A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The houses or huts of the Chilese were built in a quadrangular form, of
wood covered with clay, and the roof covered with rushes; though in some
instances the walls were of brick, the use of which they seem to have
learned from the Peruvians, as they used the Peruvian term _tica_ for
that material. From the wool of the Chilihueques they manufactured cloth
for their apparel, using the spindle and distaff for spinning this wool
into yarn, and two different kinds of looms for weaving the yarn into
cloth. One of these, called _guregue_, is not very unlike the ordinary
loom of Europe; but the other is vertical or upright, and called
_uthalgue_, from the verb _uthalen_, signifying to stand upright. From
a verb in their language, _nudaven_, which signifies to sew, they must
have used some kind of needle to sew their garments; but I know not of
what substance it was composed. They seem even to have been acquainted
with the art of embroidery, called _dumican_ in their language. From
excellent clay which is found abundantly in Chili, they made pots,
plates, cups, and large jars to hold their fermented liquors, baking
these vessels in holes or ovens made in the declivities of hills; and
they even used a kind of mineral earth called _colo_, for varnishing
these vessels. Besides these vessels of clay, they made others of hard
wood, and even of marble; some vases of which excellently polished have
been dug out from under a large heap of stones in the mountains of
Arauco. From the earth they extracted gold, silver, copper, tin, and
lead, and employed these metals in a variety of useful and curious
works. Particularly from their native copper, which is a kind of
bell-metal and very hard, they made axes, hatchets, and other edged
tools, but in small quantities, as these are very rarely met with in
their ancient sepulchres; where, on the contrary, hatchets made of a
species of basalt or very hard stone are very often found. They seem
even to have known the use of iron, as it is called _panilgue_ in their
language, and weapons made of it are termed _chiuquel_, while those made
of other materials are called _nulin_. A smith likewise is called
_ruthave_, from _ruthan_, signifying to work in iron.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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