The greatest difficulty is in making them observe the
ceremonies of marriage. The wild Indians take as many wives as they
can support, and a cacique will sometimes have more than ten: on
entering his house, the number may be told by that of the separate
fires. Each wife lives a week in turn with the cacique; but all are
employed in weaving ponchos, etc., for his profit. To be the wife
of a cacique is an honour much sought after by the Indian women.
The men of all these tribes wear a coarse woolen poncho: those
south of Valdivia wear short trousers, and those north of it a
petticoat, like the chilipa of the Gauchos. All have their long
hair bound by a scarlet fillet, but with no other covering on their
heads. These Indians are good-sized men; their cheek-bones are
prominent, and in general appearance they resemble the great
American family to which they belong; but their physiognomy seemed
to me to be slightly different from that of any other tribe which I
had before seen. Their expression is generally grave, and even
austere, and possesses much character: this may pass either for
honest bluntness or fierce determination. The long black hair, the
grave and much-lined features, and the dark complexion, called to
my mind old portraits of James I.
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