with the Toqui and the principal Ulmenes, to whom he makes the customary presents in the name of his sovereign.*

This parliament is renewed as often as a new president is sent from Spain to Chili, and cannot possibly be dispensed with, as in that case the Araucanians, imagining themselves despised, would, without any other cause, commence war. For this reason, there is always a considerable sum ready in the royal treasury for the expenses necessary upon these occasions. On the arrival of a new president, an envoy, called the national commissary, is dispatched in his name to the four

*In those countries the Araucanians are the most usual, most intrepid, and most irreconcileable 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 consented to allow the residence of deputies among them, entrusted with the charge of maintaining harmony between the two nations.-Raynal's History of the Indies.

Uthalmapus, to invite the Toquis and the other Ulmenes to meet him at the place appointed, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with each other, and to confirm the friendship contracted with his predecessors. In this convention, nearly the same ceremonies are practised as are made use of on ratifying a treaty of peace. The Ulmenes collect upon this occasion in great numbers, not only for the purpose of becoming personally acquainted with the new governor, but to form an opinion, from his manners and countenance, of his pacific or warlike disposition. This meeting attracts to the place where it is held a great number of merchants, who form there a kind of fair, mutually advantageous to both nations,

CHAP. V.

System of Religion and Funeral Ceremonies.

THE religious system of the Araucanians is simple, and well adapted to their free manner of thinking and of living. They acknowledge a Supreme Being, the author of all things, whom they call * Pillan, a word derived from pulli or pilli, the soul, and signifies the supreme essence ; they also call him Guenu-pillan, the spirit of heaven; Buta-gen, the great being; Thalcove, the thunderer; Vilvemvoe, the creator of all; Vilpepilvoe, the omnipotent; Mollgelu, the eternal; Avnolu, the infinite, &c.

The universal government of Pillan is a prototype of the Araucanian polity. He is the great Toqui of the invisible world, and as such has his Apo-Ulmenes, and his Ulmenes, to whom he entrusts the administration of affairs

*Pillan is also, according to Dobrizhoffer, (T. 2. p. 101) their word for thunder. Tupa, or Tupi, in like manner among all the Tupi tribes of Brazil, and also the Guaranies of Paraguay, equally means thunder and God.—E. E.

+ According to Falkner, his general name among the Moluche tribes is Toquichen, Governor of the People.-E. E.

of less importance. These ideas are certainly very rude, but it must be acknowledged that the Araucanians are not the only people who have regulated the things of heaven by those of the earth.

In the first class of these subaltern divinities, is the Epunamun, or god of war; the Meulen, a benevolent deity, the friend of the human race; and the Guecubu, a malignant being, the author of all evil, who appears to be the same as the Algue. From hence it appears, that the doctrine of two adverse principles, improperly called Manicheism, is very extensive, or in other words, is found to be established among almost all the barbarous nations of both continents. These being, from the uncultivated state of their minds, incapable of investigating the origin of good and evil, and deducing inferences from effects, have had recourse to the invention of two opposite agents, in order to reconcile the apparent contradiction in the natural and moral government of the world.

The Guecubu* is the Mavari of the Oronoques, and the Aherman of the Persians. He is, according to the general opinion of the Araucanians, the efficient cause of all the misfortunes that occur. If a horse tires, it is because the

* Huecuvu, or Huecuvoe, the word is written by Falkner, and explained to mean the Wanderer without.-E. E.

Guecubu has rode him. If the earth trembles, the Guecubu has given it a shock; nor does any one die that is not suffocated by the Guecubu. In short, this evil being has as great influence over calamity as the occult qualities of the Cabalists have upon physical effects; and if his power was real, he would be the most active of any agent in this nether world.

The Ulmenes of their celestial hierarchy are the Genii, who have the charge of created things, and who, in concert with the benevolent Meulen, form a counterpoise to the enormous power of Guecubu. They are of both sexes, male and female, who always continue pure and chaste, propagation being unknown in their system of the spiritual world. The males are called Gen, that is, lords, unless this word should be the same as the Ginn of the Arabians. The females are called Amei-malghen, which signifies spiritual nymphs,* and perform for men the offices of Lares or familiar spirits. There is not an Araucanian but imagines he has one of these in his service. Nien cai gni Amchi-malghen, I keep my nymph still, is a common expression when they succeed in any undertaking.

The Araucanians carry still farther their ideas of the analogy between the celestial government

* More properly peris or fairies, from their obvious resemblance to that aërial class of beings of oriental origin,