Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-29

from Europe and of the modern Chi
leno. The rude homes of the Indians
are scattered over the country. l have
visited several of the reservations and
have watched them reaping their grain
with American reapers and thrashing
| it with American thrashers. l have
met some of the braves. and few of
| the squaws. and am therefore able to
| give 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. Peru,
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 decree. Thus far shalt thou go and
lncas out of about all the land below
Santiago. and it is claimed now that
they were never really conquered by
either the Incas whites.
There is no race which has caused the
Spaniards so much trouble as the Arau
canians. For three generations they
waged successful war against the
Spanish invader. destroying his forts
Pedro Naldivia. 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. and 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
them of the empire they once pos
sessed. l say empire. for the Arau-
caIuan possessions comprised the best
part of the Chile of today. Much of it
was farmed by them. They grew crops
of corn and potatoes. and in the far
north they had lamas 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 farm
ing. but most of them lived by hunting
and fishing. They We're warlike In
dams. and were always ready to fight
for their rights. When the Spanish
came in the armies raised against them
We're large. Naldivia was frequently
attacked by thousands of Indians. and
at one time an army of 10000 Arauca-
mans besieged Santiago. That was
about fifty years after the discovery OIL
America. The Spaniards had sur
rounded 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. a beau
tiful girl, who might be called the
Joan dare of Chile. that the Spaniards
of this part of the world were not then
wiped from the face of the earth. This
girl was the mistress of the commander
Valdivia. In his absence she assumed
frnn a
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
off their heads with her own hands.
During the wars with the Araucanl-
ans the Spaniards had much the same
experiences that our forefathers had in
the days of the colonists The Indians
surrounded the settlements and killed
every white man they could get away
from his fellows They bottled the
Spaniards up in Santiago and forced
them to live on rats and the roots of
wild plants The Spaniards had their
starving times similar to those that
our colonists had at Jamestown, and
during one of these Naldivia. who was
the Capt. John Smith of Chile, wrote
to Charles of Spain that fifty grains
of corn were a good days ration, ana
that the corn was eaten both meal ana
bran, Valdivia carried his fighting FAR
south of Temuco. 1t was right here
that he was once attacked by 4o,ooo
warriors, and saved himself only by
charging the Indians with company
of cavalry. The Indians We're fright