Inclement weather--State of my wardrobe--Attempts to deprive me of
my clothes--Powwow and horse-killing--Hair-combing
extraordinary--Remedy for rheumatism--Sickness--Turn barber--A cold
bath--Fasting--Discovery of my watch, and its effect--I am made
showman--Lion-hunt--Successful chase.
At our next halt we encamped in a deep, swampy valley. The weather was
cold and stormy; rain, snow, sleet and hail, fell alternately, but did
not accumulate on the earth to any considerable depth. Fitful gusts of
wind came sweeping through the camp, making the wigwams shake fearfully.
Our old lodge gallantly rode out the gale; but, either owing to its
straining and working in the storm, or to some defects in the original
structure, leaked shockingly all night. I was repeatedly awakened by a
stream of cold water running under me. Giving the skin roof a few knocks
to lighten it of its watery burden, and shaking the wet skin which
constituted my couch, I would throw myself down, and resign myself to
repose; but before quiet was fairly restored, another inundation would
drive me to my feet. The night wore away with me, wet, cold and
sleepless. After daybreak I rose, and continued for two hours in
vigorous exercise to restore warmth to my chilled frame, before the
Indians were astir. Fires were then kindled, and matters began to
assume a more cheerful appearance.
The weather, quite cool on my first landing, had grown gradually colder,
and was becoming inclement. I was scantily prepared to endure the
severity of winter. My under-garments, as before related, were
desperately expended in trying to signal passing vessels. Cravat and
pocket-handkerchief were appropriated to the adornment of the women in
our household, to the no small envy of less favored ones. My sole
article of linen was in shreds, and of a color that would afford matter
for speculation to a jury of washerwomen. Stockings and shoes were sadly
dilapidated; coat and trousers were glazed with dirt and grease till
they shone like a glass bottle. The contents of my pockets were all
confiscated,--purse, keys, knife, &c.,--and a pair of pistols, of the
use of which my captors knew nothing, were taken to pieces, and the
brass mountings suspended about the necks of the chief's wives. In
short, my outer man was nigh unto perishing, and I had no visible
resources to arrest or repair the process of time, while I was not
sufficiently inured to the climate to adopt the native dress without
serious risk to health. But none of these things were allowed to trouble
me. I took no thought for the morrow, but, according to the scriptural
injunction, suffered the morrow to take care for the things of itself,
esteeming sufficient unto each day the evil thereof.
At an early period of my captivity, the chief and some other Indians had
cast a longing eye on my clothes, and tried to seduce me into parting
with them. They offered no compulsion in the matter, but resorted to all
manner of tricks. It seemed that they thought a white man could afford
to go without dressing. I explained to them that, having always worn
clothes,--having in infancy, even, unlike Patagonian piccaninnies, been
externally protected against the fresh air,--it was quite impossible for
me to change my habits without the hazard of my life; and, if I should
die in consequence of yielding to their wishes, they were reminded they
would lose the valuable ransom they expected for me. This reasoning
proved convincing; greatly as they longed for my wardrobe, they more
desired rum and tobacco, and I was permitted the undisturbed enjoyment
of the scanty covering left me.
The storm continued for two days and nights; on the third day it cleared
up. About mid-day, observing a crowd of Indians together with a huge
jargon of tongues, I learned, on inquiry, that a horse was to be killed;
a matter which, it appeared, was always the occasion of a solemn powwow.
On reaching the spot, a poor old beast, lean and lank, with a lariat
about his neck, stood surrounded by some fifty Indians. The squaws were
singing, in stentorian tones, "Ye! Ye! Yup! Yup! Lar, lapuly, yapuly!"
with a repetition that became unendurable, and drove me to a respectful
distance. The horse's fore-legs were fast bound together, a violent push
forward threw him heavily to the ground, and he was speedily despatched
with a knife; anticipating, by a few days, the ordinary course of
nature. Soon after my return to the wigwam, a huge portion of the
carcass was sent to our quarters and hung up, to furnish our next meals!
After being duly dressed by the women, with the aid of the dogs, and
scorched and smoked according to usage, it was served up,--my only
alternative to starvation. Famine has no scruples of delicacy; if the
reader is disgusted, he is in a state of sympathy with the writer.
Early the next day we (literally) pulled up stakes, and were on the
move; and, after journeying all day, encamped in a situation very like
the one we left in the morning. The Indians spent their time, as usual,
in gambling and in combing each other's hair, with a brush made of stiff
dry roots, tied up together. The operator received as a fee the _game_
captured in the process. The reader will excuse a more explicit
statement of what, though less abominable than cannibalism, is hardly
less repulsive.
One evening our family circle were seated round a fire, which sent up
volumes of smoke sufficiently dense to suit a savage of the most
exacting taste, and which drove me, as usual, to the back part of the
hut, where I lay flat on my face. One of the chief's wives was
inveighing against me, as was her wont, and a second occasionally joined
in the strain, by way of chorus. A third was cracking the bones of a
guanaco, that her son Cohanaco might eat the marrow. The fourth and last
of the women was attending to a piece of meat for our supper, fixed on a
forked stick, in the smoke. Two sons were engaged, as usual, in doing
nothing, except occasionally begging a little of the marrow, and
scraping their dirty legs with a sheath-knife, by way of diversion;
sundry by-plays, and little pieces of mischief, served to fill up the
spare minutes. The old chief, who had been silently regarding the scene,
now commenced talking, in a low, mumbling, guttural tone, to one of his
wives. She was busily eying the toasting-fork, and studying the process
of cooking; but, at her husband's instance, left them, and drew from
their repository of tools a sharpened nail fixed in a wooden handle,
like an awl. The chief stretched himself on the ground, face downwards;
a surgical operation was plainly impending. What could the matter be?
Had the chief, in the excess of his plumpness, burst open, like ripe
fruit, requiring to be sewed up? I drew my head from beneath the
protection I had provided against the smoke, and rose on my knees, to
get a better view; the huge, black, greasy monster lay extended at his
full length, his wife pinched up the skin on his back, pierced it with
her awl, and continued the process till a number of perforations were
made, from which the blood oozed slowly. I asked the meaning of this
operation, and was told by the chief that he had pains in his back, for
which this was the best remedy. Blood-letting, it seemed, is no monopoly
of the faculty. I told him that in my country we applied, in such cases,
a liquid called opodeldoc, an infallible remedy, and promised to procure
him some when we got to Holland. This was henceforth added to my list of
inducements.
The old fellow righted himself, and leaned against one of the pillars of
his palace; one of his partners pulled up the toasting-fork, and jerked
the half-roasted and more than sufficiently smoked meat upon the ground,
seized the knife which the boys had been playing with, and cut the mess
into liberal pieces, which were thrown broadcast on either side. The
chief's appetite did not appear to be affected either by his
indisposition or by the extraordinary remedy applied; his portion of the
_carne_ disappeared behind his great white teeth with a haste that
seemed to involve no waste.
Rheumatic affections, they told me, are very common among them; the
chief showed me the arm of one of his wives, which was scarred from the
wrist to the shoulder by the awl; and the operation was afterwards
performed on other members of the family.
Again we took up the line of march, travelling, as near as I could
judge, west-north-west, and killing a quantity of game, both guanaco and
ostrich. But the hardship of my life, aggravated by a constant flesh
diet, and that eaten half raw, and at irregular seasons,--often going
two days without food,--had, by this time, brought on a dysentery. This
was no more than I had expected; but I knew of no remedy, and had to
endure it as I could. We encamped, on the second day, near the banks of
the river Gallegos; a fine spring of water issued from the river-bank
into a low marshy ground, skirting the margin of the stream. By this
time my illness had increased, till I felt unfit to travel further, and
began to think that death could not be distant. No change of diet was
practicable, and there was nothing to counteract its effect on my
system. The pain and weariness of travelling did their part to aggravate
the disorder; and mental discouragement--the sickness of hope
deferred--completed my prostration. No human being in that desolate land
cared for my sufferings, more than they would for those of a dog. Worn
out with the constant irritations of a state of existence odious to
every sensibility, tired and disheartened, but for one thought I could
have gladly laid myself down to die, to get at once and forever beyond
the reach of my savage tormentors. The thought of home, of wife and
child, of friends and country, and all the unutterable emotions that
respond to these precious names, at once tortured and strengthened me.
These, and the thought that perhaps, after patient endurance, Divine
Providence would restore me to the objects of my famished affections,
made life still dear. These strengthened me to suffer and to strive.
As I crawled out of the lodge, to look upon the sun, and breathe the
pure air, and be refreshed by breezes untainted with the breath of cruel
men, it came into my mind that some palatable or even tolerable species
of plant or root would be wholesome for me. On looking about, there
presented itself a specimen of large dock, such as is common in the
United States; a weed of humble pretensions, but why not worthy of a
trial? With what strength remained at command, I began a process of
"extracting roots," with good success. Taking a quantity into the hut,
and roasting them in hot ashes, they were found to be not distasteful; I
filled my pockets with them, and abandoned flesh-diet for a little time,
to the sensible, though gradual, relief of my sufferings. Fortunately we
had a season of bad weather, which prevented any advance movement for
four or five days, and gave me time partially to recover strength. I
could not sooner have kept my seat on a horse; and, if the alternative
had been presented, the Indians, as I very well knew, would sooner have
knocked me on the head than have allowed me to hinder their march for a
day. A powwow was held over another horse, unserviceable alive, and
therefore marked for diet; but this time I did not compete for any part
of his carcass, my pocket-stores being quite sufficient, and more
attractive. But in the fate of the poor beast I read a warning to
myself, to make haste and get well enough to move at the first signal.
Away again,--this time facing about, and passing down the river. I
needed rest; but, at whatever expense of suffering, needs must when a
certain old gentleman drives. At the next stopping-place my services
were called into requisition in a new department. One forenoon, as I
sauntered towards our wigwam, after a stroll among the smutty huts, to
kill time and divert painful thoughts, I was hailed from within by the
chief, "Arke, Boney!" On entering, he appeared to be conversing, in low,
gurgling sounds, with his lately-married daughter, who was running her
hands through the shaggy hair of her young hope, as she talked.
Something was plainly wrong in the youngster's top-knot, and some
unpleasant task in relation thereto was as plainly about to be imposed
upon me. The chief resolved my doubts, by ordering me to cut off a
portion of the shag; I objected a want of the proper implements, but the
mother silenced me by producing an old pair of scissors, in no condition
to cut anything. Calling for a file, the rusty edges were brought into a
tolerable state, and I approached the task. Such a sight! If the hair
now would have obeyed a mesmeric pass, without the need of manual
contact,--if the job could be performed with closed eyes, and insensible
nostrils, and absent mind! Faugh! I hurried through the penance, hiding
disgust, and assuming the appearance of good will, and made good my
escape into the fresh air. And so I must turn barber, and, in all
likelihood, have the dirty heads of half the tribe put under my nose!
What would come next?
Our next move took us across the river Gallegos, in shoal water, barely
up to the horses' knees. The current was rapid, and masses of floating
ice were swept along with it. When half way across, my horse took
fright, reared, and, in attempting a sudden turn, precipitated me into
the water, and fell heavily upon me. The ducking and the bruise together
were severe, and, among other disasters, the crystal of my watch was
broken by the shock. This I had kept carefully secreted, as a last
resort, to amuse the savages when other expedients should fail,--when
memory and invention could yield no more tales, when promises should
have become threadbare with repetition, and when pretensions of
greatness at home should have lost their power by the every-day
disclosure of present weakness and humiliation.
We--that is to say, myself and the old horse--kicked and floundered a
while in the cold water, till at last the creature succeeded in rising,
and I followed his example. We waded ashore, dripping, amidst the
uproarious laughter of the whole troop. Once more mounted on my
Rosinante, we resumed our line of march. The chill from my cold bath so
benumbed me that I had to dismount and lead the horse, to recover, by
brisk walking, some portion of animal warmth. Our course was down the
river towards the Atlantic. Being unsuccessful in the chase, we pitched
our tents at night, supperless, and without prospect of breakfasting the
next morning. A small fire was lighted, which I hugged as closely as
possible, to thaw my stiffened limbs; and then, cold, wet and hungry,
fagged to extremity, cast myself on the ground, to repose as I might.
The next morning was stormy. It cleared up in the afternoon, and the
Indians sallied out to find some food. My only refreshment before their
return was a little grease, which one of the squaws scooped out of an
ostrich-skin with her dirty thumb and finger. It was so black that its
pedigree--whether guanaco, ostrich or skunk, or a compound gathered at
random from beast and bird--was a problem defying solution; but famine
is not fastidious, and I swallowed greedily what, a few months before, I
should hardly have thought fit to grease shoes with. The men came back
with a few ostriches and skunks. The chief received as his portion one
of the quadrupeds. The associations connected with its name, as related
to one sense, were not adapted to prepossess the others in its favor;
but I made shift to do justice rather to the Indian than to my habitual
tastes.
During the three days we remained here, the long-concealed watch was
brought to light. The filth of the natives, the condition in which their
huts and their persons were always suffered to remain, the swarms of
vermin they housed, had imposed upon me extraordinary care to prevent
the natural results upon my own person; but no amount of precaution was
sufficient to avert them. The reader will excuse me from speaking more
particularly on this head. Enough to say that I found myself intolerably
tormented. The chief ordered an examination of the case, and sent for an
Indian to deal with it according to their art. While divesting myself of
my garments, one by one, for this purpose, the old fellow caught sight
of the hidden treasure. I knew that it was useless to attempt any longer
to retain it, and handed it over. He was vastly pleased with it. I wound
it up, and put it to his ear. He was as delighted at the unexpected
sound as a child with its first rattle. I explained its use in keeping
the hours of the day, but he cared for nothing but the ticking. The
breaking of the crystal was explained, and he was informed that another
should be procured as soon as we reached "Holland,"--another inducement,
I hoped, to speed our passage there.
The inspection disclosed a state of the cuticle which would be thought
dreadful in a civilized land. The chief, however, looked as calm as
beseemed a surgical examiner, and in a good-natured guttural exchanged a
few words with his assistant, who placed himself by my side, and fixing
his eyes steadily upon me, begun swinging his hands and howling like a
wild beast. The comparison was not far out of the way, for he gave a
sudden spring, fastened his teeth on my neck, and commenced sucking the
blood, growling all the while like a tiger! For a moment I thought my
hour had come. I weaned the rascal as soon as possible, not knowing what
his taste for blood might come to, if too freely indulged. It seemed
like a refinement upon cannibalism, but was, in fact, as I soon
ascertained, the regular treatment made and provided by Patagonian
science for the relief of severe cutaneous affections.
The chief, all this while, recurred with undiminished pleasure to the
ticking of his new toy. When his curiosity had at length abated, he
returned it to me. I wrapped it carefully in a rag, and enveloped it
afterwards in a young colt's skin provided for its reception, when, by
direction of its present august proprietor, it was suspended among other
valuables from one of the stakes of the hut, near the spot where his
highness customarily reposed. It was not, however, allowed long to
remain quiet. I was ordered to take it down and hold it to the ears of
all the visitors to the lodge. Forty times a day it had to come down for
this purpose, till I got so tired of my showman's duty that I wished
the watch in the bottom of the sea. The Indians, as they listened to its
vibrations, would stand in every attitude of silent amazement, their
eyes dilated, their countenances lighted up in every feature with
delighted wonder, and then break out in a roar of hoarse laughter, the
tone of which strangely contrasted with the infantile simplicity of
their demeanor. The business was dreadfully annoying, and yet it was
plain that a new and almost unbounded power affecting my destiny was
hidden in that little machine. It had captivated the chief, and struck
an awe over the tribe like the rod of an enchanter. Whether it boded
good or evil, was another question.
Our next move took us in a west-north-west direction, and in our
progress we not only secured abundant game of the ordinary varieties,
but encountered and killed a young lion,--to use the popular term,--the
first living specimen I had seen in the country. I had seen their skins
in possession of the Indians, and heard stories of their chase. This was
a youthful creature, about the size of a well-grown calf of six weeks. I
was riding side by side with the chief across a piece of low bushy land,
when the dogs gave token that they scented something uncommon. We
halted, and the chief cried out to the dogs, "Chew! Chew!" They were off
in a jiffey, rushing hither and thither through the bushes, barking
furiously, and soon drove the beast from his covert. Other Indians, a
little distance off, ascertaining what was in the wind, made after the
game with a reinforcement of dogs. The chase began in good earnest.
Horses, riders and dogs, from all points of the compass, were scampering
to the scene of action, hallooing, barking, howling, enough to frighten
any unsophisticated lion out of his senses. Some were running full tilt,
to cut off his retreat; while the hunters, bareheaded, leaning forward
in their saddles and urging their horses to their utmost speed, whirled
the bolas about their heads and let fly with a vengeance, with no other
effect than to arrest the furious animal, and cause him to turn in
desperation on the dogs, and drive them back yelping with pain. Others
of the pack, watching their opportunity, would spring upon his back and
fasten their teeth in his flesh. He brushed them off with a single
stroke of his paw, as if they had been flies, and was again in motion,
halting occasionally to give fight to his nearest assailant. Now and
then the bolas is hurled at him, but his lithe limbs, though sometimes
entangled, are not fettered by it, and his prowess is hardly diminished.
The Indians press around him; the battle waxes fiercer; his whole
strength is taxed. "Chew! Chew!" roar the savages; the flagging dogs
return fresh to the onslaught, and, after a hard and unequal contest,
the animal is fairly overborne by numbers, and despatched by the blows
of the Indians. I had kept in the vicinity, but yet at a respectful
distance, and now rode up to view the slain, amidst the howlings of the
wounded dogs and the boisterous laughter of the hunters. It was a
beautiful animal, with soft, sleek, silvery fur, tipped with black; the
head having a general resemblance to that of a cat, the eye large and
full, and sparkling with ferocity.
After the Indians had eyed their game sufficiently, and talked and
laughed and grunted their satisfaction, and congratulated themselves
generally on their victory, and severally on the part each had taken,
the body was driven off on the back of a horse, and the hunters again
spread themselves over the country. Some ostriches were soon started up.
The chief drew out his bolas, put spurs to his horse, and darted away.
His mantle fell from his shoulders: his long, straight black hair, so
coarse that each particular hair stood independently on end, streamed in
the wind; his hideously painted face and body loomed up with grotesque
stateliness, and the deadly missile whirled frantically over his head.
The whizzing weapon is suddenly hurled at his victim, the chief still
sitting erect in his saddle to watch its effect. His horse suddenly
stops,--he dismounts nimbly, seizes the entangled bird by the throat,
and swings it violently around till its neck is broken. As I rode up he
deposited the great bird on my horse, remounted, and rushed in pursuit
of another. That was killed and also placed in my keeping, making me a
kind of store-ship. Others pursue the guanaco with equal success, till
they are satisfied with their booty. We ride up to a convenient thicket,
a fire is lighted, a portion of the prey is cooked and eaten, the
remnants of the feast and the residue of the game are duly packed up,
and the whole troop is under march for the camp.