438 



VALENZUELA ARAUCO. 



June 1835. 



dante,** and were directed to a rancho rather higher and larger 

 than the rest. Without a question we were received, and told 

 to make the house our own. That we were wet and tired, was 

 a sufficient introduction to the hospitable Chilian. 



Before thinking of present comfort, it was necessary to secure 

 horses for the next day's journey, and dispose of our own tired 

 animals ; but money and the willing assistance of the coman- 

 dante (Colonel Ger°. J. Valenzuela), soon ensured us both 

 horses and a guide. In the colonel's house, a barn-like building, 

 entirely of wood, and divided into three parts by low partitions, 

 I was surprised to see an arm-chair of European make, which 

 in no way corresponded to the rest of the furniture. Some large 

 shells, not found in these seas, also caught my eye, and tempted 

 me to ask their history. They had been brought only the 

 previous day from the wreck of the Challenger, and were given 

 by Captain Seymour to Don Geronimo, who had himself 

 but just returned from assisting the shipwrecked party. His 

 account and tlie chances of an attack being made by the Indians, 

 increased our anxiety to proceed ; it would, however, have 

 been worse than useless to attempt finding our way in a dark 

 night, while it was raining fast and blowing very hard ; but 

 at daybreak in the morning we saddled, and soon afterwards 

 were splashing along the low flat tract of land extending from 

 Arauco westward towards Tubul. Heavy rain during the night 

 had almost inundated the low country, and to our discomfort 

 appeared likely to continue during the day. In half an hour 

 after starting we were soaked with mud and water ; but being 

 well warmed by galloping, we felt indifferent to the rain, and 

 to a heavy gale of wind that was blowing. 



Arauco, famous in Spanish song and history, is simply a 

 small collection of huts, covering a space of about two acres, 

 and scarcely defended from an enemy by a low wall or mound 

 of earth. It stands upon a flat piece of ground, at the foot 

 of the Colocolo Heights, a range of steep, though low hills, 

 rising about six hundred feet above the sea. 



In the sixteenth century, Arauco was surrounded by a fosse, 

 a strong palisade, and a substantial wall, whose only opening 



