68 POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND 



behind their new masters in sprightly conversation with them. At the same time, they would 

 suffer death rather than betray the place of concealment of their husbands. 



Dr. Leighton's portrait of the men is less flattering. He considered them below the common 

 stature ; of a dark complexion ; round and full-faced, with small, keen, black eyes ; very little 

 forehead, the hairy scalp, in many cases, almost reaching the eye-brows ; flat-nosed, with wide 

 nostrils ; large mouths, their teeth white and regular, with, the exception of the superior dentes 

 canini, which are, in general, very large and long; they have no beard; their bodies are large, 

 their limbs muscular, and their legs, besides being disproportionately short, are very much 

 bowed. In general, they go bareheaded, with their long black hair flowing loosely over their 

 shoulders ; though many tie it in a knot on the crown of the head, all having the head encir- 

 cled by a band. A cacique who came to Santiago during our residence being thought, by those 

 who had had opportunities to judge, a fair type of the race, a daguerreotype was taken of him 

 by Mr. Smith, and the portrait opposite is copied from it. 



Their residences are small estates, as distinct and independent of each other as though the 

 capitals of separate nations. Some of them have well constructed wood or reed-plastered 

 houses, above 60 feet long and 25 feet wide. Usually, these have but one entrance, and a single 

 aperture through the roof for the escape of smoke. Adjoining are their orchards and fields of 

 wheat, barley, maize, peas, potatoes, flax, and cabbages, all enclosed and well cultivated; and 

 as the dwellings are, generally, near a river or creek, we perceive on its banks broad and 

 flowery meadows, over which graze their herds of horses, oxen, and sheep. Some of the 

 caciques of the interior are known to possess more than four hundred horses, and still more 

 extensive herds of neat cattle. Those on the coast are not so wealthy ; but the latter have 

 the advantage of fisheries, and, in many places, boil down sea-water to make salt for sale 

 means of subsistence denied to the first. For breaking up the ground, they make use of the 

 common plough of Chile. Artificial irrigation is not needed, and consequently is unknown. 

 It may be added, that they carve platters, trays, and spoons, of wood, with much dexterity; 

 and make vessels of earthenware similar in form and dimensions to those found in the graves of 

 the Indians of Peru and Bolivia. A few smiths are not unskilled in manufacturing spurs, 

 bridle-bits, and other parts of horse-trappings ; and the women spend much time in weaving, 

 as has been said. 



It is more than probable that great mineral wealth exists, which will be developed as soon as 

 the German colonists in the adjoining province find it indispensable to spread their homes over 

 these lands. It is well known that there were valuable deposites of gold in the vicinity of 

 Puren, and Villarica is said to have obtained its name from the richness of the mines there- 

 about ; but the natives are reputed to have destroyed all external traces of their existence ;'and, 

 if tradition has preserved knowledge of the localities of these mines, it has also preserved 

 memory of the centuries of war and tyranny to which the seductive metal betrayed them, and 

 the secret of such treasures remains hidden in their own bosoms. 



From what has been said r the actual present and possible future resources of Araucania may 

 be inferred. Were a good road made between Valdivia and Concepcion, so as to facilitate inter- 

 course between those cities, it would be greatly beneficial to the trade of each. The tribes along 

 the route, who now look surlily at every passer, and often rob him, even when protected by a 

 Capitan de Indios, (a sort of Indian agent,) would soon become familiarized with white men, 

 and their natural dispositions for agriculture would be fostered with the opportunities to dispose 

 of their produce. Under the influence of such intercourse, the next generation would probably 

 witness the warriors abandoning the few customs which now distinguish them from their half- 

 brothers of the north, and this most fertile and beautiful province might then take its place 

 among the wealthiest of the republic. 



VALDIVIA. The province of Valdivia, created by the law of division of the territory, has for 

 its limits the river Cauten, or Imperial, on the north, the Caramavida from the ocean to its 

 head-waters, and thence a line in an F.S.E. direction to a point on Lake Llanquihue, in 



