As the use of money has not been introduced into the kingdom, their commerce is carried on by barter, which is regulated by a kind of conventional tariff. Thus, a horse or bridle is one payment, an ox two, Ste. They trade chiefly with the Spaniards, who live in the province of Maule, on the frontiers of Araucania, and who ex change iron ware, bridle bits, cutlery, grain, and wine, for their ponchi or cloaks, horned cattle, horses, ostrich feathers, curiously wrought baskets, and other articles of a more trifling nature. No fewer than 40,000 of these ponchi are exported annually from Araucania. The Spaniards, who engage in this trade, apply, for J ion, to the heads of families ; and, after having receiv ed it, they proceed to every house, and distribute their merchandize to every person who appears. When the sale is over he notifies his departure, and all the pur chasers, with the most scrupulous fidelity, hasten to de liver to him, at the first village he reaches, the commo dities which they bartered.
The Puddles, or Eastern Olen, who inhabit the te trarchate of the Andes, conform, in general, to the cus toms of the Araucanians, though their manners are more rude and uncultivated. They are of a lofty stature, and are often impelled, by their love of hunting, to change their habitations.
Such is a short account of the manners and customs of an indigenous tribe of South America, distinguished, from every other barbarous people, by the wisdom of their political institutions, the sublimity of their religious faith, the honesty of their commercial transactions, and the unconquerable love ofliberty which fires their hearts. While the other native tribes of America have been com pelled to crouch beneath the Spanish sceptre, the Arau canians have, for nearly three hundred years, opposed the most formidable resistance to these unprincipled rob bers; and continue to maintain that national indepen dence which is so dear to their hearts.
An account of the various interesting wars, which they have carried on against the Spaniards, and of the natural history of Araucania, will be given, with more propriety, under the article CHILI. See Molina, Saggio sulk Sty ria Naturczle Chili, Bologna, 1782, and his Saggio sulla Storia Civile del Chili, Bologna, 1787, both of which works have been lately translated into English. Sce also Raynal's Hist. of the East and West Indies. (70