150 



They live in houses formed of brick, or of wood plastered 

 with clay. 



They are unacquainted with letters; Yet they have attain- 

 ed a wonderful knowledge of astronomy. 



There are other circumstances that strongly counteract 

 these advantages. Poli/gamy is allowed and practised by 

 all who can afford it, and women are condemned to servile 

 labour. Children are never corrected, their insolence is even 

 encouraged. Husbands and fathers are not subject to any 

 punishment for killing their wives or children. Crimes deem- 

 ed worthy of death are treachery, voluntary homicide, adul- 

 tery, robbery and witchcraft. Witches are first tortured by 

 fire, and then stabbed with daggers. Justice is administered 

 in an irregular and tumultuous manner, without any prelimi- 

 nary formalities. PubHc justice is either ill administered, or 

 entirely abandoned to the caprice of individuls : in such a 

 state the abode of happiness can be merely casual. This ac- 

 count is extracted from the 2d volume of the history of Chili, 

 written by Don Jean Ignatius Molina, a native of that 

 country, and published in 1787. 



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