straitened, and deprived of all means of escape, fear is converted into rage, and they fight with the utmost obstinacy. I shall now proceed to treat of their arms, scouts, councils of war, military provisions, hostile expeditions, various modes of fighting, customs on obtaining a victory, and lastly, of the slaughters committed by them in every part of the province. CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE ARMS OF THE ABIPONES. No man can obtain celebrity amongst the Abipones except by warlike prowess. Hence to have their arms properly made, in good order, and ready when needed, is their chief care. To defend themselves, and offend their enemies, they principally make use of the bow and spear. Their native soil produces a kind of wood not to be met with in any other part of Paraguay, called _neterge_, which is of a red colour while fresh, and as hard as steel. They cleave this tree, cut out an oblong piece of wood, and shape it with a knife or a sharp stone. You would think it had been made by a turner. To straighten it they heat it every now and then by fire, and twirl it about between two logs of wood. By this method the Abipones make spears scarce smaller than the Macedonian pikes; for they are more than five or six ells in length, pointed at both ends, that if one end gets blunt, the other may still be of service, and also for the convenience of sticking the spear into the ground when they pass the night in the plain. Formerly when they were unacquainted with the very name of iron, they fought with wooden spears, fixing a cow's or stag's horn to the end of them by way of a point. But when the Abipones obtained iron points from the Spaniards, they dexterously inserted them into their spears, and used them to slaughter those from whom they had received them. When going to fight they grease the point of the spear with tallow, that it may enter more readily and deeper into the flesh. We have sometimes seen spears four palms deep in hostile blood, with such force had the Abipones driven them into the sides of the savages who attacked our colony. As their tents and huts are in general rather low, they fix their spears at the threshold of the door to have them always in readiness. By the number of spears you may know the number of warriors which the horde contains. As European generals, to conceal the scanty number of their forces, and to supply the want of warlike instruments, have sometimes placed machines of painted wood, on mounds, to frighten their more numerous adversary; we, in like manner, availing ourselves of the same species of cunning, fixed spears hastily made of reeds or wood, in the houses of the absent Abipones; deluded by which the enemies' scouts reported to their countrymen that the town was full of defenders. The Abipones are commendable not only for their skill in making their weapons, but also for their assiduity, in cleaning and polishing them.