108 



that it may be said that the Araucanians, when not 

 engaged in W£ir, pass the greater part of their lives in 

 revelry and amusement. Music, dancing and play 

 form their customary diversions. As to the first, it 

 scarcely deserves the name, not so much from the 

 imperfection of the instruments, which are the same 

 they make use of in war, but from their manner of 

 singing, which has something in it harsh and disa- 

 greeable to the ear, until one has been accustomed 

 to it for a long time. They have several kinds of 

 dances, which are lively and pleasing, and possess 

 considerable variety. The women are rarely per- 

 mitted to dance with the men, but form their com- 

 panies apart, and dance to the sound of the same in- 

 struments. 



If what the celebrated Leibnitz asserts is true, that 

 men have never discovered greater talents than in 



o 



the invention of the diiferent kinds of games, the 

 Araucanians may justly claim the merit of not being 

 in this respect inferior to other nations. Their 

 games are very numerous, and for the most part very 

 ingenious ; they are divided into the sedentary and 

 gymnastic. It is a curious fact, and worthy of no- 

 tice, that among the first is the game of chess, which 

 they call co?ràcan, and which has been known to 

 them from time immemorial. The game of quechu, 

 which they esteem highly, has a great affinity to that 

 of backgammon, but instead of dice they make use 

 of triangular pieces of bone marked with points, 

 which they throw with a little hoop or circle support- 

 ed by two pegs, as was, probably, X\\t fritillus of the 

 ancient Romans. 



