FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   244   245   246   247   248   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   256   257   258   259  
260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   >>   >|  
three cities, the province of Cujo contains the towns of Jachal, Vallofertil, Mogna, Corocorto, Leonsito, Caliogarta, and Pismanta[51], which do not merit particular attention. [Footnote 51: Besides these, modern maps insert the following, beginning in the north. Betlen, Rioja la Nueva, Mutinan, San Juan de Jaeban, Guanachoca, all to the north of Mendoza.--E.] The Patagonians who border upon Cujo towards the south, and of whose gigantic stature so much has been said, do not differ materially in this respect from other men. The Pojas, one of their tribes, are governed by several petty independent princes. A singular species of polygamy prevails among this people, as the women are permitted to have several husbands. As to the Cesari, of whom such wonderful stories have been reported, and who are supposed to be neighbours of the Chilese, they have no existence except in the fancies of those who take pleasure in marvellous stories. * * * * * S3. _The Indian Country, or Araucania._ That part of Chili which remains unconquered reaches from the river Biobio in the north to the Archipelago of Chiloe in the south, or between the latitudes of 37 deg. and 42' S. This country is inhabited by three independent nations, the Araucanians, the Cunches, and the Huilliches. The territory of the Araucanians, contains the finest plains in Chili, and is situated between the rivers Biobio and Callacallas, stretching along the sea-coast for about 186 miles, and is generally allowed to be the most pleasant and fertile district in the kingdom of Chili. Its extent from the sea to the foot of the Andes, was formerly reckoned at 300 miles; but as the Puelches, a nation inhabiting the western side of the mountains, joined the confederacy of the Araucanians in the seventeenth century, its present breadth cannot be less than 420 miles, and the whole territory is estimated at 78,120 square miles or nearly 50 millions of acres. The Araucanians derive their name from the province of Arauco, the smallest in their territory, but which has given name to the whole nation, as having been the first to propose the union which has so long subsisted among the tribes, or from having at some remote period reduced them under its dominion. Enthusiastically attached to their independence, they pride themselves on the name of _auca_, signifying _freemen_[52]; and by the Spaniards who were sent from the army in Flanders to se
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   235   236   237   238   239   240   241   242   243   244   245   246   247   248   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   256   257   258   259  
260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Araucanians

 
territory
 

province

 
stories
 
nation
 

Biobio

 

tribes

 

independent

 
western
 
Puelches

reckoned
 

inhabiting

 

Callacallas

 

rivers

 

stretching

 

situated

 

plains

 

cities

 
nations
 
Cunches

Huilliches

 

finest

 

kingdom

 

district

 

extent

 

fertile

 
pleasant
 
generally
 

allowed

 
breadth

dominion

 
Enthusiastically
 

attached

 
independence
 
reduced
 

subsisted

 
remote
 

period

 

Flanders

 
Spaniards

signifying

 

freemen

 

estimated

 

inhabited

 

present

 

joined

 
confederacy
 

seventeenth

 

century

 

smallest