iscovered the art of fixing them by
means of the _polcura_, an aluminous or astringent mineral. Instead of
soap, they used the back of the _quillai_, which is an excellent
substitute. In their language there are many words discriminative of
various kinds of baskets and mats, which they manufactured from various
vegetables. From a plant called _gnocchia_, they procured a strong
fibrous substance resembling hemp, of which they made ropes and fishing
nets of different kinds; and the inhabitants on the coast used canoes of
different kinds and sizes, and floats or rafts of wood, or of inflated
seal skins. Though not peculiarly addicted to hunting, they were
accustomed to kill the wild animals and birds of the country, both for
amusement and subsistence; for which purpose they used bows and arrows,
and the _laque_ or running noose which is employed with so much
ingenuity by many of the South American natives. It is a singular fact
that they had the same device as the Chinese, for catching wild ducks in
their lakes and rivers, covering their heads with perforated gourds, and
wading among the flocks.

They had advanced so far in the knowledge of numbers, as to have
distinctive names for the ten units, and for an hundred and a thousand,
with all the intermediate numbers compounded of decimal terms. To
preserve the memory of their transactions, they used a bunch of threads
of several colours called _pron_, similar to the _quippo_ of the
Peruvians, oh which they cast a number of knots according to
circumstances. The subject was indicated by the colour of the threads,
and the knots designated the number or quantity, but I have not been
able to discover any other purpose to which this species of register
could be applied. The _quippo_ is still used by the shepherds in Peru,
to keep an account of the number in their flocks, to mark the day and
hour when the different ewes yeaned, or when any of their lambs are
lost.

The religious system of the Araucanians, formerly that of all the native
tribes of Chili, resembles in a great measure the freedom of their modes
of life and government. They acknowledge a Supreme Being, the creator of
all things, whom they name _Pillan_, a word derived from _pulli_ or
_pilli_, the soul. He is likewise named _Guenu-pillan_, the soul or
spirit of heaven; _Buta-gen_, the great being; _Thalcove_[59], the
thunderer; _Vilvemvoe_, the creator of all things; _Vilpepilvoe_, the
omnipotent; _Mollgelu_, the eter