Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

MOURNING WAR— KXERCISK. 159 far as I am aware,* and leaving it for better-informed persons to decide upon the particular habits of each subdivision. Would any one tribe bury each of the five following persons in a simi- lar manner, and in the same place ? A powerful cacique — wizard — a woman — an ordinary man — a child ? " The widow or widows of the dead are obliged to mourn and fast for a Avhole year after the death of their husband. This consists in keeping themselves close shut up in their huts, without having communication with any one, or stirring out, except for the common necessaries of life ; in not washing their faces or hands, but being blackened with soot, and having their garments of a mournful appearance ; in abstaining from horse's and cow's flesh, and, within land where they are plenty, from the flesh of ostriches and guanacoes ; but they may eat any thing else. During the year of mourning, they are forbidden to marry, and if, within this time, a widow is discovered to have had any communication with a man, the relations of her dead husband will kill them both, unless it appears that there has been violence. But I did not discover that the men were obliged to any such kind of mourning on the death of their wives." (Falkner, p. 119.) Manslaughter is not infrequent. When quarrels arise, the parties draw their knives, or take such weapons as are at hand, and fight, if not parted, till one is killed. War often occurs between the smaller tribes, but does not last long. When the small tribes unite against another nation, such as the Molu-che, or the Puel-che of the north, their pre- parations are more serious, and their hostilities of far longer duration. When at war, or expecting an attack, the Patagonians exer- cise on horseback, in their armour, every other evening. Fre- quently the occasion of hostility is an encroachment upon the territories of a neighbouring tribe, either for hunting or plun- der. War is, in such case, instantly declared by the insulted * Except about the tomb which is described by Captain King in the first volume.