126 



A DIARY OF THE 



US were sometimes paid. To day, our little old 

 Indian proprietor was squatted before his fire in 

 the centre of his hut, which was full of smoke, 

 poultry, and dogs, making a net, for holding po- 

 tatoes or apples, out of strips of coarse rushes, 

 that grow abundantly in the neighbourhood. A 

 native of Arauco rents of him land to the extent 

 of from 4000 to 6000 acres, for the value of ten 

 dollars annually ; used as a run for a few horses 

 and cattle, but liable to a visit from the more 

 southern or hostile Indians. Two or three of 

 the grown up females usually paid a daily visit to 

 a spring situated in the wood joining our camp, 

 with calabashes, and aided each other in washing 

 their heads and hair, to which they appeared to 

 pay great attention ; a considerable time being 

 occupied in the examination and arrangement of 

 the back hair, which was dark and very long, 

 bound up in the form of the old-fashioned queue, 

 with a band comprised of coloured worsted 

 threads, and allowed to hang down the back, and 

 terminating with many little ornaments of brass 

 or glass beads. Mustered, as usual. The 

 weather dark and foggy. 



July 1. 1835. — Wind northerly. The weather 

 thick and misty. The crew had again recourse 



