CONTENTS. turns and destroys it; He marches against St. Jago, CHAP. V.-Don Garcia de Mendoza arrives at Chili, CHAP. IV. Don Garcia orders twelve Ulmenes to be CHAP. VII-Expedition of Don Garcia to the Archipe- CHAP. VIII.-Successes of Caupolican the Second; BOOK IV. CHAP. I.-The Toqui Antiguenu recommences the CHAP. II.-Paillataru elected Toqui; Government of CHAP. III.-Establishment of the Court of Royal Au- CH P. IV.-Government of the Marquis de Villaher- xi PAGE 158 170 181 187 194 203 212 213 229 Death of that General; Enterprises of the Toqui Cay- CHAP. VII-Second unfortunate Government of Garcia CHAP. VIII.-Daring Enterprises of the Toquis Lientur CHAP. IX.-Continuation of the War; Third Expedi- tion of the Dutch against Chili; Peace concluded with the Araucanians; Its short Duration; Exploits of the CHAP. X.-A brief Account of the Wars of the Toquis Vilumilla and Curignancu; Spanish Governors, to the CHAP. XI.-Present State of Chili, An Essay on the Chilian Language, APPENDIX. No. I.-Account of the Archipelago of - 249 272 307 331 367 APPENDIX. No. II.-Account of the Native Tribes who THE CIVIL HISTORY OF CHILI. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. Of the Origin, Appearance, and Language of the Chilians. THE origin of the primitive inhabitants of Chili, like that of the other American nations, is involved in impenetrable obscurity; nor have they any records, or monuments of antiquity, that can serve to elucidate so interesting an inquiry. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards they were entirely unacquainted with the art of writing, and their traditionary accounts are so crude and imperfect, that they afford not the least degree of rational information to the inquisitive mind. Many of the inhabitants suppose that they are indigenous to the country, while others derive their origin from a foreign stock, and at one time say that their ancestors came from the north, and at another time, from the west. It is a general opinion that America was settled from the north-eastern part of Asia, from the supposed easy communication between them, in consequence of the vicinity of these countries. But the opinion entertained by the Chilians, that their country was peopled from the west, is not so extravagant as at first sight it may appear. The discoveries of the English navigators in the South Sea have ascertained that between America and the southern point of Asia there is a chain of innumerable islands, the probable remains of some vast tract of land which, in that quarter, once united the two continents, and rendered the communication between Asia and the opposite shore of America easy. From whence it is very possible that, while North America has been peopled from the north-west, the south has received its inhabitants from the southern parts of Asia, the natives of this part of the new world being of a mild character, much resembling that of the southern Asiatics, and little tinctured with the ferocity of the Tartars. Like the lan-guages of the Oriental Indians, theirs is also harmonious, and abounds in vowels. The influence of climate may undoubtedly affect language so far as to modify it, but can never produce a complete change in its primitive struc ture. The Chilians call their first progenitors Pegni Epatun, which signifies the brothers Epatun, but of these patriarchs nothing but the name is known. They also call them glyce, primitive men, or men from the beginning, and in their assemblies invoke them, together with their deities, crying out with a loud voice, Pom, pum, pum, mari, mari, Epunamun, Amimalguen, Peni Epatum. The signification of the three first words is uncertain, and they might be considered as interjections, did not the word pum, by which the Chinese call the first created man, or the one saved from the waters, induce a suspicion, from its similarity, that these have a similar signification. The lamas, or priests of Thibet, from the accounts of the natives of Indostan, are accustomed to repeat on their rosaries, the syllables hom, ha, hum, or om, am, um, which in some measure corresponds with what we have mentioned of the Chilians. That Chili was originally peopled by one nation appears probable, as all the aborigines inhabiting it, however independent of each other, speak the same language, and have a similar ap pearance. Those that dwell in the plains are of good stature, but those that live in the valleys of the Andes, generally surpass the usual height of The purer air which they respire, and the continual exercise to which they are accus tomed among their mountains, may perhaps be man. |