120 



they please. Formed thus, iEis it were, by them- 

 selvesj thej become well shaped and robust, and 

 less subject to those infirmities that are the con- 

 sequence of a tender and a delicate education. 

 Indeed, the maladies that prevail among the 

 Araucanians are but few, and are for the most 

 part reducible to inflammatory fevers, originating 

 either from intemperance in drinking, or to the 

 excessive exercise which they sometimes use. 



If the physical education of the' Araucanian 

 children is in a certain deairee laudable, the 

 moral education which they receive will not cer- 

 tainly meet witli our entire approbation. It is, 

 nevertheless, conformable to the ideas of ihat 

 high-minded people, respecting the innate liberty 

 of man, and such as may be expected from an 

 uncivilized nation. Their fathers are satisfied 

 with instructing them in the use of arms, and 

 the nffanagement of horses, and in learning them 

 to speak their native language with elegance. 

 In other respects they leave them at liberty to do 

 whatever they please, and praise them whenever 

 they see them insolent, saying that in this manner 

 they learn to become men. It is very unusual 

 for them to chastise or correct them, as they hold 

 it as an established truth, that chastisement ren- 

 ders men base and cowardlv. 



