cases, much depends upon his
physical powers and wealth. A number of wild tribes still roam over the
country between the western Argentine states and the Andes. There they
live free and independent, though barbarous. When they venture into the
neighbourhood of large towns, they soon degenerate into thieves and
drunkards. Here they come to carry on a trade in furs and panther
skins, or to collect meat at the saladeros, which they dry and carry off
with them. They make money by selling Indian ornaments, and foraging
for the settlers' cattle; or by thieving, which they look upon as an
orthodox mode of gaining a livelihood.

TRIBES OF THE GRAN CHACO.

Several tribes inhabited the Gran Chaco. The principal one--the least
sunk in barbarism--were the Guanas. They lived in towns arranged in
some symmetrical order, composed of palm-trees. Each house formed an
enclosed square composed of posts and arches. To these were fixed
horizontal beams, the whole covered with mud and straw. There was but
one door, and the structure was sufficiently large to contain a dozen
families. They had bed-places on square frames, covered over with
boards and straw and skins, while their houses were kept scrupulously
clean.

They were noted for their hospitality, and subsisted chiefly by
agriculture. They cut off the hair in the middle of the forehead; some
shaved sometimes the front half of the head, and others half-moons over
the ears. Though the marriage ceremony was simple in the extreme, a
contract as to various points was invariably entered into. The men
greatly exceeded the women in number, in consequence of the unnatural
custom prevailing among them of putting to death the female children.
Old women acted the part of doctors.

Their dead were buried outside the doors of their houses, and a
considerable time was spent in bewailing their loss. Though they fought
bravely with bows and arrows, as well as with spears or clubs, they were
of a peaceable disposition, and never made war except in self-defence.

The great ambition of a Chaco Indian is to possess a horse, saddle, and
gun. Once mounted, he soon becomes a bold rider.

Their mode of crossing a river is curious. As their canoes cannot carry
their animals over, they first drive the horse into the river up to his
shoulders in the water, then launch the canoe--after tying the animal's
head to the top of the gunwale--with the children and luggage on board.
As the horse's