Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-11-29
South Americas Brave Araucanian Indians
Copyright. 1914 BY Frank G. Carpenter,

lined with log cabins. were rivers OF
mud. The country roads were almost i'm
passable and the stumps still stood in
the streets. Today Temuco has more than
10000 population and IT is an up-to-dste
South American city. Its one-story
houses of brick and stone are covered
with stucco. painted in the brightest OF
colors. and they stand upon wide streets,
well paved with cobbles. The streets
cross one another at right angles. The
town is laid out checkerboard fashion.
with a large plaza in the center. The
plaza is filled with flowers and trees and
the band plays there OF Sunday.
Temuco is the chief supply point Of an
extensive farming district. The chief
crop is wheat and much OF II is planted
and harvested with American machinery.
There are many large stores. and in them
I see plows from Moline and windmils
from Chicago. The international Har-
vester company does big business at
this end of the continent. Its thrashers
and reapers are TO be frequently seen,
and much of the machinery is moved by
American engines. At the same time the
old tramps on the heels Of the new. The
oxcart crowds the automobile, and cattle.
yoked by their. horns, foil through the
streets pulling great loads. The place
is mixture of savagery and civilization.
The streets are filled with well dressed
men and women Of half dozen nationali-
ties, and there are also Indians in
ponchos and Indian girls riding astride,
galloping along on their ponies
Indians Are Araucanians.
The Indians of Temuco are the famed
Araucanians. They have reservations
nearby. and their farms lie in blocks
surrounded by those of new settlers
from Europe and of the modern Chileno.
The rude homes of the Indians are scatA
tered over the country. have visited
several of the reservations and have
watched them reaping their grain with
American reapers and threshing it with.
American thrashers. have met some of
the braves, and few of the squaws.
and am therefore able to give a faint
moving picture Of the last of the race as
it is in this good year 1914
But first let me say a word of the
Araucanians of the past You have all
heard of the Incas, who once ruled from
Ecuador far down into Chile. They had
in their dominion Ecuador, Peril Bolivia
and the northern part of this country.
They tried TO capture the south. but
when they reached the lands of the
Araucanians they were met by the de-
cree, thus far shalt thou 20 and no
farther" The Araucanians kept the
lncas out of about all the land below
Santiago, and 1t is claimed now that they
were never really conqdered by either
the Incas or whites.
stubborn Set of Fighters.
There is no race which has caused the
Spaniards so much trouble as the Arau-
canians. For three generations they
waged a successful war against the
Spanish invader, destroying his forts
and besieging his cities. They killed
Pedro Valdivia, the man who founded
Santiago. and it was only inch by inch
that his successors drove them toward
the south. When they were finally
overpowered by great numbers they re-
fused to be the slaves and hirelings of
the conquerors. They continued their
fighting. off and on. end today they
maintain their own identity. They
have their own farms, and they lead
lives apart from the descendants OF the
white-skinned invaders, who robbed
1hOIi OlA tuCy OnCG pOSbobStQs
I say empire. for the Araucanian possess
sions, comprised the best part of the Chile
of today. Much of 1t was farmed by
them. They grew crops OF corn and pota-
toes. and in the far north they had llamas
and alpacas which they got from the
Incas.
The Araucanians of that day were very
much like our Indians OF eastern North
America. They did a little farming, but
most of them lived by hunting and fish
ing. They were warlike Indians. and were
always ready to fight for their rights.
When the Spanish came in the armies
raised against them were large. Valdivia
was frequently attacked by thousands OF
Indians. and at one time an army OF
10000 Araucanians besieged Santiago
That was about fifty years after the dis
covery OF America The Spaniards had
surrounded the city with palisades. but
the Indians tore them down and set fire
to the houses. Indeed. It was only
through the leadership of Ines Suarez, q
beautiful girl who might be called the
Joan dare of Chile. that the Spainards
of this part of the world were not ther
wiped from the face of the earth. Thii
gAl was the mistress of the commander
ValdivIa- In. the absences she assumed
the leadership OF the troops. She put
on a coat Of mail, and with her little
Spanish army drove, the Indians back
During the siege she captured six Of the
Indian chiefs. and 1t is said she cut OH
their heads with her own hands.
Natives Opposed settlers.
During the wars with the Araucanian
the spaniards had much the same expert
ences that our forefathers had in TIT
days OF the eolonists. The Indians sur
rounded the settlements and killed ever
white man they could get away from hi
fellows They bottled the spaniards VI
in Santiago and forced them to live oil
rats and the roots of Wild plants Tn
spaniards had their starving times simila
to those that our colonists had at James
town, and during one of these Vaidivia
who was the Captain John Smith OF Chile
wrote TO Charles v of Spain that fift
grains OF corn were good days ration
and that the corn was eaten both mea
and bran Valdivia carried his fighting
far south of Temuco. II was right her
that he was once attacked by 1000
warriors. and saved himself only b
charging the Indians with company o
cavalry The Indians were frightened b