Their moral qualities are superior to those of any other of the native nations of America. They are courteous, hospitable, faithful to their engagements, grateful for services rendered them, and, generally, generous and humane towards the vanquished. They are exceedingly brave and patriotic, and enthusiastic lovers of liberty.
These noble qualities are obscured by the vices inseparable from the half-savage state of life they lead, unrefined by literature, and unenlightened by the Christian religion. They are often guilty of drunkenness; they practise polygamy, and they are very proud of themselves, and entertain a haughty contempt for all other nations.
The men dress in the following manner: they wear a shirt, vest, and a pair of short, close breeches; and a cloak, called a poncho. It is an oblong piece of cloth, about three yards long and two wide, with an opening in the middle for the head—and is a very commodious and useful garment.
Their clothes are made of wool, which they manufacture into cloth; and all the dress, except the poncho, is colored a greenish blue. This is the favorite color of the nation; but the poncho may be either white, red, or blue, with stripes a span broad, on which are wrought the figures of flowers and animals, in all manner of colors, and the border is ornamented with a handsome fringe.
The Araucanians wear on their heads a bandage of embroidered wool, in the form of the ancient diadem. They raise this, as a mark of courtesy, when saluting any one; when going to war, they ornament it with beautiful plumes. They also wear, around the body, a long woollen girdle, handsomely wrought. Persons of rank wear woollen boots, of various colors, and leather sandals; but the common people always go barefooted.
The dress of the women is very modest and simple. It consists of a tunic, a girdle, and a short cloak: the tunic descends to the feet; it has no sleeves, and is fastened on the shoulders by silver brooches. The color of the dress is always blue, and the fashion is never varied. But women seldom “forget their ornaments;” and these Araucanian ladies decorate their hair, which, divided into tresses, is allowed to float gracefully over their shoulders, with a profusion of false emeralds, and they wear necklaces of glass, and rings of silver on every finger, if they can obtain them.
They build their houses of a quadrangular form; the walls are made of wood, plastered with clay, and sometimes of brick; and the roof is covered with rushes. The size of the dwelling corresponds with the number of women a man can maintain, as each wife has her own fire-place. The interior of these houses is very simple, as they have no more furniture than is absolutely necessary. They live in scattered villages, each family on lands inherited from its ancestors—the right of private property being sacredly established. They will not live in walled cities, because they think the walls are a mark of slavery.
They manufacture their cloth from the wool of the Chilihueque, or Araucanian camel. They make use of the spindle and distaff, and have two kinds of looms; the first is somewhat like our common loom. The women perform all the domestic manufacture, and are likewise expert at sewing. They had needles and looms when first discovered by the Spaniards; in short, all the arts I shall describe, existed among them then, in as great perfection as they do at the present day.
From the excellent clay of their country the men manufactured pots, plates, cups, and large jars to hold their fermented liquors. They baked their pottery in ovens, made in the declivity of hills; and they had the art of varnishing their ware. They also extracted gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead from the earth, purified it, and made a variety of curious and useful articles.
They had discovered the art of making salt upon the sea-shore; and, from the juice of plants and from mineral earths, they procured dyes of all colors for their clothes, and also knew how to fix the color, by means of a certain luminous stone. They used the bark of the tree guallai, as a substitute for soap, and obtained oil from the seeds of the madi.