On the day appointed for the general conference, a body of about 200 men made their appearance at an early hoar, formed in battle array, and slowly advancing towards the commissioners' tents to the sound of horns (cornetas). On arriving within a short distance, they broke into small parties, uttering loud shouts, and charging over the plain, making cuts and thrusts in the air right and left with their swords and lances, and then wheeling about and riding round and round their leader, who apparently directed these manoeuvrings. The principal object of all this, the commissioners were told, was to drive away the gualichù, or evil spirit, whose secret pretence they apprehended might otherwise maliciously influence the approaching negociations. The trappings of some of the horses of these warriors were curiously ornamented with beads, and hung, about with little bells. Several of them wore sort of helmet, and a buff coating of hide, so well prepared as to be perfectly soft and flexible, though several times double; the helmets made of it are so tough as to resist the cut of a sword, and sometimes are bullet-proof. This was but the advanced-guard of a numerous host which afterwards came in view, covering the horizon, and making really a very imposing appearance. Altogether there might be something more than 3000 fighting men regularly marshalled under their respective Caciques in nine divisions. Though these Indians belonged to the _soi-disant_ friendly tribes, the commissioners could not fail to be struck at once with the quantity of arms and accoutrements amongst them, which were manifestly the spoils of war and of their own countrymen murdered on the frontiers. Their whole demeanour, too, was insolent and arrogant in the extreme, partaking infinitely more of defiance than any real desire for a permanent peace, which caused many misgivings to Garcia and his officers as to the result of their mission.