The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-12-27

beads, or studs for enclosing belts or ar
NOR. Armor did you say: Yes, the gen
tie Patagonians actually don coats-of-mail
on occasion, made of horse hide, in shape
like an exaggerated night shirt, and il the
owner is rich enough/ it may be thickly
studded with silver plates. Before going
into battle the warriors pad themselves
like cricketers, or like school-boys expect
ing a thrashirg, using old ponchos OF sad
dle-cloths, the thick folds of which will
turn a lance thrust, or even the cut of a
sword. The silver 'studs'' are followed
out of a stone; then pierced at the edges
with asharp nail and sewn on with sineWS.
The PatagonlanS are also
HANDY ARTIFICERS
in iron, and will fashion a knife or an edge
out of any old piece of metal picked up
from wrecks on the coast or procured in
the colonies. A file they call kbikeribthh,
and the word in their mouths sounds pre-
cisely like the rasping of a file over some
dull instrument.
Chief among their weapons is the yachiko,
or bolas with three balls, for guanaco hunt
ing; the chume, or bolas, with two balls,
Tor capturing ostriches; and the bola per-
dlta, or single ball-so named from the
Spanish verb, perdir, "to lose" because
when once thrown it is not picked up again.
Before the introduction of firearms, the
bola perdita was the most deadly missile in
the hands of the Tehuelches. 1t is made
by covering a sharp pointed stone with
hide, al but tire point which protrudes, and
attaching a thong, about a yard long, with
a knot tied in the end to prevent it slipping
through the band. David;s historic sling
was harmless beside this weapon, when
Whirled round and round to give it force
before shying it at an enemy's head. Some
of them also carry long, heavy %lances,
tipped with flint and adorned with tufts OF
feathers, very different from the light
lances used by the Araucanlans. Nova
days guns, revolvers, swords, and daggers
are altogether too common among them,
bought from traders. Pigafetta tells US
how Magellen's party found the ancestors
of these Indians carrying
BOWS AND ARROWS;
but it is probable that he was romancing,
to draw it mild, in this particular as in
many others. At any rate, though ancient
flint arrow-heads abound north of the Rio
Negro, none AVE ever been discovered in
central or southern Patagonia; yet an
cient bolas are frequently found, differing
from those in present use only by being
much larger and heavier, and having
grooves cut around them.
Both the men and the women daub their
faces and sometimes their bodies with
paint, made by mixing guanaco and ostrich
fat with red ochre or black earth. Or
state occasions-as for a dance or a funera
the men further add to their beauty by
r bling white paint on their hands anC
then making five white fnger-marks OF
their chests, arms and legs. If in mourn
ing, they put on black paint; and wher
going forth to fight, dab alittle white pain
under each eye to impart a ferocious ex
preston. Not a small part of the manifold
duties of the women is to attend to tht
toilets of the men, in the way of paint ant
hair dressing; and, rot being blessed will
mirrors, they must also perform those deli
cate services for one another. The mel
are very particular about their hair, ant
so the wives, s~weethearts, mothers and sis
tiers have to brush their bushy locks a
least twice every day and tie them bacl
neatly with the fillet. The greatest care il
taken to burn any stray hairs that ma,
brush out, for it is believed that witche
work evil spells with such things. TIL
women are also the tatOoers, both sexe
ornamenting their arms with ~triangles
crosses and parallel lines, by the simpl