The Guaranis were the principal nation dwelling on the eastern portion
of South America. They were probably the same race as the Quichuas, who
inhabited the western shores, and a large portion of the Andes, under
the rule of the Incas. The two languages are still spoken in various
parts of the country. The Guaranis were superior in civilisation to
numerous other intervening and more isolated tribes, who had sunk by
degrees into greater barbarism. Like the Quichuas, they were
agriculturalists--cultivating mandioca, maize, calabashes, and potatoes.
They fed on honey and wild fruit; and hunted birds, monkeys, and other
animals, and caught fish with their bows and arrows. They had also
canoes; and had a better established system of government than their
neighbours. Yet they were among the first to bow their necks to the
yoke of their invaders; while other tribes, who, though less numerous,
fiercely opposed the Spaniards, were swept away from the face of the
earth.
The descendants of the Guaranis exist--some in a semi-civilised
condition, others as barbarous as of yore--in several parts of the
continent; but a large portion became amalgamated with the invaders, and
their language is still spoken throughout Paraguay and the neighbouring
provinces by the mixed race who have descended from them. The
Charruas--the first tribe with whom the Spaniards came in contact--were
barbarous in the extreme. Their arms were lances and arrows, and they
were noted for their expertness in tracking their enemies. They could
bear an almost incredible amount of fatigue, and could subsist for
several days without food or water. They wore their hair long,--the
women allowing theirs to flow down the back, while the young men
gathered up their locks in bunches, and ornamented them with white
feathers. They ate every description of food, even to snakes and
insects, and were especially fond of the parasites of the human body.
They tattooed their faces and limbs; and soon after a boy was born a
hole was made in his lower lip, when a piece of wood was introduced like
a nail, the head being in his mouth, while another stick was fastened to
it outside.
They lived in tree-formed huts, which they entered on all-fours; and
wore no clothes, except in cold weather, when they covered the chest
with a piece of skin. They never washed, huddling together in their
dirty toldas or huts. They subsisted entirely on the produce of the
chase; polygamy was general; their children were not taught to obey
their parents, while they appear to have been destitute of all family
affection. Their beverage, called chicha--a name common throughout
South America--was prepared from honey and water. Although, during
lifetime, relations exhibited no affection towards each other, at the
death of one of them the survivors underwent many cruel funeral
ceremonies. They ultimately assisted the Spaniards in the extermination
of several of the neighbouring tribes, but were eventually either
destroyed, or brought completely under subjection.