Araucanía

“ In 1861 Antoine de Tounens (1820-1878) , a French adventurer in Chile, proclaimed himself king of Araucania under the title of Orélie Antoine I., and tried to obtain subscriptions from France to support his enterprise. But his pretensions were ludicrous; he was quickly captured by the Chileans and sent back to France (1862) as a madman; and though he made one more abortive effort in 1874 322 to recover his “kingdom,” and occupied his pen in magnifying his achievements, nobody took him seriously except a few of the deluded Indians.
See Domeyko, Araucania y sus habitantes (Santiago, 1846) ”

“ The Araucanians inhabit the delightful region between the Andes and the sea, and between the rivers Bío-bío and Valdivia. They derive the appellation of Araucanians from the province of Arauco. They pride themselves on being called by a native word which signifies “the free.” As a race they are rather tall, muscular, and well proportioned. Their complexions are of a reddish brown, but clearer than that of other native Americans. Their round faces are animated by small eyes full of expression. They have scarcely any beard, and the little hair which grows on their faces is carefully removed. ”

“ They live in scattered villages by the banks of rivers or in easily-irrigated plains. They have strong local attachments, each family preferring to live on the land inherited from its ancestors, and of which they cultivate a portion sufficient for their subsistence.
The political division of the Araucanian state is regulated with much intelligence. It is divided from north to south into four governments, called respectively the maritime country, the plain country, the foot of the Andes, and the Andes. Each government is divided into five provinces, and each province into nine counties. ”

“ The rising being quite unsuspected, the natives approached the fort easily; but when the Spaniards saw the horde approaching, they quickly raised the cry to arms, and sallied out to meet them with supercilious impetuosity. They soon found, however, they had no mean foes to deal with; though weary and footsore with their hasty march, the Araucanians no sooner came in presence of the foe, than they fought with all the pride and confidence of assured victory. ”

“ The Araucanians having resolved to send succours to the inhabitants of Panco, gave orders to their Toqui to set out forthwith to their assistance with four thousand men. In the year 1550 their general passed the Bio-bio, which river separates the Araucanian territory from that of the Pancones, and offered battle to the invaders. After the first discharge of musketry the Araucanians fell on the front and flanks of the Spaniards, who, forming themselves into a square, received their furious attacks with their accustomed valour, many falling on either side. ”

“ This party was represented by Antinahuel, the toqui of the most important Uthal-Mapus of the Araucanian confederacy. We have said that from its geographical position, this little insignificant republic is placed like a wedge in the Chilian territory, which it separates sharply in two. This position gave Antinahuel immense power. All Araucanos are soldiers; at a signal from their chiefs, they take up arms, and are able, in a few days, to get together an army of experienced warriors. ”

“ The fourth South American race may be considered as a more southernly expansion of the preceding. Ethnologists designate it the Araucanian. The region which it occupies stretches from the 30th parallel of south latitude to the vicinity of Tierra del Fuego. The Araucanians properly so called form three tribes—that of the Ranquels, the Huilliches, and the Aucas. They are warriors and nomades. ”

“ Yet, in spite of every effort of force and skill, the Araucanians have valiantly defended their country, evincing that a free people, however inconsiderable in point of numbers, can perform wonders.
Since losing their possessions in Arancania, the Spaniards have prudently confined their views to the preservation and improvement of that part of Chili which lies between the southern confines of Peru and the river Biobio, extending between the latitudes of 24° and 36° 30' S. As formerly mentioned this kingdom is divided into thirteen provinces. ”

“ Henceforth the opened territory received continual additions of energetic people from many parts of the world, Chileans themselves went south, and today there is no better developed and managed part of Chile.
Araucanian Lands A new spurt of immigration occurred after 1881, when the Mapoche Indians obstinately held claim to 294sovereignty over the broad belt of lands known as Araucania was finally destroyed by the republican forces of Chile. With the frontier barrier overthrown, farming lands lay open, and the Government made a fresh bid for European settlers. ”

“ The total wheat crop is 5,500,000 metric quintales, worth 16,000,000 pesos. It is in the great fertile region of the south that one finds the largest number of small farmers, for most of this agricultural country has been opened during the last fifty or sixty years, and no great ancient estates exist. Valdivia and Llanquihue were developed mainly by the efforts of settlers from Central Europe in the middle of last century, while old Araucania was not finally opened to white settlers, whether foreigners or Chileans, until the punitive expedition of 1881 broke down the frontier for ever. ”

“ The Araucanians cultivate successfully rhetoric, poetry, and medicine. They are polygamists, celibacy being considered as ignominious. Their principal food consists of grain and pulse. Indian corn and potatoes are much esteemed by them. ”

“ LANTARO, THE BOY HERO OF THE ARAUCANIANS. The river Biobio, in Southern Chili, was for centuries the boundary between liberty and oppression in South America. South of it lay the land of the Araucanians, that brave and warlike people who preserved their independence against the whites, the only Indian nation in America of which this can be said. Valorous and daring as were the American Indians, their arms and their arts were those of the savage, and the great multitude of them were unable to stand before the weapons and the discipline of their white invaders. ”

“ A desire, however, to cut as smart a figure as possible before the Patagonians, whom they would so shortly meet, contributed to the zest with which the Araucanians made their toilets. The sight of the horses, and the knowledge that there were toldos and comforts ahead, had raised the spirits of every one; and the hardships of the past weeks of toil and severe work were quickly forgotten in the pleasant rencontre of the moment. At length every one had mounted, and the cavalcade which set forth for the Nahuel Hualpi Lagoon was by no means an unimposing one. ”

“ But such was not the case with the valiant Araucanians. From the period of Almagro, the companion of Pizarro and the first invader of Chili, down to our own days these bold Americans fought for and retained their independence, holding the Biobio as their national frontier, and driving army after army from their soil. Not until 1882 did they consent to become citizens of Chili, and then of their own free will, and they still retain their native habits and their pride in their pure blood. ”

“ After the one last mentioned, the Araucanians, unsubdued in courage, appointed to the chief command a man named Paillamachu, the hereditary toqui of the second district; who, though advanced in years, is said to have been a person of wonderful activity. ”

“ Leaving the Spanish ranks at the moment the Araucanians were shrinking in dismay, he rushed into their ranks, called loudly on them to turn, accused them of cowardice, and bade them to face their foes like men. Seizing a lance, he charged alone on the Spaniards, calling on his countrymen to follow him. Inspired by his example and his cries, the Araucanians charged with such fury that the ranks of the Spaniards and their allies were broken, and they were cut down until the whole force was annihilated. It is said that of the entire expedition only two Indians escaped. ”

“ They are owners of their land and have cattle in abundance, pay no taxes, and even their labor in the construction of highways is only light. They are warlike, brave, and still enjoy some of the blessings of the Inca civilization; only the real, western Araucanians in Chili have attained to a sedentary life. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards the government of the Araucanians offered a striking resemblance to the military aristocracy of the old world. All the rest that has been written of their high stage of culture has proved to be an empty picture of fancy. ”

“ Many Araucanians may be seen in Temuco, Osorno, Puerto Montt and other southern towns. They come there to trade. Some are on horseback, both men and women riding astride, others come in clumsy ox-carts with their wheat, corn or other produce. The women wear bright-coloured blankets, which are so fastened at the shoulders that the arms are left bare. ”

“ The Araucanians are of an ordinary stature, in complexion copper-coloured, with small, black, vivacious eyes, a rather flat nose, and thick lips; the result of which is an expression of brutal ferocity. Divided into tribes, each one jealous of another, all animated by an unbridled lust of plunder, and ever on the move, their lives are spent in perpetual warfare. The mounted Araucanian is armed with a long lance, a long cutlass, sabre-shaped, called a "Machete,"5 and the lasso, in the use of which they are extremely expert, while the horse he rides is usually swift. ”

“ Among the tribes of North America their nearest peers would probably be found among the Navajos; but the Araucanians were in many respects far superior to their brothers of the northern plains. They were, above all, warriors, and for long they successfully resisted the Spanish invasion. They were a free, restless, brave, and highly independent people, and far better fitted for survival than their more highly cultured neighbors, and this they have proved by resistance to the ill effects of eastern civilization and a persistence unto this day. ”

“ The governor then proposed, as preliminary articles of peace, that the river Biobio should serve hereafter as the common boundary between the Spanish and Araucanian nations, beyond which neither should be permitted to pass with an army: That all deserters should in future be mutually returned: And that missionaries should be allowed to preach the doctrines of Christianity in the Araucanian territories. Ancanamon required as a preliminary, that the forts of Paicavi and Arauco, which had been lately erected upon the sea coast to the south of the Biobio, should be evacuated. ”

“ Each cacique had his own ranch house, the number of doors indicating the number of his wives, of which some had as many as fifteen. These people were the Araucanians, who proved to be a brave and courageous race. The Spaniards immediately began their usual cruelties and efforts to enslave these people, but succeeded only temporarily. The natives soon rose in rebellion. Three hundred years of warfare decimated their ranks, but did not subdue them, and when the Spanish rule ended these people were as unconquered as when it began. ”

“ When he wrote, the robust race mixture was yet going on, the amalgam of peasant northern Spain and of the Basque, after two centuries of transplantation, with the fierce Araucanian Indian blood. Not all of the aboriginal amalgam has been Araucanian. There are ten distinct aboriginal tribes known in Chile, and in the northern part the mixture has been more that of the Indians of the historic Upper Peru or Bolivia. All of these tribes have been habituated to hardship, and the grosser qualities of civilization have been developed aggressively. ”

“ CHIGUAIHUE (chee-gwah-ee'-oo-ay) , Araucanian cacique of the Biobio tribe in the Moluches region, Chili, b. in that valley about 1566; d. near Chillan in 1606. He became noted as a warrior at the head of a tribe, and was elected chief of all the Araucanian forces. He attacked, captured, and destroyed the city of Chillan in August, 1604, and defeated Rivera near Santa Cruz, also destroying this city in September of the same year, as well as the cities of Frontera, Villarrica, and Valdivia in the two following months. ”

“ The Araucanians have no places of worship, no idols, no religious rites. They believe that as their God and his genii need not the worship of men, they do not require it; that they are not desirous of imposing a tribute or exacting a service, except for the good or interest of their servants; and that they thus resemble the Toquis and Ulmenes, who can call upon them to fight for their country and their liberties, but for no personal offices. They, nevertheless, invoke the aid of the good Meulen, and attribute all their evils to the influence of the wicked Wencuba. ”

“ The present Araucanian population is somewhat vaguely estimated at about 40,000, and it is a question of some interest whether, like most native races in contact with those of European descent, they will ultimately be improved out of existence, or be gradually brought within the pale of civilization and fused with the intrusive element. The soil is said to be in great part fertile; they raise a large quantity of live stock, and some of the chiefs are said to have amassed wealth, and to have begun to show a taste for the comforts and conveniences of civilized life. ”

“ Nor is the benevolence of the Araucanian confined to his own countrymen: he is hospitable towards all strangers, of whatever nation; and a traveller may live in any part of the country, without the least expense.
They are very eloquent in expressing their good will, and sometimes rather tiresome in their compliments. They are naturally fond of honorable distinction, and they will not endure to be treated with the least contempt or neglect. If a Spaniard begins to speak to one of them with his hat on, the Indian immediately says—“Entugo tarmi curtesia”—take off your hat! ”