INDIAN RELIC 285 



gladly accepted of by them ; for the condition of the labouring 

 agriculturists is much worse. Their wages are lower, and they 

 live almost exclusively on beans. This poverty must be 

 chiefly owing to the feudal-like system on which the land is 

 tilled : the landowner gives a small plot of ground to the 

 labourer, for building on and cultivating, and in return has his 

 services (or those of a proxy) for every day of his life, without 

 any wages. Until a father has a grown-up son, who can by 

 his labour pay the rent, there is no one, except on occasional 

 days, to take care of his own patch of ground. Hence extreme 

 poverty is very common among the labouring classes in this 

 country. 



There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, 

 and I was shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina 

 mentions as being found in many places in considerable numbers. 

 They are of a circular flattened form, from five to six inches in 

 diameter, with a hole passing quite through the centre. It has 

 generally been supposed that they were used as heads to clubs, 

 although their form does not appear at all well adapted for that 

 purpose. Burchell ^ states that some of the tribes in Southern 

 Africa dig up roots, by the aid of a stick pointed at one end, 

 the force and weight of which is increased by a round stone 

 with a hole in it, into which the other end is firmly wedged. 

 It appears probable that the Indians of Chile formerly used 

 some such rude agricultural instrument. 



One day, a German collector in natural history, . of the 

 name of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old 

 Spanish lawyer. I was amused at being told the conversation 

 which took place between them. Renous speaks Spanish so 

 well that the old lawyer mistook him for a Chilian. Renous, 

 alluding to me, asked him what he thought of the King of Eng- 

 land sending out a collector to their country, to pick up lizards 

 and beetles, and to break stones ? The old gentleman thought 

 seriously for some time, and then said, " It is not well, — Jiay 

 tin gato encerrado aqui (there is a cat shut up here). No man 

 is so rich as to send out people to pick up such rubbish. I do 

 not like it : if one of us were to go and do such things in Eng- 

 land, do not you think the King of England would very soon 

 send us out of his country ? " And this old gentleman, from 



1 Buichell's Travels^ vol. ii. p. 45. 



