478 ARAUCANIAN BOYS — ORATORY. J^lly 



upwards. Nothing should be above the ground floor but a light 

 strongly-secured wooden roof : and they should be placed upon 

 firm ground — if possible, upon rock. The principal objec- 

 tions against the present site of Concepcion are — that the eartli 

 upon which the houses stand is every where loose, and sandy, 

 and that it is too near the river. 



One day, while visiting a gentleman at Talcahuano, he 

 called three little Araucanian boys into the room where Mr. 

 Rouse and I were sitting with him, and desired them to ha- 

 rangue or make speeches to one another in their own way. The 

 little fellows stepped forward boldly, and one of them spoke 

 to the other two in a very fluent and expressive manner ; but 

 ended every marked sentence, or portion of his subject, by the 

 singular sharp rise of the voice which has so often been noticed 

 as a peculiarity in the oratory of Indians in this country. 

 Another boy replied in a similar manner ; and then they began 

 to fight with their fists. This part of the display of course 

 we stopped ; but we were much interested by the compo- 

 sure and readiness with which the little boys spoke. One of 

 the speakers was son of a cacique. All three had been obtained 

 by actual (though secret) purchase from their countrymen, 

 through the intervention of one of the ' Capitanes de los Ami- 

 gos,'* one of whose oflices is to take the part of and protect the 

 natives. Perhaps, in the first instance, these boys had been 

 stolen or taken prisoners, and were not the children of those 

 who sold them to the ' captain of the friends.' In the family of 



Don those boys found a comfortable and a happy home ; 



he had taken them from the rascally ' capitan de los amigos"" 

 as an act of charity, and intended to give them employment 

 and land on his estate. I thought of Lautaro, as I noticed the 

 bright eye of the little cacique. 



When I took leave of the Yntendente, he said that he was 

 about to make a journey to the frontier, for the sake of in- 

 specting the outposts and securing the assistance of the friendly 

 Indians : and this, I afterwards understood, was in consequence 



* See page 399, 



