obesity, tbeir joints large, their hands and feet small. The
feet turn inwards, a peculiarity which gives them an awkward;
gait. The women are made like the men. They arequitp
destitute of beauty in the European sense. Their heads are
large in proportion to the body; the countenance full, round,
with prominent cheek-bones, large mouths, but thin, lips in
proportion to the people of the Pampas,*,, Their teeth are
good and remain sound, in old age.: their ; noses are; fa t,
short, with wide nostrils, eyes placed horizontally and well
open: the forehead neither broad nor elevated. Theiri.e^?
pression varies: it is most frequently serious^ thoughtfnjh} and
cold, but at the same time gentle and mild. The .young
women are rather pleasing, but they soon become muscular
in appearance. Both sexes have long, Black, strong, hair
like other native Americans. The men blacken th^ir. eye-
brows as well as the scanty beard with which nature endows
them.”
Their moral character is proud, independent, bold, inconstant,
full of dissimulation, taciturn. It is precisely similar
to that of the Patagonians in the plains The Araucanf.» are
good fathers, husbands, indomitable warriors, and indefatigable
travellers. They are now as free as before the conquest
of the neighbouring countries.46
In the following section I shall enter somewhat further into
the history of the Moluchian race.
S e c t io n IV.— O f the Southern or Puelchian and Moluchian
Races o f South America.
Under this term I include the races who occupy the great
southern plains or pampas of South America as well as the
\'4 Island of Eire ” beyond the Straits of Magellan. They are
classed as a branch of the Andian nations on the hypothesis,
that they originally descended into the great level countries
of Patagonia from the eastern side of the Cordillera. That
chain extends, as it is well-known, in a straight line from
* M. d’Ovbigny, tom. ii. 'loc. cit.
Peru,, through Chili into 'Tiferra del Fuegol It is in this
direction that we may most èâsily imaginé the southern ex-
trëflÉty of the American continèht to hâve been peopled.
There are also other considerations which, as' the reader
will presently observe, give reason foi- d^èptmg' this classification,
• The whole eâsternvëèüntry wfimh lies^hefween. the Rio dé
ia Plata and the Straits of Magellan"* is divide«!: "into two
tiff équàl poitióhkhy the “ Ria’l^ lp ’jË” Black B'ivér/ pr Cusu
Léûvu. The p la in t to the "northward of this ^ast^river are
®ê Paha|DW: to th e ’èhiitbward the^couhtry ~is termed Pata-
gtkiia as far as the Straits.* The natuie of the lând and the
rade of'people are, however, the same" oh ‘Both sicfeâ of the
Rio Kejgrèl' |
The best and almost the only account of these nations thdt
existed’ untiT'lately was that "of Thomas’ Falkhfer, £ JeS^it
missionary/who resided in the country forty years, and possessed
an extensive 'acquaintance with therpeope"’and tlicir
lâhgükges.* ' Falkner divides the whole grbiipe pf nations into
riVo classes) which among themselves are termed, as he savS/
respectively Puelcties âftd Moluchès: ’ The Puefctiés ‘are thé
inhabitants Of the eastern side of the confinent from Buenos
A|rffes to the Strait: their nafaie meanscy eastern people.”
The Moluchtes are thfe western trikes'/) the tdrm'Hbeans
“ lÉàrripfs” .or people devoted to warfare/ They are said to
occupy the whole western country from the Spanish settles
mebt at Mendoza in Chili to the Strait. Their nqme recalls
the fierce and indomitable valour of the Aràucahos^ who are
supposed to he of this face, and are, in feet, kieliidfed by
Falkner in the division of Moiuche.
The Puetehe or eastern people arè subdivided. Those who-
MVev farthest towards the north and border on Buerms) Ayres
are called Taluhets-: the Divihets sûcceéÉ to them,, and live
near the rivers Sanguel, 'Colorado) and Huéyque’, near Casù-
hati. These two families compose the'pe'Ople who- are termed
* The people wère Called Patagonians by H-the, ^companions of+ M'agaf-
haens. The word means tr loq£> fe|J;” qt u Very larg<efee'f.” SfevObservations
on the Voyage of the Adventure and the Beagle, vof. ii. p. 133;
2 I 2