OVALLE*S HISTORICAL RELATION OF CHILE. II5 



tains ; but all under no other form of government, than the will of their lord, the 

 Cacique, to whom they yielded a ready and prompt obedience with joy. Their 

 houfes are generally of wood, without any flories, not very large, nor all of a-piece, 

 but each room framed by itfelf, fo that when they have a mind to remove and 

 chufe another fituation, they carry away the houfe by pieces, or rooms, which ten 

 or twenty men can eafily carry. When they take it up, they clear the ground about 

 it, and then at one cry, lifting all together, they get it up, and carry it chearfully 

 away, every one taking hold by its pillars ; and when they are weary they reft awhile, 

 and fo on again. Their doors are of the fame material, and they have neither 

 hinges, locks nor keys, nor any thing under a lock or key, their fecurity con- 

 fifting in each other's fidelity, which they obferve facredly towards one another. 



Their furniture is very mean, they being a people that defpife all conveniencies and 

 fuperfluities ; infomuch that that which is their natural way of living, would be 

 high penance with any European nations : for firft, as to their beds, they have neither 

 quilts, nor fheets, nor pillows, much lefs do they need curtains, paviUions, or alcoves. 

 The hard ground is their couch, upon which they lay fome poor fkins ; and for bolfter, 

 they lay a ftone, or a piece of wood, and double their cloaks to lay on it ; and 

 that is their higheft contrivance of eafe : they have one or two very coarfe coverlets, 

 which they weave of a fort of thread as thick as one's little finger. People that 

 ufe fo little about their perfons, may eafily be prefumed to have no hangings, nor 

 other ornament to their walls ; they have no utenfil of gold or filver, though they have 

 fo much in their country ; their plate is four or five difhes, and fome fpoons of 

 wood, or a fhell from the fea-fide ; a calabafh or gourd to drink in ; a leaf of a 

 tree, or of maize, for a faltcellar. This is all the apparatus of their table, which is 

 the ground, or at beft a little bench, without any cloth or napkins, byt only a 

 little broom, upon which they wipe their hands. 



Their meats are the moft fimple, and eafily dreft, without any incitements to 

 gluttony, as in other nations ; but yet they are tafteful enough, and fuch as many of 

 our Europeans like very well. They eat little flefh ; and before the Spaniards 

 came among them, they had neither fheep, goats, nor cows, no, nor hens : they ufe 

 thefe only at their great feafts. Their ordinary diet is of maize, variety of fruits and 

 herbs, and moft commonly gourds, or a fort of beans, which we call Frizoles. They 

 did eat filh ; and the game they hunted, particularly a fort of fmall rabbits, which 

 they call Degus ; and fmce the coming-in of the Spaniards, they eat beef and mutton, 

 of which there is great abundance. 



Inftead of wheat bread, which they had not before the Spaniards brought it, 

 they eat maize boiled in water, juft as rice in the Eaft Indies. This maize is, and 

 always has been the general nourifhment of the Indians of America ; and is not only 

 their meat, but their drink, which they make of the fame maize, toafted and fteeped 

 in water, and then boiled, and fet by; and that is their Chicha, or wine, which they 

 make alfo of the fruit of other trees. 



Their way of making flour is very different from ours : they firft toafi^. their maize 

 in great platters of earth ; thefe they fet upon the fire full of fand, which, when 

 it is very hot, they take off; and putting the grains of maize to it, ftir them about 

 very fait with a kind of broom : it is foon toafted. When done, they take it out, 

 and put in more, till they have done enough to make flour. This they grind 

 between two ftones, thus : they have a ftone fixed in the ground, of about the fhape 

 and bignefs of a fheet of paper, and fo hollowed, as another ftone of an oval 



Q 2 figure 



