Riding, hunting, and swimming are their daily employments. They climb trees to gather honey, make spears, bows and arrows, weave ropes of leather, dress saddles, practise everything, in short, fatiguing to the hands or feet. In the intermission of these employments, they race their horses for a sword, which is given to him who reaches the goal first. The women, debarred from the sports and equestrian contests of the men, are occupied day and night with the management of domestic affairs. They are however very active on horseback. They must needs be, as all their journeyings are made in this manner. They carry all their household utensils, goods and chattels packed on the horses they ride, and frequently stow their little children in bags of skins, among the pots and pans; and there they ride very easily. The Abipones, like most of the American savages, practised polygamy. But here, and also among the Araucanians, it is chiefly confined to the richest men among the tribe, the others not being able to support more than one wife. But the Abipones were guilty of another horrid crime, which was never practised in Araucania,--the mothers frequently destroyed their new-born infants. This awful sin was in consequence of polygamy being allowed: the mother was fearful that, if she devoted herself to taking care of her infant, her husband would marry another wife in the meantime. Here we see how wickedness increases itself, and thus causes sin to abound more and more. Since the instruction of the missionaries, however, there has been a great change in the conduct of the Abipones. They have been taught that there was a divine law against this cruelty, though their nation did not punish it, and they now seldom put their infants to death. And it was wonderful to see the change wrought in the course of a few years, after polygamy, divorce, and infanticide had been, by Christian discipline, abolished. The nation seemed filled with happy little children; for religion makes earth, as well as heaven, a place where innocence may live in peace. But there is still a great reformation needed in this tribe. The men are intemperate; even those who profess to be Christians, and have been baptized, will join in their drunken frolics. True, neither the women nor the youth drink any intoxicating draught and the missionary,[7] from whose works we select, says, that if they did, the whole Abipone nation would soon come to destruction.