The Island of Mocha, situate in 38° 21´ S. and that called Santa Maria, lying about 80 miles to the northward of it, were the patrimony of a family, now residing at Conception, of the name of Santa Maria, who lived on the latter, and sent some people to reside at Mocha, but after the commencement of the war between England and Spain, in 1780, the family, as well as the whole of the inhabitants, were ordered by the government of Chile to quit the islands, under the pretence that these were a resort for smugglers: a pretence derived from the common error, that privacy is preventive of contraband.
During the time that Mocha was in the possession of the Santa Marias a number of the original indian inhabitants, belonging to the tribe found on it when first visited by the Spaniards in 1549, resided there, but they were also removed to Conception.
These two islands having been once inhabited, there are yet to be found some few remains of cattle, which have continued to procreate: on Mocha are horses and pigs, and some barn door fowls. Mocha is about fifteen miles in circumference, hilly in the centre, and sloping towards the coast, more so on the western side, where a tolerably good anchorage and a safe landing place, on a sandy beach, may be found. Fresh water flows from several springs; wild turnips, mint and other herbs grow in abundance; the trees on the hilly part are principally the white cinnamon, named by the Spaniards canelo, the magui, the luma, a tree called espino, and others. Here are also apple, peach and cherry trees, with a variety of wild strawberries, and myrtle-berries. Some solitary seals yet remain on the rocks on the south side of the island.
I left Mocha after remaining there alone thirty-two days, and landed from the brig Polly at Tucapel Viejo, the residence of one of the Caciques, or Ulmenes, of the Araucanian indians, by whom I was most hospitably treated.
The male indians who appeared on the beach were of a reddish brown or copper colour, few of them reaching to the height of six feet. They were finely shaped and very muscular, having a round face, well formed forehead, small black eyes, flattish nose, moderately thick lips and good teeth, but no beard. The whole of the countenance is expressive of a certain portion of vivacity, and not uninteresting; the hair is black and strong, all of it being drawn behind the head and platted. The women are lower in stature than the men, their features similar, and some of the girls, if I be not allowed to call them handsome, I cannot abstain from saying are very pretty. The females wear their hair long, and platted behind their heads: it is afterwards wrapped round with a tape about an inch and a half broad, to one edge of which are attached a number of small hawks' bells: the plait is allowed to hang down the back, and not unfrequently reaches below their knees.
The dress or costume of the indians at first appeared very singular to me. In the men it consisted of a flannel shirt, and a pair of loose drawers of the same material, generally white, reaching below the calves of the legs; a coarse species of rug about two yards wide and two and a half long, with a slit in the middle through which the head was passed: this garment, if so I may style it, hanging over the shoulders and reaching below the knees, is called a poncho. The common ones seemed to be made from a brownish sort of wool, but some were very fancifully woven in stripes of different colours and devices, such as animals, birds, flowers, &c. Of the poncho I shall have occasion to speak again, as it is universally worn in all the provinces of South America which I visited; but I must say here, that I considered it as an excellent riding dress; for hanging loosely and covering the whole body, it leaves the arms quite at liberty to manage the whip and reins. The hat commonly worn is in the form of a cone, without any skirts; for shoes they substitute a piece of raw bull's hide cut to the shape of the sole of the foot, and tied on with slender thongs of leather. The females wear a long white flannel tunic, without sleeves, and an upper garment of black flannel, extending below their knees, the sides closed up to the waist, and the corners from the back brought over the shoulders and fastened to the corners of the piece in front with two large thorns, procured from a species of cactus, or with large silver brooches: it is afterwards closed round the waist with a girdle about three inches broad, generally woven in devices of different colours; very often, however, nothing but the white tunic is worn, with the girdle, and a small mantle or cloak called ichella. The favourite colour among the indians appeared to be a bluish green, though I saw few of their garments of this colour at Tucapel, but remarked afterwards, at the town of Arauco, that all those who came to sell or barter their fruit, &c. wore it. The females generally have nothing on their heads or feet, but have a profusion of silver rings on their fingers, and on their arms and necks an abundance of glass bead bracelets and necklaces.
The occupation of the men, as in most unenlightened countries, appeared to be confined to riding out to see their cattle, their small portions of land, cultivated by the women, and to hunting. The females were employed spinning wool with a spindle about ten inches long, having a circular piece of burnt clay at the bottom, to assist and regulate the rotary motion given by twirling it with the finger and thumb at the upper end. They generally sit on the ground to spin, and draw a thread about a yard long, which they wind on the spindle, tie a knot on the upper end, and draw another thread: though this work is very tedious, compared to what may be done by our common spinning-wheels, yet their dexterity and constancy enable them to manufacture all their wearing apparel. Weaving is conducted on a plan fully as simple as spinning. The frame-work for the loom is composed of eight slender poles, cut in the woods when wanted, and afterwards burnt; four of these are stuck in the ground at right angles, the other four are lashed with thongs at the top, forming a square, and the frame is complete. The treadles are then placed about a foot from the front, having a roller at the back of the frame for the yarn and another in front for the cloth, both tied fast with thongs; the sleys, made of worsted, doubled, have two knots tied in the middle of each pair of threads, leaving a small space between the knots through which to pass the warp. After all the yarns are passed through the sleys the ends are tied in small bunches to the roller, which is turned round by two females, one at each end, whilst another attends to the balls in front; the other ends of the yarn are then tied to the roller in front. The thongs connected with the treadle are fastened one to each of the sleys, and a thong being made fast to the upper part of one of them is thrown over a loose slender pole, placed on the top of the frame and then made fast to the other sley, so that when one treadle is pressed by the foot it draws down one of the sleys, holding every alternate thread, and the other rises, carrying with it the other half of the warp. Instead of a shuttle the yarn is wound round a slender stick, of the necessary length, and passed through the opening formed by the rising of one of the sleys and the falling of the other; the contrary treadle is then pressed down, and a slender piece of hard heavy wood, longer than the breadth of the cloth, is passed across, and the weaver taking hold of both ends drags it towards her and compresses the thread. This piece of wood, shaped somewhat like a long sword, is called the macana, and has often been resorted to as a weapon in time of war. The same rude mode of weaving is common, though not universal, in South America. The manner of weaving ponchos I shall describe when treating of the town of Arauco, for what I saw here did not deserve attention.
Besides the laborious occupation of spinning and weaving, and the usual household labour, each wife (for polygamy is allowed, every man marrying as many wives as he choose, or rather, as many as he can maintain) has to present to her husband daily a dish of her own cooking, and annually a poncho of her own spinning and weaving, besides flannel for shirts and drawers. Thus an indian's house generally contains as many fire places and looms as he has wives, and Abbé Molina says, that instead of asking a man how many wives he has, it is more polite to ask him how many fires he keeps.
The females are cleanly in their houses and persons; dirt is never seen on their clothes, and they frequently bathe, or wash themselves three or four times a day. The men also pay great attention