An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, (2 of 3)

The examples of our own age show that rashness in firing has been the destruction of many, – circumspect and provident delay the salvation of no fewer. It may be as well to give a few instances of this. In the territory of St. Iago del Estero, about dawn a troop of Abiponian horse descended from a steep and precipitous rock, and attacked a town of the Spaniards, called Las Barrancas; nor was it any difficult matter for them to slay the sleeping inhabitants. The Captain, Hilario, awakened by the yelling of the savages, and the groans of the dying, occupied the threshold of his house, keeping a gun always pointed at the enemies. Not one of them dared approach him. By this threatening action alone, he preserved himself and his little daughter alive amidst the deaths of so many of his neighbours. Another Spaniard, in the territory of Corrientes, seeing the court-yard of his house, which was but slightly fortified with stakes, surrounded by Abipones, turned his gun, perhaps not loaded, towards them, threatening first one, then another, by turns. This was more than sufficient to frustrate the intended assault of the Abipones. I knew a captain named Gorosito, who did much service amongst the soldiers of St. Iago. He made use of a gun from which you could not expect a single spark of fire, and on being asked why he did not have it repaired, replied that he thought that unnecessary. "It is sufficient," said he, "to show even a useless gun to the savages, who, not knowing it to be defective, are terrified at the very sight of it. Furnished with this gun, I have gained not only security, but glory, in many skirmishes." But I have no occasion for the testimonies and experience of others, having myself so often frightened away troops of assaulting savages, armed with a gun which I never once fired.

On the other hand, how dangerous a thing it is to fire guns inconsiderately, we have often found on various occasions, but above all in a new Indian colony, where a few garrison soldiers guarded the borders of Tucuman, on account of the frequent incursions of the savages. This little town, the rebellious Mataguayos attacked about evening with all sorts of weapons. The soldiers, seized with a sudden trepidation, discharged all the fire-arms they could lay hands on at the savage band, but to their own injury, not that of the enemy, who, leaving their adversaries no time to load afresh, set fire to the houses with arrows headed with burning tow, and pierced the soldiers, who fled from thence into the court-yard, with barbed darts. Two Jesuit priests, who officiated there, Fathers Francisco Ugalde and Romano Harto, whilst attending to the salvation of the dying soldiers, underwent the fury of the savages within the palisadoes of the house. The first was mortally wounded with arrows, and buried in the ruins of the burning chapel, where he was entirely reduced to ashes, one little bone alone remaining, to which funeral honours were afterwards paid elsewhere. That his soul was received into Heaven is the opinion of all who are acquainted with his exceeding piety and mild integrity of conduct. Father Romano Harto, his companion, though wounded with two arrows which pierced deep into his side, crept under cover of night from the palings of his house into a neighbouring wood, and escaped the eyes and murderous hands of the savages. Weltering in blood, and tortured by the pain of his wounds and the burning thirst it occasioned, he passed the night out, of doors amongst the trees, during a furious tempest of rain, wind, and thunder. No one was at hand to lend him any aid. At day-break, crawling out into the plain, by God's mercy he espied a soldier who had fled from the massacre of the day before, and who carried him on his horse to the Spaniards at a very great distance, where he was completely healed. What, let me ask, was the occasion of so many deaths, and of so tragic an event? The unseasonable haste of a few soldiers in discharging their guns. The empty noise struck the air alone, and gave such courage to the Indians, that, laying aside fear, they rushed on more boldly, and denied the Spaniards the necessary time for loading their guns afresh. It was said, moreover, that many were destitute of gunpowder, and all certainly were so of courage, panic-struck at the sudden arrival of the savages, the burning of the houses, and the sight of so many deaths. The assaults of the savages must be repelled promptly but providently. Arms must be immediately resorted to, but something must always be reserved for the sudden chances of war: as the Indians, intent upon every opportunity of committing mischief, easily overcome the unarmed or those that manage arms unskilfully. Thus, if thirty artillery soldiers should undertake the defence of a station, they ought to be divided into three ranks, so that ten might fire their guns upon the enemy, ten load, and the others reserve an equal number loaded. By which means they would always have time to load their guns, and the Indians would never want cause for fear. By the careful observance of this method, thirty artillery soldiers might be found sufficient to rout and put to flight three hundred Americans. But if three hundred artillery-men were to fire all their guns at once, without killing any of the enemy, they, on the other hand, might be overcome by thirty savages. For the Abipones, like most of the Americans, are intimidated by the most trifling slaughter of their companions: if but one or two of them fall, the rest instantly take to flight, esteeming life far above the honour of victory. How comes it then that they are so dreaded by other nations? I will explain this in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

BY WHAT MEANS THE ABIPONES RENDER THEMSEL VES FORMIDABLE, AND WHEN THEY ARE JUSTLY TO BE DREADED

Naturally fearful, they render themselves formidable by art. They make up for the want of native bravery by the noise of their trumpets, the craftiness of their ambuscades, by their astonishing swiftness, their painted faces, and many-coloured plumes. They adorn their heads with feathers of various birds, either erected like a crest, or bearing the appearance of a crown. They paint their faces sometimes white or red, but more commonly black. Soot, scraped from pans and kettles, is generally used for this purpose. In travelling, when soot is not to be got, they make a fire, and use its smoke and ashes to paint themselves with. The fruit of the tree Urucuy̆ furnishes them with materials for a red paint: but on sudden occasions they prick their tongues with a thorn, and daub their faces with the blood that flows plenteously from the wound. They do not all paint in the same pattern. Some darken the forehead only, some one cheek, and some both. Some streak the whole face with spiral lines; others only make two circles round the eyes; and others again blacken the whole of the face. This custom is common to many other nations of Paraguay, especially the equestrian ones.

The Abipones render themselves formidable to the eyes, as well as to the ears of their enemies; for they prelude every battle with trumpets, flutes, horns, and clarions, differing in sound, materials, and form. The horn instruments bellow, the wooden ones clatter, and those of bone, which are made of the leg of some large bird or quadruped, emit a very shrill whistle, while those of reeds have a ridiculous creaking sound. Others again, consisting of the tail of the armadillo, to which a reed is prefixed, fill the whole air, to a great distance, with a horrible roaring. I want words to describe the construction and use of all the different trumpets. This is very certain, that the Abipones have more trumpeters than soldiers in their armies. These terrible-sounding instruments they accompany with a savage howl, made by striking their lips with their hands. When rushing to battle they cry aloud, Laharàlk! Laharàlk! Let us go, let us go; as the Guaranies say, Yahà! Yahà! and the Mocobios, Zokolák! Zokolák! Whilst the Abipones are in battle, they carry their eyes to every side of the field, to aim, or avoid weapons, and with a hoarse and tremulous voice threateningly repeat Hò-Hò-Hò, by which they endeavour to provoke the enemy, and excite themselves to anger. In European camps also, trumpets, pipes, and drums are doubtless used to animate and govern the army, and to inspire fear into the enemy. But no one will deny that more victories have been gained by silence than by noise. Would that the Spaniards of Paraguay would bear this in mind! for they, like the savages, begin the attack with loud vociferations. Barreda, General of the St. Iagans, often complained to me that he could never induce his soldiers to refrain from shouting when they attacked the hordes of the savages, and to approach them in silence and by stealth, that being caught unawares, they might be prevented from taking either to flight or arms.

It is much to be lamented that the terrific appearance and horrid clamours of the savages are dreaded so greatly by the Spanish countrymen of Paraguay. We have often seen not only their ears and eyes struck, but their minds disturbed to such a degree, that losing all self-possession, they thought no longer of methods whereby to repel force by force, but eagerly watched for an opportunity of flight to provide for their lives, though not for their fame or security: for the savages grow more daring the more they are feared and fled from. In the towns themselves how often has a trepidation arisen, when the inhabitants, frequently from mere report alone, understood that the Abipones, rendered terrible by their blackened faces and their whole accoutrement, were flying thither on swift horses, shouting to the deadly sound of trumpets, brandishing an enormous spear in their right hands, laden with bundles of arrows, breathing fire and slaughter, and with their ferocious eyes threatening an hundred deaths, captivity, and wounds. You might have seen crowds pacing up and down, and lamenting approaching death, before they had even from a distance beheld the enemy from whom they were to receive it. Not only the unwarlike sex, but men distinguished with military titles, flew to the stone churches, and to the most hidden retreats; while, had they dared to show their faces, and present a gun to the enemy, the savages would easily have been put to flight, and their panic terror would have ended in laughter. Not many years ago it was reported one Sunday afternoon in the city of Buenos Ayres, that a numerous company of Southern savages had rushed into some street of the city. The fear excited by this false rumour so occupied the minds of all, that they ran up and down the streets almost distracted, uttering the most mournful cries. In hurrying to a place of more security, one lost his wig, another his hat or cloak, from the violence of his haste. Meantime the garrison troops, who had been sent to search the whole city, announced that not a shadow or vestige of the enemy was to be found; tidings which restored serenity to the disturbed minds of the inhabitants, and filled them with shame for their foolish alarm. Scenes of this kind were extremely frequent in the cities of Sta. Fè, Cordoba, Asumpcion, Salta, &c. whilst the savages were overrunning the province with impunity. A ridiculous event that took place in the city of Corrientes is peculiarly worthy of relation. About evening a report was spread that a troop of Abipones had burst into one of the streets, and was employed in slaughtering the inhabitants. Upon this news numbers crowded to the church, which was furnished with strong stone walls. The head captain himself, an old man, mingled with the crowd of lamenting females, and gave himself up to groans and prayers. "Here, here," said he, "in the house of the Lord, and in the presence of Jesus Christ, must we die." Indignant at words so unbecoming a soldier, the secular priest, a brave man in the prime of his years, exclaimed as he arrived, "I swear by Christ that we shall not die. The enemies must be sought and slain." So saying he leapt upon a horse, and armed with a gun hastened to succour that part of the city where the enemies were said to be raging. But lo and behold! when he arrives there, he finds the inhabitants all sound asleep, not even dreaming of the Abipones! Such was the terror excited in the Paraguayrians, not merely by the figures and presence of the Abipones, but by the very report of them.

Two things which long experience has taught me, I greatly wish impressed on the minds of all. The first is, that the Indians are never less to be dreaded than when they present themselves most terrible, and with the greatest noise. For all that frightful preparation only betrays the fears of the savages. Distrusting their courage, strength, and arms, they think that paint of various colours, feathers, shouting, trumpets, and other instruments of terror, will forward their success. But any one with a very moderate share of courage, and stock of armour, will despise all this as unworthy of fear. This is my first maxim. My second is, that the Indians are never more to be feared than when they seem most afraid. They sometimes lurk concealed, uttering no sound, and giving no intimation of their presence; but this silence is as sure a prognostic of an attack, as a calm is, in the ocean, of an impending storm. They arrive on a sudden, and surprize the self-secure. They imitate death, whose ministers they are, by coming when least expected. In the heat of battle, the Abipones often take to flight, in the design of enticing the Spaniards to pursue them, that they may slay them, when they are separated and their ranks disturbed, though unable to do so as long as they are in order. Hence it not unfrequently happens, that they who thought themselves the victors are vanquished by the fugitives. They fly to marshes, woods, winding-ways, defiles of mountains, rocks, or bushes, which places the excellence of their steeds, and their skill in riding and swimming enable them quickly to cross; while the pursuing Spaniards, incumbered by their clothes and baggage, and often destitute of proper horses, are easily pierced with spears whilst separated from one another, and struggling with the water, the mud, and the other difficulties of the way. Not to mention other artifices, after committing slaughters, plundering houses, and killing the inhabitants, the Abipones feign departure, and seem to be hastening their flight; but when they are supposed many leagues distant, renew the assault, surprize the surviving Spaniards, and kill all they can. So that it is a certain fact, that the Indians are never more formidable than when they seem most afraid.

A very small number of Abipones are to be feared by the Spaniards, however numerous, if they be reduced to straits, surrounded on every side, and left no way of escape; for then they dare the utmost in their own defence. They convert every thing they lay their hands on into weapons. Terror inspires them with sagacity and courage, and consequently is more to be dreaded than the most magnanimous spirit. I have many instances of this in my mind, but it will be sufficient to relate three. An Abipon, with arrows, and, when these were consumed, with sticks, supplied him by his wife, did so much execution against the soldiers of St. Iago, by whom he was surrounded, that he maintained his post, and when, after many wounds inflicted and received, he fell at length, was highly extolled for his valour by the very Spaniards against whom he had fought. Nachiralar̂in, Chief of the Yaaucaniga Abipones, spread the terror of his name throughout the colonies of Paraguay. Accompanied by a crowd of his followers, called Los Sarcos, or more properly Garzos, from their grey or blue eyes, Nachiralar̂in afflicted the country of Cordoba, Sta. Fè, Corrientes, and Paraguay, for many years, with slaughter and pillage, till he was at length taken and slain at the shores of the Tebiguary̆, by two hundred soldiers from Asumpcion. Shut up and besieged in a wood with fourteen Abipones, he fought with such obstinacy against the company of Spaniards, that he did not fall till after a contest of several hours. Some of his fellow-soldiers could not be prevented from escaping. It was never without disgust that I heard this victory boasted of by those present at the engagement; you would have thought they were speaking of the bloody battles of Thrasymene, Caudinæ Furculæ, Blenheim, &c. Certainly the leader Fulgentio de Yegros obtained great celebrity at that expedition, and was afterwards raised to the highest honours in the army, and to the government of the province itself. Add to these instances, that twenty wood-Abipones when attacked in the open plain by three hundred Christian Mocobios and Abiponian catechumens, chose to lose their lives before they would quit their station. Incredible is the obstinacy with which these few contended against numbers. The place which they had chosen at the beginning of the fight they every one occupied in death. From this it is evident, that a few, though inferior in number, arms, and strength, may prove formidable to a multitude, if, besieged by a surrounding company, and confined by the narrowness of the place, they have no room left them for escape. Scipio judged wisely that a flying enemy should be allowed a passage. This precept is generally obeyed by the Paraguayrian Spaniards, who often yielded the savages more liberty of escape than need required. This Barreda found in an hundred expeditions which he headed against the Abipones and Mocobios. These savages display much prudence in the choice of the situation of their hordes. They generally choose a place which has a wood close behind, a lake, river, or marsh in front, and pasture for their horses on both sides. Barreda told me that whenever hordes so situated were to be attacked, he ordered his men to besiege them on the part towards the wood, that the savages might not, as usual, find their security there; but that the soldiers never obeyed his orders, well knowing that if they deprived the enemy of an opportunity of escape they should have a most dangerous conflict, and a very doubtful victory.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

OF THOSE WHO GO UNDER THE NAME OF SPANISH SOLDIERS IN PARAGUAY

Whenever I make mention of the Paraguayrian soldiers, do not imagine that I am speaking of the regular disciplined troops, which are quartered no where but on the shores of the Plata, to guard the cities of Buenos-Ayres, and Monte-Video. The cavalry are often ordered out against the southern savages, while the infantry are employed in ships to hinder the contraband trade on the river Plata. In all the other colonies throughout Paraguay, the colonists themselves take up arms, whenever the hostile incursions of the savages are to be repelled, or others made against them. The territory belonging to every city contains some companies of undisciplined soldiery, each of which is commanded by a master of the camp (maestre de campo,) and a chief captain of the watch, (sargento mayor.) The commander-in-chief is the Vice-Governour, who is likewise the head Judge. Moreover, there is in every city a company of what are called reformed captains, whose business it is to accompany the Vice-Governour, in every expedition, in the capacity of life-guards. Many of these are merely honorary, never having discharged the duties of captains, or even of soldiers. They purchase the title, that they may be exempted from the burden of war, being only called out to attend the Vice-Governour. All the rest are summoned to warlike expeditions either by the Governour, or Vice-Governour. They receive neither pay nor clothing from the King, and are obliged to furnish their own arms, horses, and food, whenever, and as long as the military commander thinks fit.

Every age and every country has found the soldiers of Spain abundantly brave and active. To deny this would be to wrong that most noble and glorious nation. That the Spanish name, therefore, may receive no blemish from what I am going to write of the Paraguayrian soldiers, it must be observed that all those who boast of a Spanish name in Paraguay, are not in reality Spaniards. Amid such a diversity of nations, very many are born of Moors, Indians, and a Spanish mother; of an Indian or Moorish mother, and a Spanish father; or of a mixed race of them all. A yellow or darkish complexion, a beardless chin, and a mat of woolly, curling black hair, plainly denote very many to be of African or American origin. The other European Spaniards born in Paraguay say, by way of contempt, O es del Inga, ò del Mandinga, you are sprung either from Indians or Negroes: for the King of Peru was formerly called the Inga, or Inca, and Mandinga is a province of Negroland, beyond the river Niger in Africa.

Of such various kinds of men are the military forces composed in Paraguay. As most of them, though ennobled by a Spanish name, are very far remote both from Spain and from Spanish intrepidity and love of arms, what wonder if these unwarlike and beardless soldiers are slaughtered by the savages like so many barrow-pigs? They are worthy both of excuse and pity, for, besides being unprovided with proper arms, they have no skill in handling them. Except the arts of swimming and riding, they are entirely ignorant of the laws of war, and of military discipline. Moreover, the Cordoban soldiers are unable even to swim. The major part of them, when called out against the savages, for spears, make use of the rude knotty stakes which the woods afford, and if to these be added the remains of a broken dagger, or knife, then, indeed, they think themselves as well armed as Mars or Hercules. None but the richer sort have guns, which are generally very dear, sometimes not to be purchased. I have often seen carbines sold at Buenos-Ayres for five-and-twenty Spanish crowns, or fifty German florins a-piece. The more distant the colonies are from the market of Buenos-Ayres, the higher their price becomes; in the cities of St. Iago, Asumpcion, Corrientes, &c. not very handsome guns have been sold for forty, or even sixty crowns. If any part of the gun get out of order, you will rarely find a smith to repair it: hence the guns which many of the soldiers carry, are often in such a condition, that you would sooner obtain water from a flint than a spark of fire from them. They are liable to be spoiled in various ways; for, in long journeys, they get knocked against trees and stones, or wetted by the rain, or injured in some way or other, as the nights are always to be passed in the open air, often in rainy weather; vast rivers and marshes to be swam across, and rugged woods and rocks to be ridden over: in consequence of which the fire-arms, from not being well taken care of, are frequently spoiled. Add to this the frequent scarcity or damage of the various articles required for loading and charging them, and that the flint very often proves useless. Paraguay produces plenty of excellent flint, but you can never meet with any one who knows how to split it properly, and fit it for use. In our times even, whenever some hundreds of soldiers fiercely approached the stations of the savages, either the steel was rusty and would not explode, or the gunpowder so moist as to prevent its blazing, so that very few were able to discharge their guns. I could fill pages with facts of this kind, but will only relate two of the more recent ones. A handful of Abipones were overrunning the territory of St. Iago. Thirty soldiers were sent to observe their motions, but being suddenly attacked by the savages, who had lain in wait for them, were every one miserably slain. They had passed the night in the open air, and as the guns were very badly taken care of, the copious dew so moistened the gunpowder, that Vesuvius itself would not have been able to kindle it. This slaughter was effected by twenty Abiponian youths. Two hundred soldiers, headed by Fulgentio de Yegros, attacked the hordes of the Tobas. I was astonished to hear the captains, on their return from this expedition, lamenting that at the very moment of the savages' assault, they had found their muskets unmanageable, and quite useless, either from rust or wet. They had spent greatest part of the night in a field, amongst trees dropping with plenteous dew, that at day-break they might steal unobserved to the enemy's station.

It is well known to us, and can be surprizing to no one, that the undisciplined, and temporary soldiers of Paraguay, are accustomed neither to the keeping, nor handling of weapons. They have been employed all their lives in different arts and occupations. Unless a man be previously instructed in military discipline, who can expect him to prove a proper soldier in the camp? Many go out against the savages who are soldiers and Spaniards in name only. If any of the colonists, more respectable by birth and fortune, and better furnished with arms and skill to use them, are summoned to attend an expedition, they usually hire very bad substitutes. Others, that they may not be separated from their families, and exposed to the weapons of the enemy, bribe the captains to pass them over; in consequence of which, those who are worst provided with arms, and most ignorant of the military art, principally feel the burden of the war, and are sent to oppose the savages, to the great detriment of the province, and disgrace of the Spanish name. Because the lower orders are poor, they are ordered to fight, while the more opulent are left at home to take care of their estates: and as they are forced out to the service again and again, and obliged to spend many months from home, they grow daily poorer and poorer, and, together with their families, are overwhelmed with misery.