The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-09
ARAUCANIAN INDIANS
CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE RICH
EST AND BRAVEsT OF SOUTH
AMERICAN INDIANS
A LOOK AT THEIR FARMS
lions In South Chile-Pretty In
dian Girls - How They Are
Ccurted and MarrIed-A Look at
the Oldest Woman in the World
She Is an Araucanian.

CCurTed and Morr1ed--A LOOK AT
the Oldest Woman in the world
She Is an Araucanian.
Copyrighted, 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.
TEMUCO, Sept. 81 want to intro,
duce you to the richest, proudest and
bravest of the Indians Of the South
American continent, the Indians VINO
once owned the greater part OF Chile,
and who, for three generations. with
lances Of wood and bows and arrows,
waged a successful war with the Span
ish invaders They killed Pedro Valde-
via, the man who founded Santiago,
and then came south to conquer them.
They destroyed Spanish forts, besieged
Spanish cities and only receded inch by
inch toward the south, fighting as they
were forced to the rear When they
were finally conquered, they refused
to become the slaves and hirelings of
their conquerors, as did the Indians
further north, and today they main
tain their own Identity, owning their
own lands and looking with scorn upon
the descendants of the white-skinned
invaders who have robbed them OF their
country
refer to theAraucanians. the famous
Indian fighters Of south Chile. am
now writing in the frontier town OF
TemucO, on the edge of one OF their
reservations, and I have just returned
from a hand-car trip over a railroad
which the Chilean government is build
ing through their country to open the
lands adjoining it up to settlement.
They have long since given up their
fight against the whites, and the Chill
can government Is doing what 1t can
to civilize them. 1t has given them
lands which they are not allowed to
cell, and 1t has its Indian schools mod
eled on the same plan as those Of the
United States The progress, however,
is not great, and the demon of alcohol
is slowly but surely wiping out what
is left Of the race. There are, 1t Is es-
timated, only $4,000 of them left, and
the most of these are scattered over
the hills and valleys of Southern Chile.
AMONG THE ARAUCANIANS.
There are many Of the Araucanians
to be seen in Temuco. They come here
to trade some on foot some on horse
back, men and women riding astride,
and many in rude oxcarts, riding on
the loads of wheat, barley and other
things which they bring in to sell.
saw one today on the outskirts Of the
city seated in his cart on two fat hogs,
which he was bringing to market, and
] took a photograph Of his daughter,
VINO rode on pony behind. She wore
heavy fiat earrings Of silver each as
big as the palm of my hand, and upon
her breast hanging from a silver chain
was a great silver plate of diamond
shape, which made musical Jingle
as she trotted by. I after stopped
group of Indian girls and made notes
of their dress. They were barefooted,
but on their ankles bands of silver
beads sewed to red cloth stood out
against the rosy pink flesh.
Some six inches or more above these
came the dress, which was merely
bright-colored blanket pinned at the
shoulders, leaving the arms bare, and
belted in with silver buckles at the
waist. Several of the girls had a sec
end blanket which they wore much like
q shawl, and which was fastened by
long silver pin at the shoulders. The
men wear much the same dress as their
women, save that one blanket is belted
around the waist, whereas the second
is worn as a poncho; that is, over the
upper part Of the body, the head being
stuck through a slit in the center. Few
of the men wear hats, but all tie a red
handkerchief or band about the head
over their fOreheads, leaving the crown
bare.
BETTER LOOKING THAN INDIANS.
The Araucanians are of the same race
family as the North American Indian.
They have copper compilations, trifle
lighter than those Of most of our tribes,
high cheekbones and straight black
hair. The men have little or no boards.
They wear their hair cut off even with
the neck and coming down over the
ears. The women wear their hair long.
II is divided into two braids, each
wrapped with a strip of red CLOTH
Nxyhi ic darnraAod Will
tie silver beads They wind the hair up
on the top of the skull and let the
ends of the braids stick out like horns
above their faces. Sometimes the ends
are joined by a string of little balls
OF silver and sometimes the braids hang
down the back. Both the men and
women are fond Of bright colors The
women wear quantities of jewelry
Their earrings are always very large
They are of many shapes, silver plates
as big as playing card, with ear hooks
attached, being common. They wear
necklaces of silver beads and as much
other silver in the shape of breast orna-
ments as they can afford. The men
are, as rule, better looking than our
Indians, and the women when young
are plump and pretty. 1 see many
girls who have rosy cheeks, welI-round-
ed forms, beautiful eyes and teeth
and full, ripe, kissable lips They look
clean, their feet are small and their
ankles 1 noticed are very we'll turned
VISIT TO AN ARAUCANIAN HUT.
These Araucanlans have curious Gus
toms. Many of the richer Indians have
two or more wives. Each Indian brave
keeps his several women with him In
the same hut, the children Of the vari-
Gus wives being mixed up indiscrimi-
nately as long as peace prevails In the
family. This, however, is not always
the case. At least I judge so, for in
yesterday I found two fires going and
over each fire one Of the husbands two
wives was cooking, while about each
was gathered her own brood of chill
dren The hut was OF boards with a