The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-05
THE ARAUCANIANS
THE UNCoNoUERED INDIANS OF
 CENTRAL CHILLI

In the Mud Palace of n KIng-A MOn- arch With Many Wives.
 Special Correspondence of the Journal and Courier).
 cerral, Chill, Jan. 27, 1904
 To most persons there is wonderful charm in doing things so much out of the common as to be almost foolhardy. A few years ago. anyone who ventured within, or even too near, the borders of the territory of the unconduerable
 Araueanians never returned to tell the tale of his adventures: and to this day
 he who goes into the interior of the In
 vincible State literally takes his life in | his hand. And that is just why we
 wanted to go-because there are so few unbeaten paths left anywhere on the earth's surface, and because this com paratively unexpored field is unique,
 being in the center of a highly civilized,
 rich, powerful and populous country;
 yet never powerful enough to bring in to subjection a few hundred Indians,
 some of whom retain all the character
 lstics of their aboriginal ancestors, al
 most unmodified by the twentieth cen
 tury civilization that surrounds them
 on every side. Our party consisted of nine well-armed gentlemen (mostly
 Germans and Englishmen), led by one who was familiar with the route, having ltraversed it many times on a mission l of trade, which made him welcome among the Indians on the edges of l Araucania; several ladies, wives and sisters of the gentlemen aforesaid, my self and young lady stenographer. a
 half-breed interpreter and a number of
 servants. We were abundantly sup piled with extra animals, tents, edibles and ammunition, besides the inevitable photographic outfits. Thus equipped for three weeks life in the wilderness,
 We cantered out of the corral one early morning, and proceeded due north in the best of spirits.
 The Castinos, who inhabit the borders Iof the sInvincible State,'' now have farms and comfortable homes, for civil ization has done for them what Spanish Ieruelties and force of arms could never accomplish. To-day this tribe of the re- doubtable Araucanians are plodding w
 wonderfully bleached in complexion. Their broad-shouldered women work in the fields, outdoing the men in feats
 of strength, as well as surpassing them in intelligence, and whenever a Castino husband gets drunk or unruly, his gen. | the spouse makes nothing of giving him a sound flogging. It is related in his tory that when Valdivia, the conqueror, desired to recruit his army while vain ly endeavoring to overthrow the ances- 1 tors of these dusky people, he caused his favorite mare to be shod with shoes of pure gold put on with headless nails. Then he went up to Peru and induced one of the native princes to race horses | with him for a high wager. Of course,
 as Valdivia expected, the golden shoes fell off, and were left on the field. When some of the common people pick ed them up, and took them to their owner in hope of a reward he said to | them grandiloquently: Keep them, my
 children; keep them. In the land of Chili, whither I shall soon return, riches are to be had for the gathering. There gold and silver are so common as to |
 to aiiay your hunger It is needless to remark that afterward the shrewd gen. 1 eral found plenty of recruits.
 , His statement comes something near l the truth to-day for in this part of Chili riches may truly "be had for the gathering" but in golden grain and sil- very wheat, which when harvested yields from forty to sixty bushels to the acre. All the land lying along the l Bio-Bio and in the great plains of the Rio Veragara is wonderfully rich and requires little cultivation. After more than a week of easy travelling in the
 saddle through unbroken fields, frequent
 picnic-halts being made for fishing and hunting, we suddenly came in sight, one sunny afternoon, of a Llanasto vil- Haze. At the same moment young In- dian appeared in the path and stopped the cavaleade to inquire who we were and where we were going. He was jevidently acting from authority and had been sent from the village to inter- icept us. It was afterward disclosed that keen eyes and silent footsteps had been shadowing us for several days, though we had not suspected it. Our interpreter displayed written passport from "The Great White Father in An- sol (thc governor), and assured the
 Araucanian that we were friends who had come long way to visit the mighty chief of the Llanistos and his people. jThereupon the smiling warrior exhib- tied a splendid set of whitest ivory and Uniformed us that, though the great chief lived farther down the river, the sub- chief, who was 8 man of surpassing lyalor, would be happy to welcome us.
 I confess that it was not without some trepidation that we followed our Inew guide into the center of the Indian lcamp, and halted in front of the largest dwelling. It was three-room palace lof mud and logs, roofed with dried
 grass, and in it's doorway stood a man of powerful frame, with an extremely I ugly but rather intelligent face and an labnormally large head, whose size was exaggerated by a bushy shock of coarse hair. Having been told by the inter- preter why we were passing through Ihis country, he shook hands with each of the men, but of course his dignity forbade such an act of condescension toward the "squaws''-a circumstance