164 



GOVERNMENT— CACIQUES. 



themselves, except at deaths, or on very particular occasions. 

 This attempt at an outward demonstration of faith in customs 

 of the Romish church, appears to have been caused by a Cap- 

 tain Pelippa, who visited the Strait of Magalhaens some time 

 before the Adventure and Beagle. Who or what he was, I 

 could not discover. 



There is a particular kind of tree, which is esteemed sacred, 

 and never burned. It is like a thorn ; a resinous gum issues 

 from the knotty, close-grained stem, which has a pleasant 

 aromatic smell, if put into the fire. 



Regular government, or any forms and rules approaching to 

 what may be called a civil constitution, no one would expect 

 to find among tribes of wandering savages ; but amongst the 

 Araucanian tribes of Moluche, who do not wander, and have 

 advanced towards civilization, there are regular laws, support- 

 ing a settled form of government ; and their ideas have been 

 communicated to the southern tribes, and have slightly influ- 

 enced them. Thus, in many cases, offenders are tried by an 

 assembly of the older people, and their sentence pronounced, 

 after mature deliberation, instead of being at once dealt with 

 as the cacique may, at first thought, deem expedient. 



The caciques or chiefs are hereditary. Those who possess 

 much property and have many followers are highly respected ; 

 but their authority, though absolute in some instances, is little 

 exerted in the common occurrences of life. When meetings 

 are held for the purpose of deciding upon any question, the 

 cacique presides — that is, he is considered the principal per- 

 son present ; certainly he looks the most solemn, and is the least 

 active. He gives orders to hunting parties, or to those who 

 exercise for war : and if men quarrel, he sometimes causes them 

 to be parted. In time of war he leads his tribe, and in pro- 

 portion to his enterprise and success is his actual authority 

 while the war lasts. Each person has a particular name, im- 

 plying a quality or some peculiarity ; sometimes a particu- 

 lar place. 



" All the sons of a cacique,'' says Falkner, " have a right to 

 assume the dignity, if they can get any persons to follow them ; 



