Their boots or shoes are all of one piece of skin, being that of the hind leg of an ox taken off at the knee, which is fitted to the foot of the wearer while green, turning the hair side inmost, and sewing up one of the ends, the skin of the knee serving for the heel.  By being constantly worn and frequently rubbed with tallow, these shoes become as soft and pliant as the best dressed leather[85].  Though these mountaineers are valiant and hardy soldiers, yet are they fond of adorning themselves like women, decorating themselves with ear-rings and bracelets of glass-beads, with which also they ornament their hair, and hang small bells around their heads.  Although possessed of numerous herds of cattle and sheep, their usual food is horse flesh, which like the Tartars they prefer to all other kinds, and always eat cooked, either by boiling or roasting.  Like the Bedowin Arabs, the Pehuenches dwell in tents made of skins, disposed in a circular form around a spacious area, in which their cattle feed while the herbage lasts; and when that begins to fail they remove their camp to a fresh pasture, continually traversing in this manner the valleys among the Andes.  Each village or encampment is governed by a hereditary ulmen.  Their language and religion resemble those of the Araucanians.  They are extremely fond of hunting, and often traverse the immense plains which stretch from the great Rio Plata to the Straits of Magellan in pursuit of game, sometimes extending their excursions as far as Buenos Ayres, and even occasionally indulge in plundering the vicinity of that city.  They frequently attack the caravans which pass between Buenos Ayres and Chili, and have been so successful in these predatory enterprises as almost to have stopped that commerce entirely.

[Footnote 84:  A comparison more familiar to the British reader might be made to the philabeg or short petticoat worn by the Scots Highlanders—­E.]

[Footnote 85:  In this part of dress they likewise resemble the Scots Highlanders of old, who wore a kind of shoes made of raw hides with the hair on, called rough rullions.  In both of course using the most obvious and easiest means of decency and protection.  Before the introduction of European cattle into Chili, the natives must have employed the skins of the original animals of the country, probably of the guemul or huemul, the equus bisulcus of Molina and other naturalists, an animal having some resemblance to a horse but with cloven hoofs—­E.]

It may be proper to relate what I noticed on a journey in that country, having set out from Mendoza in the province of Cujo, on the 27th of April 1783, with post horses for Buenos Ayres.  We soon learnt, from some people whom we met, that the Pehuenches were out upon predatory excursions, and soon afterwards received the melancholy intelligence that they had committed horrible massacres in the Portion of Magdalena.  In consequence of this, all the