The Republican journal., 1904-03-03
IN SOUTHERN CHILL.
yALDIvIA, A SOUTH AMERICAN MIN
NEAPOLIS. THE UNCOMFORTABLE
ARAUCANIANS.

most important town of southern Chill
AN be reached only by water from its
seaport, Corral, and long days jour
.ay up the Valdivia river. To go over
and from central Chill is impossible,
b.eause of the yet unconquered Arau-
.tnian Indians. 1t will be remembered
nat many years after the Spaniards
lad taken possession of the rest of
lhili they abandoned the hopeless task
Vt trying to subdue the Araucanians,
Who are the bravest and most interest
4g Indians in all South America, and
unanimously gave them what they
.4I always possessed-their indepen-
.tntp-which they have ever since
mamtained. Their territory extends
um the Andes to the sea, between
Bio-Bio and Valdivia rivers, and
tapriseS some of the best agricultural
l4Yiest forests and widest mountains.
u panish history it is known as ''the
.N!ucible state" Centuries ago the
\raacanian Council of Wise Men"
.3ssed a law which punished with
n th any Indian who should sell his
.ds to the white man. AS they now
,>t these Indians are divided into
lee distinct tribes-the Pehuenches
..l rove the pine forests Pecheun) of
ii I who
0e interior Llanos or plains, and the
,tinos, who live near the borders of
{raucania, cultivate the soil, raise cat
and have voluntarily submitted
-mselves somewhat to the federal
sernment Not many years ago a
Irney into any part of the Indian do
tin would have been simply out of
r question To this day it is impos-
BE to go near the savage Pehuenches,
tl the foolhardy pale-face who ven
res within their dark forest and
,ombre mountain recesses never returns
tell the tale. Even to cross the open
ans of the Llanistas requires no
aall amount of courage.
The port Corral is one of the quaint
and most picturesque places it has
h-en my good fortune to find. Upon a
iii bluff overlooking its placid bay,
ieh is said to be the safest as well
the most commodiouS in southern
lli are the crumbhng walls of bat
rmented fortress, the fortress of a
eam, or of picture, entirely unlike
prosaIc forts of nowadays. The
gitications along the narrow channel
It leads to Santiago, Cuba, are some
ug like it. This was constructed
Yout three centuries and half ago
Pedro de Naldiyla, one of PiZarro's
lowers. the same doughty adventurer
. founded Santiago de Chill and left
mark of his iron hand upon all this
.-l0u Inside the fort are rusty can
u Of queer pattern, tottering stair
'5s that lead to grass grown passages
! m0uldy vaults below, where narrow
uTWays open to the waters edge
,t back Of the fort an odd little vii
.-t struggles up and down the steepest
rrets whose weather. beaten cottages,
cent church and dingy saloons look
Il tired Of clInging to the cliffs and
out ready to let go their hold and
p quietly into the sea. The time
Jrn battlementS overlook classic
ounds, which many a Spanish poet
celebrated in epic verse. Almost
jhu sight of the fort, Valdivia was
zen prisoner and killed in the year
Readers of history will remember
~ that famous Spaniard and his
my sometimes victorious and some
lles defeated; gradually advanced as
sr south as Corral; and under pre-
rnse of spreading the Christian re-
E0n, inflicted all manner of cruelties
.ppn the aborigines; and how, for more
Al ninety years, those CHILEAN In
5!aus known as Araucanians, armed
'4ly with bows and arrows and wooden
ears and lances, Waged war with the
lyaders who were we'll supplied with
tur0pean firearms and constantly re-
ntorced from Peru; and that the In
ans were never conquered Caupoli-
an the greatest Araucanian chieftian,
40 besieged more Spanish fortifca-
IONS, destroyed more Spanish cities,
aud drove the invaders oftenest from
lace to place, died within stones
ROW of Corral. He had been defeated
ID one of the lmerable battles be-
,Ween the Spanlards and his people,
ought on the banks of the Valdivia
yer; and for some months afterwards
femained in hiding, until one of the
Hatives, being tortured by the soldiers
7eyond endurance, revealed his secret
etreat. 1t is related that when eau.
pelican was captured, after a terrific
,truggle, his wife, who had exhOrted
The chief to die rather than surrender
threw her baby boy at his feet, declar
lhg that she would retain nothing to re,
mind her of coward
AS among all Indian nations the
Women of the early Chilians were noted
ior melting their sons and lovers to
battle. In 1890 Chief Guepotau. who