Bows and arrows were in general use, the points of
these latter being of bone or hardened wood. The barbs of the spears
were similarly contrived, many of these weapons being beautifully
decorated in the more northern territories. The greater part of these
tribes still remain in the forest districts of the Continent.
[Illustration: DIEGO DE ALMAGRO.
The fellow-_conquistador_ and rival of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru,
and pioneer explorer of Chile.]
In Chile and in the River Plate Provinces an entirely different type of
Indian prevailed; great warriors these, for the most part, who roamed
the plains of the River Plate Provinces, or, like the Araucanians, lived
a turbulent and fierce existence among the forests and mountains of the
far south to the west of the Andes Chain.
It was these Southern Indians who disputed the soil with the Spaniards
with the courage and ferocity that frequently spilled the Castillian
blood in torrents on the mountains or plains. To the end, indeed, they
remained unconquered, and death was almost invariably preferred to
submission to the hated white invaders of their land.
Even here prevailed the socialism which so strongly characterized the
races of the centre and north of the Continent.
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