194 



prefer to any other, but, more delicate than that peo- 

 ple, they eat it only when boiled or roasted. 



They dwell in the nrianner of the Bedouin Arabs, 

 in tents made of skins, disposed in a circular form, 

 leaving in the centre a spacious field, where their 

 cattle feed during the continuance of the herbage. 

 When that begins to fail they transport their habita- 

 tions to another situation, and in this manner, con- 

 tinually changing place, they traverse the vallies of 

 the Cordilleras. This wandering life is not, however, 

 without its pleasures : by this means they acquire 

 new acquaintances, new accommodations, and new 

 prospects. . 



Each village or encampment is governed by an 

 Ulmen, or hereditary prince. In their language and 

 religion .they differ not from the Araucanians.» They 

 are fond of hunting, and often, in pursuit of game, 

 traverse the immense plains that lie between the great 

 river of Plata and the straits of Magellan. These 

 excursions they sometimes extend as far as Buenos 

 Ayrçs, and plunder the country in the vicinity. 

 They frequently attack the caravans of merchandize 

 going from thence to Chili, and ¡^o successful have 

 they been in their enterprises, that at present^ owing 

 to that cause, the commerce in that quarter is said 

 Í0 be almost entirely stopped.* 



* It niay be here proper to relate what Î myself noticed on my 

 passage tkrough these districts. On the 27th of April, 1783, I left 

 Mendoza with past horses for Buenos Ayres. We soon learned 

 from some people whom cWe met, that the Pehuenches were out on 

 their excursions ; and we soon after received the melancholy in- 

 formation of the massacres they had committed in the Portion of 

 Magdalena, lu çonse(j[uence of this there was not a post house 



