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

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

CHAPTER I. OF THE TERRITORY, ORIGIN, AND VARIOUS NAMES OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER II. OF THE NATURAL COLOUR OF THE AMERICANS

CHAPTER III. OF THE PERSONS OF THE ABIPONES, AND THE CONFORMATION OF THEIR BODIES

CHAPTER IV. OF THE ANCIENT AND UNIVERSAL METHODS OF DISFIGURING THE PERSON

CHAPTER V. OF THE PERFORATION OF THE LIPS AND EARS OF THE SAVAGES

CHAPTER VI. OF THE STRENGTH AND LONGEVITY OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER VII. WHY THE ABIPONES ARE SO VIGOROUS AND LONG-LIVED

CHAPTER VIII. OF THE RELIGION OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER IX. OF THE CONJURORS, OR RATHER OF THE JUGGLERS AND CHEATS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER X. CONJECTURES WHY THE ABIPONES TAKE THE EVIL SPIRIT FOR THEIR GRANDFATHER, AND THE PLEIADES FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF HIM

CHAPTER XI. OF THE DIVISION OF THE ABIPONIAN NATION, OF THEIR PAUCITY, AND OF THE CHIEF CAUSES THEREOF

CHAPTER XII. OF THE MAGISTRATES, CAPTAINS, CACIQUES, &c. OF THE ABIPONES, AND OF THEIR FORMS OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XIII. OF THE FOOD, JOURNEYS, AND OTHER PARTICULARS OF THE ECONOMY OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XIV. OF THE FORM AND MATERIALS OF CLOTHING, AND OF THE FABRIC OF OTHER UTENSILS

CHAPTER XV. OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XVI. OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XVII. CONCERNING OTHER PECULIARITIES OF THE ABIPONIAN TONGUE

CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE WEDDINGS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XIX. OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XX. GAMES ON THE BIRTH OF THE MALE CHILD OF A CACIQUE

CHAPTER XXI. OF THE DISEASES, PHYSICIANS, AND MEDICINES OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXII. OF A CERTAIN DISEASE PECULIAR TO THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXIII. OF MEASLES, SMALL-POX, AND THE MURRAIN IN CATTLE

CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE PHYSICIANS AND MEDICINES OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXV. OF THE RITES WHICH ACCOMPANY AND SUCCEED THE DEATH OF AN ABIPONE

CHAPTER XXVI. OF THE MOURNING, THE EXEQUIES, AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE CUSTOMARY REMOVAL OF THE BONES

CHAPTER XXVIII. OF THE MORE REMARKABLE SERPENTS

CHAPTER XXIX. MORE ON THE SAME SUBJECT; AND RESPECTING OTHER INSECTS

CHAPTER XXX. OF REMEDIES FOR THE POISONOUS BITES OF INSECTS

CHAPTER XXXI. OF OTHER NOXIOUS INSECTS, AND THEIR REMEDIES

CHAPTER XXXII. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT

CHAPTER XXXIII. OF THE MILITARY DISPOSITIONS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXXV. OF THE SCOUTS, AND WAR COUNCILS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXXVI. OF THE HOSTILE EXPEDITIONS, PROVISIONS, AND CAMPS OF THE ABIPONES

CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE ASSAULT, AND THE MEASURES PRECEDING IT

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

CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THOSE WHO GO UNDER THE NAME OF SPANISH SOLDIERS IN PARAGUAY

CHAPTER XL. WHAT IS THE FATE OF THE SLAIN AMONGST THE ABIPONIAN VICTORS

CHAPTER XLI. CONCERNING THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES, AND THEIR BATTLE-ARRAY IN FIGHTING WITH OTHER SAVAGES

CHAPTER XLIV. OF THE ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL OF VICTORIES, AND THE RITES OF A PUBLIC DRINKING-PARTY

CHAPTER XLIII. OF THE ABIPONIAN RITES ON OCCASION OF ANY ONE'S BEING DECLARED CAPTAIN

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When European painters have represented a man of a dark complexion, naked and hairy from head to foot, with flat distorted nostrils, threatening eyes, and a vast belly, a monster, in short, armed with a quiver, bow, arrows, and a club, and crowned with feathers of various colours, they think they have made an admirable portrait of an American Indian. And, indeed, before I saw America, I pictured the Americans to myself as agreeing with this description; but my own eyes soon convinced me of my error and I openly denounced the painters, to whom I had formerly given credit, as calumniators and romancers. Upon a near view of innumerable Indians of many nations, I could discover none of those deformities which are commonly ascribed to them. None of the Americans are black like Negroes, none so white as the Germans, English and French, but of this I am positive, that many of them are fairer than many Spaniards, Portugueze, and Italians. The Americans have whitish faces, but this whiteness, in some nations, approaches more to a pasty colour, and in others is darker; a difference occasioned by diversity of climate, manner of living, or food. For those Indians who are exposed to the sun's heat in the open plain, must necessarily be of a darker colour than those who dwell always in the shade of forests, and never behold the sun. The women are fairer than the men, because they go out of doors less frequently, and whenever they travel on horseback, take greater care of their complexions, skreening their faces with fans made of the longer emu feathers.

I have often wondered that the savage Aucas, Puelches or Patagonians, and other inhabitants of the Magellanic region, who dwell nearer to the South Pole, should be darker than the Abipones, Mocobios, Tobas, and other tribes, who live in Chaco, about ten degrees farther north, and consequently suffer more from the heat. May not the difference of food have some effect upon the complexion? The Southern savages feed principally upon the flesh of emus and horses, in which the plains abound. Does this contribute nothing to render their skin dark? What, if we say that the whiteness of the skin is destroyed by very severe cold, as well as by extreme heat? Yet if this be the case, why are the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego more than moderately white: for that island is situated in the fifty-fifth degree of latitude, at the very extremity of South America, hard by the Antarctic Pole? May we not suppose that these Southern nations derive their origin from Africa, and brought the dark colour of the Africans into America? If any one incline to this opinion, let him consider by what means they crossed the immense sea which separates Africa from America, without the use of the magnet.

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All the Abipones have thick, raven-black locks; a child born with red or flaxen hair would be looked upon as a monster amongst them. The manner of dressing the hair differs in different nations, times, and conditions. The Abipones, previously to their entering colonies, shaved their hair like monks, leaving nothing but a circle of hair round the head. But the women of the Mbaya nation, after shaving the rest of their heads, leave some hairs untouched, to grow like the crest of a helmet, from the forehead to the crown. As the savages have neither razors nor scissors, they use a shell sharpened against a stone, or the jaws of the fish palometa, for the purpose of shaving. Most of the Abipones in our colonies let their hair grow long, and twist it into a rope like European soldiers. The same fashion was adopted by the women, but with this difference, that they tie the braid of hair with a little piece of white cotton, as our countrymen do with black.

At church, and in mournings for the dead, they scatter their hair about their shoulders. The Guarany Indians, on the contrary, whilst they live in the woods, without the knowledge of religion, let their hair hang down their backs: now that they have embraced Christianity, and entered various colonies, they crop it like priests. But the women of the Guarany towns wear their hair long, platted, and bound with a piece of white cotton, both in and out of doors, but dishevelled and flowing when they attend divine service. The Spanish peasantry also approach the door of the church with their hair tied in the military fashion, but loosen it on entering. Indeed, all the Americans are persuaded that this is a mark of reverence due to the sacred edifice.

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