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CHAPTER XXVI
THE WARLIKE WOMEN OF THE AMAZON :
A HISTORICAL STUDY
[THIS essay was written by Spruce as an appendix
to his chapter on the Trombetas river, near the
mouth of which the early discoverers first en-
countered the fighting women. But as the evidence
adduced by Spruce for their existence is spread over
a large part of Amazonia, it seems better to give it
so I have been enabled to divide
here. By doing
the present work into two volumes of nearly equal
size, each dealing with a well-defined geographical
area.]
THE WOMEN WARRIORS
I cannot dismiss the Trombetas without saying a
few words about the warlike women whom Orellana
affirmed that he encountered on his voyage down
the Great River, the site of the encounter having
been identified by subsequent travellers with the
mouth either of the Trombetas or of the Nhamunda
(called also the Cunuris), which is the next tributary
of the Amazon to westward. It is of little moment
to which river we assign it, when (according to
Baena) the Nhamunda has two mouths, 14 leagues
apart, and the lower mouth is but 6 leagues above
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