Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27

tree and left to dry in the sun. When
thoroughly seasoned" they are taken up
and scraped with pieces of flint or bits OF
broken glass fixed into rude handle. Then
they are smeared all over with mixture OF
tallow and liver, kneaded into pulp; after
which they must be rubbed in the hands tor
many hours, until they become soft and
pliable. Then they are spread on the ground
and cut with sharp knife into suitable
pieces, dove-tailed to fit one another IN
order to give greater strength to the seams.
Putting in the Artistic Work.
A number of women sit down together to
sew these pieces, each with her bone needle,
sinew thread and bodkin made of sharp
ened nail. A whole mantle is never sewn
at once, but when half finished it is pegged
out on the ground, it's surface slightly
moistened, and each woman takes chunk
of red ochre and stains it with greatest
care. When the ground work is done, a
pattern is put unusually spots and lines
Of black, blue and yellow, sometimes varied
by triangles and small crosses-the latter
device probably borrowed for the misslon-
aries. When the painting is concluded, it
is left day or two to dry: and when the
other half has been similarly treated, the
twain are welded into one unbroken sur
face of softest, finest fur.
Then there are no ends of fillets to be
woven, for the mems heads and their own,
from the unravelled threads of cloth OBJ
tained at the settlements or from the
Araucapians. In the same way they weave
belts or garters-the latter not for their
own stockingless legs but to hold up the
horse-hide boots of their lords and masters.
They must also sew skins together for beds,
the coverings of the toldos and for sale,
scrape and dress horse-hides for seats, sad
dies and partition walls, and do a thousand
other things which keep the1 constantly
employed; while their lazy "men folk
smoke, gamble, race horses, play ball and
hunt only when the exigencies of the larder
require.
Pretty Fair SIlversmiths.
Some of the men are surprisingly expert
workers in silver, considering their rude
implements. They take the silver dollars
obtained in barter and temper them until
they become malleable enough to be beaten
into shapes for buckles, garters, plates,
beads or buds for embossing belts or ar
NOR. Armor did you say? Yes, the
gentle Patagonians actually don coats-of-
mail on occasion-made of horse-hide, in
shape like an exaggerated night shirt, and
if the owner is rich enough, it may be
Ihickly studded with silver plates. Before
going into battle the warriors pad them
selves like cricketers, or like school boys
expecting thrashing, using old ponchos or
turn a lance thrust, or even the cut of a
sword. The silver ''studs" are followed
out on stone; then pierced at the edges
with sharp nail and sewed on with sinews
The Patagonians are also handy artificers
In iron, and will fashion knife OF an adze
out of any old piece of metal picked up
from wrecks on the coast or procured i'll the
colonies A file they call 'khikerikikh,"
and the word in their mouths sounds pre-
cisely like the rasping of file over some
dull instrument.
A Weapon That Beats David's Sling.
Chief among their weapons is the yachiko,
or bolas with three balls, for guanaco hunt
ing: the chume, or bolas with two balls, for
capturing ostriches; and the bola perdita,
or single ball-so named from the Spanish
verb, perdi, ''to lose," because when once
thrown it is not picked up again. Be-
fore the introduction of firearms, the bola
perdita was the most deadly missile in the
hands of the Tehuelches. 1t is made by
covering sharp pointed stone with hide,
all but the point of which protrudes, and at
taching thong, about yard long, with a
knot tied in the end to prevent it slipping
through the hand.
David's historic sling was harmless be-
side this weapon, wien whirled round and
round to give it force before shying 1t at an
enemy's head.
Some of them also carry long, : heavy
1ances, tipped with flint and adorned with
tufts Of feathers-very different from the
light lances used by the Araucanians. Now
adays guns, reYolvers, swords and daggers
are altogether too common among them,
bought from traders. Pigafetta tells us how
Magellan's party found the ancestors of
these Indians carrying bows and arrows;
this particular as in many others.
The Styles of Ornaments.
Old and young wear enormous earrings,
each silver dollar beaten to double its |
natural size, suspended to small rings thrust |
through the lobe Of the ear; besides neck
laces and armlets of glass beads and bits of |
silver capa pins with fat heads large as
tea-plates &c. The men also wear neck
laces, and though they do not care at all for
gold, adorn their pipes, knives, sheaths and
horse gear with all the silver they can Law /
hands on.
Less than three centuries and half ago
the horse was entirely unknown in South
America. Reid asserts that within 80 years
after Magellan discovered them the Pata-
gonians appeared bestriding steods, for the
horse extended his range over the Ameri-
IAN continent a good deal faster than did
his European owners. Says he: 'When
The Spaniards, in their after attempts at
the Indians, entered upon these
great plains, they were amazed to find their
ed enemies on horseback, brandishing their
ong lances and managing fiery chargers
With skill equal to their own" Among
he earliest South American tribes to OBJ
ain possession of the horse were those of
Northern Patagonia, since the first of these
4nimals that ran wild on the continent were
anded in the La Plata expedition of Men
loza; whence they became scattered over
he adjacent plains, and soon wandered
outh,Eard tn the Straits of Mapa1l,n And