Conception of the world The bolas Painted Leathers
Guanacos
(Lama guanicoe) and lesser rheas or ñandúes (Pterocnemia
pennata) were their main preys. Hunting methods changed as culture evolved.
The old Tehuelches used to go walking with a bow and arrows. Hunting bows
were small and the string was made of guanaco's intestines. Arrows were
equally short. They were made of cane and had two or three feathers. The
cutting end was made of white or black stone or bone. They carried them
in a carcaj. Stone knives and leather wineskins for the water were also
used on hunting journeys.
In
the XVII century, after the Spaniards came, they adopted the horse to hunt.
Bolas were their main weapon. Women sometimes cooperated by forming a fence
to enclose preys and, occasionally, they hunted minor preys like skunks
(Conepatus humboldti), hares (Dolichotis patagonum) and armadillos (Chaetophractus
villosus). Their resources were based on hunting, apart from gathering
certain edible roots and seeds to eat toasted or to make flour and prepare
cakes.
Commerce
became an important part of their economy. Horses enabled them to travel
long distances to
exchange
their products for the ones offered by white people from the colonies.
In the XIX century, the dependance on these products increased and the
journeys to Punta Arenas and Carmen de Patagones became the core of their
economicalactivities. There were more people in each settlement andterritories
were not so strictly defined. However, the huntingof guanacos and ñandúes
kept being important.
BOLAS
Bolas
have been used in Patagonia for about 10,000 years. During the Conquest,
the two balls bolas were the main fighting weapon of the tribes in Pampa
and Patagonia. Nevertheless, the three balls bola was known in the Andean
region since pre-Colombian times.
During the latest
years, the Tehuelches used bolas found in old settlements or in the hunting
lots of their ancestors.
For the Northern Tehuelche mythology, these bolas they found were manufactured by a dwarf called TACHWšLL, who worked in cliff-like valleys and hills. He scratched the stones with his nails, and although he tried to hide from people, the rattling of his tools was constantly heard. On one occasion, he was discovered, but as soon as it happened, it became cloudy and started to rain so much that they had to set him free. Then the rain stopped.
LOST BOLA
It was an only
stone bola, either plain, sharp or bristled, tied to a belt. They used
to throw it from a distance at animals or enemies. Sometimes they grabbed
it by the end of the belt and used it as a mace to fight man against man.
TWO AND THREE
STONES BOLAS
They
are intended to stop or lock the movement of the enemy or the prey. They
are thrown at different parts of the body according to the prey. ¤and£es
are attacked at the base of the neck, while mares and guanacos are aimed
at the legs.
The double bola is known as ñanducera. It is formed by a stone or metal ball with an oval handle made of a lighter stone.
Recent Tehuelches used wooden bolas to capture horses and cows because they are lighter and less agressive. They were made of Ñire wood (Notophagus antarctica). These trees are attacked by a fungus, the Llao Llao ( Citaria darwini ) and form very hard knots on their branches.
They used thin colt leather stripes to make belts and lassos, and also guanaco's neck or the tendons of a ñandú's leg plated three by three. To fasten the grooved stone, they tie a leather strip around the groove and then join it to the end of the lasso. Even bolas are usually stuffed in the 'retobo'.
"...They
fight with bows and arrows and some stone balls which are as big as a fist
and have a cord tied as a guide; they are so accurate that they never miss
their target."
(Luis de Ramírez,
Spanish, 1528.)
PAINTED
LEATHERS
The
most important task for women in the campsite was the manufacture of fur
blankets, a task that deserves a detailed description. First they dry the
furs in the sun and peg them down with carob thorns. Once they are dry,
they scrape them with a piece of flint, agate, obsidian or sometimes glass
tied to a naturally curved branch forming a handle. Then they smear the
furs with grease and a pulp made of liver to soften them manually until
they are completely flexible. After that, they extend them on the ground,
cut them into pieces with a small sharp knife and make some small notches
around the edges to assemble the pieces of leather and sew them tight.
These little
leather cuttings are distributed among four to six women, who sew them
together with needles and threads. Needles are punches made of sharp nails
and threads are the dry tendons of the loin of an adult guanaco. When the
blanket is big, they do not sew it all at once. First, they finish one
half, peg it down and apply the painting in the following way: they moisten
the surface, then each of the women takes a pastille or a piece of red
ocher and soak it to apply the paint with great care. Once the background
is completed, they draw the black spots and the blue and yellow stripes
on it. Once this part is finished, they put the fur to dry during one night
and finish the other half and the wings that form the sleeves; after this
work is finished, the fur shows a compact surface.
Their favourite
drawing, except when the owner is in mourning, is a red background with
black crosses and longitudinal blue and yellow stripes with trimmings,
or a white, blue and red zig-zag.
From
the XVII century onwards, the Araucanians crossed from Chile to their region.
This situation ended when Northern Tehuelches virtually disappeared as
such in the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Neuqu‚n up to the river
Limay. Some GÜNÜN A KÜNA groups remained on the West and
only joined the Araucanians after the outpost of General Villegas in 1886.
ELEMGASEM is an outstanding figure in their mithology. He is the father of the race that lives near the cave and the author of the rupestrian paintings on the caves near where he lives. He is described as a big strange animal covered by an enormous thick shell, similar to an 'armadillo'. He used to steal people, and according to some narrations, he had a human face. According to others, he was a man medium height with the back covered by a big armour.
The GÜNÜN
A KÜNA had a song for the Elemgasem. They said he was the "owner"
of all living animals and could only be killed by a ray. They used to scrape
the bones of the Elemgasem (any fossil) and give that powder to children
to be strong and healthy.