56 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER.
forests, and the magnificent rivers of this immense territory, afford so many means of refuge to the savage hordes of Indian and Creole rohbers, that it is impossible for the government, in its present debili- tated state, to clear the country of them.
"The Araucano Indians extend from the river Bio Bio, which laves the southern side of Conception, to Valdivia. They are the fiercest and most warlike of all the tribes, and the best horsemen in the world. Their property consists in herds of cattle, which they drive before them on the approach of an enemy, and the women cultivate the potatoe, bean, and maize. They are a fine robust people, and possess great mus- cular strength. Polygamy is universally in practice, and the women are virtuous to a surprising degree. I never could discover any other sign of religion than what is to be deduced from the fact that they bury spurs, provisions, &c, with their dead. Their worst characteristic, in common with all savages, is their utter faithlessness and total disregard of compact or treaty, and they are moreover cruel beyond all con- ception of cruelty. I was ten months campaigning in their territory, and I suffered hardships which in- deed required all my constitution to resist. Half a dozen of them will put to flight any number of our cavalry, but they dare not face infantry ; their arms are sabres and lances about twenty feet long. With our battalion of three hundred men we defeated six or seven hundred of them twice."
In October, 1825, the director, Freire, was deposed by an aristocratical faction ; and the conduct of Major Tupper, now effective of No. 8, on the occasion will be best explained in other extracts from his letters, dated at Santiago in 1826, and addressed to his family.
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