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CHAPTER XXXIII.
OF THE MILITARY DISPOSITIONS OF THE ABIPONES
I am at a loss in what colours to paint the military dispositions of the Abipones; no word corresponds to the idea which long acquaintance with these savages has impressed on my mind. That the Abipones are warlike, prompt, and active, none even of the Spaniards ever doubted, but I should hesitate to call them valiant and intrepid. Cicero himself distinguishes an active from a brave man, in these words, 2. Philipp. Ut cognosceret te, si minus fortem, attamen strenuum. It is my purpose to write the history not the panegyric of the Abipones: I must therefore be sincere, and declare my real opinion, whatever it be.
Military fame is the principal object of the ambition of the Abipones. Their whole souls are bent upon arms. They can manage a spear, bow, and every kind of weapon with great dexterity, and ride on horseback with peculiar swiftness. No people with greater fortitude endures the hardships of war, the inclemencies of the sky, want of food, and the fatigues of travelling. They fearlessly swim across rivers formidable to sailors and ships. They look upon their wounds without a groan, and with as much indifference as they would upon those of another person. They are acquainted with all those arts which every European soldier admires, but which so very few practise. This alone is unknown to the Abipones, to despise death, and gain glory by encountering danger. They boast of martial souls, but are too unwilling to resign their lives. They are active, but can by no means be called brave, for a brave man would remain unterrified were the globe itself to fall in ruins, and would choose either to conquer or die. The Abipones always desire to conquer, but are never willing to die. They will curse a victory obtained at the expense of one of their countrymen's lives. They abhor triumphal hymns if mingled with funeral lamentations, and would reject a victory accompanied by the sighs of one mourning widow or orphan.
Certainly no one can accuse the Abipones of rashness in venturing their lives. Their chief adorations are paid to the goddess Security, the arbitress of their battles, without whose approving sanction they will never risk an engagement. They carefully avoid a contest of uncertain issue. They always threaten others, always fear for themselves, and trust nothing to chance. Before they undertake a warlike expedition, they carefully consider the nature of the place, the numbers of their enemies, and the opportunity of the time. Any danger, or the least suspicion of it, will strike the spear from their hands, and extinguish all their ardour. Agis, King of Sparta, boasted that his soldiers, in the heat of war, did not enquire the number and strength of their antagonists, but where they were, that they might attack and put them to flight. The Abipones are never hurried into a combat with such blind impetuosity as this. They proceed cautiously, nor do the trumpets sound till all things have been diligently examined. When assured of their safety, they rush on like thunder, imitating now the cunning of Hannibal, now the delays of Fabius. They know that the daring are favoured by fortune, but not unless they exercise a sagacious foresight with regard to dangers. As persons about to cross a threatening river, try the ford that they may not be carried away by the current; so they never approach their enemies till after mature deliberation, that they may secure an unimperilled victory. The timidity of the Americans gives the name of rashness to what Europeans call courage. They think long and often upon what is to be done once. They never strike a blow which they have not previously contemplated, and then it is with a hand trembling at every noise. They seldom attack openly, but do it in general unawares. They dare little against the bold who front assailants, and are accustomed to keep strict watch. They never fear less than when they perceive themselves the objects of fear. Craft, and the swiftness of their horses, more than strength, were what gave them the power to commit so many slaughters. Though you may object to their cowardice, yet that method of warfare is surely admirable, and agreeable to military tactics, which enabled them, with no loss, or a very trifling one of their own soldiers, to return home victorious, laden with the heads of the Spaniards, and triumphantly displaying crowds of captives, cattle, and other spoils taken from the enemy. Hæc ars, says Vegetius, dimicaturis est necessaria, per quam vitam retineant, et victoriam consequantur. For this purpose, heroes themselves have used a sword, and a shield, with the one to offend the enemy, with the other to defend themselves. Cunning, agility, and the swiftness of their horses, were a shield, nay, better than any shield, to the Abipones. If they see one or two of their fellow-soldiers fall, they immediately fly. When straitened, and deprived of all means of escape, fear is converted into rage, and they fight with the utmost obstinacy. I shall now proceed to treat of their arms, scouts, councils of war, military provisions, hostile expeditions, various modes of fighting, customs on obtaining a victory, and lastly, of the slaughters committed by them in every part of the province.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
OF THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES
No man can obtain celebrity amongst the Abipones except by warlike prowess. Hence to have their arms properly made, in good order, and ready when needed, is their chief care. To defend themselves, and offend their enemies, they principally make use of the bow and spear. Their native soil produces a kind of wood not to be met with in any other part of Paraguay, called neterge, which is of a red colour while fresh, and as hard as steel. They cleave this tree, cut out an oblong piece of wood, and shape it with a knife or a sharp stone. You would think it had been made by a turner. To straighten it they heat it every now and then by fire, and twirl it about between two logs of wood. By this method the Abipones make spears scarce smaller than the Macedonian pikes; for they are more than five or six ells in length, pointed at both ends, that if one end gets blunt, the other may still be of service, and also for the convenience of sticking the spear into the ground when they pass the night in the plain. Formerly when they were unacquainted with the very name of iron, they fought with wooden spears, fixing a cow's or stag's horn to the end of them by way of a point. But when the Abipones obtained iron points from the Spaniards, they dexterously inserted them into their spears, and used them to slaughter those from whom they had received them. When going to fight they grease the point of the spear with tallow, that it may enter more readily and deeper into the flesh. We have sometimes seen spears four palms deep in hostile blood, with such force had the Abipones driven them into the sides of the savages who attacked our colony. As their tents and huts are in general rather low, they fix their spears at the threshold of the door to have them always in readiness. By the number of spears you may know the number of warriors which the horde contains. As European generals, to conceal the scanty number of their forces, and to supply the want of warlike instruments, have sometimes placed machines of painted wood, on mounds, to frighten their more numerous adversary; we, in like manner, availing ourselves of the same species of cunning, fixed spears hastily made of reeds or wood, in the houses of the absent Abipones; deluded by which the enemies' scouts reported to their countrymen that the town was full of defenders. The Abipones are commendable not only for their skill in making their weapons, but also for their assiduity, in cleaning and polishing them. The points of their spears always shine like silver. I was often ashamed for the Spaniards, when I saw them furnished with mean, dirty, and incommodious arms, in the presence of the Abipones, who ridiculed their poverty and laziness. Most of them make use of a reed, a rude stake, a knotty club, the bough of a tree, or a twisted piece of wood, with a broken sword or knife tied to the end of it. The richer sort have guns, but generally bad ones, fitter to terrify than to slay the enemy; and moreover, you will find few able to handle them properly. Remember that I am speaking of the Spanish husbandmen who are ordered to fight against the savages; for you never see the regular troops without the cities of Buenos-Ayres and Monte-Video.
Bows as well as spears are made of the neterge. They are equal to a man's stature in length. When unbent, they are like a very straight stick, not being curved like the bows of the Turks and Tartars. The string of the bow is generally made of the entrails of foxes, or of very strong threads supplied by a species of palm. When about to shoot off their arrows, that they may be able to bend the cord forcibly without hurting their hands, they wear a kind of wooden gauntlet. The quiver is made of rushes, and adorned with woollen threads of various colours. The arrows, which are an ell and a palm in length, consist of a reed, to which a sharp point of bone, very hard wood, or iron is prefixed. Wooden points are more formidable than iron ones, but those of bone, which are made of a fox's leg, are the most to be dreaded of all; for they break in being extracted, and the part remaining in the body causes a swelling, and a very virulent ulcer, which leaves the wounded person no rest. Any wood, from being imbued with a kind of native poison, causes more pain and tumour than iron. The Abipones never poison their arrows, as is usual amongst many other people of America. The Chiquitos are dreaded by the neighbouring savages on this account, that if an arrow of theirs wound the outermost skin, and bring the least drop of blood, all the limbs will swell, and in the course of a few hours death will ensue. The deadly poison in which they dip their arrows, the Chiquitos, alone know how to prepare from the bark of an unknown tree, and to this day they reserve to themselves the knowledge of the cruel mystery. In hunting too they kill wild animals with arrows dipped in the same poison, and cutting out the wounded part of the body, eat them with safety, like the Guaranies, who fear not to feed on oxen stung to death by serpents, rejecting that part only which has been infected by the animal's tooth. Father Gumilla relates that the savages of the Orinoco prepare a most fatal poison to dip their arrows in.
The feathers which expedite the flight of the arrows are taken from the wings of crows, so that when the Abipones went out to shoot these birds we guessed that war was at hand. Each feather is tied on both sides, to the extremity of the reed, by a fibre of very slender thread. The Vilelas excite the admiration of all Paraguay by their skill in archery. They dexterously fasten the feathers to the arrow with a glue made from the bladder of the fish vagre, inserting the point very lightly into the reed; an artifice which renders their arrows extremely dangerous, because whilst the reed is extracted the point remains sticking in the flesh. The Guaranies, less curious in these matters, apply the feathers of parrots, or other birds, to their arrows. When more than four hundred shoot at a mark, at the same moment, and they go to gather them up, each knows his own by the colour of the feathers. Every nation, in short, has a peculiar fashion in forming bows and arrows. The shorter are more dangerous than the longer ones, inasmuch as they are more difficult to be seen and avoided; but the longer have the advantage of going to a greater distance, and striking with more force. It is certain that the Abipones are very skilful archers: they are accustomed to the bow from children, and even in infancy can shoot little birds on the wing. In sportive contests, when a reward was proposed to each of the winners, a citron placed at a considerable distance served for a mark. Considering the number of archers, very few missed their aim, to the astonishment of the Spaniards who witnessed such dexterity. The Guaranies are also reckoned very expert in this art.
The Abipones have a great variety of arrows. Some are longer and thicker, as being intended to kill larger beasts. The form of the points is also various. Some are plain and have a straight point; some are barbed either on one or both sides, and others armed with a double row of barbs. You can never extract an arrow of this kind from the flesh, unless you turn it about with both hands, by which means you will open a way to extricate the barbs, but with what pain! When the Abipones see the remains of an arrow occupying any fleshy part of the body, as the thigh, or arm, they cut out the piece of flesh with the inherent particle themselves. The Cacique Ychoalay, in a sharp contest with his rival Oaherkaikin, was dangerously wounded with a bone arrow, which stuck in the back part of his head, and breaking in being extracted, remained fixed there as firm as a nail. At our advice he visited Sta. Fè, to obtain the aid of a surgeon, who found it necessary to make an incision before he could lay hold of the bony arrow point with his forceps. The operation was successfully performed, but not without severe pain, which the Indian bore with the utmost fortitude, not allowing a single expression of pain to escape him; he even exhorted the surgeon, who, unwilling to inflict so much torture, was hesitating in his task, to proceed; "Do you see me shrink?" said he: "fear nothing, I beseech you; cut, pierce, do what ever you like with confidence. I have long been accustomed to pain, wounded as I have so often been with different weapons." At length when the bony point was extracted, such a quantity of blood gushed out, you would have thought an artery had been opened. The Indian beheld this with a calm countenance, and thanked his deliverer in the best terms he was master of.
Before entering a battle, they lay aside their finest arrows to be employed on the blow which they think of most importance, generally having one of tried virtue in readiness to defend themselves in urgent peril, or to slay some one whose death they particularly desire. When they wish not to kill, but to take alive, birds and other small animals, they use arrows furnished with a little ball of wood or wax, instead of a point: with this they stun and knock down the animal, but do not kill it. Whenever they are unable to direct the weapon straight to the mark, on account of some intervening obstacle, they shoot it archwise, giving it a curved direction, in the same manner as in besieging camps, balls of fire are cast from mortars. The Abipones stand in no need of these to set fire to houses; for they fasten burning cotton or tow to the ends of their arrows, and casting them against roofs of wood or straw, set fire to whatever they like, from ever so great a distance. Many towns of the Spaniards were reduced to ashes by this fatal artifice. In the town of the Rosary, I had the thatch of my house plastered over with thick mud to protect it from the flames cast by the arrows of the neighbouring savages. With the same view, I covered a wooden observatory, constructed for the purpose of watching the motions of the savages, with hides; nor did the contrivance disappoint my hopes.
The spear and the bow, though the chief arms of the Abipones, are not the only ones. They have a weapon composed of three stone balls, covered with leather, and fastened together by as many thongs meeting in one: this they whirl round, and then cast, with a sure aim, at men and beasts; by which means they are either killed or so noosed, as to prevent them from moving. This formidable weapon, which the Spaniards call las bolas, is much used by the southern savages. The lower orders of Spaniards, and all the Indians and Negroes, whenever they ride out are constantly seen with these balls hanging at their saddle or girth; indeed they are in very general use. I have spoken at large in the seventh chapter, of the wooden club macana, which they use at home for amusement, and abroad for killing men and beasts. The sling, in the use of which the Guaranies are so expert, is thought little of by the Abipones; amongst them it is only used by boys to knock down small birds with. They have a bow which, instead of a string, is furnished with a piece of cloth, three inches wide, and made of a material very like hemp; stretching this with the hand, they shoot off small clay balls, instead of arrows, to kill birds and other small animals. That wooden tube from which little balls or nails, furnished with silken or linen threads to aid their flight, are blown by the mouth, is unknown to the Abipones, but I am informed that it is used by certain Peruvian Indians dwelling amongst the Moxos and Baures. These people, not being provided with iron nails, put thick thorns imbued with a poisonous juice into a wooden tube, and blowing hard into it, aim them against wild beasts, and their enemies, by which means they slay them with impunity.
The Abipones are unacquainted with shields and targets, but they cover greatest part of their bodies with a sort of defence, made of an undressed anta's hide, a tiger's skin being sewed either in the in or outside; it is open in the middle, that the head may come through, and extended on each side as far as the elbows and middle; it is impenetrable to common arrows, but not to spears and bullets, though it somewhat diminishes their force. To this coat of mail they added a girth wider than a man's hand, of the dressed hide of the same animal, when they saw their leader Debayakaikin wounded in the belly with a spear. They make use of this armour when they have to fight with the other Indians. Most of them, however, expose their bodies entirely naked to the weapons of their enemies, and seem the more secure, as they are more expeditious in avoiding the fatal blow. For the weight and hardness of such armour prevents that agility, which, in their method of fighting, is of such importance to their safety, as much as its thickness protects the body. When they engage with the Spaniards they neglect their bow and wooden breastplates, which would be of little service against leaden bullets. In a strong spear, a swift horse, and a crafty ambuscade, they then place all their hopes of victory, and seldom engage on foot, unless absolutely obliged. They had rather combat the enemy from a distance, than close at hand, when they fear for their lives. They oftener kill piecemeal than with downright blows. Though the major part have either purchased swords from the Spaniards, or taken them in war, they seldom make use of them in skirmishing.
CHAPTER XXXV.
OF THE SCOUTS, AND WAR COUNCILS OF THE ABIPONES
Their method of warfare varies according to the adversaries they have to deal with. They adopt one mode of fighting against the Spaniards, another against savages like themselves. This, however, may be observed in general, that they are never precipitate in taking up arms against any one, nor ever hazard an attack unless confident of victory; though, like European generals, they are often deceived. Where they had looked for laurels, they reap deadly cypresses – they go out to seek wool, and return home shorn themselves. The fortune of war is always uncertain. After having determined upon a hostile expedition, they usually send out scouts to discover which way they are to go, and at what place begin the attack; to learn every particular respecting the number of their neighbours who might send supplies to their adversaries, and concerning the access to houses; carefully to examine the situation most convenient for an ambuscade, the places by which they might approach undiscovered, and whither, if need required, they might betake themselves for safety, together with the pastures of cattle, the number of guards, and other particulars of that kind. And so cunningly do these emissaries discharge their office, that they contrive to see all things, and be seen by none.
Leaving their horses for a while, either on the inaccessible bank of a river, or in the recesses of the woods, that they may not be betrayed by their means, they crawl along on their hands and feet, and lurking amongst boughs and bushes observe all things, both at a distance and close at hand. Concealed by the shades of night, they sometimes approach the very houses of the Spaniards, and listening, catch part of the conversation of the persons within; those even that are ignorant of the Spanish tongue, can at least discover, from the tone of the voices, whether the house contain more men or women. That their footsteps may not betray them, they fasten pieces of skin to their feet, by which artifice the marks of human tread are either disguised or destroyed. To obtain a view of distant objects, they frequently climb trees, or stand upright on their horses' backs. They generally send out two or three of these scouts, who separate at night, one taking one road, one another, first fixing upon a time and place to meet together again. That they may be able with the more certainty to keep their appointment, they imitate the voice of some bird or beast, as agreed upon beforehand, from which one may know and discover the other. But this artifice must be warily adopted; for if at night-time they imitate the note of a bird which is only heard by day, the Spaniards know it to be uttered by the scouts of the savages, and by timely cautions elude the hostile attack. Often one companion signifies to another that he has arrived beforehand by broken boughs of trees, or high grass knotted in various ways. None perform the office of spy with more success than those Abipones who in their childhood have been taken in war, and bred up by the Spaniards, and who have returned to their countrymen when grown up; for, besides that they are actuated by a stronger hatred to the Spaniards, and a keener thirst for vengeance, from their acquaintance with places, and with the Spanish tongue, they dwell for a time with impunity in the Spanish towns, and as they use the same dress and language, are universally taken for Spaniards. Secure by this artifice, even in mid-day, and in the public market-place, they survey every thing, and enquire about whatever it is their interest to know; learn what military men are absent, or preparing for departure; what waggons are laden with merchandise, and whither they are bound, so that they are afterwards easily plundered by the savages in those immense deserts; not one of the waggoners or guards being able to prevent the slaughter, as men of this description are in general but ill provided with arms, and still worse with courage.
The scouts, after having finished their journey and made an accurate report to their employers of all they have seen and heard, a council of war, and at the same time a drinking-party is appointed; for the Abipones think themselves ill fitted for deliberation with dry lips. The Cacique, the promoter of the expedition, in the course of the drinking, delivers his opinion on the affair, and enquires that of the rest. He animates his companions to carry on the thing with vigour, either by the example of their ancestors, or by the hope of glory or booty. Repeated draughts inflame both the bodies and minds of the drinkers: for the meed which they make of honey, or the alfaroba, immediately disorders the brain, like the strongest wine, an effect which is powerfully increased by the shouts of the intoxicated, by singing, and the noise of drums and gourds. The heroic deeds of their ancestors, and former victories, are generally the subjects of these savage songs. The spectacle is as ridiculous as it is possible to conceive. In every one of the Abipones, you would behold a thunderbolt of war. Each thinks himself a Hector, an Epaminondas, a Hannibal; and such they might be believed by all who beheld their faces covered with blood-red stains to render them more terrific, their arms and breasts full of scars, and their threatening eyes, and who listened to their ferocious and slaughter-breathing words. But could we look into their breasts, we should perceive that they were different within from what they appeared without. We should discover a shell without a kernel, an ass in a lion's skin, an ignis fatuus under thundering words, and vain rage unsupported by strength. Though, no longer masters of themselves, they crawl on the ground in a state of intoxication, at your bidding they will climb to Heaven itself, they will tear away the hinges of the globe, and had all the human race but one neck, like Caligula, they would end it at a blow. Were they as courageous in battle, as vaunting in their cups, they would long since have extinguished the race of Spaniards in Paraguay. But as some one has observed, drunken bullies are better trumpeters than soldiers. They are all empty sound. Amidst their cups and their songs they are bold as lions, but in battle more cowardly than hares.
Whenever an Abipon dies by the hand of an enemy, the nearest relation of the deceased takes upon him to avenge his death. It is his business to invite his countrymen and hordesmen, or even the inhabitants of another horde, to join their arms with his, to lead them against the enemy, and, when the attack is made, to go first into battle. As they lend assistance to friendly nations, they seek it in turn from them, either when they are preparing for war, or when they apprehend it from others whom they deem themselves unequal to contend with alone. But, as Europe so often experiences, little confidence is to be placed in auxiliary forces. The friendship of the Indians is notoriously fickle and unsteady; for, as they enter into alliance merely with a view to their own advantage, they will suddenly turn their backs on their greatest friends, should the hope of the smallest emolument preponderate.
