promise  at  first  sight  a  climate  more 
favourable  to  the  vegetable  life  that  only  a  few  steps  further 
is  so  luxuriantly  developed  on  the  eastern  slopes.  There  is,  in 
fact,  less  than  the  distance  of  a  league  between  the  ridge  of  the 
Tucuman  mountains  and  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  campo, 
and  only  five  leagues  from  the  same  point  to  the  sandy  basin  of 
the  Belen. 

Here  the  action  of  the  winds  is  evident ;  as  is  the  inference 
from  the  position  of  the  mountains  with  regard  to  them,  and 
here  again  we  have  the  same  teaching,  repeated  in  less  concise 
language,  but  much  more  rigorously  by  the  other  immense 
circuits  of  the  Republic. 

The  parallelism,  or  in  other  words  the  uniformity  of  direction 
in  the  mountainous  system  of  the  Republic,  joined  to  the 
uniform  direction  of  the  atmospheric  currents,  and  to  the 
seasons  in  which  they  prevail,  in  that  region  at  least  which  is 
comprised  within  a  limit  a  little  beyond  the  Rosario  and  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  Republic,  afford  us  an  anticijiated 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  25/ 

knowledge  of  the  climates  of  the  country,  and  assist  us  wonder- 
fully in  verifying  the  theory  of  atmospheric  circulation  excogi- 
tated and  demonstrated  by  the  most  learned  modern  climato- 
logists. 

Meanwhile  a  magnificent  spectacle  is  presented  to  us  during 
the  summer  season  in  the  Pucara  Campo.  A  hot,  still,  and 
unpleasant  air,  accompanied  by  a  diminution  of  twenty  to 
twenty-five  millimeters  of  atmospheric  pressure,  is  succeeded 
first  by  a  light  breeze  that  veers  rapidly  from  north-east  to  south- 
east, and  then  by  a  furious  wind,  raising  great  clouds  of  dust 
from  a  soil  burnt  up  by  eight  months'  drought,  darkening 
the  clear  sky,  and  tormenting  any  one  exposed  to  violent 
contact  with  the  grains  of  sand  that  are  driven  before  it.  Our 
tent  is  loosened  by  the  repeated  shocks  of  the  aerial  current, 
and  soon  affords  an  insufficient  refuge,  as  does  also  the  humble 
rancho  which  owes  its  own  safety  to  the  numberless  fissures 
that  allow  of  a  passage  to  the  gale  through  which  it  strikes  the 
powerless  inhabitant.  On  the  outside  of  the  crest  of  the  circle 
of  mountains  there  now  appears  a  subtle  vapour  which  almost 
immediately  vanishes  into  space  and  is  succeeded  by  light  white 
clouds  that  also  evaporate,  followed  by  others  rather  denser;  these 
seem  to  shrink  from  resting  on  the  ridge  of  the  mountains  and 
disappear  almost  as  quickly  as  they  come.  I  do  not  know 
whether  they  turn  back  or  vanish  away. 

The  south  wind  now  blows  furiously,  and  the  air  becomes 
colder,  and  behind  the  white  cloudlets  are  big  clouds,  dark  at 
first  and  black,  that  rise  up  and  intermingle,  advance  and 
recede,  seeming  to  roll  up  the  steep  incline  like  another 
Sisyphus,  and  when  they  have  reached  the  top  to  be  thrust 
down  again  to  the  depths  whence  they  first  rose. 

To  the  shrieking  and  raging  of  the  wind  is  now  added  the 
noise  of  the  thunder  and  the  flashing  of  the  lightning,  the 
battle  waxes  fiercer,  the  combatants  can  now  scarcely  be  dis- 
tinguished ;  the  dense  phalanxes  on  the  heights  are  hardly  to 
be  discerned  as  they  clash  together,  intermingle,  and  form  at 
last  a  compact  dark  mass  that  advances  slowly  and  heavily 
over  the  face  of  the  campo.  This  mass  is  constantly  diminish- 
ing ;  it  is  whitish  and  vaporous  towards  the  west  and  is  con- 
;  stantly  renewed  by  black  clouds  from  the  east ;  now  it  halts, 
•  anon  draws  back,  obeying  I  know  not  what  occult,  mysterious 
force,  until  at  last  the  storm  has  conquered  every  mountain 
summit.     Then  a  leaden  pall   covers  all  the  heights  like  an 

s 


258  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   TPIE  GRAN   CHACO 

enormous  bell,  and  after  remaining  for  a  long  interval  will 
often  vanish  harmlessly  away.  Sometimes  through  a  rent  in 
the  edge  the  sun  can  be  seen  shining  in  imperturbable  splendour 
on  the  Belen  basin  lying  beneath. 

The  dryness  causes  the  evaporation  of  the  clouds,  which, 
when  the  atmosphere  is  saturated  on  the  side  of  the  eastern 
Tucuman  declivities,  are  driven  by  the  wind  into  fresh  space 
above  the  ridges  of  the  mountains.  Hence  the  rainfall  in 
the  Campo  of  Pucara  is  very  slight,  and  still  less  in  the  Bacino 
di  Belen. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  large  remains  of  Indian  habitations, 
which  are  built  in  clusters,  looking  like  so  many  separate  villages. 
They  are  situated  not  only  on  the  plain,  but  on  the  mountain- 
skirts  as  well. 

If  the  campo  were  formerly  under  the  same  conditions  of 
natural  productiveness  as  are  now  existent,  it  could  not  have 
afforded  subsistence  to  so  man}''  human  beings.  Can  a  change 
of  climate  have  occurred?  If  this  has  been  the  case  it  has 
not  been  due  to  any  change  in  the  accidents  of  the  moun- 
tains ;  there  is  no  indication  of  such  having  taken  place,  or 
any  tradition  on  the  subject.  It  is  more  probable  that  the 
local  conditions  have  changed  by  the  drying  up  of  some 
large  reservoir  of  water  in  the  neighbourhood,  some  lake,  in 
short,  of  which  the  fish  afforded  food,  and  the  water  was 
used  for  agriculture,  while  it  supplied  the  first  necessity  of 
material  life.  And,  in  fact,  north  of  the  campo,  in  the  lands 
of  recent  formation,  there  is  a  passage  for  the  watercourses  of 
this  basin,  and  its  name  of  Cortadera  expresses  both  its  aspect 
and  the  phenomenon  indicated  by  it,  just  as  among  ourselves 
we  call  the  openings  of  former  lakes  incisa  (a  Gui^^rotta  (a  break), 
or  ripafratta  (broken  shore).  Tradition  or  popular  acuteness 
having  bestowed  these  appellations,  or  else  we  may  infer  that 
either  during  the  conquest  of  the  indigenous  tribes  of  Catamarca 
by  the  Chiqchuans,  or  that  of  the  Americans  by  the  Spaniards, 
the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  land  sought  refuge  there  as  in 
a  stronghold,  and  protracted  their  defence,  although  amid 
serious  privation. 

However  this  may  have  been,  a  country  which  once  swarmed 
with  human  life  is  now  almost  a  desert,  useful,  perhaps,  to  the 
antiquary  and  to  the  dilettante  traveller  or  scientist. 


I 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  259 


CHAPTEE  XX. 


TUCUMAN. 


I  XJANNOT  refrain  from  recording  here  the  impressions  produced 
by  my  visit  to  Tncuman,  the  garden  of  the  Republic,  after  a 
long  period  of  absence.  I  had  been  received  there  with  the 
most  flattering  kindness  during  my  first  visit  of  eight  months, 
in  which  I  explored  its  wildest  and  most  picturesque  parts, 
spending  the  winter  on  the  peaks,  I  may  say,  of  its  lofty 
mountains.  In  the  course  of  this  book  I  have  mentioned  it 
frequently  as  one  of  the  privileged  cantons  of  the  Republic,  so 
that  to  return  to  it  now  will  not  be  entirely  out  of  place,  or 
unintelligible  to  the  reader.  I  will  add  that  I  claim  to  be 
accurate  in  all  essentials,  notwithstanding  the  poetical  form  in 
which  my  description  is  cast  in  order  to  do  honour  to  the 
subject,  and  to  make  it  more  attractive  to  the  numerous  readers 
of  the  Operaio  Italiano,  in  which  it  first  saw  the  light. 

0  Tucuman  !  thou  the  most  beautiful  among  thy  sisters,  all 
hail  to  thee  !  Whether  I  contemplate  the  level  plain  or  lift  up 
my  eyes  to  the  lofty  mountains  encircling  thee  on  the  side  of  the 
Circolo  Massimo  or  the  Occaso,  my  soul  is  thrilled  with  delight 
and  admiration.  Nature,  who  has  been  somewhat  niggardly  to 
thy  companions,  has  lavished  her  gifts  on  thee,  her  favoured 
one,  because  thou  wert  beautiful  and  beloved  !  To  thee  she 
has  given  the  vast  plain  of  the  Pampa,  and  bounded  it  with  a 
semicircle  of  hills  so  as  to  welcome  the  Alisian  winds,  that  in 
return  for  thy  hospitality,  enrich  thee  with  the  life-giving 
elements  gathered  in  their  wanderings  over  numberless  Alpine 
heights,  and  fraternize  with  thy  river,  called  by  thee  the  Fondo, 
but  changing  its  name  over  and  over  again,  according  to  the 
caprice  of  the  friendly  lands  whose  bosoms  it  fertilizes.  And  if 
the  san  shines  on  thee  with  burning  rays,  his  heat  is  tempered 
by  the  moisture  dropping  from  the  clouds  as  they  are  rent  by 
electricity,  with  sudden  explosion,  or  prolonged  thunder. 

s  2 


26o  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

Hence  thy  soil  is  verdant  in  the  winter,  and  in  spring  is 
adorned  with  innumerable  flowers — a  treasure-house  of  exotics 
— giving  place  one  to  the  other  for  thy  embellishment  during 
half  the  year ;  and  in  the  summer  and  autumn  thou  gatherest 
abundantly  the  fruits  of  a  few  growths.  ^Nature  has  not 
bestowed  on  thee  the  algarrobo,  nor  is  the  mistol,  its  comrade, 
abundant  with  thee,  nor  yet  the  chanar,  that  emulating  the 
tamarind,  buds  forth  in  primitive  Santiago,  on  thy  southern 
borders.  But  instead  of  these  she  has  given  thee  the  tuna,  the 
prickly  pear-tree,  the  arrayan,  and  the  mato,  growing  on  thy 
sierras ;  and  grants  thee,  with  little  trouble,  the  orange,  the 
yam,  rice,  potatoes,  wheat,  corn,  barley,  and  other  cereals,  in 
such  wise  as  to  make  her  storehouse  within  thy  borders.  Thy 
climate  refuses  to  give  any  industrial  advantage  to  the  culture 
of  that  fruit  which  is  first  mentioned  in  connection  with  sin, 
that,  according  to  Biblical  teaching,  was  fatal  to  its  unconscious 
inheritors,  the  pre- destined  inhabitants  of  unfruitful  Africa. 
But  thou,  yielding  the  glory  thereof  to  thy  western  neighbour, 
sober,  laborious,  and  honest  Catamarca,  art  compensated  by  the 
ca7ia,  that  while  bestowing  on  thee  the  principle  of  the  vine, 
enriches  thee  with  sugar,  and  is  guiltless  of  the  shame  of  Noah 
or  the  punishment  of  Cham.  Thou  dost  not  fear  the  envy  of 
proud  Salta,  lying  close  against  thee  on  the  side  of  the  seven- 
starred  Ursa  Major,  nor  the  unrecognized  claims  of  distant 
and  neglected  Jujuy.  Meanwhile  thy  pre-eminence  is  assured 
by  thy  many  fine  estahl&chnientos,  by  thy  highways  crowded 
with  waggons,  the  clamour  of  the  husbandmen,  the  creaking  of 
the  presses,  the  bubbling  of  the  boiling  caldrons,  the  hubbub 
of  all  kinds,  the  ovens,  the  buildings,  the  heat,  the  smoke,  the 
feast  of  peeled  cane  with  its  fresh  juice  and  syrup,  which,  at 
harvest  time,  constitutes  a  fete  champetre  worthy  of  Arcadia. 

And  how  shall  I  fitly  praise  the  soothing  herb  that  in  mani- 
fold guise  bestows  such  bliss  on  man — tobacco,  which  is  to  thee 
a  boundless  source  of  wealth  %  Until  now  it  has  crossed  the 
Cordilleras  in  large  quantities,  and  its  progress  has  only  been 
stopped  by  the  seashore,  where  it  is  unable  to  compete  with  the 
produce  of  other  lands.  But  when  its  culture  ceases  to  be  a 
monopoly  in  the  hands  of  the  representatives  of  the  first 
inha])itants,  and  science  and  art  take  it  under  their  protection, 
it  will  become  thy  special  honour  and  glory. 

The  iron-fibred  chebraccio,  which  is  wealth  to  th}''  sisters, 
finds  no  hold  on  thy  plains,  nor  are  they  shaded  by  frei^fuent 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  26l 

woods,  but  thy  mountain  is  clothed  with  primeval  forests 
stretching  to  its  very  base,  and  rich  in  magnificent  cedars 
and  graceful  walnut-trees  with  their  ashen  bark,  orcomollos, 
the  two  kinds  of  cebils,  whose  bark  is  used  for  tanning,  the 
pacara  with  its  saponaceous  properties,  the  lapaccio  with  its 
rose- coloured  blossoms,  the  two  kinds  of  alders  (aUsosV,  which, 
with  many  others,  crown  its  alpine  heights,  and  daily  push 
forward  towards  the  barren  coast.  All  these  trees  afford 
building  materials  or  food  to  thy  aserraderos,  while  at  dif- 
ferent altitudes  grow  among  them  the  early-flowering  cassia 
(cliurqui),  its  sister-plant,  the  tusca  (black  vine),  the  garravato, 
and  two  kinds  of  wild  orange,  mingling  the  perfume  of  their 
innumerable  blossoms  with  the  arrayan,  the  mato,  and  the 
molli,  whose  leaves  give  forth  fragrance  when  bruised,  or  are  of 
medicinal  value. 

The  borracho,  with  its  barrel-shaped  trunk  and  lemon-like 
fruit,  which,  when  ripe,  is  full  of  cotton,  flourishes  as  far  as 
thy  southern  limits,  but  refuses  to  grow  in  a  more  humid 
climate. 

The  salvia  likewise  enlivens  the  forest,  and  in  the  form  of  a 
tall  shrub  is  found  on  the  topmost  altitudes,  and  is  rivalled 
in  its  braving  of  the  elements  by  the  alder,  the  elder,  and 
the  peach-tree.  And  there,  where  tree  and  shrub  can  no 
longer  live  in  the  cold  anU  rarified  atmosphere,  strong 
herbaceous  plants,  food  for  cattle,  take  their  place.  But  why 
endeavour  to  describe  thy  flora  since  the  life  of  a  man  would 
not  suffice  to  enumerate  and  distinguish  their  kinds.  Pride 
thyself  on  thy  virgin  and  impenetrable  forests,  and  on  the 
graceful  convolution  of  thy  climbing  lianas  twining  and  inter- 
twining undisturbed,  and  numerous  lesser  flowering  shrubs,  the 
home  of  numberless  wild  bees'  nests,  some  hanging  from 
branches,  some  underground,  some  hidden  within  the  trunks  of 
decayed  trees,  of  round,  oblong,  or  cup-like  shape,  and  stored 
with  as  many  different  kinds  of  honey  as  there  are  varieties  of 
bees,  and  with  flavours  as  various  as  the  flowers  from  which 
they  were  culled,  each  kind  filling  a  separate  and  special  cell. 

Xor  may  I  dilate  on  thy  teeming  insect  life,  nor  on  thy 
numerous  reptiles,  among  which  is  the  tricoloured  viper — black, 
red,  and  white — its  terrible  power  forgotten  in  the  beauty  of 
its  bright-coloured  rings  or  continuous  spirals. 

Rather  would  I  speak,  if  competent,  of  thy  feathered  inhabi- 
tants whose  trills  make  musical  the  mornings  of  thy  spring, 


262  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

although  I  am  heretical  enough  not  to  care  for  the  beauty  and 
brightness  of  their  colouring.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  be  silent 
on  the  tiny  emerald-coloured  humming-bird,  whose  swift  flight 
leaves  one  in  doubt  whether  it  be  bird  or  insect,  nor  on  the 
green  catas  and  lorys,  and  the  cardinal-bird,  and  the  variegated 
carpenter-bird.  I  admire  the  mason-bird,  with  his  little 
mud-built  house,  contrasting  favourably  with  those  of  the  men 
around  him ;  and  the  pelican  and  the  ibis— the  one  with  its 
motionless  aspect,  the  other  with  its  slow  movements  remind  me 
of  pensive  philosophers;  and  the  white  or  black  piscivorous 
birds,  all  beak,  neck,  legs,  and  wings,  varieties  of  wild  ducks 
and  geese,  and  a  few  others.  The  pigeons,  with  their  pretty 
ways  of  wooing,  the  ciaratta,  and  the  mountain  peacock,  the 
first  inhabiting  the  wooded  plain,  and  the  last  the  forest  on 
the  hill,  appear,  the  wild  brethren  of  the  dove,  of  the  domestic 
fowl  and  the  turkey — the  boast  of  housewives  in  both  hemi- 
spheres— to  whom  I  must  not  fail  to  recommend  the  gray  chuna 
that  disports  itself  in  large  companies,  turning  round  and  round 
with  ceaseless  clamour,  and  the  suri  (ostrich)  with  its  enormous 
eggs,  both  these  birds  ensuring  cleanliness  from  vermin  and 
safety  from  reptiles  in  the  houses  where  they  are  kept. 

I  must  not  omit  the  yellow  and  gray  caranclio,  and  the  black 
crow  {avvoltoio),  feeding  on  putrid  flesh  and  indicating  the 
proximity  of  its  prey  whose  end  it  sometimes  hastens  by  tor- 
turing it  while  yet  half  alive,  an  unconscious  instrument  of 
hygiene  on  plain  and  hill. 

And  shall  I  forget  the  inhabitant  of  the  heights,  the  great 
gray  or  black  condor  with  its  white  back,  the  terror  of  heifers 
and  of  inexperienced  cows,  whose  first  calf  they  tear  to  pieces  in 
the  sight  of  its  mother,  regardless  of  its  cries  for  help  ? 

I  will  not  stay  to  describe  thy  amphibious  animals,  or  I  might 
dwell  on  the  great  slow-moving  iguana-lizard,  liked  as  food  by 
the  aborigines,  or  on  the  croaking  multitudes  that  people  thy 
marshes,  and  with  strange,  hoarse  sounds  offend  the  ear  and 
overpower  the  monotonous  cry  of  the  grasshopper.  And  I  will 
not  describe  my  abhorrence  of  the  moscardon  causing  gangrene 
in  horses  and  cattle,  nor  of  the  gnat,  or  the  many  mosquitoes 
which  infest  the  forests  and  the  cool  banks  of  thy  rivers. 

I  do  not  blame  thee  in  that  thou  permittest  the  degenerate 
lion  of  thy  wild  fauna  to  satiate  his  hunger  on  thy  flocks  scat- 
tered in  their  solitary  pastures,  and  that  the  ferocious  tiger  finds 
an  asylum  in  the  recesses  of  thy  mountains,  although  I  cannot 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  263 

forget  my  soul's  alarms  when  in  the  darkness  the  tracks  of  the 
savage  beast  told  me  of  its  neighbourhood,  or  when  I  saw  the 
heifer  or  the  playful  colt  that  only  a  little  while  before  had 
been  overflowing  with  life,  lying  dead  with  their  neck  rent 
with  its  talons  and  their  breast  torn  by  its  teeth.  And  I  still 
feel  a  longing  to  discover  the  tapir  or  ant-eater,  whose  thick 
hide  is  so  much  valued  by  the  horse-tamer,  the  sight  of  his  den 
at  the  foot  of  a  riven  cedar  on  the  crest  of  thy  unclimbable  hills 
not  satisfying  me,  nor  his  bear-like  tracks  and  dung  like  that  of 
a  horse. 

But  it  grieves  me  that  thou  affordest  no  home  to  the  deer 
and  the  lama,  to  the  hare  and  the  rabbit,  while  the  prolific 
biscacha  becomes  ever  more  and  more  hurtful  to  thy  lands,  and 
that  the  vicuna  with  its  precious  wool  shrinks  in  horror  from 
thy  hill-side  forests  so  destructive  to  its  fleece. 

Thou  art  glad,  however,  over  thy  happy  flocks  of  tall,  rounded, 
slender  goats,  each  with  three  sucking  kids,  and  worthy  of 
breeding  with  those  of  Cashmere ;  and  glad,  too,  over  thy  many 
sheep,  whose  wool  is  preferred  by  thee  to  that  of  the  merino, 
with  which  they  were  formerly  crossed,  but  which  are  now 
beginning  to  be  discarded.  These  numerous  flocks  browsing  by 
the  sides  of  thy  rivers  or  in  the  shade  of  thy  woods,  seldom  or 
never  suffer  from  drought.  The  ground  is  covered  over  with 
savoury  grasses,  serving  as  food  for  the  many  horses  with 
diseased  hoofs,  to  which  flints  are  injurious. 

And  why  should  it  be  forbidden  me  to  mention  thy  dark- 
eyed  daughters,  their  shining  raven  locks,  their  slender  figures, 
their  natural  grace,  their  fascinating  manners  1 

They  are  fond  of  dancing,  music,  and  lively  conversation 
when  quite  young  girls,  but  when  married  they  may  justly 
boast  that  they  devote  themselves  to  domestic  duties.  I  speak 
of  thy  senoritas,  whose  anger  I  fear  to  excite  by  naming  the 
cliolita,  who,  presuming  on  the  whiteness  of  her  colour,  con- 
siders herself  on  a  level  with  them,  although  her  crisp  hair 
betrays  a  recently  mixed  breed.  She  is  humiliated  by  the  con- 
tempt of  the  aristocratic  class,  and  this  causes,  in  time,  a  real 
degradation.  Her  own  scorn  for  the  clay-coloured  c]ie7ia  does 
not  suffice  to  console  her — the  poor  chena,  the  most  miserable 
representative  of  the  daughters  of  Eve  in  a  land  where  once 
she  reigned  as  queen,  nigra  sed  formosa. 

To  the  grace  and  beauty  of  thy  women  I  must  add  the 
courtesy  and  generosity  of  thy  gentry,  and  the  kind-heartedness 


264  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

of  thy  country  folk,  so  gracious  is  their  hospitality  towards 
strangers. 

Eut  if  thou  art  privileged  by  nature,  0  Tucuman,  be  not 
proud  thereof,  nor  lift  thy  desires  too  high.  The  labour  of 
man  has  been  hitherto  defective,  and  can  only  operate  slowly 
in  the  immediate  future.  The  land  is  too  thinly  populated, 
and  the  want  of  capital  forbids  any  sudden  development  of  thy 
natural  wealth ;  large  numbers  of  workmen  cannot  find  adequate 
pay  for  their  labour,  and  there  would  be  no  home  market  for 
the  consumption  of  any  large  produce,  while  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  contend  with  distant  and  foreign  producers.  The 
climate  of  the  most  fertile  portion  of  thy  territory  is  hurtful  to 
colonists  during  part  of  the  year ;  thy  mountains,  so  integral  a 
part  of  thyself,  and  so  abounding  in  wealth,  and  the  fertile 
valleys  they  enclose,  are  without  roads  ;  thy  laws  and  the  rights 
they  confer  on  the  masters  of  indebted  operatives,  sanction  a 
disguised  slavery  that  excludes  the  services  of  free  European 
workmen.  The  treasures  of  thy  waters  are  in  the  power  of  the 
first  occupier,  a  probable  cause  of  conflict,  and  thy  capital  city, 
though  enriched  with  many  educational  institutes,  is  wanting  in 
every  hygienic  contrivance  for  the  alleviation  of  life. 

Proceed  cautiously  therefore;  endeavour  to  open  streets,  to 
regulate  irrigation,  to  procure  liberty  for  the  workman,  to  make 
the  lives  of  thy  children  healthy  and  pleasant,  to  maintain  thy 
liberal  traditions,  and  to  carry  them  still  further  in  politics,  in 
religion,  in  every  civil  and  social  relation :  sic  itur  ad  astra  ! 
Then  both  men  and  capital  will  come  to  thee,  and  from  their 
mutual  increase  will  arise  immediately  a  greater  prosperity  and 
progress. 

Meanwhile,  I  salute  thee  yet  once  again,  0  Tucuman ! 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  26$ 


ON  THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  MATTACCO  INDIANS 
OF  THE  GRAN  CHACO. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JUAN    M.  GUTTIERREZ'S   ADVICE — MY   FIRST   LESSONS    IN   MATTACCO 
AND    THE    SPEECH    OF    THE  TOBA    CACIQUE   MAKE   ME   DESPAIR 

OF      SUCCESS HOW    I     TRIED     TO     PLUCK     AT      THE      FRUIT 

FAUSTINO     IS      MY     MATTACCO      MASTER—  EXPERIMENT      WITH 

NATALIO  ROLDAN THE  OPINION  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  FATHERS 

IS  CONFIRMED HOW  I  DISCOVERED  ONE  OF  THE  FUNDA- 
MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  LANGUAGE — FUNCTIONS 
OF  THE  PREPOSITIVE  PARTICLES  TIU,  «,  lu — GREATER  FACILITY 
FOLLOWING    ON    THIS — ADVICE   TO   AMATEURS    OF    PHILOLOGY. 

While  waiting  for  the  succouring  party,  which  was  destined 
to  be  greatly  delayed,  I  knew  no  better  way  of  employing  part 
of  my  time  than  by  learning  words  from  the  Indians  by  whom 
we  were  surrounded. 

I  had  often  been  told  that  their  language  must  be  poor  both 
as  to  the  number  of  the  words  and  their  forms ;  and  although 
from  the  little  I  had  read  on  philology,  I  was  disposed  to  come 
to  quite  a  contrary  conclusion,  I  was  desirous  of  personal  expe- 
rience before  forming  a  decided  opinion  and  communicating  it 
to  others.  On  the  other  hand  before  leaving  Buenos  Ay  res,  I 
had  seen  Dr.  Juan  Maria  Guttierrez — the  same  to  whom  Mante- 
gazza  dedicated  his  fine  work,  Teneriffe  e  Rio  de  la  PlatcL,  in 
which  the  only  fault  is  that  the  beauty  of  the  style  may  cause 
the  reader  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the  narrative,  which  I  have 
found  to  be  strictly  exact,  and  he  had  said  to  me, — 


266  EIQHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

"  If  you  have  leisure,  study  the  language  of  the  Indians ; 
in  the  absence  of  all  tradition  and  of  all  archaeological  data  with 
regard  to  them,  philology  is  called  upon  to  play  a  great  part  in 
interpreting  their  origin,  and  explaining  their  connection,  if 
any,  with  other  peoples  in  very  remote  times,  remote  at  least 
with  regard  to  the  history  of  existing  mankind.  The  study  of 
language,  will  henceforth  be  raised  to  a  science  that  will  in  due 
time  shed  marvellous  light  on  the  history  of  humanity." 

And  then  he  added,  in  order  to  encourage  me,  "  The  soil  of 
linguistic  research  is  still  virgin  in  many  parts,  and  on  this 
account,  promises  an  abundant  harvest  to  whomsoever  will 
cultivate  it ;  take  advantage  of  it,  and  you  will  succeed." 

How  could  I  neglect  advice  coming  from  such  a  quarter  1 
Although  conscious  that  I  should  only  be  able  to  add  an  in- 
significant little  stone  to  the  pyramid  of  philology,  yet  I  felt 
stimulated  by  his  words,  and  as  it  were,  pledged  to  the  task. 
And  afterwards,  while  I  was  puzzling  my  brains  to  wrench  a 
rule  of  some  kind  from  the  medley  of  sentences  that  I  had 
gathered  together,  and  when  I  appeared  to  have  done  so  success- 
fully, the  delight  I  felt  was  increased  by  the  thought  of  how, 
on  my  return  to  Buenos  Ayres,  I  should  hasten,  to  Guttierrez  on 
the  very  first  night,  show  him  the  results  of  my  endeavours  and 
talk  them  over  with  him.  A  man  of  powerful  mind  and  pro- 
found erudition,  he  had  a  love  for  art  and  science,  and  a 
tolerance  in  accordance  with  his  vast  knowledge  and  the  extreme 
liberality  of  his  views.  His  manners  and  appearance  were 
agreeable,  he  was  a  self-made  man  and  had  experienced  the 
greatest  changes  of  fortune.  At  the  age  of  seventy  and  in  the 
high  literary  and  administrative  position  which  he  occupied, 
he  yet  knew  how  to  speak  a  word  of  encouragement  to  the 
most  modest  student,  and  to  converse  with  cordial  deference 
with  the  least  important  visitor,  a  very  rare  thing  with  men  of 
his  age  and  attainments. 

But  this  joy  was  not  to  be  mine  !  The  first  paragraph  that 
.  I  read  in  the  first  newspaper  I  met  with  as  I  stepped  from  the 
vessel  on  my  return,  was  an  account  of  his  burial  on  the  pre- 
ceding night. 

May  thy  memory,  Guttierrez,  be  embalmed  in  the  hearts  of 
thy  fellow-citizens  as  vividly  and  lastingly  as  in  that  of  him 
who  writes ;  may  the  earth  lie  light  upon  thee !  and  let  me 
dedicate  to  thee  and  give  the  shelter  of  thy  name  to  the  fev^ 
lines  on  the  native  languages  which  1  shall  write  on  the  follow- 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  267 

ing  pages ;  for  they  are  due  to  thee,  and  without  thy  patronage 
I  should  not  have  courage  to  publish  them. 

My  first  attempts  gave  me  but  little  hope.  We  had  on  board 
an  Indian,  who  called  himself  a  Mattacco,  for  whom  I  sent  at 
once  in  order  to  learn  the  names  of  our  garments  and  of  the 
surrounding  objects.  But  after  a  few  words  the  man  grew 
weary.  It  was  evident  that  he  was  not  capable  of  intellectual 
effort,  however  slight.  If,  however,  I  asked  a  second  time, 
either  inadvertently  or  on  purpose,  for  the  same  word,  he  would 
make  signs  that  he  had  already  told  it  me,  and  taking  my  note- 
book, would  look  through  the  few  written  pages  and  point  the 
exact  place  where  I  had  written  it  down.  And  yet  one  would 
have  thought  that  he  was  looking  in  another  direction  while  I 
wrote.  So  that  when  we  Italians  say  far  V  indiano  to  describe 
assumed  ignorance,  we  are  expressing  an  actual  fact. 

I  therefore  made  little  or  no  progress. 

But  when,  a  few  days  later,  we  were  harangued  by  a  Toba 
cacique  who  seemed  to  be  barking  at  us  rather  than  speak- 
ing, the  only  appropriate  course  was  to  conceal  my  want 
of  comprehension,  since  it  was  useless  to  attempt  to  construe 
his  yells. 

However,  man  proposes  and  circumstances  dispose.  For 
some  days  we  were  aground,  and  being  unable  to  push  on,  I 
had  a  great  deal  of  time  to  dispose  of  as  I  pleased  ;  the  Indians 
remained  grouped  round  the  vessel,  and  many  of  their  caciques 
came  to  visit  us.  We  could  understand  none  of  them;  in  short, 
the  longed-for  fruit  was  there  ;  I  attempted  to  gather  it. 

The  Indian  is  so  suspicious  that  he  dislikes  any  one  learning 
his  language ;  but  Faustino  the  Christian  was  with  us,  and  I 
began  questioning  him  in  secret,  unknown  to  the  Indians.  At 
first,  however,  I  was  dissatisfied,  finding  so  much  difficulty  in 
resolving  phrases  into  words,  which  I  attributed  to  his  want  of 
knowdedge.  Finally,  I  succeeded  in  establishing  better  relations 
with  the  Indians,  and  the  openness  of  our  behaviour,  the  per- 
severance I  showed  in  repeating  their  words,  as  if  they  were 
something  precious,  whenever  the  opportunity  offered,  and 
finally  a  few  presents,  removed  their  suspicions,  especially 
among  the  younger  ones,  who  vied  with  each  other  in  telling 
me  the  name  of  any  object  that  I  pointed  out  to  them. 

But  it  was  curious  how  a  word  on  being  repeated  appeared  to 
change  without  any  discoverable  reason.  Sometimes  it  was  the 
slightly  double  sound  of  a  diphthong,  one  vowel  or  the  other 


268  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

being  the  more  marked,  but  often  a  syllable  was  actually 
changed,  and  sometimes  a  syllable  was  added  to  or  subtracted 
from  the  word. 

One  morning,  ISTatalio  Eoldan  and  I  endeavoured  to  come  to 
a  conclusion  on  the  matter.  For  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  tried 
to  decide  which  was  the  actual  sound  to  be  reproduced  by  the 
Castilian  alphabet,  and  which  of  two  sounds  had  been  intended 
in  a  word  that  had  been  taught  us.  The  uncertainty  confirmed 
Roldan  in  his  opinion  that  the  Mattacco  language  was  an 
enigma,  that  it  was  impossible  to  reproduce  it,  that  it  had  no 
rules,  and  could  not  be  acquired,  and  that  he  agreed  with  the 
missionary  fathers  on  the  Christian^  territory  near  the  frontier, 
who  had  always  said  so. 

My  ear,  however,  was  becoming  cultivated,  and  I  was  begin- 
ning to  believe  that  the  Mattacco  language  was  not,  after  all, 
such  an  intractable  Bucephalus  ;  yet,  although  able  to  distin- 
guish the  sounds,  I  could  not  fathom  the  reason  of  the  change 
in  certain  syllables, 

I  made  up  my  mind  to  avoid  every  pretext  for  a  discussion, 
and  to  continue  accumulating  words,  and  then  after  examining 
and  comparing  them,  and  writing  them  down  according  to 
their  apj^arent  pronunciation,  to  deduce  some  laws  for  my 
guidance. 

I  caught  hold,  one  day,  of  the  son  of  a  cacique,  and  began 
asking  him  the  names  of  the  various  parts  of  his  body.  Nude 
as  he  was,  there  was  no  danger  of  misapprehension  between 
humanity  and  clothes. 

But  I  had  hardly  ended  my  inquiries  before  I  perceived 
that  each  of  the  fifteen  or  twenty  words  began  with  nu  or  tzo, 
the  u  and  the  o  being  frequently  substituted  the  one  for  the 
other  by  an  almost  imperceptible  gradation  of  sound. 

Good  Heavens  !  I  muttered  to  myself,  this  nu  must  be  either 
an  article  or  a  particle  expressing  affinity,  because  it  is  morally 
impossible  that  so  many  words  should  have  a  common  root.  It 
seemed  unlikely  to  be  an  article ;  nevertheless,  I  bethought  me 
that  had  any  one,  when  I  was  a  boy,  asked  me  the  name  of 
any  of  my  features,  I  should  have  touched  the  part  mentioned 
and  replied,  for  example,  the  eye,  the  mouthy  &c.  Why  should 
not  these  young  Indians  do  the  same  1 

But  it  soon  became  clear  to  me.  I  resume  my  questions,  asking 
the  names  of  the  various  parts  of  my  own  body,  and  these  are 
repeated  to  me,  with  the  nu  changed  into  a,  and  sometimes* some 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  269 

of  the  succeeding  letters  changed.  This  was  a  flash  of  light,  but 
I  still  felt  uncertain,  and  to  clear  away  my  doubts  I  took  ad- 
vantage of  having  captured  a  kind  of  hawk,  to  ask  the  names 
of  the  same  parts  of  the  bird's  body.  In  the  replies  I  received 
many  words  began  with  lu  or  Zo,  and  the  rest  remained  the 
same,  or  nearly  the  same,  as  the  corresponding,  parts  in  man, 
minus  the  nu  or  the  a. 

The  following  conclusion  appeared  to  be  almost  certain.  In 
Mattacco  the  principal  words  are  preceded  by  a  variable  particle 
which  expresses  relationship.     But  of  what  kind  ? 

I  look  through  my  notes,  especially  through  the  phrases  I 
had  collected,  and  I  find  that  whenever  reference  is  made  to  the 
person  speaking  the  word  begins  with  nu;  when  the  person 
addressed  is  referred  to,  with  a,  and  when  a  third  person  is  in 
question,  with  lu  or  Zo. 

This  was  a  revelation.     It  gave  me  the  key  to  the  under- 
standing of  a  great  number  of  words ;  it  was  the  mariner's 
compass  leading  me  through  a  great  part  of  the  labyrinth  I 
Great  was  my  delight ! 

Moreover,  these  particles  are  placed  not  only  before  nouns,  but 
also  before  verbs  and  adjectives  when  necessary.  They  are 
used  redundantly  and  in  pleonasm,  just  as  is  the  case  in  Italian 
conversation,  and  still  more  in  vernacular  Italian,  with  certain 
particles. 

Continuing  my  search  for  the  reason  of  these  particles,  I 
found  my  previous  induction  confirmed.  Nu  is  an  abbreviation 
of  nuch-cd,  meaning  my ;  a  of  ach-cd,  thy ;  lu  of  luch-cv,  his,  of 
him  {ch  being  pronounced  as  in  German,  or  like  the  Castilian 
jota) :  before  substantives  and  before  verbs  they  may  be  con- 
sidered as  abbreviations  of  noch  c-ldm,  I ;  am  or  ham,  thou ; 
lutzi  or  toch-lutzi,  they,  them.  Before  verbs,  however,  lu  is  less 
used  than  toch,  which,  standing  alone,  means  these  (near  me), 
while  toch-sam  and  toch-lani  mean  those  (near  you),  and  toch- 
licne  and  toch-lei-tzi  mean  those  (yonder). 

Besides  simplicity  and  convenience,  is  there  not  also  clearness 
and  beauty  in  the  relation  between  the  personal  pronoun,  the 
personal  adjective,  and  the  particle  of  personal  relation  ?  And 
was  it  possible  tnat  such  a  language  should  be  without  rules  ? 
I  felt  encouraged,  therefore,  to  carry  on  my  researches. 

Being  accustomed  in  our  languages  to  find  the  root  and 
invariable  portion  of  the  part  of  speech  at  the  beginning  of  the 
word,   it  was  truly  confusing  to  meet   continually  with  the 


270  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON  THE  GRAN   CHACO 

contrary  before  discovering  the  law.  Therefore  this  fundamental 
rule  must  be  borne  in  mind.  Whoever  wishes  to  study  lan- 
guages that  are  without  written  rules  must  dismiss  from  his 
mind  all  those  rules  that  govern  his  own,  or  it  will  be  as  difficult 
for  him  to  enter  on  the  right  road  as  to  recognize  a  person 
wearinor  a  mask. 


OF   THE   ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  27 1 


CHAPTEE  11. 

NAMES    GIVEN    BY   THE   MATTACCOS    TO     IMPORTED   ANIMALS — HOW 

I    FOUND    OUT    THE    ETYMOLOGY     THEREOF IMPORTANCE     OP 

THIS    DATUM AUGMENTATIVES    AND    DIMINUTIVES — CHANGES 

IDENTICAL     WITH      THOSE      IN     ITALIAN NEGATIVES THEIR 

COLLOCATION — EXAMPLES — ABBREVIATIONS — ANALOGY    WITH 
ITALIAN. 

Another  thing  over  which  I  cudgelled  my  brains  was  the  names 
of  the  domestic  animals  imported  into  America  from  Europe  at 
the  time  of  the  discovery  or  conquest  of  the  former. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  those  countries  where  new  things 
are  suddenly  introduced,  their  names,  as  a  rule,  accompany 
them.  It  is  equally  well  known  what  an  important  advantage 
this  is,  not  only  to  the  philologist,  but  also  to  the  ethnographer 
— in  a  word,  to  all  who  study  the  distribution  and  description 
of  the  human  race. 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  when  I  asked  the  names  of  the 
horse,  the  ox,  the  sheep,  which  in  Spanish,  as  it  is  here  pro- 
nounced, are  called  cabaggio,  vacca,  and  oveclia^  the  names 
given  me  in  answer  were  entirely  different. 

It  still  makes  me  laugh  when  I  think  of  the  efforts  I  made 
to  reduce  Mattacco  words,  by  my  own  fanciful  alterations,  to 
their  Spanish  roots. 

But  one  fine  day  I  found  myself  killing  two  birds  with  one 
stone. 

We  had  a  handsome  bull-dog  on  board.  Now,  sinocli  is 
Mattacco  for  dog.  The  creature's  name  was  Palomo  (dove), 
which  the  Mattaccos  translated  literally  into  Ucquinatac.  But 
one  day,  while  caressing  it,  an  Indian  said  to  me,  as  if  praising 
the  dog,  "  Sinoch-tach  !  "  instead  of  sinoch  or  ucquinatach.  I 
began  then  to  understand  that  the  particle  tach  expressed  size 
or  superiority,  that  it  stood  apart,  and  could  be  added  to,  or 
taken  from  a  word  in    order  to  modify  its  signification.     I 


r!272  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 

hasten  to  fetch  my  note-book,  I  turn  over  the  pages,  I  read 
through  all  the  names,  adding  tach  to  those  that  have  it  not, 
and  all  at  once,  to  my  unspeakable  delight,  I  recognize  the  true 
and  beautiful,  and  philosophical  and  scientific  etymology  of 
my  chinnassetach,  my  jelatach,  my  cionatach,  in  cMnasset,  stag, 
jeldch,  tapir,  ciondch  gamma,  with  the  suffix  tach  aggrandizing, 
ennobling,  extending,  and  exalting  them.^ 

And  then  all  at  once  dozens  of  words  ending  in  tach  became 
clear  to  me.  By  cutting  off  this  syllable,  as  well  as  the  con- 
tinually recurring  nu,  a,  lu,  and  by  fixing  both  eye  and  ear  on 
the  essential  syllables  of  the  word,  I  not  only  seized  the  meaning 
more  easily,  but  discovered  its  origin,  laws,  and  variations  more 
easily  also.     I  stood  on  the  threshold  of  another. 

The  reader  must  not  deride  my  enthusiasm.  In  my  place  he 
would  have  felt  the  same.  For  man  is  the  creature  of  his 
surroundings,  and  a  minister  of  state  who  should  become  a  foot 
soldier  would  feel  pleasure  if  his  corporal  showed  approval  of 
his  manner  of  presenting  arms,  and  a  philosopher  would  be 
gratified  at  a  woman's  praise  for  disentangling  her  skein  of 
wool. 

How  could  such  a  tyro  as  I  fail  to  be  delighted  when  a 
beautiful  and  complete  language  sprang  up,  as  it  were,  between 
my  fingers  1  And  a  language  both  methodical  and  elegant, 
instead  of  the  exact  contrary,  as  I  had  been  led  to  expect  1 

Meanwhile,  these  Mattaccos  possess  augmentatives  in  tach 
both  for  physical  and  moral  relations.  Thus  icnu  is  a  man,  and 
icnu-tdch  a  great  man,  indt  is  water,  and  ino-tach  fire-water  or 
spirits. 

As  diminutives,  on  the  contrary,  they  use  the  particles  quuach 
and  chiach  ;  for  example  :  cold,  a  foot ;  colo-quuach,  a  little  foot ; 
quei,  a  hand;  quei-chiach,  a  small  hand;  and  this  last  word 
also  means  a  one-handed  person.  Thus  a  cacique  who  was 
called  manco  in  Spanish  because  he  was  deprived  of  one  hand, 
was  called  in  Mattacco,  quei-chiach.  And  they  can  also  modify 
their  pronouns  at  pleasure  in  a  manner  that  cannot  be  rendered 
in  Italian  or  English,  although  it  has  an  equivalent  in  Spanish, 
viz.  esa,  that,  and  esita,  a  diminutive  of  that;  and  very 
frequently  used  by  country  people. 

Tach,  quuacli,  and  chiach,  although  distinctly  particles,  may 
be,  and  perhaps  must  be,  considered  henceforth  as  inflections 

*  The  pronunciation  of  these  words  is  guttural.  t, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  2/3 

because  they  are  never  used  alone,  and  more  especially  because 
they  are  declined  instead  of  the  words  to  which  they  are  joined. 

It  is  very  usual  for  Mattaccos  to  change  the  sounds  of  cliia, 
cliie^  chiif  chio,  and  chiu  into  tzd,  tze,  tzi,  tzo,  tzu,  and  into 
kia,  kie,  kii,  kio,  kiu,  and  vice  versa  ^  and  also  into  tid,  tie,  ti% 
tio,  and  tiu  reciprocally.  Thus  for  sheep  I  may  use  indifferently 
tzo7iatdch,  kionatdcJij  chianatdchy  and  for  bird  I  may  say  either 
huenkie  or  huentie.  Nevertheless,  the  more  frequent  use  of  one 
form  than  the  other  distinguishes  the  different  dialects.  Thus 
the  Mattaccos  on  the  Toba  borders  say,  tza,  tze,  &c.,  and  those 
on  the  Christian  borders  chia,  chie,  &c.  These  variations  that  up 
to  a  certain  point,  and  in  polysyllables,  or  even  in  dissyllables, 
are  easily  seized  by  an  attentive  observer,  cause  terrible  mis- 
apprehension when  they  occur  in  words  of  one  syllable  only. 
Who  would  imagine,  for  instance,  that  the  tzac-ddi  (imperative 
of  give)  of  one  dialect  was  equivalent  to  the  kiach  or  kioch  of 
another  1 

Nor  is  it  uninteresting  to  notice  how  certain  phonetic  devia- 
tions are,  as  it  were,  instinctive  in  man,  since  we  meet  them 
among  ourselves  also.  The  Milanese,  for  instance,  call  their 
chiesa  (church)  ciesa^  and  Spaniards  say  cucciara  (they  write  it 
cuchara)  for  cuccliiara  or  cucchiaia  (a  large  spoon  or  ladle),  and 
very  many  other  words  are  altered  in  the  same  way,  viz.  meticcio, 
Italian  for  half-caste,  is  mestizo  in  Spanish,  and  schiacciare  (to 
crush)  and  stiacciare  are  synonymous.  Thus  those  inhabitants 
of  Santiago  who  can  speak  Chiqchua  make  frequent  use  of  7id 
in  cases  where  the  Coyas  inhabiting  Bolivia  say  gnd.  For 
example  :  once  is  na  and  gna,  1  is  nochca  and  gnocha,  just  as  in 
Castilian,  Portuguese,  and  Spanish,  viz.  niiia,  nina  (the  Spanish 
71  representing  g7i  in  Italian) ;  fariTia,  fariTiha  {7ih  in  Portuguese 
=  g7t  in  Italian). 

Next  as  to  the  inversion  of  letters  and  syllables.  Does  it 
not  happen  sometimes  that  in  speaking  quickly  we  alter  a  word 
by  inverting  its  letters  1  Now,  this  is  instinctive  and  becomes 
habitual  until  certain  words  of  one  language  sound  ridiculous 
to  persons  speaking  a  tongue  akin  to  it.  For  example  :  ghiiiaTida 
(a  wreath)  is  guirnalda  in  Spanish ;  briboTie  (a  ruffian)  becomes 
briboTi  =  vii'boTius  !  in  Latin.  But  to  reach  the  climax  of 
exaggerated  inversions  we  must  go  the  Galliziano  dialect,  two- 
thirds  of  which  are  Portuguese  and  the  rest  Spanish.  Now, 
these  Mattaccos  likewise  invert  their  words  :  meloTi,  for  instance, 
TielOm,  and  so  forth. 


274  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

The  Mattacco  language  has  many  negatives,  but  they  are 
diversely  used.  On  another  occasion  I  may  perhaps  be  able  to 
show  an  unexpected  similarity  in  this  with  other  languages 
spoken  by  South  American  tribes  who  apparently  are  in  no 
way  akin. 

The  principal  of  these  negatives  is  Tea  =  no,  which  is  used 
alone,  and  is  also  prefixed  to  adjectives,  thus  reversing  their 
meaning;  for  example  :  mdttj  true,  kd-7natt,  untrue.  It  is  curious 
that  the  Akkas,  the  apocryphal  dwarfs  of  Africa,  have  the  same 
word  for  "  no,"  if  one  may  believe  the  statement  of  the  Abate 
Beltrame  di  Yerona. 

Another  negative  is  tde^  always  placed  at  the  end;  for 
example :  matt,  true,  matti-tde,  untrue.  Note  the  addition  of 
i  for  the  sake  of  euphony.  These  additions  and  withdrawals 
of  letters  are  one  of  the  most  desperate  difficulties  in  the  study 
of  this  language,  and,  in  truth,  make  one  despair  of  mastering 
it.     Thus  :  nu-huen,  I  have  ;  hueni-tde^  I  have  not. 

Next  comes  am,  which  is  prefixed  to  verbs.  For  example  : 
rCamhuen  or  namuhen,  I  have  not ;  then  jacli,  interrogative  and 
imperative,  and  prefixed  to  the  verb  ;  it  is  the  Latin  ne,  but  in 
a  different  position.  Then  Idclia,  which  also  means  'without. 
Example  :  jach-l6n-nu,  do  not  kill  me ;  jach-d-hemin-nuja  ? 
Dost  thou  wish  me  well  1  ldeha-ciecu6-ja,  a  widow,  that  is, 
without  a  husband. 

Prepositions  in  this  language,  as  in  others,  form  in  a  great 
measure  the  basis,  and  I  may  say,  the  philosophy  of  the 
language.  When  united  to  a  verb,  they  attribute  to  it  a  rela- 
tive signification.  They  are,  nevertheless,  so  undefined  and  so 
unfixed,  that  a  little  while  before  writing  these  lines  it  seemed 
to  me,  and  I  marvelled  at  it,  that  this  language  contained  only 
a  very  few.  The  contrary  is  the  case  in  the  Chiqchua  lan- 
guage, in  which  the  prepositions  are  beautiful,  melodious,  de- 
tached, and  always  in  the  same  place,  i.e.  after  the  nominative 
case,  so  that  they  should  rather  be  called  postpositions. 

In  Mattacco,  likewise,  the  prepositions  are  postpositions,  but 
sometimes,  instead  of  being  placed  after  the  noun,  they  are 
placed  after  the  verb,  and  then  they  may  be  mistaken,  as 
happened  to  me,  for  a  form  of  the  conjugation.  At  other  times 
they  stand  between  the  root  of  the  verb  and  the  inflection 
expressing  tense,  or  between  the  root  of  a  noun  and  the  in- 
flection indicating  number  or  case.  One  can  imaginp  the 
horrible  state  of  confusion  into  which  one  is  thrown  on  finding 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE    REPUBLIC.  2/5 

in  a  perfectly  new  and  strange  language  a  number  of  expres- 
sions in  which  one  and  the  same  word  seems  to  alter  the  sense  of 
a  sentence  without  the  shadow  of  a  reason.  For  my  own  part, 
I  must  admit  that  for  a  long  time  I  entirely  failed  to  under- 
stand it,  and  even  now  I  must  confess  that  I  have  only 
mastered  very  few  of  the  rules  that  are  concealed  in  several 
hundreds  of  sentences  in  my  possession. 

For  example:  cue  means  with;  nu-hen  is  an  abbreviated 
form  of  us  ;  with  us  is  rendered  by  nu-cue-Mn. 

There  would  certainly  be  no  great  diflSculty  in  the  matter 
if  you  could  ask  an  Indian  for  a  single  word  and  he  could- 
answer  you  as  simply ;  but,  in  fact,  he  must  always  refer  the 
word  to  something  else.  Thus,  if  you  ask  him  to  name  the 
foot,  he  will  answer  nuccolo  if  he  touches  his  own  foot,  accoU 
if  he  touches  yours,  and  toccolo  if  he  touches  that  of  a  third 
person.  I^ext,  the  difference  of  construction  is  puzzling.  For 
example,  take  the  case  of  nucuchen :  if  you  ask  your  teacher 
which  part  of  the  word  means  loith,  and  which  part  means  us, 
if  he  is  a  ladinOj  i.e.  intelligent,  and  acquainted  with  the 
language,  he  will  reply  with  great  ingenuousness :  nuc  means 
with,  cuchen  means  us,  turning  the  words,  in  fact,  topsy-turvy. 

Therefore  the  best  plan  is  to  go  on  by  degrees,  and  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  first  asking  for  single  words,  then  for 
simple  and  clear  phrases,  then  for  others  less  simple  but  still 
clear.  After  this  it  is  well  to  repeat  the  same  sentence, 
changing  only  one  of  its  words  or  one  of  its  parts.  Then,  by 
comparing  and  eliminating,  there  is  a  likelihood  of  arriving  at 
a  word-for-word  translation.  And  even  this  is  not  enough  ! 
because  on  account  of  the  conditions  I  have  indicated  in  the 
language,  of  the  great  intellectual  disparity  between  the  two 
interlocutors,  and  their  diverse  and  mutually  unintelligible 
points  of  view,  the  unhappy  learner  suddenly  finds  a  word 
entirely  changed  without  knowing  why  or  wherefore,  and  is  left 
in  doubt  as  to  which  is  the  right  version.  He  multiplies  his 
questions  to  his  own  greater  perplexity  and  the  whole  thing 
ends  in  a  regular  Babel. 

Talking  of  Babel,  among  the  Vilela  Indians  the  word  for 
*'  speak  "  is  Mhahelon  ! 

But  to  return  to  our  prepositions.  I  have  said  that  they 
modify  the  sense  of  the  verb ;  it  would  be  truer  to  say  that 
they  complete  it.  For  example  :  toll  contains  the  idea  of 
motion.     When  used  alone  it  may  mean  to  spivut ;  the  grass 

T  2 


2/6  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

sprouts,  will  be,  the  grass  toll;  with  ca  after  it,  it  means  to 
come  from  ;  -vvith  j>pe  after  it,  it  means  to  fall.  There  are 
other  words  expressing  the  same  thing,  but  if  you  wish  to  use 
the  word  fo/Z,  you  must  add  the  aforesaid  particles  which  are 
placed  as  postpositions  to  the  substantives. 

When  these  are  placed  after  the  verbs,  it  might  seem  that 
they  are  in  reality  prepositions  placed  before  the  direct  case ; 
but  although  there  are  some  true  prepositions,  nevertheless  in 
the  case  I  have  mentioned  they  are  postpositions  with  regard  to 
the  verbs  also,  because  they  modify  their  terminations  so  as  to 
agree  with  the  sound,  because  the  verb  thus  modified  can  stand 
alone,  and  because  between  it  and  its  preposition  and  the  direct 
case  other  words  may  be  interpolated ;  thus  proving  it  to  be 
bound  to  the  verb. 

The  principal  particles  used  like  our  prepositions,  or  at  least 
those  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  are,  ccliia^  until ;  tamennech, 
wherefore;  appe,  pe  or  p2:)e,  upon;  icchio,  under;  cue,  chie^ 
jcclie,  ecche,  ech,  with  (these  are  probably  modifications  of  the 
same  word  for  the  sake  of  euphony) ;  tmith  or  uuitd,  and  c-loja 
also  meaning  with,  that  are  placed  as  prepositions,  but  are  rather 
cumulative  conjunctions ;  op  or  ob,  hot,  hlot,  by,  for — T  have 
only  met  with  these  last  as  equivalents  of  why  or  because  ;  for 
example  :  op-toch,  because  (through  this) ;  op-chi-ld,  why  1  mean- 
ing, for  what  object  1  while  in  order  to  say  luhy,  meaning,  for 
what  motive  %  aiddejeche  ?  is  used.  This  word  is  composed  of 
atde,  how  ?  what  ^  and  jecche,  with.  Then  there  is  a  postposi- 
tion ei,  which  is  like  the  Italian  da  and  the  French  chez,  and  is 
used  to  express  movement  to  or  from  a  place ;  it  is  often  omitted 
and  is  variously  placed.  This  ei  or  iei  forms  an  extremely 
gracious  verbal  expression,  viz.  mi-ei  =  vai-per,  composed  of 
moh  or  mmoh,  signifying  vai,  and  of  ei,  with  one  of  the  number- 
less variations  that  bring  me  to  despair  over  this  language. 
Thus  in  order  to  say,  "Go  and  fetch  me  some  fire"  {itoch^ 
fire)  ;  they  say,  Miei  itoch,  or  "  Go  for  fire,"  just  as  the  verb  to 
go  is  used  in  elegant  Italian.  At  first,  and  for  a  long  time  I 
mistook  this  for  an  inflection. 

Another  important  postposition  is  ca,  meaning  of  and  from. 
It  is  placed  after  verbs  and  substantives.  Together  with  these 
it  forms  a  kind  of  genitive,  but  it  is  seldom  used  and  only  with 
proper  names.  Added  to  personal  pronouns  it  forms  the  posses- 
sive pronouns  wy,  thy,  his,  which  are  genitives,  if  I  may  say  so, 
in  this  language,  and  follow  the  same  rule  as  in  ours,  in  which 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  2// 

we  may  say  either  my  or  of  me.  Thus  from  nu  (the  abbreviated 
form  of  nochldm,  I)  we  get  nuch-cd,  my ;  ah-cd^  thy ;  and  luh- 
cd,  his,  of  him. 

There  are  other  prepositions  besides,  viz.  cqui,  within ;  Idcha^ 
meaning  without,  and  placed  before  the  word  it  governs,  but 
this  is  rather  to  be  considered  as  a  negative,  because  I  have 
always  found  it  before  words,  the  termination  of  which  indicates 
possession,  which  is  thus  negatived  by  Idclia.  For  example : 
without  a  wife,  is  Idclia  ceqno-jd,  that  is,  unwived. 

There  are  very  many  others  that  I  do  not  recollect. 

The  words  that  express  witlt  (ech,  je-che^  &c.),  lead  me  to 
think  that  some  prepositions  govern  certain  cases,  and  that 
their  apparent  alteration  is  due  to  the  different  terminations  of 
those  cases.  For  example :  me  is  nuja ;  with  me  is  nujecclie ; 
it  is  easy  to  perceive  here  a  rational  alteration  of  nuja-eclu 


2/8  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON    THE   GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  USE  OF  POSTPOSITIONS  INSTEAD  OF  PREPOSITIONS  WAS 
PERHAPS  GENERAL  IN  THE  ARYAN  LANGUAGES  AND  THE  IN- 
DIGENOUS LANGUAGES  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA LOGICAL  PRIORITY 

OF    SOME    OVER    OTHERS   AND    OP    CONVENTION      OVER     ALL 

WHY   THE     CHIQCHUA   IS     A     TYPICAL    LANGUAGE — CONJUNC- 
TIONS— ANALOGY  BETWEEN    MATTACCO  WORDS  AND    OUR  OWN. 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  observe  that  in  Mattacco  the  position 
of  the  preposition  is  the  exact  reverse  of  what  it  is  with  us ; 
and  our  custom  should  seem  the  most  remarkable  to  him, 
because  that  of  placing  prepositive  particles  after  the  noun  or 
verb  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  characteristic  that  at  one  epoch 
w^as  probably  universal  in  all  languages. 

In  German  and  in  English,  especially  in  the  former,  the 
transposition  of  the  preposition  is  very  frequent,  and  constitutes 
an  element  in  the  language  as  conducive  to  its  elegance  as  to 
the  difficulty  with  which  it  is  acquired  and  spoken  by  those 
w^hose  mother-tongue  is  one  of  the  so-called  Latin  sisters.  This 
^vas  the  case  at  least  with  me  after  allowing  for  the  dissimilarity 
of  words.  It  is  the  same  in  the  Slavonic  languages  and  in 
other  languages  belonging  to  the  Aryan  family. 

Further  ;  in  Latin,  which  is  said  to  be  our  mother,  but  is  not 
so,  except  as  to  polish,  in  the  absence  of  some  grammatical 
forms  and  of  some  parts  of  speech ;  in  Latin,  I  say,  we  find 
examples  of  the  transposition  of  prepositions  in  vohisemn^ 
nohiscwn,  tecum,  mecnm,  and  in  the  varying  places  of  others 
either  before  or  after  the  noun,  as  for  example,  verstts  towards, 
may  be  indifferently,  I  go  Romam  versus,  or  versus  Romam. 
Conjunctions  follow  the  same  rule  ;  whence  I  can  say,  Senatus 
atque  (and)  Populus  Bomanus,  or  Senatus  Populusque  Romanus, 
the  famous  motto  that  is  now  used  by  the  municipality  of 
Rome. 

In  the  Italian  language  meco  and  teco  is  used  in  place  of  con 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  279 

me,  con  te  (with  me,  with  thee).  The  Spanish  seem  to  have 
lost  sight  of  the  etymology  of  migo  and  tigo,  for  they  all  make 
use  of  the  pleonasm  con  migo,  con  tigo.  Migo  and  tigo  are  of 
course  no  other  than  the  Italian  meco  and  teco,  the  c  being 
changed  into  g,  as  in  amigo  and  amico  (friend).  Other  examples 
of  this  may  be  found  in  Italy,  at  least  in  Tuscany,  in  the 
vernacular.  They  are  eloquent  of  one  of  the  greatest  factors 
in  the  transformation  of  languages,  i.e.  whenever  the  origin  and 
the  sense  of  a  certain  exceptional  form  is  lost  sight  of,  it  comes 
to  be  treated  under  the  general  rules.  Thus  also,  when  foreign 
words  are  introduced  in  their  full  force  into  another  language, 
that  is  to  say,  when  they  are  pronounced  and  written  as  in  the 
tongue  to  which  they  belong,  after  the  lapse  of  little  more  than 
one  generation  they  become  assimilated  in  every  way  with  their 
new  family.  The  lower  orders,  especially,  who  are  ignorant  of 
the  genealogy  of  their  guest,  alter  the  word  at  once  and  treat 
it  as  one  of  their  own.  Hence  those  well-known  Gallicisms, 
Teutonisms,  and  I  know  not  what  besides,  that  so  often  break 
the  hearts  of  purists,  but  which  are  in  truth  a  real  manna 
raining  down  and  enriching  the  language  that  adopts  them : 
for  my  part  I  should  welcome  such  rain  every  day,  in  spite  of 
any  opposition — provided  indeed  there  were  national  reciprocity 
in  the  matter. 

Meanwhile,  the  examples  I  have  adduced  may  be  looked 
upon  as  the  remains  of  pre-existing  forms. 

In  the  native  languages  of  South  America,  postpositions  are 
employed  commonly  in  place  of  prepositions ;  the  contrary  is 
the  exception,  at  any  rate  in  Chiqchuan  and  Gruarany,  which 
possess  postpositions  only,  and  in  Araucan,  which  possesses  both. 
These  tribes,  with  the  Mattaccos  and  the  wild  Indiadas  of  the 
Chaco  and  the  centre,  occupy  the  whole  of  South  America. 

May  not  this  grammatical  form  be  superior  to  ours,  and 
hasten  the  perception  of  ideas  by  suddenly  fixing  the  termina- 
tions of  words  on  which  the  relation  expressed  by  the  particle 
is  to  be  thrown  ?  Certainly  one  of  these  particles  cannot  greatly 
retard  the  perception  of  the  relation  between  the  terminations 
and  the  relative  object ;  but  if  we  revert  to  the  epoch  when 
language  or  languages  were  formed,  does  it  not  seem  more  natural 
to  name  the  objects  in  the  first  place  and  then  to  express  their 
inter-relation  1  It  is  probable  also  that  the  phonetic  symbol 
expressing  relation  was  of  later  growth  and  was  due  to  the 
progress  of  intelligence,  and  still  more  to  practice  in  the  use  of 


280  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

the  instrument,  if  I  may  call  it  so,  that  had  been  adopted,  the 
speakers  being  helped  at  first  by  a  conventional  collocation  of 
words,  or  by  modulation,  or  in  some  other  way.  In  such  an 
order  of  ideas  the  preposition  would  seem  to  be  of  later  date 
than  the  postposition  in  the  genesis  of  language ;  and  the  post- 
position would  be  later  again  than  modulation.  Modem 
languages,  nevertheless  continually  make  use  of  both  con- 
ventional arrangement  and  of  modulations  in  order  to  dis- 
tinguish relations. 

The  declension  of  words,  while  complicating  grammatical  forms, 
is  a  great  aid  to  clearness  ;  and  this  superiority  is  possessed  by 
the  Spanish  language,  in  which  the  accusative  is  pointed  out 
by  the  preposition  a,  and  by  the  French  language  also  with  its 
nominative  qui  and  accusative  que.  But  is  this  an  absolute 
progress,  and  more  especially  is  the  process  anterior  or  posterior 
to  the  declension  of  substantives  *?  To  discuss  this  would  carry 
lis  too  far.  I  will  limit  myself  to  stating  that  in  my  opinion, 
the  simplest  language,  if  equally  expressive  with  others,  is  the 
best,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  individualized  forms 
that  are  necessary  for  what  I  will  call  a  material  intelligence, 
gave  way  probably  to  simpler  forms  owing  their  strength  to  the 
relative  positions  of  words,  when  intelligence  had  become  more 
capable  of  apprehending  such  relations  and  of  apprehending 
syntheses. 

Meanwhile  a  language  that  is  characterized  by  formulating 
by  means  of  symbols  that  which  we  express  by  means  of  rela- 
tive positions  and  by  modulation,  is  the  Chiqchua,  in  which  we 
have  the  declension  of  nouns  and  the  enfeoffment  of  particles 
expressly  for  the  interrogative  form.  viz.  ciu  after  a  verb,  and 
taeli  after  a  noun.  Examples :  wilt  thou^  is  mundnchi ;  loater 
(ace.)  is  jamtta  ;  Wilt  thou  have  water  ?  is  Mundnchieciu  ja- 
cutta?  thou  callest  thyself ,  is  suticchi ;  hoio,  is  ima.  How 
callest  thou  thyself?  is  Imdtach  suticchi  ?  Modulation  is  thus 
avoided,  as  also  the  sign  of  interrogation  in  writing. 

It  must  be  observed  that  in  Chiqchua  all  particles  are 
placed  after  conjunctions,  prepositions,  interrogations,  and  de- 
clensions.    Thus  it  is  an  exceptionally  typical  language. 

I  have  not  met  with  any  disjunctive  conjunctions  in  Mat- 
tacco,  such  as  or,  neither,  &c. 

Instead  of  or  they  seem  to  use  if  not.  For  example :  Give 
me  water  if  you  have  not  wine,  instead  of,  Give  me  water  or 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  28 1 

wine.  And  instead  of  saying  neither,  they  repeat  the  verb. 
For  example:  I  have  no  water ^  I  have  no  wine;  instead  of,  I 
have  neither  wine  nor  water. 

But  they  have  many  words  to  express  the  copulative  con- 
junctions, and,  also,  &c.,  which  as  with  us  are  placed 
before  the  direct  case.  The  following  are  the  principal  words  : 
uuith,  or  nuith  and  c-loja,  which  they  use  also  for  our  ivith,  as 
we  have  seen  ;  and  utcuei,  isichiei,  tdeui,  for,  and.  Tdeui  is 
especially  used  for  interrogation ;  for  example :  /  am  going,  are 
you  ?  Nu-jiche  tdeui-am  ? 

It  is  curious  that  as  to  conjunctions  Mattacco  is  the  reverse 
of  Chiqchua,  which  has  no  word  for  and,  instead  of  which  they 
use  with  placed  after  the  subject  or  object ;  whereas  they  have 
or,  placing  the  particle  ciu,  which  expresses  it,  after  one  of  the 
two  alternatives  presented. 

The  following  analogies  approaching  to  identity  are  curious 
also :  uuitd  with  the  English  loith ;  op  with  oh,  and  op-toch, 
meaning  also,  and /or  this,  with  the  Latin  db-hoc ;  and  utqvei 
with  the  Latin  atque.  We  shall  take  an  opportunity  of  noticing 
other  analogies  as  we  go  on. 

The  conditional  conjunction  if,  is  chid  or  echia.  '\Anien 
placed  before  the  proposition  conditional  on  the  principal  pro- 
position, this  last  is  joined  with  uuitd,  like  the  so  in  German 
after  wenn  ;  for  example  :  "  If  thou  wilt  not  tell  me,"  cchid^ 
thou  wilt  not  ]  uuitdj  tell  me. 


282  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

ADVERBS —RATIONAL  FORM  OF  ADVERBS  OF  TIME — SUN  AND  EARTH, 
DAY  AND  NIGHT  —  THE  HEAVENS ADVERBS  OF  PLACE — AP- 
PEAL     TO      THE      READER ADJECTIVES — COMPARATIVES     AND 

SUPERLATIVES FORMS       FOR      CONTRARY       SIGNIFICATIONS 

FOREIGNER  AND  STRANGER — ETYMOLOGY    OP    CIGUELE   CHRIS- 
TIANS. 

They  have  one  adverb  of  space,  but  their  adverbs  of  time  are 
remarkable  for  their  rational  formation  and  their  analogy  with 
our  own  ;  for  example  :  day  is  squala,  sun,  a  sun ;  month  is 
igueldch,  moon  ;  tem-lo  means,  at  the  side  of ;  ndche  or  nachi  or 
nacli  means,  past  and  after  in  the  sense  of  bygone  time ;  nen-nd 
and  nd  mean  the  present  time,  now.  Now  then  :  to-day  is 
iciidlannd,  that  is,  the  present  sun;  to-morrow  is  icudla  and 
cliiicudla,  for  the  same  reason  that  in  Spanish  manana  means 
both  morning  and  to-morrow;  yesterday  is  icudlanndche,  the 
bygone  sun ;  the  day  before  yesterday  is  icudla  elldche,  i.e.  an- 
other bygone  sun,  el  meaning  other,  and  Idche  having  the  same 
meaning  as  nacJie,  the  change  being  due  to  a  desire  of  har- 
moniousness  and  to  the  genius  of  the  language  ;  the  day  after 
to-morrow  is  tem-lo  icuala,  i.e.  at  the  side  of  to-morrow.  It 
is  curious  that  tem-lo  should  stand  before  icudla  to  express  the 
day  after,  and  that  ndche  should  stand  after,  to  express  the  day 
before.  These  may  seem  caprices  of  language,  but  they  pro- 
bably indicate  an  etymological,  or  even  a  philosophical  cause, 
presiding  at  their  formation. 

I  explain  myself  thus  :  They  make  use  of  the  words  hundt 
or  hunnd,  meaning  eaHh,  to  express  night ;  for  day,  on  the 
contrary,  they  say  the  sun ;  seeming  to  have  understood  the 
contrast  between  them.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  contrast 
represents  to  them  a  kind  of  philosophy  in  which  the  earth  and 
sun  might  represent  two  opposite  principles,  darkness  and  light, 
good  and  evil     I  have  not,  however,  been  able  to  detect^  this 


» 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  283 

pliilosophical  system  in  their  ideas,  although  as  we  have  seen, 
some  of  their  religious  forms  would  seem  to  express  it. 

Moreover,  is  not  their  way  of  using  the  sun  and  light  in  order 
to  express  time,  an  intellectual  link  with  the  Aryan,  who  from 
the  Sanscrit  dyu,  light,  has  passed  on  to  the  Latin  dies^  the 
Spanish  dia,  the  Italian  di,  all  these  words  meaning  day  % 

For  this  evening,  they  say  hnnnd  and  cJiiahu?ind,  and  for  this 
night,  meaning  last  night,  the  anoche  of  the  Spanish,  they  say 
hunna-tzi-nna  ;  analogously  to  the  form  used  and  the  sequence 
followed  in  the  distribution  of  words  for  expressing  to-moirow, 
to-day,  &c. 

Moreover,  for  sky  they  say  ppe-le,  which  I  think  may  be 
translated,  "  that  which  is  above,"  from  ppe,  above,  and  le,  syn- 
copated from  Ul-U  or  chelle,  a  patronymic  word  which  serves  to 
express  origin  and  country. 

It  is  said  that  savages  have  no  abstract  ideas,  but  I  ask 
you  whether  ideas  of  ever,  never,  are  abstract  or  not  %  Without 
waiting  for  an  answer,  I  say  that  these  tribes  have  the  words 
ic-ne-mid  for  nefver,  and  ch-lam-mech  for  ever. 

It  may  be  argued  that  these  expressions  are  composed  of 
words  having  in  themselves  a  limited  meaning ;  quite  so. 
But  the  French  also  make  use  of  all-days,  toujours,  to  ex- 
press for  ever  ;  therefore  they  express  an  indefinite  and  infinite 
idea  by  means  of  a  word  signifying  a  limited  time,  viz.  day. 

I  take  the  opportunity  of  remarking  that  the  particles  nache 
and  nenna,  of  which  the  latter  is  sometimes  changed  in  the 
second  or  third  syllable,  and  the  vowel  altered  from  e  to  i,  form 
two  tenses  of  the  verbs ;  nache  being  used  for  the  Perfect 
Tense,  and  nenna  for  the  Imperfect.  For  example  :  to  return, 
is  tapil ;  I  returned,  tapil-la^he ;  and  I  was  returning,  tapil-U 
(the  second  I  is  in  place  of  n,  for  the  reason  already  given). 

For  noon,  they  say  icudla  ichni,  which  in  my  opinion  means 
the  sun  is  high,  or  above  ;  and  for  midnight,  they  say  hunnat- 
cliiu-uech  ;  I  think  this  means  under  the  earth.  Inataeh  means 
quick,  and  hunach,  slow. 

There  is  one  syllable,  tde  or  dthe  or  ntde,  which  is  the  basis 
of  very  many  adverbs  of  place  and  time.  For  example  :  why  1 
atdjeeche  ;  where  1  tdene  ;  whence  ?  dtel ;  how  1  what  %  atde-tzu  ; 
how  much?  tde-hote ;  when?  tde-ndch-hote ;  {hote  by  itself 
means  hoio,  and  the  naeh  indicates  that  the  question  refers  to 
a  somewhat  remote  time).  It  must  be  observed  that  where  the 
a  comes  first,  it  probably  refers  to  thou,  owing  to  the  question 


284  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

being  asked  in  the  second  person.  This  proves  how  necessary 
it  is  to  establish  clearly  the  circumstances  of  time  and  person 
before  writing  down  the  reply. 

Though  I  fear  to  weary  the  reader  by  dwelling  too  long  on 
the  Mattacco  language,  yet  I  feel  bound  to  impart  the  little  I 
have  learnt;  for  I  devoted  the  short  leisure  I  could  snatch 
from  my  professional  duties  to  studies,  often  prolonged  to  the 
Small  hours  of  the  night.  And  if  in  order  not  to  weary  him, 
I  begin  to  digress,  I  am  afraid  of  being  too  discursive,  while 
if  I  keep  strictly  to  the  thread  of  the  narrative,  he  may 
find  it  too  dry.  I  am  puzzled.  Will  any  one  suggest  a  way 
out  of  the  difficulty  1  No  one  ?  Then  I  must  remain  as 
I  am.  But  then,  0  my  reader,  if  indeed  at  this  time  there 
still  exists  one  for  me,  be  compassionate  to  me  and  my  poor 
book  !  I  ask  it  for  the  sake  of  the  affection  I  feel  towards 
you,  and  the  desire  I  have  for  reciprocity  !  for  the  sake  of  the 
hours  I  refused  to  Morpheus  while  thinking  of  you,  and  en- 
deavouring to  disentangle  the  hitherto  inviolate  tongue  of 
Mattacco  !  For  the  sake  of  the  ridicule  that  I  feel  already  I 
am  destined  to  encounter  for  omitting  the  exact  mathematical 
root,  in  this  uncertain  philology  !  And  then  there  is  some 
possible  gain  for  you,  if  you  ever  care  to  study,  in  whatever 
degree  you  please,  the  prehistoric  history  of  this  South  American 
population,  for  with  the  light  shed  by  philology  we  might  well 
try  to  discover  if  the  Redskins  were  once  as  closely  related  to 
each  other  as  ourselves  and  the  Croatians  at  the  least.  And 
if  this  does  not  suffice  thee,  have  pity  at  least  on  an  unfor- 
tunate author  plunged  in  a  slough  of  difficulties  whence  the 
strength  of  Hercules  would  be  needed  to  extricate  him ! 

I  am  still  confronted  by  adjectives,  comparatives,  superla- 
tives, numbers,  declensions,  and  verbs.  I  know  not  which  to 
select  first,  but  I  will  begin  with  the  first-named. 

Adjectives  seem  to  have  resembled  isolated  buds,  needing 
but  a  touch  to  open  them.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  There 
are  many  with  roots  and  intricate  branches,  that  we  must  accept 
in  order  to  understand  them. 

But  as  for  hypotheses,  I  give  due  warning  that  we  must  clear 
them  with  a  jump. 

There  are  a  goodly  number  of  adjectives  of  which  I  can  tell 
neither  whence  they  come  nor  whither  they  go,  and  these  per- 
haps are  the  majority.  But  there  are  others  of  which  the 
derivation  is  obvious.     Among  these  are  the  possessive  Adjec- 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  285 

tives  formed  from  the  root  of  the  pronoun  with  the  addition  of 
the  particle  ca,  of,  which  is  also  a  genitive  postposition,  and  co, 
which  must  be  considered  as  a  variation  of  ca.  Besides  co  and 
ca,  they  also  make  use  of  lo  in  possessive  adjectives,  but  prin- 
cipally, I  think,  with  mij  and  thy.  My,  therefore,  is  nuch-cd, 
nuch-c6,  and  nuch-lo  ;  thy,  is  acco  and  al-lo. 

Another  way  is  with  tzac.  Example :  fear  is  uai  or  liudi  ;  fright- 
ened, is  hudintzdch.  And  another  form  is  with  jd.  But  this 
would  seem  rather  to  be  a  present  participle.  Example  :  Nu- 
hudi-jd,  1  am  frightened,  I  am  afraid  ;  accecuoja,  thou  who  hast 
a  wife,  or  a  husband. 

Another  way  is  by  adding  the  proposition  eck  to  the  sub- 
stantive. Example :  hunger,  na-in-lo,  hungered,  na-in-lo  necJi^ 
i.e.  with  hunger ;  now,  ccliia,  fresh,  new,  cchid-jecli,  i.e.  with  or 
of  now.  Such  forms  as  these  are  rational,  surely,  and  reveal  a 
process  of  agglutination. 

Comparatives  and  superlatives  proceed  likewise  by  aggluti- 
nation, horn  or  chom,  meaning  more,  being  placed  before  the 
word,  and  tach,  expressing  superiority,  after  it.  The  compara- 
tive, however,  is  not  followed  by  than,  as  for  example  :  Peter 
is  handsomer  than  Paul,  is  rendered  even  with  agglutination, 
"  Peter  is  handsomer,  as  is  not  Paul."  It  is  a  somewhat  odd 
form,  but  I  find  it  repeated  very  often  in  my  notes.  The  par- 
ticle y^t  frequently  follows  comparatives,  for  which  it  seems  to 
me  there  are  other  laws  which,  however,  I  have  not  discovered. 
As  superlative  they  use  ntocq,  most,  as  is  the  case  in  many 
other  languages,  and  sometimes  the  sound  is  prolonged  by  a 
syllable.  For  instance,  far,  is  toque]  ;  very  far,  is  toqueej ;  the 
word  being  accompanied  by  a  gesture.  This  form  is  also  used 
by  the  Araucanos,  and  by  ourselves  in  some  cases.  It  is  a 
natural  form. 

As  I  said  before,  they  have  augmentatives  in  tdch,  and 
diminutives  in  chidch  or  qudch  ;  these  are  postpositions  and  are 
declinable,  while  the  preceding  substantive  remains  unaltered ; 
the  declension  consists  in  changing  ch  into  ss  for  the  plural. 

In  order  to  say  less,  they  s?iy  jdch-lom,  which  is  the  same  as 
jdch-ehom,  i.e.  not  more.  The  agglutinative  form  must  be 
noted  here  ;  it  is  common  to  all  these  adjectival  forms.  This 
language  seems  to  me  extremely  logical,  and  once  having  taken 
a  certain  direction  goes  on  to  the  end.  The  difficulty  is  to 
grasp  it  at  first,  and  then  not  to  be  bewildered  by  its  sudden 
turns. 


286  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   T^E   GRAN   CHACO 

While  on  this  subject  let  me  observe  that  almost  all  adjectives 
expressing  the  opposite  of  a  good  quality,  are  composed  of  the 
adjective  expressing  that  quality  and  of  a  negative  particle 
either  preceding  or  following  it.  For  example  :  true,  matt  ; 
false,  Tia-matt  or  mattide,  i.e.  untrue.  Good  and  fine,  hiss  and 
tzi ;  ugly,  ha-tzia  and  tzitde ;  far,  toeuej  ;  near,  tocuei-tde ;  in- 
stead of  the  last  word,  ca-tu-ta  may  be  used  ;  now  catu  means 
the  elbow,  and  metaphorically,  a  bend  or  curve,  &c.  This  form 
extends  sometimes  to  substantives.  For  example  :  a  remedy 
is  ckidj  a  poison  is  ka-ckicL.  We  find  the  same  forms  in  our 
own  languages  when  we  say  uncertain  for  not  certain,  scortese, 
descortes  in  Spanish  for  courteous,  discourteous,  &c. 

It  may  seem,  nevertheless,  that  these  Redskins  lack  certain 
shades  of  meaning  that  are  possessed  by  our  language,  m  which, 
for  example,  there  is  a  formal  distinction  between  false  and 
untrue,  between  far  and  not  near. 

It  may  be  so ;  nevertheless  they  do  possess  certain  shades  of 
meaning,  such  as  a  distinction  between  foreigner  and  stranger ; 
the  first  being  achly-tdch  chle-le,  that  is,  one  who  comes  from  a 
great  distance  ;  and  the  second,  icchiomchU-le,  that  is,  one  who 
comes  from  lower  down.  With  regard  to  these  Mattaccos. 
strangers  do,  in  fact,  live  lower  down,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river  and  of  the  Paraguay.  Above  them  dwell  the  Christians, 
whom  they  call  Cliiguele. 

Whence  this  name  of  Cliiguele  ?  Not  from  their  colour,  be- 
cause preldch  means  white,  and  jaccatde  means  yellow,  i.e.  not- 
black,  showing  that  to  them  the  opposite  of  black  is  yellow. 
They  have  no  word  for  blue  or  green,  and  it  may  be  they  are 
so  far  colour  blind.  And  if  they  intended  to  call  us  red,  which 
is  icchiottf  there  seems  to  be  a  wide  gap  between  that  word  and 
the  word  ChigvMe.     Therefore  1 

I  have  it !  Chigu^le  means  "fine  men  !"  Cliiy  as  I  have  already 
said,  is  the  same  as  tzi,  and  would  be  the  same  as  chj.  Now  tzi 
is  a  root  found  in  katzia  and  in  tzi-tde,  meaning  ugly,  not  hand- 
some, as  we  see  in  the  word  tzilatdcli,  also  called  chilatdch  ;  thus 
the  Christians,  having  partly  corrupted  the  former  word,  pro- 
nounce it  childtta  and  catchia.  Chilatdch  is  composed  in  the  first 
place  of  tdch,  an  augmentative  particle,  and  of  chila.  In  chila 
la  is  a  particle  that,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  lo,  cu,  and  co^ 
forms  adjectives  when  placed  after  the  root.  Chi,  therefore,  is 
the  root  giving  signification  to  chilatdch  ;  but  chilatdch  ir^eans 
fine  or  handsome  in  a  high  degree,  therefore  chi  expresses  beauty. 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  28/ 

"We  have  seen  that  the  patronymic  word  clielele  means 
"which  is  "of,"  or  "belonging  to."  Now  there  can  be  little 
difficulty  in  admitting  that  in  a  language  like  this  one,  which 
sacrifices  so  much  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  clilele  may  have  been 
changed  to  ghuele  or  guele,  either  to  soften  the  sound,  or  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  rule  not  yet  ascertained.  Hence  Chiguele  is 
equal  to  CliichUle,  that  is,  equivalent  to  those  who  are  fine,  i.e. 
the  fine  men. 

I  may  be  allowed  to  congratulate  myself  on  an  etymology  that 
gives  me  a  share,  unworthy  though  I  be,  in  one  of  the  four 
qualities  that  a  Greek  philosopher  has  declared  to  be  necessary 
to  earthly  happiness,  viz.  competence,  faithful  friends,  a  taste 
for  music,  and  either  to  be  handsome,  or  to  be  thought  so,  which 
is  practically  the  same  thing  ! 

Now,  among  these  Indians,  even  if  one  is  rather  ugly,  one  is 
considered  a  fine  man. 


288  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 


CHAPTER  V, 

THE   INDIANS    OF   THE    CHACO    CAN    COUNT    ONLY     UP    TO     FOUR — 
QUATREFAGE's  OPINION — THE  VALIANT   DEEDS    OF   A   CACIQUE 

RELATED    BY    HIMSELF SLAUGHTER     NEAR    FORT    AGUIRRE 

INCOMPATIBILITY    BETWEEN     CIVILIZATION    AND   BARBARISM 

MANNER   OP   COUNTING    OF    THE   MATTACCOS — ANALOGIES. 

Most  of  the  IndiaiiwS  of  the  Chaco  can  only  count  up  to  four. 
These  include  the  Mocovitos,  whose  lands  are  contiguous  on  the 
south  to  the  provinces  of  Santa  Fe  and  Cordova,  and  on  the 
west  to  Santiago ;  the  Mattaccos  reaching  on  the  west  to  the 
provinces  of  Santiago  and  Oran ;  the  Tohas  lying  between  the 
before-mentioned  races  and  the  River  Paraguay,  along  which 
they  inhabit  part  of  Bolivia ;  the  Vilelas  and  Ciulupos,  who 
now  only  exist  in  tribes  and  families,  dispersed  among  the  other 
races,  or  absorbed  by  them. 

The  Chiriguans,  however,  and  possibly  other  peoples  dwelling 
in  Bolivia,  on  the  great  wooded  plain  called  the  Gran  Chaco, 
can  count  indefinitely ;  and  the  other  Indiadas  of  the  Chaco 
nearer  the  north  can  count  beyond  four,  if  I  may  judge  by  my 
first  teacher  on  board,  who,  although  a  Mattacco,  was  able  to 
give  me  words  for  higher  numbers.  This  was  a  result  of  contact, 
as  we  shall  see  in  due  time. 

With  regard  to  the  power  of  counting  only  to  four,  I  see  by 
Quatref age's  last  work,  La  Specie  Humana,  that  he  appears  to 
throw  doubt  on  this  statement,  interpreting  it  differently,  but 
without  giving  his  reasons.  He  seems  to  admit  at  the  utmost 
that  expressions  are  wanting,  but  not  the  idea  of  larger  numbers. 
But  even  if  we  accept  his  hypothesis  psychologically,  it  is  con- 
tradicted philologieally  ;  and  knowing,  as  we  do,  the  relations 
between  words  and  ideas,  we  must  own  that  where  the  former 
are  wanting,  the  latter  must  at  any  rate  be  in  such  a  confused 
state  as  not  to  admit  of  fixing  by  words  ;  just  as  among^  our- 
selves any  one  unacquainted  with  an  art  or  science  is  unable 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  289 

to  use  the  technical  terms  thereof,  although  he  may  recognize 
and  appreciate  the  works  of  either. 

For  my  own  part  I  will  relate  a  personal  anecdote,  as  it  will 
help  the  reader  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  matter. 

1  was  conversing  one  day  with  a  cacique,  and  as  it  was  for  the 
first  time,  he  began  recounting  to  me  his  deeds  of  valour. 

On  my  asking  where  these  took  place,  he  answered  me  at 
once  :  — 

"  Num,  i7iaittd,  ntocq,  Teucli^  tocuej  f  "  thrusting  his  right  arm 
towards  the  north,  and  drawing  it  back  again. 

I  stared  at  him  and  interrupted,  "  Ntde-hiche  "  (where  T),  for  I 
understood  him  to  be  telling  me  of  a  people  on  the  Teuco,  called 
Umaita,  like  the  people  of  Paraguay  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ber- 
mejo,  and  my  interest  was  intense  at  the  thought  of  an  ethno- 
logical discovery ! 

But  he  had  meant,  yo  (nu)  mate,  (I  killed)  great  numbers 
on  the  Teuco,  far  away  !  hence  he  answered,  "iVw  ilo7i 
ntocq  "  (I  killed  many  of  them),  and  began  counting  in  Mat- 
tacco  from  one  to  four,  holding  his  right  hand  in  his  left, 
and  lifting  one  finger  at  a  time,  but  not  the  thumb.  But 
when  he  had  reached  four  he  was  puzzled,  and  sitting  down 
cross-legged  on  the  ground,  he  began  making  marks  on  the 
earth  with  his  finger,  exclaiming  at  each  one,  "  toch"  i.e.  this, 
raising  his  head  each  time  as  well  as  his  hand,  the  thumb  of 
which  he  held  in  his  left  hand,  and  looking  at  me,  he  added, 
"  uuitd  toch"  meaning,  "  and  this  one  too,"  and  so  he  went 
on  until  he  reached  about  a  score,  always,  however,  turning 
towards  me  that  I  might  understand  that,  besides  these,  there 
were  also  the  four  fingers,  until  at  last  I  was  almost  tired  out 
with  ntocq,  ntocq  (many,  many). 

It  was  quite  true.  That  particular  cacique  had  been  for  a 
time  the  pest  of  the  Christian  frontier  and  the  scourge  of  his 
Indian  enemies,  until  at  last,  having  grown  old,  and  being 
beaten  besides  by  the  Christians,  he  made  peace  ;  and,  receiving 
rations  from  the  Government,  he  and  his  greatly  diminished 
tribe  were  reduced  to  Fort  Gorriti,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Vermejo.  Now  it  so  happened  that  near  Fort  Aguirre,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Teuco,  about  fifty  kilometers  north-west  of 
Gorriti,  some  other  Indians,  who  had  attempted  an  invasion, 
were  surprised  in  their  tolderia ;  some  were  killed  and  some 
taken  prisoners.  These  last  were  bound  together  with  their 
hands  behind  them,  so  as  to  form  a  chain  of  thirty  or  forty 

u 


290  EIGHT   MONTHS    ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 

men ;  and  my  cacique  was  called  upon  to  despatch  tliem,  whicli 
he  accordingly  did,  spearing  the  most  of  them  with  his  own 
hand.  The  greater  part  of  them  remained  dumb  during  the 
slaughter,  others  uttered  cries  as  in  their  religious  ceremonies. 
These  were  probably  the  priests. 

Five  years  later  I  visited  the  scene  of  the  massacre.  I^ot  a 
bone  remained  of  the  unburied  corpses ;  the  waters  of  the  flood 
season  had  washed  them  away  and  the  winds  had  covered  over 
the  rest.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  with  the  help  of  a  soldier 
who  had  been  present,  I  succeeded  in  excavating  three  skulls 
from  under  certain  shrubs.  The  Government  intended  to 
punish  the  officer  of  the  Aguirre  garrison  on  picket  duty,  and 
perhaps  did  so.  But  it  should  be  clearly  understood  that  there 
is  no  possible  compatibility  between  civilization  and  barbarism ; 
and  all  individual  philanthropy,  all  a  priori  arguments  from  a 
distance,  are  bereft  of  any  practical  utility  on  the  scene  of  the 
struggle,  and  amid  the  battle  of  races.  To  every  one  of  these, 
the  destruction  of  the  enemy  appears  the  most  natural,  and 
the  simplest  expedient  in  the  world.  Hence  the  destruction 
of  the  Redskins  by  the  Christian  weapons  of  iron  and  fire,  by 
transportation,  and  by  dividing  them  like  herds  of  cattle  is 
inevitable. 

To  return  to  our  arithmetic,  we  must  not  take  for  granted, 
except  in  jest,  that  these  Indians  are  unable  to  perceive  that 
ten  fish  are  the  half  of  twenty.  The  dog  who  seizes  on  a 
second  bone  when  flung  to  him,  and  yet  growls  if  another 
attempts  to  take  the  first,  has  that  much  perception.  But  the 
absence  of  adequate  expressions  reveals,  in  my  opinion,  an 
insufficient  power  of  abstraction.  The  development  of  this 
mental  faculty  is  followed  by  development  in  language,  and  by 
an  alteration  of  words  with  due  regard  to  the  original  sounds. 

As  to  the  Mattacco  names  for  the  first  four  numbers  I  was 
struck  by  their  length,  and  by  the  gestures  accompanying  them. 
Each  of  them,  it  seemed  to  me,  should  contain  an  entire  sen- 
tence in  order  to  account  for  the  gesticulation.  After  a  long 
time  I  believe  I  discovered  the  meaning  of  this,  and  that  my 
intuition  was  correct. 

In  efi"ect,  an  Indian  says  hotS-quaach-hi,  and  lifts  one  finger ; 
or,  at  the  same  time,  he  may  say  likewise,  hotecki  and  hotecoaki. 
Now,  hote  means  how,  quaach  means  finger,  hi  {h  nasal)  is  a 
particle  indicating  possession,  containing,  &c.  Thus,  disregard- 
ing the  slight  difierence  only  too  natural  in  every  language,  and 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  29 1 

especially  in  one  so  liable  to  change  as  this  one,  we  have  the 
translation  of  hotequahi  in  as  my  finger  holds  or  contains. 

Two,  is  liote-quoasi,  and  two  fingers  are  lifted  /  quoas  is  the 
plural  of  cuoacJi  ;  thus  the  translation  is  :  as  my  fingers  hold. 

Three,  is  lach-tdi-qua-jel,  and  three  fingers  are  raised,  the 
last  finger — the  little  finger — remaining  close  against  the  left 
hand.  Now,  lach  means  without  or  not^  el  means  another  ;  quai 
is  too  like  quoacki  not  to  suggest  its  own  meaning ;  therefore  I 
translate  it  "  without  the  other  finger." 

Four,  is  tdi-qualess-hicki.  I  cannot  render  this  literally,  hence 
I  will  not  attempt  it ;  but  I  recognize  a  plural  form  in  qualess^ 
and  in  hicki,  a  word  often  found  in  conjunction  with  hi,  and  in 
phrases  containing  the  idea  of  permanence  or  similar  meanings. 
It  is  probably,  therefore,  expressive  of  the  action  of  the  hand  ; 
"  the  fingers  are." 

This  action  of  the  hand  was  not  confined  to  the  cacique,  but 
was  used  by  the  other  Indians  in  the  centre  of  the  Chaco,  and 
even  by  the  Christian  Faustino,  who  knew  how  to  count  as  we 
do.  Hence,  it  must  bear  some  relation  to  the  words.  The 
etymology  that  I  put  forward  seems  to  be  a  more  satisfactory 
explanation  than  that  usually  afforded  by  philology  in  similar 
cases. 

The  elegance  of  the  original  forms  must  not  be  estimated, 
however,  by  a  literal  translation.  How  inelegant  would  not  the 
greater  number  of  composite  Greek  words  appear  if  translated 
literally  into  the  vulgar  tongue  ! 

As  to  the  intellectual  worth  of  these  renderings  of  numbers, 
their  origin  is  very  natural.  The  Guarani  follow  a  similar 
fashion,  at  least  for  certain  numbers,  such  as  ten  or  twenty,  for 
which  they  say  "  two  hands,"  and  "  two  hands  and  two  feet." 
And  it  is  probable  that  by  analyzing  the  words  for  numeration 
used  by  other  Indians  and  other  nations  we  should  find 
some  analogy.  Eoman  numeration,  in  fact,  represents  the 
fingers  as  far  as  three,  and  the  palm  of  the  hand  in  Y.  (five). 
The  palm,  less  one  finger,  is  IV.  (four),  and  two  palms  reversed, 
one  over  the  other,  represent  X.  (ten).  It  is  clear  that  Roman 
numerals  represent  in  cipher  that  which  is  represented  by 
hieroglyphics  in  writing,  and  by  Mattacco  expressions  in  words. 

It  is'natural  to  man  to  seek  the  nearest  instruments  for  the 
expression  of  his  wants  and  for  the  development  of  his  ideas. 


u  2 


292  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  CxRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTER  YI. 

DECLENSIONS — SUBSTANTIVES — PERSONAL  PRONOUNS — APOSTRO- 
PHIZING PARTICLES  PLACED  BEFORE  NAMES  IN  MATTACCO, 
GUARANY,  AND  AKKA — GENDERS  — COMMON  AND  ABSTRACT 
NOUNS — OBSERVATIONS. 

We  have  frequently  mentioned  declensions  and  plurals ;  it  is 
time  therefore  to  say  a  few  words  on  them. 

I  was  SO  strongly  persuaded  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Chaco  would  have  the  plural  formed  by  the  addition  of  a  word 
expressing  the  notion  of  plurality,  such  as  much  or  many,  that 
I  was  always  seeking  for  it.  Nor  was  this  extraordinary; 
for  the  Guarani  do,  in  fact,  add  hete,  many,  to  the  singular, 
in  order  to  form  the  plural ;  the  Chiqehuans  add  cuna  ;  these 
two  tribes  are  or  were  bordering  on  the  tribes  of  which  I  am 
treating.  Many  other  nations  follow  the  same  rule,  which  is 
known  as  agglutination  or  aggregation;  among  others,  the  Akkas 
of  Africa. 

It  seemed  very  natural  therefore  that  the  lesser  should  do  as 
the  greater.  Besides,  it  is  generally  acknowledged  that  the 
stage  of  agglutination  is  proper  to  a  less  advanced  language. 

It  is  true  that  in  such  case  the  people  speaking  it  should 
also  be  less  advanced,  but  this  is  very  far  from  being  proved. 
In  short,  every  theory  is  found  to  halt  in  one  place  or  another 
without  thereby  losing  its  substantial  excellence,  or  being  less 
binding  on  its  adepts.  We  may  therefore  accept,  as  a  whole, 
the  above  philological  theory. 

The  replies  I  received  to  my  questions  respecting  the  plural 
were  unsatisfactory.  Some  words  were  terminated  in  the 
plural  in  one  way  and  some  in  another ;  while  ntoc])^  many, 
might  always  be  used.  If  I  named  a  certain  number,  the  same 
uncertainty  pervaded  the  replies.  For  example  :  two  horses  % 
They  would  answer,  horse  two ;  two  men  %  two  icnu  or»  icnul 


OF  TIJF  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  293 

or  icnuil.  The  terminations  seemed  slightly  varied  by  different 
modes  of  pronunciation,  and  not  for  any  other  reason. 

I  note  down  all  these  things  because  they  will  be  a  guide 
for  some  of  the  numerous  travellers  who  nowadays  wander 
among  the  tribes  of  Africa  or  America.  They  may  be  useful  to 
an  explorer  who  does  not  rely  too  presumptuously  on  his  own 
knowledge  or  penetration. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  that  we  and  ye  are  formed  from  / 
and  thou  by  means  of  the  same  affix.  Thus:  noch-ldm,  I, 
becomes  noch-lam-il,  we ;  and  from  am^  thou,  we  have  am-il, 
ye.  But  this  refers  only  to  pronouns,  and  may  easily  therefore 
be  exceptional.  Nevertheless,  by  calling  my  attention  to  this 
definite  form,  I  obtained  a  clue  to  the  mystery. 

The  Mattaccos  have  the  plural  form,  not  only  by  the  addition 
of  ntocq,  many,  but  also  in  various  other  ways,  by  inflection ; 
in  short  they  possess  different  declensions,  which  they  use 
almost  exclusively,  and  which  seem  to  fall  under  the  following 
rules. 

Words  ending  in  0  and  in  e,  take  an  i  in  the  plural.  Ex : 
colOj  foot,  coloi,  feet ;  huentie,  bird,  huentiei,  birds.  Words  end- 
ing in  achj  change  the  ch  into  ss ;  all  the  augmentatives  in 
acli  and  diminutives  in  cliiach  follow  this  rule.  Ex  :  iguelach, 
moon,  month,  iguelass,  months  ;  jelatach,  horse,  jelatass,  horses. 
Words  ending  in  n  take  an  Z,  which  is  pronounced  by  placing 
the  tip  of  the  tongue  against  the  palate,  and  sounds  almost 
like  il.  Ex :  cannu,  a  needle,  cannyl  (almost  cannuil), 
needles.  Those  ending  in  t,  in  och,  and  other  letters,  change 
them  into  ess.  Ex :  jdhset,  a  fish,  jdchsetess,  fishes  ;  tdoch,  hide 
or  skin,  tdoehess,  hides.  Those  ending  in  I  often  take  iss^  and 
sometimes  drop  the  I.  Ex  :  tzet,  paunch,  tzeliss,  paunches ; 
J  el  J  a  sick  man,  jtss  (01  jeliss),  sick  men.  This  last  is  a  good 
specimen  of  alteration. 

There  are  many  exceptions  and  probably  other  rules  that  I 
omit  for  the  sake  of  brevity. 

I  am  doubtful  as  to  whether  they  have  the  dual  number  like 
the  Araucans  and  the  Guaranys,  and  like  the  Greeks  among 
ourselves,  but  I  am  not  certain.  Yet  I  have  noted :  the  hand, 
rbuei,  both  hands,  chuejai  ;  we,  noeli  amil^  we  two,  noclilamdss  ; 
you,  amil,  you  two,  amdss ;  but  I  repeat,  I  am  uncertain 
whether  it  is  a  dual  form. 

When  numerals  are  used,  the  nouns  following  them  are  in- 
differently in  the  singular  or  plural.     Adjectives  seem  to  me 


294  EIGHT  MONTHS   ON   THE  GRixN   CHACO 

to  remain  in  the  singular,  and  they  are  placed  after  the 
noun. 

I  have  not  met  with  sufficient  examples  to  authorize  me  in 
attributing  declension  to  cases  also,  unless  indeed  we  may  thus 
denominate  the  occasional  addition  of  ca  in  the  genitive.  For 
example  :  Peter's  people,  Peilo-ca  Uicchj.  Their  method  of 
using  prepositions  may  suffice  instead  of  cases. 

The  personal  pronouns  /and  thou,  however,  at  any  rate  in 
the  singular,  are  declined,  while  only  toch,  these,  seems  to  have 
an  accusative  in  tocha. 

The  declension  of  pronouns  is  as  follows : — 


Singular. 

Singular. 

Norn. 

I.  noch-lam.  nu,  no, 

ni. 

Nom, 

Thou,  dm  or  ham,  and  a. 

Gen. 

Of  me,  nuch-cd. 

Gen. 

Of  thee,  ach-cd. 

Dat. 

To  me,  nuho. 

Dat. 

To  thee,  dmu  or  hdmu. 

Ace. 

Me,  nuja,  nu. 

Ace. 

Thee,  ama  and  di. 

Abl. 

With  me,  nujech. 
Plural. 

Abl. 

With  thee,  dmech  or  dmclile. 
Plural. 

Nom. 

We,  nochlam-il,  nd, 
indt. 

and 

Nom. 

You  two,  amass,  a. 

Nom. 

We  two,  nochlamdss  and 

Nom. 

You,  amil,  d. 

inamdss. 

The  finals  I  and  tl,  may  be  due  to  an  alteration  of  the  word 
el,  other,  originally  used  to  express  the  plural ;  it  would  there- 
fore be  merely  an  ancient  form,  agglutinated,  set  aside  and 
varied  by  successive  changes. 

The  apostrophe  is  much  used  in  this  language,  for  the  sake 
of  harmony  most  likely ;  but  by  altering  and  confusing  the 
words,  it  leads  to  mistakes  and  to  difficulty  in  securing  the 
right  word.  Example  :  Dost  thou  wish  me  welll  jdchdemin  nuja; 
(i.e.  jach-a-hsmin  nuja);  I  wish  thee  well,  nai  (i.e.  nu  ia), 
h&min. 

In  the  formation  of  nouns,  as  in  that  of  verbs,  they  make  use, 
as  I  have  already  said,  of  the  possessive  particles  nu,  a,  lu, 
my,  thy,  his,  which  are  placed  before  most  substantives.  In 
asking  a  question,  therefore,  one  must  determine  exactly  the  nu 
which  refers  to  the  person  speaking,  who,  if  asked  the  word 
for  house,  will  reply:  7iukauet  or  nu-liepj),  i.e.  "my  house." 
And  thus  with  the  apostrophe,  which  is  easily  hidden  in  na,  ne, 
ni,  no,  nu,  and  is  mistaken  for  the  root  letter,  with  consequent 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  295 

niisappreliension  and  confusion  when  the  same  word  reappears 
in  an  altered  ibrni  in  other  or  identical  expressions. 

I  draw  attention  to  this  because  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  same  rule  may  exist  in  other  languages.  The  knowledge 
might  be  useful  to  some  other  traveller  who  may  chance  to 
read  my  notes.  In  Guarany  nouns  are  preceded  by  cie  or  cc.e, 
my  ;  by  nde^  thy  ;  and  various  particles  for  his. 

The  Vilelas  have  many  words  with  hepp  in  the  centre,  ex- 
pressive of  some  relation  no  doubt ;  but  I  have  not  sufficient 
materials  from  which  to  form  a  judgment. 

So  far  for  America ! 

I  see  in  the  Abate  Beltrame's  Saggio  Gi'ammaUcale,  on  the 
language  of  the  African  Akkas,  that  all  their  verbal  infinitives 
begin  with  k.  It  is  morally  impossible  that  this  letter  can  be 
a  root.  It  must  therefore  express  a  relation.  But  which  1 
Probably  a  pronominal  one.  Guided  by  this  idea,  I  find  on 
examining  the  personal  pronouns,  that  the  third  person  plural 
is  kaS,  those.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  h  of  the  infinitives 
comes  thence  ;  their  root  must  be  sought  therefore  in  words 
without  the  k. 

The  substantives  do  not  seem  to  me  to  have  genders  ;  but 
iiithe  pronouns  and  demonstrative  adjectives  I  have  remarked 
sometimes  certain  changes  which  led  me  to  suspect  a  distinction 
of  gender.     But  the  suspicion  is  of  the  slightest. 

The  names  of  female  animals,  however,  are  followed  by  tzind, 
meaning  female ;  the  word  for  woman  is  used  })y  itself.  For 
example:  a  mare,  jela-tdck -tzind  ;  and  for  males,  the  names  are 
sometimes  followed  by  asnacli,  which  means  male. 

There  are  common  names,  already  including  an  idea  of  ab- 
straction, as  we  have  seen  with  regard  to  bird,  fish,  tree,  for 
which  they  use  words  that  I  have  found  applied  to  the  species. 
And  it  is  noteworthy  that  they  possess  also  abstract  names, 
because,  besides  never  and  always,  they  have  others,  such,  for 
example,  as  fear,  udi,  with  which  they  also  express  trembling. 
An  earthquake  is  hundt  uai,  i.e.  "  earth-trembling,"  as  in  the 
Spanish  tiemUor  de  tierra.  For  these  Mattaccos  therefore  are 
fear  and  trembling  the  same  thing  1  And  were  not  our  abstract 
expressions  for  the  most  part  formed  in  a  similar  way,  i.e.  by 
taking  a  part  for  the  whole?  Now,  trembling  is  the  most 
common  manifestation  of  fear. 

I  contend  that  these  Indians  possess  to  the  full,  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  of  man,  and  his  power  of  reasoning,  and  in  so 


296  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

high  a  degree  that  they  are  like  ourselves  both  as  to  aljility  and 
antiquity.  The  distance  between  us  is  that  of  the  actual  world 
of  facts  and  of  the  ideas  relating  to  them,  but  it  is  dispropor- 
tionate to  their  faculties  and  ours.  This  is  intelligible.  For 
long  ages  there  have  been  numberless  individuals  among  us 
enjoying  the  intellectual  advantages  of  a  scientific,  moral,  and 
polite  education.  Yet  they  are  few  indeed  in  comparison  with 
those  of  ancient  history  or  with  mankind  at  large.  The  in- 
fluences therefore  of  hereditary  physiology  must  have  had  little 
or  no  effect  on  mankind  throughout  the  world,  during  the  period 
of  barbarism.  It  is  by  overlooking  these  considerations  that 
the  public  in  general  is  led  to  wonder  at  the  relative  inferiority 
of  the  wild  races. 

The  very  small  intellectual  and  moral  distance  between  them 
and  us,  is  an  eloquent  proof  of  the  immense  antiquity  of  man, 
necessary  to  bring  him  from  the  state  of  rational  anthropomor- 
phism into  that  of  the  existing  savage. 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  29/ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CURIOUS    EXAMPLES    OF    THE     FORMATION     OP    NEW   WORDS — ETY- 
MOLOGY   OP     iuGCuds,     TOBACCO HAIR,    WOOL,    LEAVES THE 

TREE   AND     ITS     FRUIT NAMES     OF    KINDRED — ANALOGIES 

REMARKS — DEMONSTRATIVE    PRONOUNS  —  INTELLECTUAL   HAR- 
MONIES— NO,     NOTHING,     NOBODY COMPOSITE     NAMES      FOR 

OFFICES VERBS  — DIFFICULTIES   THEY    OFFER — EXAMPLES. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  these  tribes  form  words  in  their 
language  to  express  some  new  object.  Observation  is  the 
great  teacher.  For  instance,  for  bell,  they  say  spider-paunch, 
cliiu-hut-tzel ;  for  musket  they  say,  as  did  our  forefathers,  arque- 
buse,  i.e.  fire-bow,  itoch-letzech,  from  itoch,  fire,  and  letzeeh,  bow  ; 
ammunition  is,  as  in  Italian,  little  balls,  i.e.  c-l6quass,  fromc-Zo, 
a  balla,  and  quuacli,  a  diminutive  ;  a  steel  for  striking  a  light,  that 
they  had  never  seen  before,  nor  had  they  seen  the  other  under- 
mentioned objects,  they  callitocJi-cchia,  i.e.  "a  means  or  instru- 
ment for  fire;"  flint  is  ten-thS,  a  stone;  a  match  is  itoch-lesSy 
from  less,  bundle,  union ;  family  is  c-lo-hi,  from  c-l6,  a  ball,  and 
Mf  a  particle  expressing  holding  or  containing ;  a  mirror  is 
tope-jachhi,  topejach  meaning  image  and  shadow  ;  a  stocking  is 
ccolo-buth,  from  ccolo,  foot,  and  bhut,  a  bung  or  cover — in  short, 
a  covering.  A  shoe,  on  the  contrary,  they  call  nissot  or  sot.  i.e. 
a  cone,  indicating  that  they  already  knew  of  shoes,  and  in  fact 
they  sometimes  wear  a  kind  of  sandal  like  the  osedas  worn  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  campo,  and  made  of  a  piece  of  leather  for 
the  sole,  and  two  strips  of  the  same  that,  after  passing  between 
the  great  toe  and  the  toe  next  to  it,  are  fastened  at  the  ankle. 
A  lucifer  match  is  it6ssass,  an  abbreviation  of  itoch-quass,  mean- 
ing small  fires,  and  the  match-box  is  itoch-lii-huass,  i.e.  the  care- 
taker of  matches,  or  match-guard. 

One  word  has  always  awakened  my  curiosity  as  to  its  ety- 
mology, viz.  iuccuas,  tobacco,  which  does  not  exist  in  the  Chaco  ; 
I  believe  I  am  not  mistaken  in  deriving  it  from  iu,  burned,  and 


298  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE  GRAN   CHACO 

cuas,  to  bite,  to  tear,  to  sting.    Now  in  these  two  actions  consist 
the  manner  of  using  tobacco,  and  its  effects. 

Another  analogy  as  to  power  of  judging,  in  addition  to  what  we 
may  deduce  from  the  foregoing  words,  is  found  in  the  use  of  tei 
both  for  eyes  and  for  countenance,  just  as  in  Italian  poetry  and 
in  accordance  with  the  etymology  of  the  Latin  visus,  which  means 
eyesight. 

The  doorway  is  hlappe-hhut,  i.e.  the  door-cover,  a  clearer  and 
more  precise  expression  than  ours. 

The  same  word,  Jiuolei,  preceded  by  the  name  of  the  object 
to  which  it  refers,  is  used  for  fleece,  wool,  and  hair. 

They  use  the  same  word  for  foliage,  showing  that  they  look 
upon  the  leaves  as  the  hair  of  the  plant ;  and  this  is  no  forced 
analogy,  if  we  remember  that  mimosas  with  deeply  indentated 
leaves  predominate  in  these  parts.  The  botanical  term  for  these 
indentations  is  pinnated  or  bipinnated  (feathered),  thus  justifying 
the  Mattacco  expression. 

Their  manner  of  distinguishing  between  the  plant  and  the 
fruit  by  means  of  flexure  is  worthy  of  remark.  Example  :  mistol 
(jujube-tree),  oho-jucche,  the  fruit  of  the  mistol,  ohojdclie ;  the 
vinal^  attecche^  the  fruit,  attache;  the  black  algarrobo,  uossot- 
etzuche,  the  fruit,  udssot-etzdche,  &c.  Here  we  see  the  u  repeatedly 
changed  into  a. 

Names  of  kindred  vary  according  to  sex.  This  is  not  sur- 
prising, for  have  we  not  ourselves  father  and  mother,  brother 
and  sister,  &c.  ?  It  is  curious  that  all  languages  are  alike  in 
this  matter,  and  the  American  are  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
In  these  latter  the  names  of  kindred  vary,  not  only  according 
to  the  sex  of  the  person  addressed  or  spoken  of,  but  also  with 
the  sex  of  the  speaker.  For  example  :  in  Araucano  the  father 
calls  his  son  fotmn,  and  his  daughter  gnahue ;  but  the  mother 
calls  her  son  cogni  liuenthu,  and  her  daughter  cogni  domo — cogni 
meaning  offspring  generally  in  the  mouth  of  the  mother.  In 
Chiqchua  the  father  calls  his  son  cciuri,  and  his  daughter  ususi; 
the  mother  calls  her  guagua. 

In  the  Chinese  language,  according  to  the  teaching  of  my 
interpreter,  Ajao  of  Pekin,  whom  I  engacjed  lately  for  two 
francs  an  hour,  son  is  Tsae,  and  daughter  Pnoe ;  father  is  Lu- 
tao,  mother  Loumuu^  brother  gJwo-sei-lou^  and  sister  tta-i-tzi  e. 

In  Mattacco  we  find  the  following  names  :  father,  chia ; 
mother,  ceo ;  son,  locse  or  lotm ;  daughter,  lectzd ;  brother-in- 
law,  quajenecche ;   sister-in-law,   tied  lie ;    brother,  lecchiilal  or 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  299 

ccliuld  ;  sister,  cchiinno  ;  uncle,  uitoc  ;  aunt,  uidoche  ;  nephew, 
lec-cliie-ios,  an  abbreviation  probably  of  "  the  son  of  the  brother;" 
niece,  cchidio ;  father-in-law,  cliioti ;  mother-in-law,  cuteld ; 
cousin,  liuocld.  I  remark,  moreover,  that  for  son-in-law  and 
daughter-in-law,  they  use  the  same  words  as  for  brother  and 
sister-in-law,  and  for  brother-in-law  the  same  word  also  is  used 
as  for  son-in-law ;  which,  however,  I  am  sure  is  an  error. 

The  different  words  employed  to  express  the  same  degree  of 
kindred,  according  to  the  sex  of  the  speaker,  are  due  in  my 
opinion  to  the  method  of  aggregation  originally  adopted  to 
determine  that  degree,  although  subsequent  changes  have 
obscured  etymological  origin.  It  is  clear  that  in  the  case  of 
husband  and  wife  a  nephew  will  be  the  son  of  a  brother  of  the 
one  and  of  a  brother-in-law  of  the  other,  or  of  a  sister  and 
sister-in-law. 

By  agglutinating  or  aggregating  the  words  expressive  of  these 
diverse  relationships,  we  shall  secure  the  same  degree  of  kindred, 
a  nephew,  in  four  different  ways. 

An  equally  interesting  form  is  that  of  the  demonstrative  pro- 
nouns, which  resemble  the  French  because  they  are  formed  by 
the  pronoun  toeh^  these  (in  French  ces),  licue,  those  (yonder),  and 
letti  and  lani  for  those  (near  you).  There  are  others  besides, 
among  which  is  tzi^  these  ;  tzi  is  the  same  as  cci  and  cchj,  and 
is  of  importance  because  we  meet  with  it  in  Araucano.  These 
words,  when  used  as  demonstrative  adjectives,  are  divided  :  toch 
is  placed  before  the  substantive,  and  licney  latzi,  tzi,  &c.,  are 
placed  after  it,  remaining  indeclinable,  while  toch,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  declined,  l^ow,  is  not  this  just  the  same  with  French 
demonstrative  adjectives— r^ecz,  cela,  for  example,  which  in  the 
plural  are  ceux-ci,  ceux-ld,  and  can  be  divided  ? 

Do  not  these  forms  reveal  a  grand  harmony  in  the  human 
intellect,  which  makes  use  of  the  same  means,  among  widely 
separated  races,  of  expressing  similar  steps  of  relationship  %  ^ 

The  following  genesis,  which  reveals  an  order  of  things, 
deserves  special  mention.  No  is  kd,  nothing  is  kid,  nobody  is 
kidi;  here  we  see  the  root  clearly  and  constantly  shown.  ^ 

And  what  can  be  more  elegant  or  methodical  in  philology 
than  the  Mattacco  words  expressing  possession,  capacity  for 
holding,  and  the  accomplishment  or  execution  of  an  office  1 
The  letter  h  {h  with  a  dot  beneath  is  pronounced  nasally) 
appears  in  a  Very  great  number  of  words,  if  not  in  all,  expressing 
to  have,  or  to  hold.    Now,  we  have  hi  and  huu,  expressive  of  that 


300  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON   THE  GRAN  CHACO 

which  contains,  and  possesses,  and  does  a  thing ;  and  we  have 
liuetj  meaning  house,  a  place  containing  things.  For  example  :  a 
fish,  jdcset ;  a  fish-pond,  jdcsette-lii ;  shoes,  nissohess ;  a  shoe- 
maker, one  who  sells  shoes,  nissoJiesse-hi ;  shoemaker,  one  who 
makes  them,  nissohesse-huu ;  a  shoemaker's  shop,  nissohesse- 
huet.  The  same  plan  is  followed  in  all  similar  cases.  In  what 
respect  are  other  languages  superior  1 

But  the  verbs  are  a  serious  matter,  and  I  must  confess  my 
ignorance.  I  am  not  able  to  give  one  infinitive  ;  one,  that  is, 
that  I  could  conscientiously  so  describe.  I  might  be  able  to 
find  some,  had  I  leisure  for  the  necessary  study,  but  at  present 
this  is  not  the  case.  In  justice  to  myself,  however,  I  must  say 
that  the  fault  does  not  lie  entirely  in  my  want  of  intelligence ; 
the  greater  number  have  all  the  intricacy  of  this  language, 
joined  to  a  complete  absence  of  the  least  glimmering  of  intuitive 
grammatical  form  in  my  Indian  interpreters.  If  I  asked  them, 
for  instance,  how  to  say  "  to  eat,"  they  would  either  not  know 
how  to  answer  me,  or  would  give  me  each  time  a  different 
answer.  It  was  needful  to  say  to  them,  "  How  do  you  say,  '  I 
wish  to  eat '  1 "  and  "  How  do  you  say,  *  Let  us  eat '  1 "  and  so 
on.  And  then  one  falls  at  once  into  the  difficulties  of  the 
language,  because  the  two  ideas  of  eating  and  wishing  to  eat 
will  be  included  in  one  special  form,  and  so  forth. 

Next  come  the  various  forms  and  dictions.  For  example : 
"  I  have,"  may  be  translated  with  the  French  form,  "  il  est  a 
moi,"  or  the  corresponding  Latin  form,  "  id  est  milii."  Thus 
one  incurs  the  danger  of  mistaking  est  for  have.  jS^ow  these 
people  appear  to  possess  some  of  these  forms. 

And  if  I  were  to  say  that  I  have  not  even  discovered  the 
plurals  of  the  verbs  ?  The  particle  en  or  hen,  according  to  the 
termination  of  the  preceding  word,  certainly  expresses  the  plural ; 
but  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  pronominal,  or  whether,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  real  plural  inflection  of  the  voice  of  the  verb. 
Example  :  *'  Dance  thou ! "  catin  ;  "  Dance  ye  ! "  catinen.  One 
might  succeed  at  last,  were  it  always  like  this,  but  let  us  see. 
"  Let  us  dance,"  indt-catin ;  the  en  has  already  disappeared  ; 
indt  means  "  us."  Yet  it  will  reappear  in  another  similar  case. 
Example  :  "  Strike  up  (thou)! "  hen-chie ;  "  Let  us  strike  up  ! " 
inenhechien.  Here  there  is  plainly  a  change  for  the  sake  of  har- 
mony and  for  convenience,  yet  it  is  easy  to  discern  the  en  that 
vanished  from  *'  Let  us  dance ! "  Still  this  would  be  com- 
paratively nothing — it  might  only  imply  two  forms  of  pl^fixal 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  3OI 

The  rub  lies  here ;  that,  complicating  the  example  with  the  sub- 
ject and  the  object,  it  would  seem  that  hen  or  e?^  agreed  with  the 
object  and  not  with  the  subject,  although  we  find  no  passive  or 
neuter  form  in  the  verb,  as  in  certain  Latin  verbs,  videor,  loquor, 
&c.  Example  :  "  Kill  the  sheep  ! "  is  lion  tzonatach  I  Lion  is  kill, 
tzonatach  is  sheep.  "  Pietro  has  killed  the  sheep,"  will  be,  Pietro 
Hon  tzonatach.  "  Pietro  has  killed  the  sheep  "  (plural),  will  be, 
Pietro  ilonen  tzonatass.  Where  now  is  the  meaning  introduced 
by  the  en  in  "  Dance  ye  ! "  "  Let  us  dance,"  &c.? — and  we  meet 
with  such  difficulties  by  the  dozen. 

With  regard  to  en  or  hen,  however,  I  may  say  that  this  particle 
is  found  mostly  in  the  plural.  I  say  mostly,  because  it  is  not 
always  the  case.  Example :  "  The  Christians  have  killed  the 
sheep,"  will  be,  Tsiguele  Hon  tzonatach.  This  plural  form  en  is 
apparently  only  used  in  the  verb,  either  when  the  object  suffering 
the  action  is  plural,  or  the  plural  subject  itself  performs  it,  as  in 
*'  to  dance." 


3a2  EIGHT   MONTHS   ON   THE   GRAN   CHACO 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

COXJUQATIONS — VARIOUS     FORMS      OF     PAST    TENSES — REFLECTIVE 
VERBS— RETENTION      OF      THE      ROOTS — POSTPOSITIONS      AND 

VERBS VERBAL  POSSESSIVE    FORM — THE    VERB    TO  BB  — TABLE 

OF  AN  INDICATIVE  MOOD — PASSIVE  VERBS. 

Judging  from  the  heap  of  verbs  before  me,  I  think  I  may  affirm 
that  there  are  sundry  conjugations  in  this  language.  In  this 
respect  it  resembles  Guarani,  which  has  a  very  great  number, 
and  is  unlike  Araucano,  with  its  one  conjugation  for  its  many 
thousand  verbs ;  and  Chiqchua,  that  in  like  manner  has  but  one, 
albeit  extremely  complicated  in  the  compound  tenses. 

From  the  preceding  pages  the  reader  will  understand  that  I 
am  unable  to  offer  him  one  or  more  models  of  verbal  conjuga- 
tions on  account  of  my  own  ignorance.  But  I  can  give  some 
of  the  forms  of  various  tenses. 

One  of  the  most  precise  is  the  Future  Tense,  which  consists 
of  the  Present  Tense  augmented  by  the  syllable  Id.  Example  : 
He  returns,  tapil ;  he  will  return,  tapil-Id.  This  is  the  Future 
Absolute,  for  there  is  another,  that  I  will  call  Doubtful,  jpbije, 
"  perhaps,"  being  added  at  the  end  of  the  sentence. 

The  Past  Tense  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  an  e  preceded 
by  a  repetition  of  the  last  letter  of  the  Present  form — double 
letters  being  in  the  nature  of  this  language,  as  in  the  Italian  and 
many  others,  excepting  the  Spanish.  Example :  "  He  arrives," 
jorn  ;  "he  arrived," 7'o?7im<?. 

The  Remote  Past,  however,  is  formed  by  adding  to  the  Present 
the  adverb  of  time,  ndche  or  ndcM,  and  changing  the  n  into 
another  letter,  especially  into  Z,  when  the  ear  requires  it.  Ex- 
ample :  "He  kills," ^7o7i y  "he  killed"  (Remote  Past),  ilonnache. 
Sometimes  dclie  is  used.  Example  :  "  He  eats,"  theucque ;  "he 
ale,"  tlieuqudche. 

Another  form  of  past  time,  resembling  the  Imperfect  T^nse, 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  303 

is  by  adding  the  word  nennd,  either  whole,  or  one  of  its  two 
syllables,  according  to  taste. 

These  two  words,  ndche  and  nennd,  are  the  same  that  we 
have  seen  used  in  "  yesterday  "  icudla-ndche,  and  "  to-day," 
icudla-nennd  ;  so  that  these  savages  are  logical. 

It  v/ould  seem  from  the  above  examples  that  there  are  no 
terminations  to  the  verbs  according  to  person,  although  there 
are  some  depending  on  number  that  have  the  addition  of  en. 
Nevertheless,  either  from  a  casual  difference  of  pronunciation, 
or  intentionally,  I  remark  that  in  the  first  person  singular  of 
the  past  tenses  the  e  is  changed  into  i  in  the  following  ex- 
amples :  "  I  arrived,"  yo7/?me/  "I  returned,"  ^apt'm  /  "I  ate" 
(Eemote),  tdeucqudcJii.  However,  it  is  not  necessary,  since  each 
voice  of  the  verb  is  preceded  by  the  pronominal  particle  nu,  a, 
lo,  inat,  "  I,  thou,  they,  we,"  with  various  changes  such  as,  no 
and  ni,  lu  and  1%  inne,  and  I  forget  the  rest. 

In  the  negative,  however,  which  is  formed  by  adding  tde^ 
"no,"  to  the  root,  it  may  seem  that  the  word  sutlers  a  flexure ; 
but  this  is  due  merely  to  euphon3^  Example:  *'I  see,"  nu- 
liuenn  ;  "  I  do  not  see,"  nu-hnenni-tde,  instead  of  nuhuenntde  ; 
"  I  cut,"  nu-isset  or  nisset ;  "  I  do  not  cut,"  nu-jissti-tde,  instead 
of  nuissettde.  "  Is  he  dead  ? "  jdch-iil;  "  he  is  not  desidy"  jigni- 
tde,  instead  oijill-tde. 

I  do  not  enter  into  further  particulars  because  I  should  neces- 
sarily stumble  over  forms  for  the  differences  in  which  I  could  not 
account  to  myself;  and  the  greater  the  difference,  the  more 
complex  is  the  relation  denoted.  Let  us  take  one  elementary 
example  :  "  Did  the  (my)  chief  return  %  " — Jachtapil-e  nu-can- 
niat.  "  He  did  not  return,"  tapini  tde.  In  this  simple  example 
why  is  there  I  in  one  place,  and  ni  in  another  1  The  inter- 
rogative form  merely  aliects  the  phrase  by  affixing  jach  at  the 
beginning.  I  feel  convinced  that  the  change  is  merely  due  to 
euphony.     And  ab  uno  disce  omnes. 

Some  reflective  verbs  seem  to  be  formed  by  the  addition  of 
chlam  to  the  active  verb.  For  example  :  "  Pietro  killed  him- 
self," would  be,  Peild  tilonne  ch-ldm.  Can  this  chlam  be  the 
Latin  met,  and  the  Italian  stesso  (self)  1  In  that  case  the  per- 
sonal pronoun,  no-chlam.,  might  be  egomet,  I  myself,  thus  har- 
monizing with  the  other  pronouns.  I  must  observe  that  when 
I  quote  Latin,  either  on  this  or  on  other  occasions,  I  have  no 
intention  of  establishing  any  analogy ;  I  do  it  merely  by  way 
of  explanation. 


304  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  certain  verbs  retain  their  common 
root,  while  their  signification  is  modified.  Example  :  To  go, 
opil ;  to.  return,  tdjpil ;  to  come,  nom ;  to  arrive,  jom  ;  to  die, 
ill ;  to  kill,  ildn ;  to  cry,  or  shout,  or  say,  ohn,  lion;  to  speak, 
lion-chie^  i.e.  to  say  with,  just  as  we  say,  to  con-verse  ; — all  this 
shows  both  acuteness  and  logic,  to  my  mind.  These  expressions 
may  give  us  the  key  of  the  modifying  power  of  some  particles, 
to  the  advantage  of  the  philosophy  of  the  language,  as  in  lion- 
clwi,  and  to  that  of  comparative  philology,  as  in  ta-pil,  in  which 
ta  represents  a  repeated  action,  such  as  "  returning "  after 
'•  going,"  and  we  meet  with  it  again  in  the  same  sense  in  the 
Araucano  language. 

Postpositions,  however,  are  the  great  means  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  verbs.  1  have  already  noted,  for  instance,  toll  cd,  to 
come  from  ;  toll-pe,  to  fall  from  ;  toll  iccTiiot,  to  fall ;  in  which 
toll,  expressing  movement,  is  the  common  root.  And  I  feel 
sure  that  if,  in  accordance  with  this  rule,  I  were  to  say  to  these 
Indians,  toll-cliie  {chie  =  with),  meaning,  "  to  accompany,"  they 
would  understand  me.  Here  are  some  further  examples  : 
*'  Pietro  is  dying  of  hunger,"  Peilo  ill-ech  na-in-lo  ;  ecli  meaning 
icith,  the  instrument.  That  ecli  in  this  case  is  probably  a  pre- 
position before  nainlo,  hunger,  we  may  see  by  the  following 
example  :  "  The  Indians  are  dying  of  hunger,"  Uicchj  jil  echien 
nainU,  that  is,  jillecli-en  ;  ecli  standing  before  the  en  signify- 
ing the  plural  number  of  the  verb,  which  is  therefore  attached 
to  and  placed  after  ech,  and  not  placed  before  the  substantive  ; 
hence  it  is  not  a  preposition,  as  we  have  already  said,  when 
speaking  of  prepositions. 

This  same  use  of  postpositions,  together  with  the  other  changes 
I  have  already  deplored,  are  not  the  least  causes  of  confusion 
and  difficulty  in  the  study  of  the  verbs.  For  what  action  can 
in  fact  be  expressed  without  a  verb  for  signification  of  the 
principal  idea,  and  a  postparticle  to  define  relationship  1  Very 
few,  surely.  Very  few,  too,  will  be  the  words  free  from  one 
of  these  disguised  wedges,  either  on  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
in  various  shapes,  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  ear, 
without  the  slightest  consideration  for  the  student,  who  remains 
astounded  and  confused  before  certain  inexplicable  alterations. 

One  verbal  form  for  actions  including  possession  is  the  ad- 
dition of  ^a  to  the  word  denoting  the  object  possessed.  Example  : 
"Wife,  ciequa  ;  to  have  a  wife,  ciequaja  ;  fear,  hiidi  ;  to  have  fear, 
Jiudja,  '» 


1 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE   REPUBLIC.  305, 

They  omit  the  verb  to  he.  Example :  "  I  am  ugly,"  nu-tzi-tde  ; 
that  is,  "I  handsome  no." 

I  will  conclude  the  weary  subject  of  verbs — as  wearisome 
to  the  reader,  I  imagine,  as  to  myself — with  an  attempt  to  set 
out  a  model  of  the  Indicative  Mood  of  a  verb.  I  do  not  guarantee 
the  details,  for  reasons  already  explained,  but  it  will  serve  to 
sum  up  my  ideas. 

Eon,  to  kill.  We   have    killed,   &c„    inat,    hd, 

tochess-ilonnehen. 

Indicative  Mood. 
Present  Tense.  Remote  Past. 

I  kill,  nu-ilon.  I  killed,  nu-ilon-ndche. 

Thou  killest,  M-ilon.  Thou  killedst,  hd-ilon-ndche. 

He  kills,  li-lon  and  tilon.  He  killed,  l-ilon-ndche. 

We  kill,  indt-il6n-en.  We  killed,  indt-ilonnachien. 

You  kill,  hd-il6n-en.  You  killed,  lia-ilonnachien. 

They  kill,  tochess-ilon-en.  They  killed,  tochess-ilonnachien. 

Imperfect.  Future. 

I  was  killing,  &c.,  nu,  M,  l-ilon-  I  shall  kill,  &o.,  nu,  ha,  l-ilon-ld. 

nenna. 

We  were  killing,  indt,  hd,  tochess-  We  shall  kill,  &c.,  indt,  ha,  tochess- 

ilonnennahen.  ilon-ld-hen. 

Perfect.  Imperative. 

I  have  killed,  nu,  ha,  l-ilonne.  Kill  (thou),  lion. 

It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  remote  form  with 
nache  is  very  seldom  used,  and  that  with  nennd  still  more 
rarely. 

Have  these  people  a  passive  form  of  verb  ?  I  cannot  solve 
this  question.  I  have  observed,  however,  that  many  of  their 
verbs  when  formulated  in  Italian  can  be  reduced  to  an  active, 
or  at  least  an  intransitive  form.  For  example :  "  Paul  was 
killed  by  Fliny,"  can  be  formulated  thus,  "  Pliny  died  by  means 
of  Paul,"  or  even,  "  Pliny  killed  Paul." 

After  all,  I  do  not  consider  this  an  inferiority. 

The  model  conjugation  I  have  set  forth  must  not  lead  us  to 
attribute  simplicity  to  the  verbs  of  this  language.  The  reverse 
of  this  is  the  case,  and  therefore  I  cannot  give  other  moods 
or  tenses,  for  they  seem  to  me  so  complicated  that  hitherto 
I  have  not  been  able  to  grasp  their  laws. 


306  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   r   OF     THE   MATTACCOS     AND    OTHER    INDIANS LABIALS   AND 

THE   Z,    ua,    Ue,    U%   &C. articulation    of   the   MATTACCOS 

AND     THE     CHINESE — CURIOUS     ANALOGIES — PREDOMINATING 
SOUNDS    IN     THE     TWO   LANGUAGES MATTACCO    ALPHABET 

Onomatopeiche  words— resemblance   between  mattacco 

AND  ARYAN  WORDS 1  TAKE  LEAVE  OF  THE  READER. 

Among  the  peculiarities  of  this  language  we  must  note  the 
complete  absence  of  words  with  r  /  it  is  a  letter,  in  fact,  which 
the  Mattaccos  can  only  pronounce  with  great  effort  and  imper- 
fectly. 

Their  neighbours — Tobas,  Ciulupos,  and  Ciriguans— however, 
possess  this  letter.  The  Mocovitos  are  the  link  between,  as  it 
were,  pronouncing  the  r,  like  the  French,  in  the  throat,  almost 
gh-r. 

To  many  persons,  perhaps,  the  French  pronunciation  appears 
rather  an  exaggeration  of  the  r  than  a  suppression ;  but  I  am 
of  a  contrary  opinion,  and  it  is  confirmed  when  I  see  that  a 
Mattacco  succeeds  more  easily  in  saying  Peghro  than  Pero  (for 
Pietro,  Peter),  and  Peilo  than  Pegliro.  In  any  case  the  ability 
to  pronounce  the  letter  more  or  less  correctly  proves  that  the 
absence  of  the  r  in  Mattacco  is  not  owing  to  an  innate 
physiological  defect  in  the  vocal  apparatus,  but  to  conventionality, 
or,  at  least,  to  a  tendency  in  the  language.  The  fact  of  not 
using  this  letter  during  the  lapse  of  ages  is  the  reason  that  the 
vocal  organs  have,  by  physiological  heredity,  become  inapt  to 
produce  the  sound  of  r,  and  by  degrees  the  power  of  doing  so 
may  be  entirely  lost. 

Yet  it  may  be  attributed  to  the  ear,  which,  being  unaccus- 
tomed to  the  nasal  sound,  cannot  seize  upon  it,  and  hence  there 
is  a  sympathetic  difficulty  in  reproduction  on  the  part  of  the 
vocal  organs.  Every  one  has  experienced  this  on  beginning 
the  study  of  a  foreign  language.  *' 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  307 

Nevertheless  they  can  pronounce  d  with  clearness,  although 
they  have  many  words  with  approximating  sounds,  but  only  at 
the  beginning  of  words,  and  with  a  resemblance  to  the  English 
th.  Example :  How  ?  tde  hote  ?  He  eats,  theucque ;  tirador 
(ventriera),  tilalol. 

I  have  yet  to  hear  a  Mattacco  pronounce  5,  d,  /,  g,  p^ 
f,  joined  with  Z,  or  with  r.  A  great  alteration  in  words  is 
consequently  occasioned.  They  become,  in  fact,  unrecognizable ; 
thus :  ccaild  instead  of  cahra  (a  she-goat),  Pailo  for  Pablo^ 
lileno  for  freno  (a  bit),  liueilo  for  pueblo  (people,  country). 
Another  peculiarity  is  that  they  cannot  sound  a  labial  before 
ud,  ue,  ui,  ud,  uu^  in  one  syllable,  and  substitute  an  h  aspirate. 
This  defect  or  deviation  is  also  found  among  the  people  of  the 
Campo  in  this  Argentine  Republic.  Thus,  in  place  of  biceno 
(good),  they  say  hueno^  and  in  like  manner  huego  instead  of 
fuego  (fire). 

While  on  the  subject  of  articulate  sound  it  is  curious  that, 
according  to  the  pronunciation  of  my  Chinese  master,  Ajao,  a 
most  intelligent  cook,  who  can  write  Chinese,  his  countrymen 
not  only  have,  as  is  well  known,  no  r,  but  are  unable  to  pro- 
nounce the  very  same  combination  of  letters  that  are  found 
insuperable  by  the  Mattaccos ;  they  cannot  even  pronounce  d, 
besides  so  many  others.  It  often  happened  to  me  when  I  was 
discoursing  with  Ajao,  that  I  forgot  I  was  not  talking  with  a 
Mattacco,  so  alike  are  they  in  colouring,  oblique  eyes,  hair,  and 
flattened  nose.  Thus,  for  adios  (adieu)  my  Chinese  says  alio  ; 
for  tres  (three),  ties ;  for  proprio  (own),  lopio ;  for  senora^ 
senola ;  for  teatro  (theatre),  teetelo.  It  is  often  impossible  for 
me  to  understand  the  Spanish  word  he  is  endeavouring  to  pro- 
nounce— as,  for  instance,  teetelo  for  teatro,  olechalo  for  oreja 
(ear),  lidlio  for  diario  (diary),  jpooZe  ioi  pobre,  huelo-lid  for  biten 
dia  (good-day),  huela-loche  for  buena.  noche  (good-night).  I 
note  that  an  immense  number  of  Chinese  words  end  in  lo.  It 
is  also  noteworthy,  in  my  opinion,  that  I  is  the  letter  generally 
found  replacing  the  r  and  the  other  combinations  of  letters 
that  are  of  difficult  pronunciation.  But  with  regard  to  the 
Chinese  r,  I  have  found  one  word  among  the  200  I  had  in  my 
collection  containing  an  r.  The  position  of  this  letter,  therefore, 
may  make  its  pronunciation  more  or  less  possible,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  Mattacco  d.  The  word  to  which  I  refer  is  tai- 
M-ro  (theatre),  in  which  the  h  is  so  sounded  that  it  takes  away 
much  of  the  energy  of  the  r — which  is  the  alien  1 

X  2 


308  EIGHT  MONTHS  ON  THE  GRAN  CHACO 

But  if  certain  sounds  are  wanting  to  the  Mattaccos,  others 
are  abounding.  Among  these  the  most  prominent  are  Tcidj  kie. 
Mi,  kio  and  kiu,  ckia,  ckie,  &c.,  and  are  so  frequently  used 
with  others  of  similar  sound  that  one  remains  in  doubt  whether 
it  may  not  be  the  same  syllable  repeated  over  and  over  again 
with  different  meanings.  We  have  already  seen  that  kid,  kie,  &c., 
change  into  tzi  and  tze,  into  cliia  or  tcia  and  teie,  &c.  They  are  also 
added  to  the  augmentative  tach  and  to  lo  or  la  to  form  adjectives. 

I  do  not  want  to  make  absurd  comparisons,  but,  as  a  curiosity, 
I  may  remark  that  in  Chiuese  we  find  the  following  syllables 
predominating :  tzid,  tzie,  &c. ;  scid,  scie,  &c.  ;  tzd,  tze,  &c.  ; 
ttai  or  tai,  meaning  large,  and  lo,  of  the  meaning  of  which  I 
am  ignorant,  but  which  I  always  find  in  the  root. 

These  facts,  combined  with  an  almost  identical  pronunciation, 
may  be  worthy  of  the  serious  consideration  of  linguists. 

In  studying  these  languages,  and  in  making  use  of  the 
sounds  1  of  our  five  vowels  for  the  pronunciation,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  diphthong,  or  coupling  of  two  or  more  vocal  sounds 
in  one  simultaneous  utterance,  is  inevitable.  Natural  diphthongs 
are  those  which_,  if  we  imagine  them  to  have  been  fixed  in 
writing,  would  give  way,  when  time  had  caused  inevitable 
changes  in  pronunciation,  to  conventional  diphthongs,  like  the 
French  ou,  the  Latin  oe  and  ae,  and  the  German  eu.  I  note, 
however,  that  in  a  written  language  diphthongs  must  be  con- 
sidered as  symbols  of  a  former  different  phonetic-  expression. 

In  these  studies  we  become  aware  also  of  the  insufficiency 
of  a  single  alphabet,  which  has  to  alter  according  to  the  various 
languages,  unless  we  adopt  a  rigmarole  of  letters  as  long  as  a 
litany.  Our  Italian  alphabet  is  besides  one  of  the  poorest, 
especially  in  the  absence  of  a  guttural  symbol  and  of  an  aspi- 
rate, representing  sounds  that  are  exceedingly  common  in  most 
of  the  languages  of  the  world. 

If  we  want  to  write  Mattacco  with  our  alphabet,  we  must 
use  the  following  modifications,  which  will  apply  in  general  to 
most  other  languages.  Gh,  as  in  German ;  j,  the  Spanish  cota 
would  serve  also,  but  would  be  confounded  with  our  Italian  j  ; 
an  aspirated  li,  as  in  some  French  words,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  German  words  ;  a  sign  to  express  the  lengthening  of  a  vocal 
sound,  but  not  the  doubling  of  the  consonant—/^  might  be  suf- 
ficient for  this,  as  in  German,  for  the  prolongation  seems  to 
correspond  with  the  physical  act  of  pronouncing  the  li ;  an 
1  This  refers  to  the  Italian  language.  » , 


OF  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  309 

English  th^  but  with  a  sound  between  t  and  d — this  would  be 
a  consonant  diphthong ;  a  diphthong  ow,  the  u  not  pronounced, 
as  in  French,  but  both  vowels  rapidly  sounded ;  the  diph- 
thongs 6eu  and  eu,  pronounced  as  they  are  spoken ;  an  aspirated 
and  nasal  h,  that  I  distinguish  by  a  dot  underneath ;  and  an  I, 
so  uttered  as  to  sound  almost  like  il.  Vice  versa ;  abolish 
r,  d^  /,  v^  and  almost  5,  which  never  occurs  but  in  diphthong 
with  ;p  ;  and  ^  singly,  which  occurs  only  with  5,  or  as  convey- 
ing a  special  sound  which  can  be  approximately  rendered  by 
the  addition  of  ^,  so  as  to  form  the  diphthong  jph. 

In  this  manner,  and  without  introducing  foreign  characters 
difficult  of  retention,  and  having  to  be  learned  beforehand,  I 
have  written  down  specimens  of  Mattacco,  Guarany,  Chiqchua, 
Aimara,  Mocovito,  Ciulupi,  Toba,  and  Chinese.  I  substituted, 
however,  as  I  was  writing  in  Spanish  (when'  I  made  my  notes), 
/  for  cA,  and  y  for  y.  These  letters  are  sufficiently  well  known 
for  us  (I  mean,  the  reader  and  me,  who  are  not  learned  in  lan- 
guages) to  be  able  to  read  the  words  without  any  marked 
difference  in  pronunciation,  and  thus  we  can  satisfy  the  curious, 
if  not  the  scientific. 

I  must  draw  to  a  conclusion,  if  I  would  not  sicken  my 
reader  with  American  languages ;  I  will  merely  complete  some 
details  on  Mattacco,  concluding  them,  against  the  usual  gram- 
matical order  (for  who,  indeed,  would  have  had  time  to  write 
a  grammar,  and  who  the  patience  to  read  it  ?),  with  a  few 
native  words  that  we  may  consider  as  onomatopeiche,  i.e. 
imitating  natural  sounds — an  action  to  which  some  thinkers 
attribute  the  origin  of  language,  afterwards  developed  by 
human  intelligence. 

To  shout,  to  call,  6hn  ;  light,  chlepp  ;  dumb,  huo-hao;  a  cough, 
ccocochtdss  ;  a  cricket  chirping,  li-tzil ;  loro,  a  kind  of  parrot ; 
quecchie,  pelican,  vulgarly  ccia-cd,  and  a  kind  of  large,  wild 
turkey,  tzd-coch — in  both  cases  from  the  noise  they  make. 
There  are  very  many  other  words  of  a  like  nature. 

I  will  conclude  with  some  Mattacco  words  resembling  others 
belonging  to  European  languages. 

Hie,  Mattacco  ;  yes,  English  ;  si,  Italian  ;  ja,  German ;  gid, 
Italian.  No,  ka,  Mattacco ;  cM,  Tuscan ;  kein,  none,  German  ; 
(kde,  Akka).  Son,  tse  or  sse,  Mattacco ;  tze,  Boemo  (tzae  and 
tze,  Chinese).  Ill,  iell  smdjell,  Mattacco.  Op,  Mattacco;  ob,  Latin 
—p  and  b  being  frequently  substituted,  the  one  for  the  other,  in 
all  languages.    The  country,  or  campo,  achlu,  Mattacco ;  agro, 


310  EIGHT   MONTHS  ON  THE   GRAN   CHACO 

Latin  and  Italian — note  that  the  Mattaccos  use  I  instead  of  r  ; 
thus  acldu  might  be  achru.  Dog,  sinoch,  Mattacco ;  Jcinos,  in 
Crreek — inversion  of  letters,  as  in  melon  and  nelom.  Cock,  huh 
or  cuh,  Mattacco ;  coq^  French.  Grasshopper,  U-tzil,  Mattacco ; 
zillOj  Tuscan — some  crickets  and  birds  are  so  called  from 
their  cry.  House,  hauet,  Mattacco;  hqtts,  German;  (huasi, 
Chiccina).  With,  uuitdy  Mattacco.  And,  utquei,  Mattacco; 
atqite,  Latin. 

These  are  all  I  recollect. 

In  the  formation  of  compound  words  they  follow  the  German 
and  English  manner.  For  example:  gloves,  hand-schuhe,  in 
German,  meaning,  shoes  for  the  hand ;  in  Mattacco,  cquei-pbut, 
meaning,  hand-cover.  And  similarly  as  to  negatives.  Example  : 
"I  do  not  see,"  Ich  sehe  nichtj  in  German,  and  in  Mattacco, 
nuihenni-tde,  that  is,  I  see  no ;  a  construction  frequently  used 
by  the  Milanese. 

We  have  already  noted  other  analogous  constructions. 

And  here  I  pause  for  the  present  and  take  leave  of  the 
reader.  My  hope  is  that  as  a  practical,  though  indirect,  result 
of  our  studies,  pursued  with  difficulty  and  interruption,  he  will 
be  convinced  that  mankind  is  potentially  the  same  in  every 
corner  of  the  earth.  We  behold  man  mastering  with  singular 
ability  the  complicated  instrument  of  speech,  and  showing  him- 
self to  be  the  possessor  of  every  quality  corresponding  with  the 
most  able  intellectual  development,  provided  circumstances 
will  admit  of  civilization,  as  it  is  understood  at  the  present 
day. 

If  the  modern  Indians  rebel  against  civilized  society,  they 
do  so  as  individuals,  on  account  of  habits  acquired  during  the 
individual  life  of  each ;  but  they  possess  the  natural  aptitude,  as 
is  clearly  shown  by  their  children  when  brought  up  in  our 
midst.  These  children  grow  up  with  abilities  fully  equal  to 
those  of  our  own  offspring,  as  might  have  been  inferred  by  any 
one  who  had  dwelt  among  savages. 

Yet  I  have  no  wish  to  deny  the  effects  of  heredity,  or  to 
assert  that  man  is  bom  into  the  world  armed  at  all  poin  fcs,  like 
Minerva.  On  the  contrary,  I  contend  that  in  the  series  of 
evolutions  by  which  man  has  reached  his  present  condition,  so- 
called  civilization  represents  an  imperceptible  atom,  both  by  the 
short  time  (the  few  thousand  years)  that  it  has  existed  in  any 
part  of  the  globe,  and  the  limitations  of  the  individuals  and 
nations  enjoying  it.  ♦, 


OF   THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC.  3II 

It  follows  from  this  point  of  view  also,  that  we  must  date  the 
origin  of  man  from  that  remote  period  already  indicated  to  us 
by  the  science  of  geology,  a  period  measuring  a  greater  number 
of  years  than  we  can  measure  days  between  ourselves  and  the 
Adam  of  Scripture. 


THE   END. 


LONDON : 
FEINTED   BY   GILBEET   AND   EIVINGTON,   LIMITED, 

ST.  John's  squabe. 


^  Pelleschi,  Juan 

2876  Eight  months  on  the  Gran 

P3B  Chaco  of  the  Argentine 

Republic 


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