87 



tains several words wholly applicable to astronom- 

 ical subjects, such as Thoren^ the late rising of the 

 stars, and others similar, which prove that their 

 knowledge in this respect, is much greater than 

 what is generally supposed. But my researches 

 into their customs, owing to the reasons which I 

 have already assigned, were by no means so com- 

 plete as I could have wished before I left the 

 country. 



Their long n'teasures are the palm, nela^ the span, 

 (hiche^ the foot, namun^ the pace, thecan^ the ell, 

 nevcuj and the league, tupu^ which answers to 

 the marine league, or the parasang of the Persians. 

 Their greater distances are computed by mornings, 

 corresponding to the day's journeys of Europe. 

 Their liquid and dry measures are less numerous : 

 the guampar, a quart, the can^ a pint, and the mencuy 

 a measure of a less quantity, serve for the first. 

 The dry measures are the chiaigue^ which contains 

 about six pints, and the gUepu^ which is double that 

 quantity. 



With regard to the speculative sciences they have 

 very little information. Their geometrical notions 

 are, as might be expected from an uncultivated peo- 

 ple, very rude and confined. They have not even 

 proper words to denote the principal figures, as the 

 point, the line, the angle, the triangle, the square, 

 the circle, the sphere, the cube, the cone, &c. Their 

 language, however, as we shall show hereafter, is 

 flexible and adapted lO every species of composition, 

 whence it would be easy to form a vocabulary of 

 technical words to facilitate the acquisition of the 

 sciences to the Araucanians. 



