prefer to any other, but, more delicate than that people, they eat it only when boiled or roasted.

They dwell in the manner 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 habitations to another situation, and in this manner, continually 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 Ayres, and plunder the country in the vicinity. They frequently attack the caravans of merchandize going from thence to Chili, and so successful have they been in their enterprises, that at present, owing to that cause, the commerce in that quarter is said to be almost entirely stopped.*

* It may be here proper to relate what I myself noticed on my passage through these districts. On the 27th of April, 1783, I left Mendoza with post horses for Buenos Ayres. We soon learned from some people whom we met, that the Pehuenches were out on their excursions; and we soon after received the melancholy information of the massacres they had committed in the Portion of Magdalena. In consequence of this there was not a post house

They have, nevertheless, for many years abstained from committing hostilities within the Chilian boundaries in time of peace, induced either by the advantages which they derive from the trade with the inhabitants, or from the fear of being roughly handled by them. Their favourite weapon is the laque, already described, which they always carry with them fastened to their girdles. It is very probable that the ten Americans conducted by the valiant Orellana, of whose amazing courage mention is made in Lord Anson's Voyage, were of this tribe.

Notwithstanding their wandering and restless disposition, these people are the most industrious and commercial of any of the savages. When in their tents they are never idle. The women weave cloths of various colours; the men occupy themselves in

where we stopped but was in a state of alarm, and we came to some that were absolutely deserted through fear. The year before about three hundred Indians, lying back upon their horses, trailing their lances behind them, in order to have it supposed that it was one of those droves of mares so common in those Pampas, appeared all at once before the post of Gutierrez; but, supposing it strongly guarded, were deterred from attacking it, although they saw but one man, who patroled the wall with his musket, and was indeed the only person in it. This man knew well that the horses were guided, by the order and course they pursued, although he could see nothing of their riders till they had come very near. He had the prudence, however, not to fire at them, which probably led them to believe there was a greater force within the place, and induced them to abandon the `-enterprise and vent their fury upon the unfortunate inhabitants of those plains. The commander of the post of Amatrain was not so fortunate; he was killed the same year with a negro who attended him. These posts are fortified with palisades, or with a mud wall, and have a ditch and a draw-bridge.

making baskets and a variety of beautiful articles of wood, feathers or skins, which are highly prized by their neighbours. They assemble every year on the Spanish frontier, where they hold a kind of fair that usually continues for fifteen or twenty days. Hither they bring fossil salt, gypsum, pitch, bedcoverings, ponchos, skins, wool, bridle-reins beautifully wrought of plaited leather, baskets, wooden vessels, feathers, ostrich eggs, horses, cattle, and a variety of other articles; and receive in exchange wheat, wine, and the manufactures of Europe. They are very skilful in traffic, and can with difficulty be overreached. For fear of being plundered by those who believe that any thing is lawful against infidels, they never all drink at the same time, but separate themselves into several companies, and while some keep guard the others indulge themselves in the pleasures of wine. They are generally humane, complacent, lovers of justice, and possess all those good qualities that are produced or perfected by

commerce.

The Chiquillanians, whom some have erroneously supposed to be a part of the Pehuenches, live to the north east of them, on the eastern borders of the Andes. These are the most savage, and, of course, the least numerous of any of the Chilians, for it is an established fact that the ruder the state of savage life, the more unfavourable is it to population. They go almost naked, merely wrapping around them the skin of the guanaco.* It is observable that all the

*The anonymous account of Chili published at Bologna, in speaking of this nation, observes, that their language is guttural, and a very corrupt jargon of the Chilian.

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Chilians who inhabit the eastern vallies of the Andes, both the Pehuenches, the Puelches, and the Huilliches, as well as the Chiquillanians, are much redder than those of their countrymen who dwell to the westward of that mountain. All these mountaineers dress themselves in skins, paint their faces, live in general by hunting, and lead a wandering and unsettled life. They are no other, as I have hitherto observed, than the so much celebrated Patagonians, who have occasionally been seen near the straits of Magellan, and have been at one time described as giants, and at another as men a little above the common stature. It is true that they are, generally · speaking, of a lofty stature and great strength.

Government of the Marquis de Villar-hermosa; His Successes against Paynenancu; Capture and Death of that General; Enterprises of the Toqui Cayancura and his Son Nangoniel; Landing of the English in Chili; Operations of the Toqui Cadeguala.

AS soon as information was received in Spain of the death of Quiroga, the king sent out as governor to Chili Don Alonzo Sotomayor, with six hundred regular troops, who, in 1583, landed at Buenos

Ayres, and from thence proceeded to Santiago. He immediately sent his brother Don Louis, whom he appointed to the new office of colonel of the kingdom, to succour the cities of Villarica and Valdivia, which were besieged by the Araucanians. That of ficer raised the sieges of those places after having twice defeated Paynenancu, who attempted to oppose his march. Notwithstanding these reverses the enterprising Toqui turned his arms against Tiburcio Heredia, and afterwards against Antonio Galleguillos, who were ravaging the country with a large body of cavalry; by these he was likewise defeated, but the victors paid dearly for their victory.

In the mean time the governor, having driven off the Pehuenches who infested the new settlement of Chillan, entered the Araucanian territory with seven hundred Spaniards and a great number of auxiliaries, resolved to pursue the rigorous system of making war which had been adopted by Don Garcia, in preference to the mild and humane policy of his immediate predecessors. The province of Encol was the first that experienced the effects of his severity. He laid it entirely waste with fire and sword. Those who were taken prisoners were either hung or sent away with their hands cut off, in order to intimidate their countrymen. The provinces of Puren, Ilicura and Tucapel would have shared the same fate, if the inhabitants had not secured themselves by flight before the arrival of the enemy, after setting on fire their houses and their crops. In the last province they took only three of the inhabitants prisoners, who were impaled. Notwithstanding their severities a