terrific manner, and notwithstanding the slaughter made among them by the cannon, endeavour to penetrate the centre of the enemy. Though they know full well that the first ranks will be exposed to almost certain destruction, they eagerly contend with each other for these posts of honour, or to serve as leaders of the files. As soon as the first line is cut down, the second occupies its place, and then the third, until they finally succeed in breaking the front ranks of the enemy. In the midst of their fury they nevertheless preserve the strictest order, and perform all the evolutions directed by their officers. The most terrible of them are the club-bearers, who, like so many Herculeses, destroy with their iron-pointed maces all that they meet in their way.*

* The people of Chili, the bravest and most active among the Americans, ought to be excepted from this observation; they attack their enemies in the open field; their troops are disposed in regular order, and their battalions advance to action not only with courage but with discipline. The North Americans, although many of them have substituted the fire arms of Europe in place of their bows and arrows, are notwithstanding still attached to their ancient manner of making war, and carry it on according to their own system; but the Chilians resemble the warlike nations of Europe and Asia in their military operations...... Robertson's History of America, vol, ii,

CHAPTER IV.

Division of the Spoil; Sacrifice after the War; Congress of Peace.

THE spoils of war are divided among those who have had the good fortune to take them. But when the capture has been general, they are distributed among the whole in equal parts, called reg, so that no preference is shown to any of the officers, nor even to the Toqui. The prisoners, according to the custom of all barbarous nations, are made slaves until they are exchanged or ransomed.

According to the admapu, one of these unfortunate men must be sacrificed to the manes of the soldiers killed in the war. This cruel law, traces of which are to be found in the annals of almost all nations, is nevertheless very rarely put in practice, but one or two instances having occurred in the space of nearly two hundred years. The Araucanians are sensible to the dictates of compassion, although the contrary is alledged by certain writers, who having assumed as an incontrovertible principle that they never give quarter to their enemies, afterwards contradict themselves in mentioning the great number of Spanish prisoners who have either been exchanged or ransomed after the war. The sacrifice above mentioned, called pruloncon, or the dance of the head, is performed in the following manner:

The officers, surrounded by the soldiers, form a circle, in the centre of which in the midst of four poniards, representing the four Uthalmapus, is placed the official axe of the Toqui. The unfortunate prisoner, as a mark of ignominy, is then led in upon a horse deprived of his ears and tail, and placed near the axe, with his face turned towards his country. They afterwards give him a handful of small sticks and a sharp stake, with which they oblige him to dig a hole in the ground, in which they order him to cast the sticks one by one, repeating the names of the principal warriors of his country, while at the same time the surrounding soldiers load these abhorred names with the bitterest execrations. He is then ordered to cover the hole, as if to bury therein the reputation and valour of their enemies whom he has named. After this ceremony the Toqui, or one of his bravest companions, to whom he relinquishes the honour of the execution, dashes out the brains of the prisoner with a club. The heart is immediately taken out by two attendants and presented palpitating to the general, who sucks a little of the blood, and passes it to his officers, who repeat in succession the same ceremony; in the mean time he fumigates with tobacco smoke from his pipe the four cardinal points of the circle. The soldiers strip the flesh from the bones, and make of them flutes; then cutting off the head, carry it around upon a pike amidst the acclamations of the multitude, while, stamping in measured pace, they thunder out their dreadful war-song, accompanied by the mournful sound of these horrid instruments. This barbarous

festival is terminated by applying to the mangled body the head of a sheep, which is succeeded by a scene of riot and intoxication. If the skull should not be broken by the blows of the club, they make of it a cup called ralilonco, which they use in their banquets in the manner of the ancient Scythians and Goths.

On the termination of a war, a congress is assembled, called by the Spaniards parlamento, and the Araucanians huincacoyag. This is usually held in a delightful plain between the rivers Bio-bio and Duqueco, on the confines of both territories, whither the Spanish President and the Araucanian Toqui repair with the attendants agreed upon in the preliminary articles. The four Uthalmapus send at the same time four deputies, who are usually the Tetrarchs themselves, and whose unanimous consent is requisite for the establishment and ratification of peace. In the congress that was held after the war of 1723 were present one hundred and thirty Ulmenes with their attendants, who amounted to the number of two thousand men. The camps of the negociating parties were separated by an interval of two miles.

The conference is commenced with many compliments upon either side, and in token of future friendship, they bind the staves of the Ulmenes with that of the Spanish President together, and place them in the midst of the assembly; an Araucanian orator then presents a branch of cinnamon, which is with them the token of peace, and placing his left hand upon the bundle of staves, makes in the Chi

lian language a pertinent harangue upon the causes that produced the war, and the most eligible means of preserving harmony between the two nations. He then proceeds with much eloquence and energy to point out the losses and miseries occasioned by war, and the advantages that are derived from peace, to which he exhorts the chiefs of either party in a pathetic peroration. An interpreter then explains the precise meaning of all that the Araucanian has said. The Spanish president replies in another speech adapted to the subject, which is interpreted in the same manner. The articles of the treaty are then agreed upon, and are ratified by a sacrifice of seve, ral Chilihueques, or Chilian camels, which the Araucanians immolate for the happy continuance of the peace. After this the president dines at the same table with the Toqui and the principal Ulmenes, to whom he makes the customary presents in the name of his sovereign.*

* In those countries the Araucanians are the most usual, most intrepid and most irreconcilable enemies of Spain. They are the only people of the new world who have ventured to fight with the Europeans in the open field, and who employ the sling in order to hurl death at a distance upon their enemies. They have even the intrepidity to attack the best fortified posts. As these Americans are not embarrassed in making war, they are not apprehensive of its duration, and hold it as a principle never to sue for peace, the first overtures for which are always made by the Spaniards. When these are favourably received, a conference is held. The governor of Chili and the Indian general, accompanied by the most distinguished officers of either party regulate amidst the festivity of the table the terms of the agreement. The frontier was formerly the theatre of these assemblies; but the two last were held in the capital of the colony. The savages have even VOL. II.

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