Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/336

288 dwellings, which they assail with a terrible war-whoop, maiming and decapitating all they encounter, with the exception of the children, whom they lead into captivity. After having satiated themselves with the spilling of human blood, and having plundered whatever is within their reach, more especially the heads of those they have slain, they return victoriously to their homes. The invaded sometimes stand on the defensive; but usually those who attack are the vanquishers. Their most common pra6lice, therefore, is to fly to the forest, and having assembled there, to proceed to the encounter of the invading foe, whose progress they arrest. Having in their turn become the assailants, the issue of the contest is frequently so much in their favour, that they do not leave any one of the adversaries to carry to his nation the tidings of the defeat. But whether their attempt be prosperous or unsuccessful, they complete the destruction of the town which the enemy had assaulted, and remove to another part.

If those who engage in an expedition of this nature succeed in all the stratagems of the warfare, they dispatch a messenger to their nation to announce their victories. The instant these are made known, all who remained behind, the women more particularly, collect together, and sally forth to meet the warriors, bestowing on them welcomes and encomiums in proportion to the number of heads each brings with him, and reprehending and deriding him who comes without them. This operates so powerfully on these barbarians, that they would suffer death sooner than enter their house without the head of an enemy, or some other extraordinary token of their prowess. Those who maintain that the Indian does not pique self