366 



VALDIVIA. 



Feb. 1835. 



woods)^ the circumstance appears to me^ as I have before 

 stated, of very difficult explanation. 



On account of the tired horse, I determined to stop close 

 by, at the Mission of Cudico ; to the friar of which I had a 

 letter of introduction. Cudico is an intermediate district 

 between the forest and the Llanos. There are a good many 

 cottages, with patches of corn and potatoes, nearly all be- 

 longing to Indians. The tribes dependant on Valdivia are 

 ^^reducidos y cristianos.'^ The Indians further northward, 

 about Arauco and Imperial, are still very wild and not 

 converted ; but they all have much intercourse with the 

 Spaniards. The padre said that the Christian Indians did 

 not much like coming to mass, but that otherwise they 

 show respect for religion. The greatest difficulty is in 

 making them observe the ceremonies of marriage. The 

 wild Indians take as many wives as they can support ; and 

 a cacique will sometimes have more than ten. On entering 

 his house, the number may be told by that of the separate 

 fires. This plan must be a good one to prevent quarrelling. 

 Each wife lives a week in turn with the cacique; but all 

 are employed in weaving ponchos, &c., for his advantage. 

 To be the wife of a cacique is an honour much sought after 

 by the Indian women. 



The men of all the tribes wear a coarse woollen poncho ; 

 but those south of Valdivia wear short trousers, and those 

 northward a petticoat, like the chilipa of the Gauchos. All 

 have their long hair bound by a scarlet fillet round their 

 heads; but otherwise they are uncovered. These Indians 

 are good-sized men ; their cheek-bones are very prominent, 

 and in general appearance they resemble the great American 

 family to which they belong; but their physiognomy seemed 

 to me to be slightly different from that of any other tribe 

 which I had before seen. Their expression is generally 

 grave and even austere, and possesses much character: 

 this may pass either for honest bluntness, or fierce deter- 

 mination. The long black hair, the grave and much-lined 

 features, and the dark complexion, called to my mind old 



