The wives have the greatest respect for their husbands, and generally give him the title of buta, or great. Besides female occupations, they are obliged to employ themselves in many that, in civilized countries, are considered as the peculiar province of the men, according to the established maxim of all barbarous nations, that the weaker sex are born to labour, and the stronger to make war and to command. Each of them is obliged to present to her husband daily a dish prepared by herself in her separate kitchen or fire-place; for this reason the houses of the Araucanians have as many fires as there are women inhabiting them; whence, in inquiring of any one how many wives he has, they make use of the following phrase of being the most polite, muri onthalgeimi, how many fires do you keep. Each wife is also obliged to furnish her husband yearly, besides his necessary clothing, with one of those cloaks already described, called ponchos, which form one of the principal branches of the Araucanian commerce.

The greatest attention is paid by the women to the cleanliness of their houses, which they sweep, as well as their courts, several times in the course of a day; and whenever they make use of any utensil they immediately wash it, for which purpose their houses are supplied with an abundance of running water. The same attention to cleanliness is paid to their persons;

they comb their heads twice a day, and once a week wash them with a soap made from the bark of the quillai,* which keeps the hair very clean. There is never to be seen on their clothes the least spot or dirt. The men are likewise equally as fond of cleanliness; they never fail to comb their heads every day, and are also accustomed frequently to wash them.

Bathing, as among the ancients, is in common use with these people, who think it necessary to preserve their health and strengthen their bodies, and in order to have it convenient they are careful to place their houses on the banks of rivers. In warm weather they bathe themselves several times a day, and it is rare even in winter that they do not bathe themselves at least once a day; by means of this continued exercise they become excellent swimmers, and give wonderful proofs of dexterity in this art. They will swim for a great distance under water, and in this manner cross their largest rivers, which renders them some of the best divers in the world.

The women are also fond of frequent bathing, and for this purpose, select the most obscure solitary places, at a great distance from the men. Even on the very day of the birth of a child, they take the infant to the river and wash it, and

*

Quillaia Saponaria; it is also much used by the Spaniards, especially those who live in the country.

also themselves, and within a short time return to their customary occupations, without experiencing any inconvenience; so true it is, that the human constitution is not naturally delicate, but is rendered so by our customs and modes of living. Child-birth is with them attended with little pain, which must be attributed to the strength of their constitutions; for a similar reason the women of the lower classes in Europe, according to the statement of Doctor Bland, in the Philosophical Transactions, experience a more easy delivery than the ladies, and are less subject to sickness in consequence.

Whether directed merely by the impulse of simple nature, or actuated by their solicitude to furnish strong men to the state, they rear their children in a very different manner from what is practised in civilized countries. When they have washed them in running water, as I have already observed, they neither swathe nor bandage them, but place them in a hanging cradle, called chigua, lined with soft skins, where they merely cover them with a cloth, and swing them from time to time by means of a cord attached to the cradle, which leaves them more at liberty to attend to their domestic concerns.

When their children begin to walk, which is very soon, they neither put them into stays nor any other confined dress, but keep them loosely clad, and let them go any where and eat what

they please. Formed thus, as it were, by themselves, they become well shaped and robust, and less subject to those infirmities that are the consequence of a tender and a delicate education. Indeed, the maladies that prevail among the Araucanians are but few, and are for the most part reducible to inflammatory fevers, originating either from intemperance in drinking, or to the excessive exercise which they sometimes use.

If the physical education of the Araucanian children is in a certain degree laudable, the moral education which they receive will not certainly meet with our entire approbation. It is, nevertheless, conformable to the ideas of that high-minded people, respecting the innate liberty of man, and such as may be expected from an uncivilized nation. Their fathers are satisfied with instructing them in the use of arms, and the management of horses, and in learning them to speak their native language with elegance. In other respects they leave them at liberty to do whatever they please, and praise them whenever they see them insolent, saying that in this manner they learn to become men. It is very unusual for them to chastise or correct them, as they hold it as an established truth, that chastisement renders men base and cowardly.

CHAP. X.

Food; Music and other Diversions..

THE usual diet of the Araucanians is very simple; their principal subsistence is several kinds of grain and pulse, which they prepare in a variety of different modes. They are particularly fond of maize or Indian corn, and potatoes; of the last they have cultivated more than thirty different kinds from time immemorial, esteeming them a very healthy nutriment, which the experience of ages has sufficiently demonstrated. Although they have large and small animals and birds in plenty, yet they eat but little flesh, and that is simply boiled or roasted. They have the same abstemiousness in the use of pork, from which they know very well how to prepare black puddings and sausages. Their seas and rivers abound with excellent fish, but they do not much esteem this kind of aliment. Instead of bread, which they are not accustomed to eat except at their entertainments, they make use of small cakes or roasted potatoes with a little salt. Their usual drinks consist of various kinds of beer and of cider, made from Indian corn, from apples and other fruits of the country. They