444 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



sheer distrust of all strangers, and persistently refused to aid the English or 

 Dutch corsairs in their excursions against the Spanish main. 



Originally the territory left them by the treaties was very extensive, occupying 

 a space of about 30,000 square miles between the sea and the Andes, and stretch- 

 ing from Arauco Bay south to the Rio Calle-Calle (Valdivia). No other region was 

 more suited by its soil and climate for European settlement ; none more diversified 

 by lovely scenery. Hence, although the wars have never been renewed, a peace- 

 ful forward movement has taken place, with the result that the Araucanians, 

 nominally free, have practically lost their political autonomy. 



They have made several partial attempts to recover their independence, and a 

 French adventurer, originally a lawyer in a provincial town, even essayed some 

 years ago to carve himself a kingdom and found a dynasty in Araucanian 

 territory. But the supremacy of Chili had already been too firmly established 

 for any such attempt to succeed. Her war-ships now command the seaboard, 

 where ports have been opened and where troops may be landed at any moment. 

 Towns have sprung up in the interior, and while these are connected by broad 

 tracks through the forests, the railway steadily advances farther into the plain 

 between the Andes and the coast range, thus dividing Araucania into two dis- 

 tinct sections. Nor have the natives themselves preserved their racial purity. 

 During the old frontier wars they frequently carried off" Spanish women, whose 

 offspring approached the white type. At present the reverse process is going on ; 

 the Chilians intermarry with the Araucanians, and thus the race becomes more 

 and more modified from year to year. 



The old tribal divisions corresponded in no way with any family or racial 

 differences, and were, in fact, of a purely territorial character. Thus the Picun- 

 che were the " North Men," whose southern boundary was formed by the Eio 

 Maule ; the Pehuen-che, most numerous of all, and ancestors of the present 

 Araucanians, inhabited the district of Pehiien, that is, of the Araucanian plant ; 

 the Huilli-che, or " South Men," occupied all the rest of the Chilian mainland ; 

 while the Puel-che, or " East Men," beyond the Andes, dwelt in territory now 

 included in Argentina. 



The Chiloe group had also its Araucanians, the Cunchos and the Payos, 

 whose Hispanified descendants have received the general name of Chilotes. The 

 peoples dwelling on the banks of the lakes and rivers call themselves Lubu-che 

 (Levu-che), that is, " Water Men." The Chonos Archipelago recalls an Arau- 

 canian people of that name, of whom only a single family was still surviving in 

 one of the Guaitecas islands in 1871. Some mummies found on one of the insular 

 headlands show that the Chonos buried their dead in the same way as did the 

 Quichuas. 



Collectively the Araucanians may have originally numbered about 100,000 ; 

 but they were greatly reduced during the wars, and still more by the process of 

 assimilation with the half-caste nation of Spanish speech. At present they are 

 estimated at not more than 40,000. Although living in comfort — owners of land 

 and livestock — they continue to decrease, their power of resisting epidemics being 



