Their arms were necessarily imperfect, from their ignorance of iron ; yet they had called forth the utmost exertions of savage ingenuity. The most important was, a species of club, called taea/ie, formed of Brasil wood, or of a species of black ebony, very weighty, round at the extremity, and sharp at the sides. It was six feet long, and about an inch thick. They had shields made of skins, broad, flat, and round. For missile wea pons, they had arrows, composed of the same hard wood with their clubs. The strings were made of a parti cular species of grass, and twisted so strongly, that a.
traveller declares a horse might draw by them. Their arrows were six feet long ; the head and point formed of black wood, the middle of common wood, and these different pieces are very neatly joined with thin bark of trees. They had two pennons, each a foot long, neatly tied with cotton thread. They were pointed, either with bone, with hard and dried canes in the form of a lancet, or with the tail of the ray fish, which has a strongly poi sonous quality. They had also a certain species of mili tary ensigns, and drew a warlike music from flutes made of the bones of their enemies.
Although they perferred the mode of warfare by ambuscade, yet, in case of necessity, they hesitated not to meet their enemies in the open field and a most ex traordinary spectacle then ensued. A French traveller, who was an eye witness of one of these combats, has given a very curious and lively description of it, which we shall translate for the use of our readers, preserving, as much as possible, the naivette of the original.
" Having been myself a spectator," says Lery, " I can speak with truth. Another Frenchman and I, though in danger, had we been taken or killed, of being eaten by the Margajas, had once the curiosity to accompany our savages, then about four thousand in number, in a skirmish which happened on the sea coast ; and we saw these barbarians combating with such fury, that people mad or out of their senses could not do worse. First, when our people had perceived the enemy at about half a quarter of a league's distance, they took to howling in such a manner, that though it had thundered in heaven we should not have heard it. According as they approached, redoubling their cries, sounding their drums, stretching their arms, throwing out dreadful threats, and showing to each other the bones of the prisoners whom they had eaten, and even their teeth strung together hung round their neck : it was horrible to see their countenance ; hut it was much worse when they came near each other ; for, when at the distance of two or thee hundred paces, they saluted each other with great showers of arrows ; and by the first dis charge, you would have seen the air entirely loaded with them. Those whom they struck tore them from their
body with wonderful courage, broke them, bit them with their teeth, and failed not to make head in spite of their wounds ; upon which we must observe, that these. Indians are so furious in their wars, that so long as they can stir legs or arms, they cease not to combat, with out retreating or turning their backs. When they were joined in battle, you might then see them wielding, in their two hands, wooden clubs, and charging so furiously, that he who met the head of his enemy, not only threw him on the ground, but felled him, as butchers do oxen. You will ask what my companion and I did during this rough skirmish ? To conceal nothing, I answer, that, satisfied with our first folly, which was to risk ourselves with these barbarians, and keeping in the rear, we were only occupied in viewing the blows. But though I had seen men at arms in France, both on foot and horseback, I must say, that the polished movements, and glittering armour of our Frenchmen, never gave me so much pleasure as I had then in seeing the savages combat. Besides their leaps, their hissings, and their skilful thrusts, it was a wonderful spectacle to see flying in the air so many arrows, with their great pennons of plumes, red, blue, green, carnation, and other colours, amid the rays of the sun, which made them glitter, and to see alse so many helmets, bracelets, and other ornaments, made of these natural plumes, with which the combatants were covered.
" After the combat had lasted about three hours, and that there had been a good number killed and wounded on both sides, our Topinamboux having at last gained the victory, made prisoners of more than thirty Margajas, men and women, whom they carried away into their country ; and although we two Frenchmen bad done nothing but hold our naked swords in our hands, and fire some pistol shots in the air to encourage our men, we saw that it was impossible to do them a great er pleasure than to go to war with them ; for they esteemed us so much afterwards, that, in the villages which we frequented, the old men always testified more friendship to us.