ESTANCIAS ATTACKED BY THE INDIANS. 81 



The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the 

 river. The road follows the foot of the sloping 

 cliff, which forms the northern boundary of the 

 great valley in which the Rio Negi'O flows. On. 

 tlie way we passed the ruins of some fine " estan- 

 cias," which a few years since had been destroyed 

 by the Indians. They withstood several attacks. 

 A man present at one gave me a very lively de- 

 scription of what took place. The inhabitants had 

 sufficient notice to drive all the cattle and horses 

 into the " coiTal"* which surrounded the house, 

 and likewise to mount some small cannon. The 

 Indians were Araucanians from the south of Chile; 

 several hundreds in number, and highly disciplined. 

 They first appeared in two bodies on a neighbour- 

 ing hill ; having there dismounted, and taken off 

 their fur mantles, they advanced naked to the 

 charge. The only weapon of an Indian is a very 

 long bamboo or chuzo, ornamented with ostrich 

 feathers, and pointed by a sharp spear-head. My 

 informer seemed to remember with the great- 

 est horror the quivering of these chuzos as they 

 approached near. When close, the cacique Pin- 

 cheira hailed the besieged to give up their arms, 

 or he v/ould cut all their throats. As this would 

 probably have been the result of their entrance 

 under any circumstances, the answer was given by 

 a volley of musketry. The Indians, with great 

 steadiness, came to the very fence of the corral; but, 

 to their sui-prise, they found the posts fastened to- 

 gether by iron nails instead of leather thongs, and, 

 of course, in vain attempted to cut them with their 

 knives. This saved the lives of the Christians : 

 many of the wounded Indians were can-ied away 

 by their companions ; and at last one of the under 



* The corral is an enclosure made of tall and strong stakes. 

 Every estancia, or farming estate, has one attached to it. 

 Vol. I— G 



