ETHNOLOGY OF THE PRESENT DAY. 271 



Araucanians, are still quite as free as they were at the time of the conquest, 

 and have never become converted to Christianity. The Aucas are con- 

 stantly on the march, live under leather tents, and subsist upon food obtained 

 by hunting or from their herds. Always on horseback, they are the best 

 riders of South America. The Araucanians of southern Chili, on the con- 

 trary, have fixed abodes in the valleys, are engaged in the pursuit of agri- 

 culture and rearing cattle, and dwell in houses ; but are quite as warlike as 

 the nomadic tribes, and live in a state of perpetual hatred and warfare 

 towards the Christians, to whom they have never become subjected, and 

 also against the neighboring nations. They combine for the conflict, armed 

 with their holas, consisting of three balls attached to the same number of 

 thongs, two feet in length, joined to a point. With these, and their slings, 

 and spears fifteen to eighteen feet in length, sometimes with firearms also, 

 and in company with their wives and children, they set out upon the route, 

 under the direction of a great orator or chieftain, approach the place 

 designed to be attacked, send out scouts to reconnoitre, and upon the 

 following night suddenly rush upon the enemy. The women and children 

 rob the latter of their cattle, and make booty of everything falling in their 

 way. After the victors have killed the men, they carry off with them the 

 women and children. 



Their language is agreeable to the ear, and at the same time copious 

 and very easy to learn. The domestic life and clothing of the Arau- 

 canians are very simple. The dwellings consist of wooden huts, which are 

 covered with straw, have no partitions or windows, and are shut only by 

 a door of ox-hide. A few benches and a table constitute the household 

 furniture. Sheepskins are spread out instead of beds. Plates are made of 

 wood or clay, the cups of horn. Men of consequence have better houses 

 and furniture. The female dress consists of a long woollen undergarment 

 without sleeves, fastened around the middle of the body. Over this hangs 

 a small woollen cloak, joined in front by means of a broad clasp, mostly of 

 silver. The long hair is bound in six braids, and around the head they 

 wear bright-colored stones. Drops ornament the ears, rings the fingers, 

 and parti-colored glass balls the arms and legs. Over the shirt men wear 

 the pongo, a species of cloak reaching to the calves of the legs, and having 

 at the top, in the middle, a mere opening, through which the head is thrust. 

 With the ulmenes (princes), the dress is of better material. They wear 

 hats with tufts of feathers and heavy silver spurs, and carry rods with 

 knobs of this metal. With all this, they go barefoot like the rest. Their 

 martial attire consists of a tabard and a helmet hood of strong ox-hide, 

 frequently ornamented with handsome feathers. In Chili itself the Roman 

 Catholic is the established religion. In the cities, as in every place in 

 which Europeans have settled in America, European manners have been 

 introduced. (PI. 30, fig. 15, men and women of La Conception ; ^^. 16, 

 girl of that place ; Jig. 17, a Chilian of the lower ranks.) 



2. The people of Tetra del Fuego inhabit all the coasts of Terra del 

 Fuego and both sides of the Strait of Magellan, from Elizabeth Island and 

 Port Famine in the east to the archipelago that fills up all the western parts 



443 



