They Have No Hair On Any Part Of Their Bodies, Except On The Head,
Where It Is Long And Black; Especially The Women, Who Wear Their Long
Black Hair In A Very Comely Manner.
Their faces are by no means handsome,
being broad like the Tartars, and they allow no hair to remain on their
eyebrows or eyelids, nor on any other part of their bodies, as already
mentioned, it being esteemed by them quite beastly to have hair remaining
on their bodies.
Both men and women are amazingly agile in walking and
running, as we frequently experienced, the very women being able to run
one or two leagues at a stretch with the utmost ease, and in this exercise
they greatly excelled us Christians. They are likewise wonderfully expert
swimmers, in which the women excel the men and we have seen them swim two
leagues out to sea without any aid whatever. Their arms are bows and
arrows, which are more craftily made than ours; and, being destitute of
iron or any other metal, they arm the points of their arrows with the
teeth of wild beasts or fishes, often hardening their ends in the fire to
make them stronger. They are most expert archers, hitting any thing they
aim at with wonderful precision; the women also, in some places, being
excellent archers. Their other arms are a kind of very sharp lances or
pointed stakes, and clubs, having their heads very nicely carved. They are
chiefly accustomed to make war against their neighbours speaking a
different language; and as they give no quarter, unless to such as are
reserved for the most horrid tortures, they fight with extraordinary fury.
When they go to battle they are accompanied by their wives, not to assist
them in fighting, but on purpose to carry their provisions and other
necessaries; and one of their women will carry a greater weight on her
back for a journey of thirty or forty leagues, than a strong man is able
to lift from the ground, as we have often seen. They have no regular
captains or commanders in their wars; and although any one may assume the
office of leader, they always march onwards without any order whatever.
Their wars do not originate in any desire of extending their power or
territory, neither from any inordinate lust of dominion, but from ancient
enmities, transmitted from one generation to another; and when asked the
cause of these enmities, their only answer is that they are bound to
revenge the death of their ancestors. These people living in perfect
liberty, are not subjected to any kings or rulers, and are chiefly excited
to war when any of their tribe happens to be slain or made prisoner. On
such occasions, the elder relations of the slain person or of the prisoner
go about among the huts and villages, continually crying out, and urging
all the warriors of the tribe to make haste and accompany them to war,
that they may recover their friend from captivity, or revenge his death.
All being moved to compassion and revenge by these incitements,
immediately prepare for war, and march away in haste to the assistance of
their friends.
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