Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders/The Amazons
THE AMAZONS
CERTAIN women of the tribes living along the Amazon wear beads of a green stone, possibly jade or jadeite, possibly that more showy if less valuable mineral, Amazon stone, a variety of feldspar. When Cortez landed in Mexico, these stones, which were from hearsay thought to be emeralds, were worn by the Aztecs, who carved them in strange and symbolical forms, such as fish and parrots' heads. These ornaments were held in great esteem by the natives, who valued them more than gold. Their use probably spread from Mexico through Peru and so to the Brazils, for the women who now wear them say that they had them from the first owners by direct inheritance, and that they are amulets which preserve them from many ills. Orellana, who first ascended the Amazon, was also the first to tell of the existence of a tribe of female warriors in the great wilderness along its banks. Certain of the Tupinambas women had sworn an oath of chastity, agreeing among themselves to suffer death if they broke the compact. They disdained the employments of other women, rode horseback astride, after horses had been introduced into their country, and lived by the hunt, like men. They were expert with bow and spear, and they had servants to cook and make clothing for them. So like were they to the women described by Herodotus as living in Scythia and Libya that it was natural to call them Amazons: hence the river along which they fished and hunted took that name. There are scholars, it is true, who declare that the name is Amassona, an Indian word meaning boat-destroyer, and applied to the terrible bore, or tide avalanche, that is encountered at full moon on the lower river. The fierce creatures of the Tupinambas shared the toil and peril of war with the men of their tribe, but they also fought by themselves, battling against male soldiers of the enemy with entire fearlessness.