| Show GArdE IN PATAGO IA1 I I I I j I I How the Natives Kill it With i Their Deadly Bolas 1 I 1 PLENTY OF EXCITING HUNTING I An Interestiiisr Account of an Expedition Into Deep Canjons Straiuc Habits of Peculiar People The cow called by the Spaniards toldo is Ji native hut something like a sloping shed seven feet high in front and two feet high at tho back twelve feet long by nine wide and covered with skin I had left the ship at Desengano bay and started with a native servant named Ka trims whom we had picked up farther down the coast and carried as interpreter to penetrate the Guaitecas country of the Patagonians order to get some skins of the guanaco The guanaco is a species of the llama which to South America is what the camel I is to oriental countres and is not indeed I unlike that animal in certain respects After we had concluded arrangements for pelts at one village the old chief asked us to accompany the young men on a hunt in order that they inijiLt give me a practical practi-cal illustration of the use of the wonderful native weanon called the bolas which is the father of the cowboys lariat and on j j I the morning of the hunt Katrilas called I I me j PATAGOXIAXS AND THEIR BOLAS i As I came out of the hut found about a dozen Pntagoiiians gathered about They were muscular fellows but not by any means approaching the gigantic stature attributed to the e people by early travelers travel-ers Their color was a dark copper brown and the hair long and coarse hung loosely about their faces and was only kept out of their eyes by a fillet of guanaco skin The Indians dress consisted of a loin band and large mantle of guanaco skin with gaiters to protect the ankles from thorns From the wearing of gaiters came the name Patagonia the sailors of lagel lan ridiculing these conspicuous items of dress named the natives Patagones which means duck feet The name adhered to the people and was afterward applied to their country Tethered some distance from the toldos were a number of horses something like mustangs standing about fifteen hands high and very fleet and strong but not very symmetrical Two of these animals had been provided for myself and Katrilas and as soon as breakfast was over we galloped away with our guides seated upon rude saddles made of wood and rawhide raw-hide We made directly for the open country The only weapons carried were bolas of which there are two kinds one made with two balls called somai and one with three balls called achico The achico is generally gener-ally used These weapons are made of stones about twice the size of a baseball made round by rubbing by the women of the tribes Some are made of iron and the most valuable of all are of copper which being smaller in proportion to their weight offer less resistance to the air when thrown About eighteen ounces is the customary weight THE GAME SIGHTED j Each of these balls is laid in a circular piece of raw guanaco hide which has holes I around the edge The pieces are fitted close to the ball by passing one end of the main thong through the holes and drawing it tight The thongs are nine feet long and are made in two sections which while the I hide is fresh are twisted together so as to I form a rope with two strands the strength j of which is very great Two of these ropes j j i arc attached to each balL In the three ball bolas the six ropes are joined together in a neat splice which forms a handle i The bolas is to the Patagonian what the boomerang is to the Australian We had ridden a few miles into the prairie prai-rie or savannah when a scout who led us at some distance held up his hand as a signal sig-nal that game was sighted Immediately our line of hunters spread out in a curved line and in a minute every horse was in motion at a slow trot As we neared the scout I came to the top of a slight rise in the ground and then I saw in the valley on the other side about forty of these llamas which supply the native with his food his dwelling his clothes and half his weapon I The herd had been held by the scout skillfully imitating the cry of a young deer in distress and until we topped the rise the animals gazed curiously Then they started making for the hill that lay behind us But our line skillfully disposed rendered a wide circuit on their part necessary neces-sary This speedily confused them Though their fleet limbs might have saved them easily in a straight run they scattered wildly and ran hither and thither at lightning light-ning speed swerving at every approach in their half blind career to a hunter and screaming in nervous excitement Each hunter singled out his prey and then I saw why the girdle was worn by the hunters outside the mantle Loosening the garment at the throat as he galloped the wearer let it drop to the belt thus leaving his arms free and unencumbered while its ends flapped and fluttered like wings still further adding to the terror of the timid animals under pursuit < A CURIOUS SCEKE Seeing that the hunt simply ranto and ng mp y I fro and did not get away from the valley I reined in my horse and watched the curi Ious I-ous scene The guanacos ran and aftex them rode the hunters each grasping in Ms right hand the bolas whose three balls lying close together circled slowly round and round his head Each horse though feeling the fever of the chase answered to a pressure of the knees and the riders eyes were fixed upon the game Xcarer and near drew tho fleet horses and then the bolas made a swifter shorter revolution the grasp was released and I away sped the missile Now and only now I saw the true value of this weapon As it left the hand the three balls lying side by side suddenly diverged under the action of centrifugal force and spreading out the weapon appeared transformed trans-formed into a rigid triangular frame which turned over and over in its flight Urged by the stalwart arm of the native it flew straight to the mark and striking the guanaco on the shoulder the impetus I communicated to the balls coiled ono thong in a suffocating twist round the animals neck a second around both legs and the third around the body the ball striking the side with a heavy blow which broke two ribs As if struck with a bullet the animal dropped in its tracks Quick as a flash the hunter leaped from his horse With a I swift twist he loosed his bolas then a slash of his knife killed his victim All this was done in seemingly a single motion mo-tion and then more quickly than it can be described the Indian was on his horse again in pursuit of another guanaco The scene ivas exciting in the extreme Ju an almost incredibly short time fully twothirds of the herd were ldllccLW P Pondin Youths Couinanion |
