Among the vegetable productions of Cujo, one of the most remarkable is a species of palm, which never exceeds eighteen feet high, putting forth all its branches so near the ground as to conceal the trunk. The leaves are extraordinarily hard, and terminate in a point as sharp as a sword. The fruit resembles the cocoa-nut, yet only contains a few hard round seeds, with no edible kernel. The trunk of this tree is very large, and is covered by a coarse outer bark of a blackish colour which is easily detached. Below this, there are five or six successive layers of a fibrous bark resembling linen cloth. The first is of a yellowish colour, and of the consistence and appearance of sail-cloth. The others gradually decrease in thickness, and become whiter and finer; so that the innermost is white and fine like cambric, but of a looser texture. The fibres of this natural cloth are strong and flexible, but harsher to the feel than those made from flax. This province produces great abundance of the opuntia, a species of the cactus, which nourishes the cochineal insect; but the natives are in use to string these insects on a thread by means of a needle, by which they acquire a blackish tint. The fruit of this plant is woolly, about the size of a peach, its internal substance being glutinous and full of small seeds. It is sweet and well-flavoured, and is easily preserved by cutting into slices which are dried in the sun. There are four different trees producing a species of beans; two of which are good eating, the third is employed as provender for horses, and ink is made from the fourth. The most singular vegetable production in this country is called the flower of the air, from having no root, and never growing on the ground. Its native situation is on the surface of an arid rock, or twining round the dry stem of a tree. This plant consists of a single shoot, like the stem of a gilly-flower, but its leaves are larger and thicker, and are as hard as wood. Each stalk produces two or three white transparent flowers, in size and shape resembling a lily, and equally odoriferous with that flower. They may be preserved fresh on their stalks for more than two months, and for several days when plucked off. This plant may be transported to almost any distance; and will produce flowers annually, if merely hung up on a nail.
In the northern parts of Cujo there are mines of gold and copper, but they are not worked owing to the indolence of the inhabitants. It has also rich mines of lead, sulphur, vitriol, salt, gypsum, and talc or asbestos. The mountains near the city of Juan are entirely composed of white marble, in stratified slabs of five or six feet long by six or seven inches thick, all regularly cut and polished by nature. From this the inhabitants prepare an excellent lime, which they use in building bridges over the streams and canals of irrigation. Between the city of Mendoza and La Punta, on a low range of hills, there is a large stone pillar, 150 feet high and 12 feet diameter, called the giant, on which there are certain marks or inscriptions resembling Chinese characters. Near the Diamond river there is another stone, having marks which appear to be characters, and the impression of human feet, with the figures of several animals. The Spaniards call it the stone of St Thomas; from a tradition handed down from the first settlers, said to have been received from the native Indians, that a white man with a long beard, formerly preached a new religion from that stone to their ancestors, and left the impression of his feet, and the figures of the animals that came to hear him, as a memorial of his sanctity.
The aboriginal natives of the province of Cujo are called Guarpes, of whom there are now very few remaining. They are of a lofty stature, very thin, and of a brown colour, and speak a quite different language from that of the Chilese. This people was anciently conquered by the Peruvians, after having taken possession of the northern part of Chili; and on the road across the Andes from Cujo to Chili, there still are some small stone buildings, or tambos, which had been erected for the accommodation of the Peruvian officers and messengers. The first Spaniards who attempted to reduce this country were sent by Valdivia, under the command of Francisco de Aguirre, who returned to Chili after the death of Valdivia. In 1560, Don Garcia de Mendoza sent a force under Pedro del Castillo, who subdued the Guarpes, and founded the cities of San Juan and Mendoza. The latter, which is the capital, is situated on a plain at the foot of the Andes, in lat 33° 54' S. long. 68° 34' W. This is supposed to contain about 6000 inhabitants, and is continually increasing in population, owing to its vicinity to the celebrated silver mine of Uspallatta, which is worked by the inhabitants to great profit. This city carries on a considerable commerce in wine and fruits with Buenos Ayres. The city of San Juan near the Andes, in lat. 31° 40' S. and long. 68° 34' W. is equally populous with Mendoza, from which it is about 160 miles due north, and trades with Buenos Ayres in brandy, fruits, and Vicunna skins. Its pomegranates are greatly esteemed in Chili, to which they are sent across the Andes. This city is governed by a deputy from the corregidor of Mendoza, assisted by a cabildo. In 1596, the small city of La Punta, or San Luis de Loyola, was founded in the eastern part of Cujo, in lat. 33° 47' S. long. 65° 33' W. Although the thoroughfare for all the trade from Chili and Cujo to Buenos Ayres, it is a miserable place with scarcely two hundred inhabitants; but its jurisdiction is extensive and populous, and is administered both in civil and military affairs by a deputy of the corregidor of Mendoza. Besides these three cities, the province of Cujo contains the towns of Jachal, Vallofertil, Mogna, Corocorto, Leonsito, Caliogarta, and Pismanta51, which do not merit particular attention.
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.
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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° and 42' S. This country is inhabited by three independent nations, the Araucanians, the Cunches, and the Huмllмches. 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 freemen52; and by the Spaniards who were sent from the army in Flanders to serve in Chili, this country has been called Araucanian Flanders, or the invincible state. Though the Araucanians do not exceed the ordinary height of mankind, they are in general muscular, robust, well proportioned, and of a martial appearance. Their complexion is of a reddish brown, but clearer than the other natives of America, except the tribe named Boroanes, who are fair and ruddy. They have round faces, small eyes full of animated expression, a rather flat nose, a handsome mouth, even white teeth, muscular and well shaped legs, and small flat feet. Like the Tartars, they have hardly any beard, and they carefully pluck out any little that appears, calling the Europeans longbeards, by way of reproach. The hair on their heads is thick, black, and coarse, is allowed to grow very long, and is worn in tresses wound around their heads. The women are delicately formed, and many of them are very handsome, especially the Boroanes. They are generally long lived, and are not subject to the infirmities of age till a late period of life, seldom even beginning to grow grey till sixty or severity, or to be wrinkled till fourscore. They are intrepid, animated, ardent, patient of fatigue, enthusiastically attached to liberty, and ever ready to sacrifice their lives for their country, jealous of their honour, courteous, hospitable, faithful to their engagements, grateful for services, and generous and humane to their vanquished enemies. Yet these noble qualities are obscured by the vices which are inseparable from their half savage state, unrefined by literature or cultivation: Being presumptuous, entertaining a haughty contempt for other nations, and much addicted to drunkenness and debauchery.
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.
52
According to Falkner the missionary,