The Adventurers

by Gustave Aimard

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE MEETING.

  As the principal incidents of this history are now about to take placein Araucania, we think it necessary to give our readers some account ofthis people, who alone of all the nations the Spaniards encountered inAmerica, succeeded in resisting them, and had, up to the time we treatof, preserved intact their liberty and almost all their territory. TheAraucanos or Moluchos inhabit the beautiful country situated between therivers Biobio and Valdivia, having on one side the sea, and on the otherthe great Cordilleras of the Andes. They are thus completely enclosedwithin the Chilian republic, and yet, as we have said, have alwaysremained independent. It would be a great error to suppose these Indianssavages. The Araucanos have adopted as much of European civilization assuited their character and their mode of living, and have rejected therest. From the most remote times these peoples had formed a nationalbody, strong and compact, governed by wise laws rigorously executed. Thefirst Spanish conquerors were quite astonished to find in this remotecorner of America, a powerful aristocratic republic, and a feudalismorganized almost upon the same plan as that which prevailed in Europein the thirteenth century. We will here enter into a few details of thegovernment of the Araucanos, who proudly style themselves _Aucas_--freemen. These details concerning a people too little known, up to this day,cannot fail to interest the reader.

  The principal chiefs of the Araucanos are the Toquis,[1] the Apo-Ulmens,and the Ulmens. There are four Toquis, one for each territorialdivision; they have under their orders the Apo-Ulmens, who, in theirturn, command the Ulmens. The Toquis are independent of each other, butconfederated for the public good. Titles are hereditary, and pass frommales to males. The vassals or Mosotones are free; in time of war alonethey are subject to military service; but, in this country, and it isthis which constitutes its strength, every man in a condition to beararms is a soldier. It may easily be understood what the chiefs are whenwe state that the people consider them only as the first among theirequals, and that their authority is consequently rather precarious;and if, now and then, certain Toquis have endeavoured to extend theirauthority, the people, jealous of their privileges, have always foundmeans to keep them within the bounds prescribed by their ancient usages.

  A society whose manners are so simple, and interests so littlecomplicated, which is governed by wise laws, and all the members ofwhich have an ardent love of liberty, is invincible, as the Spaniardshave many times found to their cost. After having, in several attempts,endeavoured to subdue this little corner of land, isolated amidst theirown territory; they have ended by acknowledging the futility of theirefforts, and have tacitly admitted their defeat by renouncing for evertheir projects of obtaining dominion over the Araucanos, with whomthey have contracted alliances, and across whose territory they nowpeacefully pass on their road from Santiago to Valdivia.

  The Carampangue--in the Araucano idiom, refuge of lions--is a charmingstream, half torrent, half river, which comes bounding down from theinaccessible summits of the Andes, and, after many capricious windings,loses itself in the sea two leagues to the north of Arauco. Nothingcan be more beautiful than the banks of the Carampangue, bordered bysmiling valleys, covered with woods, with apple trees loaded with fruit,rich pastures in which animals of all kinds range and feed at liberty,and high mountains, from the verdant sides of which hang, in the mostpicturesque positions, clusters of cabins, whose whitewashed walls shinein the sun, and give life to this enchanting landscape.

  On the day when we resume our narrative, that is, on a beautiful morningin July--called by the Indians the month of the sun--two horsemen,followed by a magnificent black and white Newfoundland dog, wereascending, at a sharp trot, the course of the river, following what iscalled a wild beast's track, scarcely marked in the high grass. Thesemen, dressed in the Chilian costume, surging up suddenly amidst thiswild natural scene, formed, by their manners and their vestments, acontrast with everything which surrounded them; a contrast of whichthey probably had no idea, for they rode as carelessly through thisbarbarous country, abounding in perils and ambushes without number, asthey would have done along the road from Paris to Saint-Cloud. These twomen, whom the reader has, no doubt, recognized, were the Count Louisde Prebois-Crance and Valentine Guillois, his foster brother. They hadpassed in turn through Maule, Talca, and Concepcion; and on the day wemeet them again, in the middle of Araucania, they had been full twomonths on the road, travelling philosophically along with their dogCaesar upon the banks of the Carampangue. This was the 14th of July,1837, at eleven o'clock in the morning.

  The young men had passed the night in an abandoned _rancho_ whichthey had fallen in with on their way, and at sunrise resumed theirjourney; so that they now began to be sensible of the calls of hunger.Upon taking a survey of the spot where they found themselves, theyperceived a clump of apple trees, which intercepted the rays of thesun, and offered them a shelter for their repast and a little rest.They dismounted and sat down at the foot of a large apple tree, leavingtheir horses to browse upon the young branches so abundant aroundthem. Valentine knocked down a few apples with a stick, opened his_alforjas_--large cloth pockets placed behind the saddle--drew out somesea biscuit, a piece of bacon, and a goat's milk cheese, and the twoyoung men began eating gaily, sharing their provisions with Caesar in abrotherly way, whilst he, seated gravely in front of them, followed withhis eyes every morsel they put into their mouths.

  "Caramba!" said Valentine, with a satisfied smile; "it is comfortable tohave a little rest, after having been on horseback from four o'clock inthe morning."

  "Well, to tell the truth, I must own I am a little fatigued," Louisconfessed.

  "My poor friend, you are not, as I am, accustomed to long journeys. Itwas stupid of me not to remember that."

  "Bah! on the contrary, I am getting accustomed to them very well; andbesides," he added, with a sigh, "physical fatigue makes me forget----"

  "Ah! that's true," Valentine interrupted; "come! I am happy to hear youspeak thus--I see you are becoming a man!"

  Louis shook his head sorrowfully.

  "No," he said, "you are mistaken. As the malady which undermines me iswithout remedy, I endeavour to play a manly part."

  "Yes, hope is one of the supreme illusions of love; when it can nolonger exist, love dies."

  "Or he who experiences it," said the young man, with a melancholy smile.

  This was followed by a silence, which Valentine at length broke.

  "What a charming country!" he cried, with feigned enthusiasm, for thepurpose of giving the conversation another direction, as he swallowed,with delectation, an enormous piece of bacon.

  "Yes, but the roads are very bad."

  "Who knows?" said Valentine, with a smile: "they say the roads toParadise are of that kind; this may be the way thither." Then addressingthe dog, "And you, Caesar, what do you think of our journey, old boy?"

  The dog wagged his tail, fixing his eyes, sparkling with intelligence,upon the speaker's face, whilst he eagerly devoured all that was givento him. But he stopped suddenly in his masticating operations, prickedup his ears, turned his head sharply round, and balked furiously.

  "Silence, Caesar!" said Valentine; "what do you bark in that manner for?You know right well we are in a desert, and that in a desert there isnobody but the devil!"

  But Caesar continued to bark without heeding his master.

  "Hum!" said Louis, "I do not agree with you; I think that the deserts ofAmerica are thickly peopled."

  "Well, perhaps you are right."

  "The dog's barking is not usual; we ought to take precautions."

  "I will see," said Valentine; and addressing the Newfoundland, "Come!come! hold your tongue, Caesar! You are tiresome! What's the matter withyou? What teases you? Do you scent a stag? Caramba! That would be aglorious godsend for us."

  Here he rose, and cast an inquiring glance around, but he immediatelystopped, and seized his rifle, making a sign to Louis to do the same, inorder to be prepared for whatever might ha
ppen.

  "Diable!" he said, "Caesar was right, and I must confess myself a stupidfellow. Look yonder, Louis!"

  The other turned his eyes as directed.

  "Oh! oh!" he said; "what is this?"

  "Hum! I believe we shall soon discover."

  "With God's help!" Louis replied, cocking his rifle.

  Ten Indians in war costume, and mounted on magnificent horses, weredrawn up within twenty paces of the travellers, though the latter werequite unable to comprehend how they had succeeded in approaching so nearto them without being discovered. Notwithstanding Valentine's efforts,Caesar continued to bark furiously, and endeavoured to rush upon theIndians. The American warriors, motionless and impassible, made neithergesture nor movement, but they surveyed the Frenchmen so closely andpersistently, that Valentine, not very patient in his nature, began tofind himself excessively annoyed.

  [1] This word comes from the verb _toquin_, which means to _judge_, to_command._