PATAGONIA AND THE PATAGONIANS. 423 



more squalid than it really is. Thirty or forty toldos form a migratory village, 

 or tolderia. Though the dreadful small-pox epidemic from 1809 to 1812 de- 

 stroyed whole tribes of Patagonians, their present number may still be estimated 

 at from eight to ten thousand ; a small one, when compared with the size of the 

 country, yet large enough when we consider the sterile nature of its soil and the 

 vast space of desert needed to feed a sufficient number of guanacos and horses 

 for the wants of even a scanty population. Each tolderia appears to have its 

 territory limited by the hunting-grounds of its neighbors, but commercial trans- 

 actions take place between the various tribes, and occasion longer journeys. 

 One of the chief trading routes runs along the eastern foot of the Andes from 

 the Strait of Magellan to the Rio Negro, as water is here everywhere found ; 

 another, leading parallel with the coast from the Rio Negro to Port St. Julian 

 and Port Desire, is only frequented in the rainy season, and even then there are 

 wide spaces without any sweet water, and where it is necessary to travel night 

 and day so as to avoid the danger of dying of thirst. 



Every year the various Patagonian tribes wander to the sources of the Rio 

 Negro, where they provide themselves with araucaria seeds, which serve them 

 as food, or with apples, which have multiplied on the eastern spurs of the Andes 

 in the same astonishing manner as the peach-trees near the mouths of the La 

 Plata. The apple-tree was introduced by the first Spaniards who inhabited the 

 Chilian Andes soon after the conquest ; and when later the intruders were ex- 

 pelled by the victorious Araucanians, the natives found their country enriched 

 by this valuable acquisition. 



One of the chief bartering rendezvous is the island Cholechel, w T hich is form- 

 ed by two arms of the Rio Negro, about eighty leagues from the mouth of the 

 river. Here the Patagonian exchanges his guanaco skins for the articles which 

 the Puelches, his northern neighbors, either fabricate themselves or procure in 

 a more easy manner by stealing them from the white settlers in their neighbor- 

 hood. This bartering trade is very ancient, and has always existed excepting in 

 times of war. In this manner the Patagonians were provided with horses soon 

 after the introduction of this valuable animal into the New World, and thus 

 also articles of Spanish manufacture soon found their way as far as the Strait 

 of Magellan. 



At present there seems to be peace among all the Patagonian tribes, which 

 consider themselves as brothers, though frequently separated several hundred 

 leagues from each other. 



Their system of government is very simple. The whole nation has a chief, 

 or great cacique, whom they call carasken, and whose authority is very limited. 

 In war he presides in the assembly of the minor chiefs, and has the supreme 

 command in battle. In peace his sway is confined to his own tribe. He is as 

 poor as his subjects, and, far from enjoying a copious civil list, is obliged to 

 hunt for his subsistence like every other Patagonian ; the only advantage he 

 owes to his exalted station being a somewhat larger share of the products of 

 the chase ; and this ha is obliged to distribute among the more needy of his fol- 

 lowers, to maintain his influence. The dignity of carasken is not always hered- 

 itary. To succeed his father, the son must first prove by his eloquence, his 



