﻿VOL. 
  2] 
  

  

  THE 
  ARATJCANIANS 
  — 
  COOPER 
  

  

  745 
  

  

  Our 
  dated 
  historical 
  documents 
  enable 
  us 
  to 
  trace 
  the 
  concept 
  jback 
  

   to 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  19th 
  century, 
  and 
  with 
  reasonable 
  probability 
  

   to 
  the 
  second 
  third 
  of 
  the 
  18th 
  century. 
  Beyond 
  that 
  the 
  trail 
  is 
  lost. 
  

   Earlier 
  writers 
  either 
  state 
  that 
  the 
  chief 
  deity 
  of 
  the 
  Mapuche- 
  

   Huilliche 
  was 
  Pillafl 
  or 
  else 
  deny 
  that 
  they 
  had 
  any 
  concept 
  at 
  all 
  of 
  

   a 
  Supreme 
  Being— 
  a 
  denial 
  which, 
  given 
  the 
  lack 
  of 
  penetration 
  on 
  the 
  

   part 
  of 
  these 
  writers 
  in 
  so 
  many 
  other 
  basic 
  aspects 
  of 
  religious 
  and 
  

   secular 
  culture, 
  need 
  not 
  necessarily 
  be 
  taken 
  seriously. 
  

  

  Figure 
  84. 
  — 
  A 
  Mapuche 
  llaqillaqi. 
  (After 
  Guevara, 
  1911, 
  p. 
  239.) 
  

  

  West 
  of 
  the 
  Andes, 
  among 
  the 
  Mapuche-Huilliche, 
  the 
  Supreme 
  

   Being 
  concept 
  can 
  be 
  quite 
  clearly 
  followed 
  back 
  well 
  into 
  the 
  19th 
  

   century 
  through 
  the 
  writings 
  of 
  Fathers 
  Adeodato 
  da 
  Bologna 
  and 
  

   Octaviano 
  de 
  Nizza 
  (Felix 
  Jose, 
  1910, 
  pp. 
  252-56) 
  and 
  of 
  Domeyko 
  

   (1845, 
  pp. 
  45-46) 
  and 
  Smith 
  (1855, 
  p. 
  273), 
  and, 
  with 
  good 
  proba- 
  

   bility, 
  back 
  to 
  the 
  middle 
  18th 
  century 
  through 
  Molina: 
  

  

  They 
  acknowledge 
  a 
  Supreme 
  Being, 
  the 
  author 
  of 
  all 
  things, 
  whom 
  they 
  call 
  

   Pillan 
  .... 
  They 
  also 
  call 
  him 
  Guenu-pillan, 
  the 
  spirit 
  of 
  Heaven; 
  Buta-gen, 
  

   the 
  great 
  being 
  foan, 
  "master"]; 
  Thalcave, 
  the 
  Thunderer; 
  Vilvemvoe, 
  the 
  Creator 
  

   of 
  all; 
  Vilpepilvoe, 
  the 
  Omnipotent; 
  Mollgelu, 
  the 
  Eternal; 
  Avnolu, 
  the 
  Infinite, 
  

   &c 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  He 
  is 
  the 
  great 
  Toqui 
  of 
  the 
  invisible 
  world 
  .... 
  [Molina, 
  1901, 
  

   p. 
  169, 
  cf. 
  1878 
  a, 
  p. 
  245.] 
  

  

  