320 VALDIVIA CHAP. 



is with this plant that the Indians make their chuzos, or long 

 tapering spears. Our resting-house was so dirty that I preferred 

 sleeping outside : on these journeys the first night is generally 

 very uncomfortable, because one is not accustomed to the 

 tickling and biting of the fleas. I am sure, in the morning, 

 there was not a space on my legs of the size of a shilling, 

 which had not its little red mark where the flea had feasted. 



\2tJi. — We continued to ride through the uncleared forest ; 

 only occasionally meeting an Indian on horseback, or a troop 

 of fine mules bringing alerce-planks and corn from the southern 

 plains. In the afternoon one of the horses knocked up ; we 

 were then on a brow of a hill, which commanded a fine view 

 of the Llanos. The vieu^ of these open plains was very 

 refreshing, after being hemmed in and buried in the wilderness 

 of trees. The uniformity of a forest soon becomes very 

 wearisome. This west coast makes me remember with pleasure 

 the free unbounded plains of Patagonia ; )'et, with the true spirit 

 of contradiction, I cannot forget how sublime is the silence of the 

 forest. The Llanos are the most fertile and thickly peopled 

 parts of the country ; as they possess the immense advantage 

 of being nearly free from trees. Before leaving the forest we 

 crossed some flat little lawns, around which single trees stood, 

 as in an English park : I have often noticed with surprise, in 

 wooded undulatory districts, that the quite level parts have 

 been destitute of trees. On account of the tired horse, I 

 determined to stop at the Mission of Cudico, to the friar of 

 which I had a letter of introduction. Cudico is an intermediate 

 district between the forest and the Llanos. There are a good 

 many cottages, with patches of corn and potatoes, nearly all 

 belonging to Indians. The tribes dependent on Valdi\ia are 

 " reducidos y cristianos." The Indians farther northward, about 

 Arauco and Imperial, are still very wild, and not converted ; 

 but they have all much intercourse with the Spaniards. The 

 padre said that the Christian Indians did not much like coming 

 to mass, but that otherwise they showed respect for religion. 

 The greatest difficulty is in making them observe the ceremonies 

 of marriage. The wild Indians take as many wi\-es as they 

 can support, and a cacique will sometimes ha\-e more than ten : 

 on entering his house, the number ma)- be told by that of the 

 separate fires. Each wife lives a week in tin^n with the cacicjue ; 



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