134 Comparative P^ierv of 



the Chilian tribes. They inhabit the region between the 

 rivers Biobio and Valdivia, and between the Andes and the sea, 

 and derive their name from the province of Arauco. " They 

 are a robust and muscular people, of a lighter complexion than 

 the surrounding tribes. Endowed with an extraordinary de- 

 gree of bodily activity, they reach old age with few infirmities, 

 and, generally, retain their sight, teeth, and memory, unim- 

 paired. They are brave, discreet, and cunning to a proverb, 

 patient in fatigue, enthusiastic in all their enterprises, and fond 

 of war as the only source of distinction." " Their vigilance 

 soon detected the value of the military discipline of the Spa- 

 niards, and especially the great importance of cavalry in an 

 army ; and they lost no time in adopting both these resources, 

 to the dismay and discomfiture of their enemies. Thus in 

 seventeen years after their first encounter with Europeans, they 

 possessed several strong squadrons of horse, conducted their 

 operations in military order, and, unlike the Americans gener- 

 ally, met their enemies in the open field." " They are highly 

 susceptible of mental culture, but they despise the restraints 

 of civilization, and those of them who have been educated in 

 the Spanish colonies, have embraced the first opportunity to 

 resume the haunts and habits of their nation." P. 241. The 

 following is one of three Araucanian skulls delineated in the 

 work. 



Araucanian, Fig. 7. 



