I was assured, that farther southward, beyond Baldivia, and to the latitude of 47 to 49°, the lands were esteemed richer than where we now were, the grass more strengthening and nourishing for the cattle, and that, consequently, the black cattle, horses, and hogs, were all of a larger breed. But that, as the Spaniards had no settlement beyond Baldivia to the south, so they did not find the natives so tractable as where we then were; where, though the Spaniards were but few, and the strength they had was but small, yet, as upon any occasion they had always been assisted with forces sufficient from St. Jago, and, if need were, even from Peru, so the natives had always been subdued, and had found themselves obliged to submit; and that now they were entirely reduced, and were, and had been for several years, very easy and quiet. Besides, the plentiful harvest which they made of gold from the mountains (which appeared to be the great allurement of the Spaniards), had drawn them rather to settle here than farther southward, being naturally addicted, as my new landlord confessed to me, to reap the harvest which had the least labour and hazard attending it, and the most profit. Not but that, at the same time, he confessed that he believed and had heard that there was as much gold to be found farther to the south, as far as the mountains continued; but that, as I have said, the natives were more troublesome there, and more dangerous, and that the king of Spain did not allow troops sufficient to civilize and reduce them. I asked him concerning the natives in the country where we were? He told me they were the most quiet and inoffensive people, since the Spaniards had reduced them by force, that could be desired; that they were not, indeed, numerous or warlike, the warlike and obstinate part of them having fled farther off to the south, as they were overpowered by the Spaniards; that, for those who were left, they lived secure under the protection of the Spanish governor; that they fed cattle and planted the country, and sold the product of their lands chiefly to the Spaniards; but that they did not covet to be rich, only to obtain clothes, arms, powder and shot, which, however, they were suffered to have but sparingly, and with good assurance of their fidelity. I asked him if they were not treacherous and perfidious, and if it was not dangerous trusting themselves among them in the mountains, and in the retired places where they dwelt? He told me that it was quite the contrary; that they were so honest, and so harmless, that he would at any time venture to send his two sons into the mountains a-hunting, with each of them a Chilian for his guide; and let them stay with the said natives two or three nights and days at a time, and be in no uneasiness about them; and that none of them were ever known to do any foul or treacherous thing by the Spaniards, since he had been in that country.