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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5




Hams are a principle article among their exports, as hogs are the most
numerous animals in Chiloe, where they find their own food in the woods.
Few sheep are kept, yet there are sufficient to furnish wool to give
employment to the women. From this they manufacture _ponchos_, two of
which, give sufficient work to a woman for a whole year, as they work
without a loom. The warp is stretched between a set of pegs, and they
weave in the woof with their fingers, yet make the work remarkably fine,
strong, and beautiful. They make also a smaller kind, called
_bordillos_, which are the ordinary dress of the negroes at Lima.
Besides these, they manufacture blankets and rugs, or coverlets for
beds, and linen cloth; which last is woven in looms.

In summer, when the vessels arrive from Callao, San Carlos is like a
fair, as this is the only opportunity enjoyed by the Chilotans to get
supplied with any thing which is not the produce of their own country,
or to dispose of any portion of their surplus produce. As they have no
money or circulating medium of commerce, the whole trade is carried on
by means of barter, which would leave the islanders at the mercy of the
merchants from Lima, but for the interference of the government. On the
arrival of the first ship of the season, the cabildo or municipal
magistracy of San Carlos, fixes a money price at which every thing is to
be rated on both sides; which means of regulating the market seems
absolutely necessary, as otherwise the Chilotans in buying would be
obliged to give any price demanded by the seller, and in selling would
have to take any price offered. Still it would be much for their
advantage to export their own commodities; but the whole archipelago
does not contain a single vessel large enough to make a voyage to Peru
or even to Chili. Formerly the soldiers who were in garrison in this
province used to receive their pay in clothes and other articles of
which they might be in want; but they were ordered by a late regulation
to be paid in specie; and if this be continued it must occasion an
important change in the commercial situation of Chiloe, by introducing a
circulating medium. In San Carlos there is a garrison of regular troops,
consisting of 33 artillerymen, 58 dragoons, and 53 infantry. The militia
of the archipelago consists of 1569 men, including officers; which have
to do garrison duty, but receive no pay or rations, having to serve
entirely at their own expence.

The inhabitants of Chiloe consists only of two classes of people,
Spaniards and Indians, there being no negroes and no mixed breed or
mestees. The want of negroes is easily explained by the poverty of the
islanders; but we are not told how it happens that the other two races
have not intermixed[118]. This is the more remarkable, as a most
extraordinary change has taken place in the language of these islands
during the latter half of the eighteenth century; insomuch that the
language of the Indian inhabitants consists entirely of Spanish words,
but all the inflexions, the syntax, and the idiomatic manner of
expression are Chilese, that is to say exactly corresponding to the
Moluchese dialect of the Chilidugu.

[Footnote 118: Probably the gradations have not been attended to,
because the nice discrimination of ranks has not been deemed worth while
in so poor a country. Perhaps the mestees and their gradations are all
elevated to the rank of Spaniards, or all depressed to that of vassal
Chilotans.--E.]

Both men and women of the Spanish population in Chiloe go barefooted,
except a few of the principal families who sacrifice convenience to
pride; as in a country so continually wet it is safer to go about with
naked feet than to have them in wet coverings. The men universally wear
the _poncho_. The houses, or hovels rather, are all built of wood, and
the crevices are stopped with sheep-skin or rags. The roofs are all
thatched; and the climate is so rainy that this soon rots and must be
frequently renewed. These dwellings consist of a single room, in which
the family, the cattle, and the poultry, are all accommodated. A few of
the inhabitants who can afford superior accommodation, have houses
divided into several apartments, wainscoted within, and roofed with
deal. Being all of wood, fires are frequent occurrences; but as the
houses are scattered, the mischief does not extend. Owing to the
inclemency of the weather, and the miserable state of the roads, a
family in the scattered and solitary situation in which the houses are
placed, is often weeks, and sometimes months without any communication
with their neighbours. There is neither hospital, physician, nor surgeon
in the whole province. A sick person is laid in a bed or a heap of skins
near a large fire, and remains there till recovery or death supervene.
The missionaries who visited these islands could find no books from
which to teach the children to read, and when they wished them to write
there was no paper. Necessity produced a substitute, and they used
wooden boards or tablets, on which they wrote with a substance which
could be washed out. Such is the miserable situation of the Spanish
inhabitants of the archipelago of Chiloe: yet they dare not leave their
wretched birth-place in the hope of bettering their fortunes. The
small-pox is hitherto unknown among them, and those, who have attempted
to go elsewhere have been cut off by that loathsome disease. In 1783,
the entire population of this dreary province amounted to 23,477, of
whom 11,985 were of Spanish descent, and 11,492 Indians.


SECTION XIV.

_Account of the Native Tribes inhabiting the southern extremity of South
America [119]._


[Footnote 119: This supplementary section or appendix is added to the
second volume of Molina, apparently by the English translator, and is
said to be chiefly extracted from the description of Patagonia by
Falkner. As the subject is new and interesting, we have been induced to
extend somewhat beyond the rigid letter of a collection of voyages and
travels. The picture of man in varied circumstances of savage life, is
one of the most important pieces of information to be derived from a
collection such as that we have undertaken and where direct means of
communicating that intelligence are unattainable, it is surely better to
employ such as on be procured than none.--E.]

The poet Ercilla has made the name of the _Araucanians_ so famous that
it were improper now to change the appellation. But that denomination
properly belongs only to these tribes of the _Picunches_ who inhabit the
country of Aranco[120]. The nations or tribes who inhabit the southern
extremity of South America are known among themselves by the general
names of _Moluches_ and _Puelches_; the former signifying the warlike
people, and the latter the eastern people.

[Footnote 120: It will easily be seen in the immediate sequel, that
Falkner very improperly uses Picunches as a generic term, as it
signifies in a limited manner the northern people. Molina most properly
denominates the whole aborigines of Chili on both sides of the Andes,
Chilese, as speaking one language, the Chili-dugu; names the tribes of
Arauco and those in the same republican confederacy Araucanians; and
gives distinct names like Falkner to the allied tribes: the Puelches,
Cunchese, Huilliches, Pehuenches, and others. Falkner appears to have
chosen to denominate the whole from the tribe whose dialect he first
became acquainted with; and some others seem to select the Moluches as
the parent tribe.--E.]

The _Moluches_ or warlike people, are divided into the _Picunches_, or
people of the north, the _Pehuenches_ or people of the fine country, and
_Huilliches_ or people of the south. The Picunches inhabit the mountains
from Coquimbo to somewhat below St Jago in Spanish Chili. The Pehuenches
border on these to the north, and extend to the parallel of Valdivia.
Both of these are included in history under the name of
Araucanians[121]. Their long and obstinate wars with the Spaniards, with
the Puelches and with each other, have greatly diminished their numbers;
but they have been still more diminished by the havoc which has been
made among them by brandy, that curse of the American Indians, for which
they have often been known to sell their wives and children, and to
engage in savage scenes of civil bloodshed, entailing wide and endless
deadly feuds. The small-pox has nearly completed the work of war and
drunkenness, and when Falkner left the country they could hardly muster
four thousand men among them all.

[Footnote 121: This account differs essentially from the history we have
just given from the writings of Molina, an intelligent native of Chili,
which cannot be repeated in the short compass of a note.--E.]

The Huilliches possess the country from Valdivia to the Straits of
Magellan. They are divided into four tribes, who are improperly classed
together as one nation, since three of them are evidently of a different
race from the fourth. That branch which reaches to the sea of Chiloe and
beyond the lake of Nahuelhuaupi speaks the general language of Chili,
differing only from the Pehuenches and Picunches in pronunciation. The
others speak a mixed language, composed of the Moluche and Tehuel
tongue, which latter is the Patagon; and these tribes, from their great
stature, are evidently of Patagonian origin. Collectively these three
tribes are called the Vuta-Huilliches, or great southern-people;
separately they are named Chonos, Poy-yes, and Key-yes. The Chonos
inhabit the archipelago of Chili, and the adjoining shores of the
continent. The Poy-yes or Peyes possess the coast from lat. 48 deg. to
something more than 51 deg. S. The Key-yes or Keyes extend from thence to
the Straits of Magellan. The Moluches maintain some flocks of sheep,
principally for the sake of their wool, and cultivate a small quantity
of corn.

The Puelches or eastern people, which name they receive from the natives
of Chili, are bounded on the west by the Moluches, on the south by the
Straits of Magellan, on the east by the sea, and on the north by the
Spaniards. They are subdivided into four tribes, the Taluhets, Diuihets,
Chechehets, and Tehuelhets. The _first_ of these or _Taluhets,_ are a
wandering race who prowl over the country, from the eastern side of the
first _desaguadero_ as far as the lakes of Guanacache in the
jurisdiction of San Juan and San Luiz de la Punta. Some of them are also
to be found in the jurisdiction of Cordova, on the rivers Segundo Terzo
and Quarto. When the Jesuits were expelled from the missions, this tribe
could scarcely raise two hundred fighting men, and even in conjunction
with all their allies not above five hundred. The _second_ of these
tribes, called the _Diuihets,_ is, also a wandering race, which borders
westwardly on the Pehuenches, between the latitudes of 35 deg. and 38 deg. S.
They extend along the rivers Sanguel Colorado and Hueyque, and nearly to
the Casuhati on the east. This nation and that of the Taluhets are
collectively called Pampas by the Spaniards, whose settlements in
Tacuman and on the southern shore of the La Plata they have always
infested, and sometimes even endangered. The _third_ tribe of the
Puelches is named the Chechehets, or eastern-people. The country which
they chiefly frequent is situated between the rivers Hueyque and the
first desaguadero or Rio Colorado, and from thence to the second
desaguadero or Rio Negro. They are a tall and stout wandering race
resembling the Patagonians, but speak a quite different language. Their
dispositions are friendly and inoffensive, but they are a bold and
active enemy when provoked. They are now reduced to a small number by
the ravages of the small-pox. The fourth race, called the _Tehuelhets,_
or in their own language the Tehuel-kunnees or southern-men, are the
real Patagonians. These are again subdivided into many tribes, all of
which and the Chechehets also are called _Serranos_ or mountaineers by
the Spaniards. The _Leuvuches,_ who seem to be the head tribe of all the
Serranos, live on the Rio Negro. They speak the same language with the
Chechehets, but with a small mixture of the Tehuel. This tribe used to
keep on good terms with the Spaniards, that they might hunt in security
in the pampas or immense plains of Buenos Ayres. About the year 1740,
however, they were provoked to war by a most wanton and treacherous
attack, and Buenos Ayres would in all probability have been destroyed,
had not these injured people been appeased by the Jesuit missionaries.
The Tehuelhets are more numerous than all the other tribes of these
parts together, and are the perpetual enemies of the Moluches who are so
terrible to the Spaniards, whom they would have long since destroyed if
they had been equally well supplied with horses.

To the south of these are the Chulilau-Kunnees, and the Sehuan-Kunnees,
who are the most southerly of the equestrian tribes. The country beyond
them, all the way to the Straits of Magellan, is possessed by the last
of the Tehuel tribes, called Yacana-Kunnees or foot-people, as they have
no horses. These are an inoffensive race, who are very swift runners,
and subsist mostly on fish. The other Tehuelhets and the Huilliches
sometimes attack this tribe for the purpose of making slaves of the
prisoners. The ordinary stature of all the Tehuel tribes is from six to
seven feet. None of the Puelches either keep sheep or cultivate the
ground, but depend altogether on hunting, for which purpose they keep a
great number of dogs.

The belief in an infinite number of spirits, good and evil, is common to
all the native tribes south of the Rio Plata. From the north of that
river to the Orinoco a different language prevails, accompanied by a
different form of superstition The Puelches do not appear to acknowledge
any of those numerous spirits as supreme over the rest. The Taluhets and
Diuihets call a good spirit _Soychu,_ or he who presides in the land of
strong drink. The Tehuelhets call an evil spirit Atskanna Kanatz, the
other Puelches denominate the same being Valichu. Huecuvu must be
another name for the evil spirit; as the Chechehets give the name of
Huecuvu-mapu or the devils-country to a great sandy desert, into which
they never venture lest they should be overwhelmed.

Among the northern Indians, each cast or small tribe is distinguished by
the name of some animal; as the tribe of the tyger, the lion, the
guanaco, the ostrich, and the like. They believe that each tribe had its
own particular creator, who resided in some huge cavern under a lake or
bill, to which all of that tribe will go after death, to enjoy the
felicity of eternal inebriation. These good creative spirits, according
to their opinion, having first created the world, made the different
races of men and animals, each in their respective cave. To the Indians,
they gave the spear, the bow and arrow, and the _lague_ or ball and
thong: to the Spaniards fire arms. Animals they allege were likewise
created in these subterranean abodes of the spirits, such as were
nimblest coming first out. When bulls and cows were coming out last of
all, the Indians were frightened at the sight of their horns, and
stopped up the mouth of their cavern; but the Spaniards were wiser and
let them out. Thus they explain the reason why they had no cattle till
after the coming of the Spaniards. In. their opinion, all the animals
who have been created in these hidden caverns have not yet emerged. They
attribute all the misfortunes or diseases which happen to men or animals
to the agency of the evil spirits, who are continually wandering about
the world in search of mischief. Their priests or jugglers rather, are
each supposed to be attended by two familiar evil spirits, to whom the
souls of these jugglers are associated after death, and with whom they
go about to do mischief. The jugglers are of both sexes; but it seems as
if it were thought an occupation beneath the dignity of a man, as the
male wizards are compelled to dress like women and are not permitted to
marry. The female jugglers are under no such restriction. They are
generally chosen while children to be initiated in the mysteries of this
profession, from among those who are most effeminate, and such as happen
to be subject to epilepsy or St Vitus' dance are considered as
especially marked out for the service of the jugglers. It is a very
dangerous profession, as these jugglers are frequently put to death when
any calamity happens to befal either the chiefs or the people.

No ceremonies are performed in honour of the good spirits. That which is
addressed to the evil ones is performed in the following manner. The
assistants assemble in the hut or tent of the wizard, who is concealed
in a corner of the tent, where he has a drum, one or two round
calabashes with a few small sea shells in them to make a noise, like the
_maraca_ or rattle of the Brazilian sorcerers, and some square bags of
painted hide in which he keeps his spells. He begins the ceremony by
making a strange noise with his drum and rattle, after which he feigns
to fall into a fit, which is supposed to be occasioned by a struggle
with the evil spirit who then enters into him. During this fit, he keeps
his eye-lids lifted up, distorts his features, foams at the mouth, seems
to dislocate his joints, and after many violent and unnatural motions
remains stiff and motionless, like a person in a fit of epilepsy. After
some time he comes to himself, as if having gained the victory over the
evil spirit. He next causes a faint shrill mournful voice to be heard
within his tabernacle, as of the evil spirit, who is supposed to
acknowledge himself vanquished; after which the wizard, from a kind of
tripod, answers all questions that are put to him. It is of little
consequence whether these answers turn out true or false, as on all
sinister events the fault is laid on the spirit. On these conjuring
occasions, the juggler is well paid by those who consult the destinies.


These southern nations make skeletons of their dead, as is done likewise
by the native tribes on the Orinoco; but it is singular that this
practice does not prevail among the intermediate tribes, that inhabit
between the Maranon and Rio Plata. On such occasions, one of the most
distinguished women of the tribe performs the ceremony of dissection.
The entrails are burnt, and the bones, after the flesh has been cut off
as clean as possible, are buried till the remaining fibres decay. This
is the custom of the Molnuches and Pampas, but the Serranos place the
bones on a high frame-work of canes or twigs to bleach in the sun and
rain. While the dissector is at work on the skeleton, the Indians walk
incessantly round the tent, having their faces blackened with soot,
dressed in long skin mantles, singing in a mournful voice, and striking
the ground with their long spears, to drive away the evil spirits. Some
go to condole with the widow and relations of the dead, if these are
wealthy enough to reward them for their mourning with bells, beads, and
other trinkets; as their customary condolence is not of a nature to be
offered gratuitously, for they prick their arms and legs with thorns,
and feel pain at least if not sorrow. The horses belonging to the
deceased are slain, that he may ride upon them in the _alhue-mapu,_ or
country of the dead; but a few of these are reserved to carry his bones
to the place of sepulchre, which is done in grand ceremony within a year
after his death. They are then packed up in a hide, and laid on the
favourite horse of the deceased, which is adorned with mantles,
feathers, and other ornaments and trinkets. In this manner the cavalcade
moves to the family burial-place, often three hundred leagues from the
place of death, so wide and distant are their wanderings in the
boundless plains to the south of the Rio Plata.

The Moluches and Pampas bury in large square pits about six feet deep,
the bones being first accurately put into their proper places and tied
together, clothed in the best robes of the deceased, and ornamented with
beads and feathers, all of which are cleaned or changed once a-year.
These skeletons are placed in a sitting posture in a row, with all the
weapons and other valuables belong to each laid beside him. The pit is
then covered over with beams or twigs, on which the earth is spread. An
old matron of each tribe is appointed to the care of these sepulchres,
who has to open them once a-year, to clean and new clothe the skeletons,
for which service she is held in great estimation. The bodies of the
slain horses are placed round the sepulchre, raised on their feet and
supported by stakes. These sepulchres are generally at a small distance
from the ordinary habitations of the tribe. Every year they pour upon
them some bowls of their first made _chica,_ or fermented liquor, and
drink to the happiness of the dead. The Tehuelhets and other southern
tribes carry their dead to a great distance from their ordinary
dwellings, into the desert near the sea-coast, where they arrange them
above ground surrounded by their horses. It is probable that only those
Indians who carry their dead to considerable distances reduce them to
skeletons, from the following circumstance. In the voyage of discovery
made in 1746 in the St Antonio from Buenos Ayres to the Straits of
Magellan, the Jesuits who accompanied the expedition found one of these
tents or houses of the dead. On one side six banners of cloth of various
colours, each about half a yard square, were set up on high poles fixed
in the ground; and on the other side five dead horses stuffed with straw
and supported, on stakes. Within the house, there were two _ponchos_
extended, on which lay the bodies of two men and a woman, having the
flesh and hair still remaining. On the top of the house was another
_poncho,_ rolled up and tied with a coloured woolen band, in which a
pole was fixed, from which eight tassels of wool were suspended.

Widows are obliged to observe a long and rigorous mourning. During a
whole year after the death of their husbands, they must keep themselves
secluded in the tents, never going out except on the most necessary
avocations, and having no communication with any one. In all this time,
they must abstain from eating the flesh of horses, cows, ostriches, or
guanacos, must never wash their faces which are constantly smeared with
soot, and any breach of chastity during this year of mourning is
punished with the death of both parties by the relations of the husband.

The office of _ya,_ or chief, is hereditary, and all the sons of a ya
may be chiefs likewise if they can procure followers; but the dignity is
of so little consequence that nobody almost covets the office. To him
belongs the office of protecting his followers, of composing
differences, and of delivering up any offender who is to be capitally
punished; in all which, cases his will is the sole law. These petty
despots are prone to bribery, and will readily sacrifice their vassals
and even their kindred for a good bribe. They are esteemed in proportion
to their eloquence, and any chief who is not himself eloquent employs an
orator to harangue the tribe in his place. When two or more tribes form
an alliance against a common enemy, they elect an _apo,_ or
commander-in-chief, from the ablest or most celebrated of the _yas,_ or
hereditary chiefs. But this office, though nominally elective, has been
long hereditary among the southern tribes in the family of Cangapol. The
hereditary chiefs, named _yas, elmens_, or _ulmens,_ have no power to
take any thing from their vassals, neither can they oblige them to
perform any work without payment. On the contrary they must treat them
kindly and relieve their wants, or their vassals will put themselves
under the protection of a more generous chief. Many of them therefore
wave the privilege of their birth, and decline having any vassals,
because they are expensive appendages, which yield little profit. But
every-one must attach themselves to some chief, or they would
undoubtedly be put to death or reduced to slavery.

Every man buys his wife from her relations, with or without her consent,
and then takes possession of her as his property. But if the woman
happens to have fixed her affections on another, she contrives to wear
out the patience of her purchaser, who either turns her away or sells
her to the man of her choice, but seldom uses her ill. Widows, and
orphan girls are at their own disposal. The yas or ulmens have generally
two or three wives; and even the common people may have as many as they
please, but wives are dear and they are generally contented with one.
The lives of the women are one continued series of labour. They fetch
wood and water; dress the victuals; make, mend, and clean the tents;
cure the skins; make them into mantles; spin and manufacture ponchos;
pack up every thing for a journey, even the tent poles; load, unload,
and arrange the baggage; straiten the girths of the horses; carry the
lance before their husbands; and at the end of the journey set up the
tents. Sickness or even the most advanced pregnancy give no relief from
these labours, and it would be reckoned ignominious in the husbands to
give them any assistance. The women of noble families may have slaves to
relieve them of these labours; but when in want of these, must undergo
the same fatigues as the rest. Yet the tribes of the southern extremity
of America are not brutal to their women like those in the north, and
the marriages only endure during pleasure, though those who have
children seldom separate. The husband invariably protects his wife, even
when in the wrong; and if detected in any criminal intercourse, all his
anger falls upon the paramour, who is cruelly beaten, unless he can
atone for the injury by payment. Their jugglers sometimes persuade them
to send their wives into the woods, to prostitute themselves to the
first person they meet, which is obviously a device for consoling
themselves from the celibacy to which they are condemned. The husbands
readily obey these directions; but there are women in whom native
modesty overpowers superstition, who refuse obedience to their husbands
on such occasions, and bid defiance to the wizard.

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