VI 



nishes a subject no less curious and interesting to 

 the moralist. The proud and invincible Arau- 

 ca^.ian exhibits some characteristic traits altoge- 

 ther new in the aborigines of this continent, and 

 scarcely to be paralleled in any nation of the old. 

 The long and successful resistance of this brave 

 people to the arnjs of Spaii,;, even in the meridian 

 of its military glor J, is a wonderful instance of 

 what a nation can perform when animated by a 

 spirit of libertv, and determined upon freedom 

 or death. The Araucanians^ it is true, to their 

 high sense of independence and unyielding cou- 

 rage, had the good fortune of uniting a system of 

 tactics so excellent as even to excite the admira- 

 tion of their enemies, and to this in a great mea- 

 sure may be ascribed their successfully opposing, 

 with far inferior arms, a powerful and disci- 

 plined foe. 



\>liciber the peculiar character of the Arau- 

 cani'ins proceed from the influence of climate 

 coiVili' ing wilh moral causes, or is wholly de- 

 rived from their institutions and free f'>rm of go- 

 vernment ; whetlier, wlV-} the Chilians in general, 

 they are of foreign orie^in, and a distinct race 

 from the other nati\cs of America, the remains, 

 as 'Ir autlior supposes, of a great and pov/erful 

 ii;copic, who had attained a high degree of civi- 

 jizaiion, and possessed a polished and copious 

 la!:guage; or whether their agricultural know- 

 kiige, military skill, and the cultivation of their 

 4 



