cider, chicha de mansana, chicha de mutilla, bad wine, and some brandy made from the wild grape of the country. A hot supper closed the scene, and we retired to the beds prepared for us at the different houses.
The following morning after breakfast we mounted our horses, and having crossed the river at a ford, pursued our route to Nacimiento, which is a small village surrounded by a wall with four brass guns. The greater part of the inhabitants are indians, and apparently very poor. We spent the night at the house of the curate, but not so agreeably as we passed the preceding one at the mills.
On the next day we went on to Santa Juana, another frontier town, standing on an island formed by the river dividing itself into two branches for the space of about half a mile and again uniting. This river is the Bio-bio, and may with propriety be called the northern boundary of Chile. The towns on the south side of the Bio-bio are under great risk of being sacked by the indians, and are merely kept as advanced posts by the Spaniards. We rested one day at Santa Juana, and returned by a different road to Nacimiento, from thence to the Carampangue mills, and the day after to Arauco, having spent seven days in this most agreeable excursion.
I was exceedingly surprized at being informed that war had been declared between England and Spain; and in a few days afterwards I received orders to proceed to Conception. I remained at the house of my friend Don Nicolas del Rio, until my departure, enjoying every day more and more the kind hospitality of this worthy South American and his excellent family, whom I left with the most sincere regret, impressed with the idea that I should never see any of them again. I was, however, deceived, for after a lapse of seventeen years we met under circumstances which enabled me to repay a part of their kindness.
CHAPTER III.
Account of Cultivation of Farms, &c. in Araucania. … Thrashing, &c. … Produce. … Cattle. … Locality. … Topographical Divisions. … Government (Indian). … Laws and Penalties. … Military System. … Arms, Standards, &c. … Division of Spoil. … Treaty of Peace. … Religion. … Marriages. … Funerals. … Spanish Cities founded in Araucania. … Ideas on New Colonies. … Commerce.
The plough used by the Creoles and Spaniards and adopted by the indians is a piece of crooked wood, generally part of the trunk and one of the principal branches of a tree. The portion which is intended to move the soil, for it cannot properly be called ploughing, is about five feet long and six inches broad. One end is pointed and sometimes charred; at the other a handle rises about three feet high, forming with the bottom piece an obtuse angle, greater or less according to the will of the maker, or the chance of finding a piece of wood suitable for the purpose. One end of the beam is inserted at the angle and is supported about the middle of the lower part of the plough by a piece of wood passing through it into a mortise made in the lower part, where it is secured, as well as in the beam, by small wedges. The removal of those in the beam serves to raise or depress it for the purpose of making the furrow deeper or shallower. The beam is from ten to twelve feet long, the one end fastened as already mentioned, and the other lashed to the yoke, which is tied with thongs just behind the horns of the bullock. Instead of harrows they use a bunch of thorns, generally of the espino. One would imagine that this rude implement had been found in the hands of the indians at the time the country was discovered; but according to Townsend's description of the plough used in some parts of Spain, it was one of the improvements carried to America by the earliest settlers. Indeed, rude as it is, it is seen in every part of South America which I visited, having in some places the addition of a piece of flat iron, about a foot long and pointed at one end, attached by thongs to that of the lower part of the plough, and called reja: probably from the verb rajar, to split or divide.
When a farmer selects a piece of ground for cultivation he cuts down the trees, with which he makes a fence by laying them around the field. He then ploughs or breaks the ground, sows his wheat or barley, and harrows it in with a bunch of thorns: here the cares of husbandry cease until harvest. The corn is now cut, tied into sheaves, and carried to the thrashing floor, where it is trodden out by a drove of mares, which are driven round at a full gallop, till the straw becomes hard, when it is turned over, and the trampling repeated two or three times, so as to break the straw into pieces of two inches long. At this stage it is supposed that the grain is freed from the ears. The whole is shaken with large forks, made of wood or forked branches of trees; the chaff and grain fall to the ground, and are formed into a heap, which is thrown up into the air with shovels. The wind blows away the chaff, and the grain remains on the floor. It is now put into sacks made of bullocks' hides, placed on the backs of mules, and carried to the owner's house; but not before the tythe or diesmo has been paid, and one bushel, primicia, to the parson. The straw is occasionally preserved for the horses in the rainy season; at other times it is burnt or left to rot.
For a thrashing floor a piece of ground is selected, and having been swept and cleared, is enclosed with a few poles and canes. It is seldom used twice, and the size is proportioned to the quantity of corn to be trodden out.
Maize, sometimes called indian corn, is cultivated in great quantities in this as well as in every other part of South America. Four varieties are to be found here, all of which are very productive and much appreciated. It is sown in lines or rows, two, three, or four plants standing together, at the distance of half a yard from the other clusters. Each stem produces from two to four cobs, and some of them are twelve inches long. The indians prepare the maize for winter, whilst in the green state, by boiling the cobs, from the cores of which are taken the grain, which is dried in the sun and kept for use. It is called chuchoca, and when mixed with some of their hashes or stews is very palatable. Another preparation is made by cutting the corn from the core of the green cobs, and bruising it between two stones until it assumes the consistency of paste, to which sugar, butter and spices, or only salt is added. It is then divided into small portions, which are enclosed separately within the inner leaf of the cob or ear and boiled. These cakes are called umitas. The dry boiled maize, mote, and the toasted, cancha, are used by the indians instead of bread. One kind of maize, curugua, is much softer when roasted, and furnishes a flour lighter, whiter, and in greater quantity than any other kind. This meal mixed with water and a little sugar is esteemed by all classes of people. If the water be hot the beverage is called cherchan, if cold ulpo.
M. Bomare considers the maize as indigenous to Asia alone, and C. Durante to Turkey; but Solis, Zandoval, Herrera and others prove that it was found at the discovery of the New World in the West Indies, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Indeed I have opened many of the graves, huacas, of the indians, and observed maize in them, which was beyond all doubt buried before the conquest or discovery of this country.
There are two kinds of quinua, a species of chenopodium. The seed of the one is reddish, bitter, and used only as a medicine. The other is white, and is frequently brought to table. When boiled it uncurls and has the appearance of fine vermicelli. It is sometimes boiled in soup, and is also made into a kind of pudding, seasoned with onions, garlic, pepper, &c.
Of the bean, phaseolus, they have several kinds, which are grown in abundance, constituting both in a green and dried state a great part of the support of the lower classes of Creoles and indians. The bean is indigenous, and was cultivated before the arrival of the Spaniards.
Seven or eight varieties of potatoe of an excellent quality are raised, and in some shape or other introduced to every table and almost at every meal. Indeed Chile is considered by many naturalists to be the native soil of this vegetable. The small potatoes are often preserved by boiling them and drying them in the sun, or among the Cordilleras covering them with ice, until they assume a horny appearance. When used they are broken into small pieces, soaked in water, and added to many of their stews. A species called
