The Araucanians have four seasons. They divide the natural day into twelve parts, assigning six to the day and as many to the night. Having no instruments to determine the length of their hours, this division is extremely irregular. The hours are numbered from midnight, and have each a particular name ; and, in their calculations of time, the words night, morning, and day, are synonimous, so that the same space of time is indicated by the expressions, two days, two nights, or two mornings.
The stars, or huaglcn, are divided into constellations, which receive particular names from the number of their principal stars ; thus the Pleiades is called Caju pal, or the constellation of six, the seventh not being easily seen by the naked eye. The Galaxy is called Rupuepeu, or the Fabulous Road, from some story con cerning it that tradition has preserved.
The planets are called Gau, from gaup, to wash ; and many of the Araucanians believe that these bodies are worlds inhabited like ours. Hence, the sky is called Guenu-mapu, or the Country of Heaven ; and the moon, Cuyen-mapu, or the Country of the Moon. They believe that comets are exhalations from the earth, that are set on fire in the higher regions of the atmosphere ; hut they are not alarmed, like other nations, at the appearance of these phenomena. An eclipse of the sun is called Layantu, or the Death of the Sun ; and a lunar eclipse is called Laycujen, or the Death of the Moon.
The measures of length employed by the Aramcani are the palm, the span, the foot, the pace, the ell, and the league ; but great distances are measured by morning's and day's journey. Their liquid measures, are a quart, a pint, and another called Mencou. Their dry measures are the Chiaigue, which holds six pints; and the Gllepu, which contains twelve pints.
Their knowledge of the speculative sciences is ex tremely limited ; and their language has not even words to denote the various subjects of speculation in civilized countries. The sciences of rhetoric, poetry, and medi cine, are cultivated with great success among the Arau canians. A great orator is sure of obtaining the ma nagement of public affairs; and such is the estimation in which this acquirement is held, that the eldest son of an Ulmen, who is deficient in oratory, is excluded from the right of succession, and the nearest relation, who is a distinguished speaker, is substituted in his moth.* From this cause, their children are early in structed in public speaking ; and are carried to the na tional assembly to listen to the speeches of their orators, The speeches of the Araucanians, like all those of un civilized nations, are highly allegorical and figurative ; and are marked with peculiar idioms and expressions, which are used only in that species of extempore com position, which they call coyagtucan, or parliamentary harangues. These species are generally divided into two or three points, and have an exordium, a narrative, an argument, and a pathetic conclusion.
The Araucanian poets, whom they call Gempin, or Lords of Speech, are chiefly employed in celebrating the exploits of their heroes, in blank verse of eight or eleven syllables. Those who have read the poetry of
• the Celts and the Danes, or the ingenious imitations of that interesting species of song by our learned country man, Mr Macpherson, will have an accurate notion of the Araucanian poetry.
The Araucanians are extremely jealous of the purity and correctness of their language. To prevent its de basement, by the introduction of foreign words, every stranger is obliged to assume a Chilian name ; and when the missionaries are preaching to the people, the Arau canians rise up to correct every mistake that they com mit in the language and pronunciation.
The physicians of this kingdom arc divided into three different classes, who adopt different modes of treatment in the cure of diseases. The .4mpivcs, or empi•ics, use only simple medicines, and are well acquainted with the medical virtues of herbs. The nicus, or regular phy sicians, imagine that all contagious disorders arise from insects ; and hence the name of vermicular diseases is given to all those that are epidemical. The iliac/us are a set of empirical mountebanks, who consider disorders as the effects of witchcraft, and who are generally em ployed when every regular method of cure has been found ineffectual. In a corner of the patient's room, which is illuminated with torches, a large bough of cin namon is placed among several branches of laurel. The magical drum is suspended on this bough, and near it stands a sheep ready for sacrifice. A loud song is then chaunted by the women, to the sound of small drums; and, with tobacco smoke, the Machi fumigates, three times, the branch of cinnamon, the sheep, the singers, and the patient. The sheep is then immolated, its heart taken out ; and, after the Machi has sucked the blood, it is hung upon the cinnamon bough. Approaching next to the sick person, the Machi pretends to open his belly, and to discover the poison that has been admini stered to him by some imagined sorcerer. He then beats the magical drum, and sings while he walks round with the women, till, all at once, he falls to the ground, throwing his body into the most horrid con tortions, and rolling his eyes with the most convulsive motions. In the midst of this counterfeited trance, the friends of the patient question the Machi upon the na ture and cause of the disease. To these questions the Machi often replies, by naming some persons as the cause of the disorder, upon whom he wishes to be re venged; or by some ambiguous responses, which have a tendency to promote the deception. The Araucanian surgeons, Gutarve, exhibit great skill in the treatment of dislocations, fractures, wounds, and ulcers ; and fre quently perform astonishing cures. Another class of them, called Cuftove, tinctured with the principles of the Machis, often dissect bodies to prove that their vis cera are tainted with magic poison ; and, during these operations, they have acquired no despicable informa tion respecting the structure of the human frame. Their lancet is the sharp point of a flint fixed in a handle, and a bladder and pipe form the syringe which they use.