OF THE ASSAULT, AND THE MEASURES PRECEDING IT.
Highly to be admired are the anxious precautions with which they precede
an attack. They minutely premeditate whatever is likely to befall them.
That they may not be deceived in their opinions, they make one of their
jugglers the ruler of the expedition, whom, as endued with the knowledge
of things future and absent, they consult on all occasions, and, madly
credulous, revere as the Delphic Apollo. Should the event prove contrary
to the juggler's predictions, not one of them will blame or even
distrust him. Though he were to commit blunders every day, he would
still carry home a considerable portion of the spoils, the reward of his
mendacity. If an attack is to be made next day, they contemplate the
situation of affairs in every point of view, nor ever apply their minds
to the execution of a project, till convinced of its being devoid of
danger. They leave the drove of superfluous horses with persons to guard
them, in a place out of sight. They stain their faces with various
colours, to excite terror, and for the same purpose some wear a crown of
parrots' feathers, others a red cap sparkling with beads of glass, or
snails' shells, and others again place an enormous vulture's wing on
their heads. I knew an Abipon who wore the skin of a stag's head,
branching with horns, by way of a helmet, whenever he was going to
fight, and another who tied the beak of a tuncà to his nose before he
entered into an engagement. I always observed that those persons who
were most solicitous about rendering their persons terrible to others,
had the least courage themselves. The most intrepid, neglecting these
precautions, await the weapons of the enemy quite undefended, though
they always paint their faces. All sit half naked on the bare back of
the best horse they possess, and, in place of a bridle, use a thong
fastened to the animal's jaws. They throw away all heavy things, and
whatever may retard the speed of the horse, that they may be able to
make or avoid an attack with more celerity.
The most favourable time for an assault, in their apprehension, is
either the beginning or end of the day, when there is just light
sufficient to enable them to distinguish all objects. For at dawn or
twilight they find more men at home to slay, and those oppressed with
sleep: whereas in the day they are generally absent on business. But as
the morning or evening have generally been chosen for committing
slaughters, the Spaniards began to account those times dangerous, and by
vigilant care to defeat the machinations of the savages. Perceiving
which, the Abipones thought proper to depart from their usual custom,
and often fell upon us at noon, when we were suspecting nothing of the
matter. The Mocobios and Tobas followed their example, so that, in the
Abiponian colonies, we could reckon no part of the day secure from
hostile designs. They scarcely ever venture to make an attack at night,
however, for in dark places they fear that some person may be concealed
to kill them. Entering my apartment to pay me a friendly visit, when it
happened to be destitute of light, they were immediately alarmed, and
fearfully exclaimed, _Kemen nenegin greërigi!_ How black your house is!
But they are not afraid of the dark in the open plain, when they want to
drive away horses, watch, explore the country, or do any thing else
there. It is peculiar to the Guaycurùs to break into the colonies and
commit their ravages by night; they secretly send forward some of their
people to pluck up the stakes fixed in the ground for the security of
the place, that the rest of the company may obtain access while the
inhabitants are fast asleep, and dreaming of any thing but the impending
slaughter. It is on this account that the Guaycurù nation has been so
universally formidable. Moreover, the Abipones do not always conduct
their assaults in the same manner. If a colony of Christians is to be
attacked, they approach secretly by some unknown way, and without noise.
They block up all the ways with many rows of horse, that no place of
escape may be left to the inhabitants. Others on foot break open the
doors of houses; but if they judge this perilous they set fire to the
buildings from a distance by shooting arrows headed with burning cotton
or tow against them, and if the roofs be covered with straw or any
material of that kind, they immediately burn, and wrap the inhabitants
in flames; thus, all who rush out are slain by the savages, and all who
remain within are burnt to death; and it is as certain as it is
incredible, that the weapons of the savages are more dreaded than the
fire. In the town of Iago Sanchez, near Corrientes, a church, with the
priest officiating at the altar, some Indian women and children, and a
few men, was burnt to ashes. At other times the Abipones, having slain
or captivated all the inhabitants, carry off whatever may be of service
to them; they even take away many things, with the use of which they are
unacquainted, that the Christians may derive no benefit from them,
though they soon after break them to pieces, or throw them into some
river.
Whenever the Abipones think fit to attack the bands of the Spaniards,
they rush upon them on their horses, not in close ranks, like the
Europeans, but in various parties, so that they can attack their
adversaries at once in front, behind, and on both sides, and extending
their spears above their horses' heads, kill all they meet. They strike
a blow, but that they may not receive one in turn, leap back as quick as
they came, and presently resuming courage, return again and again into
the ranks. Every one is his own leader; every one follows his own
impulse. They can turn their horses round in various circles, with the
utmost swiftness, having them wonderfully under their command. They can
suspend their bodies from the horse's back, and twist them about like a
tumbler, or, to prevent themselves from being wounded, conceal them
entirely under the horse's belly. It is by this art chiefly that they
escape the leaden bullets of the Spaniards; for by continually changing
their position, they deceive and weary the eye of him that is taking aim
at them with a gun. They condemn the stationary fighting of the European
soldier, and call it madness in a man to stand and expose his breast as
a mark to the flying balls. They boast that their quickness in
assaulting and evading the blow, is the most useful part of the art of
war. Whoever is aware of the volubility of the savages, will never fire
till quite sure of hitting them; for after hearing a harmless report,
without seeing any of their comrades fall, they will cast away their
dread of European arms, and grow more daring than ever; but as long as
they see you threatening them with a gun, they will continue to fear,
more anxious to save themselves than to kill others.
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.