^6 



íurage. They are divided into se veral tribes, each 

 of u^lucli has its particular chief, to whom they 

 give the name of Ulman ; like the other Chilians they 

 are idolaters. Their language is every where the 

 bame, except that the eastern tribes have rather a 

 guttural pronunciation. These people are almost 

 constantly during the day on horseback ; their saddles 

 are made like the pack-saddles of our asses, the 

 bridle is a leather string, the bit, stirrups and spurs 

 are of wood, but notwithstanding the rudeness of this 

 equipage they are good horsemen, and almost always 

 ride upon the full gallop, followed by a great num- 

 ber of dogs who are trained to hold the horse by 

 the bits when the rider alights. The eastern Chili- 

 ans have no horses that exceed the middle size, pro- 

 bably from their riding them when very young, and 

 allowing them too little rest. Although they are not 

 in want of cattle for food, they prefer game to any 

 thing else ; and they are almost always to be seen in 

 chase of the guanaco or the ostrich, in the vast plains 

 that extend from the north of Plata to the eastern 

 part of the straits of Magellan. The weapon which 

 they employ in hunting and in war is the laqui^ of 

 which I have already spoken. It was with this that 

 they killed forty Spaniards in a skirmish at Saint 

 Luis della Punta, in 1767. These mountaineers 

 sometimes attack the caravans which pass from 

 Buenos Ayres to Chili, and freqiiently the country 

 houses belonging to the capital. 



Between the southern boundaries of Chili and the 

 straits of Magellan there are no nations except the 

 Pojas and the Caucaus. The Pojas are of a gigantic 



\ 



