On the occasion of their funerals, that they may want for nothing in the other world to which they have been used in this, their clothing and accoutrements, and arms, are buried with them; sometimes a stock of provisions is added; and when a Cacique is buried his horses are also slain and stuffed with straw, and set upright over his grave. The internment is conducted with more or less ceremony, according to the rank of the deceased:--if he be a man of weight amongst them, not only his relations, but all the principal persons of the tribe, assemble and hold a great drinking-bout over his grave, at which the more drink, the more honour. They have great faith in dreams, especially in those of their ancients and Caciques, to whom they believe they are sent as revelations for the guidance of the tribe on important occasions; and they seldom undertake any affair, either of personal or general importance, without much consultation with their diviners and old women as to the omens which may have been observed. Marriage is an expensive ceremony to the bridegroom, who if obliged to make rich presents, sometimes all he is worth, to the parents of his love, before he obtains their consent. Thus daughters are a source of sure wealth to their parents, whilst those who have only sons are often ruined by the assistance which is required from them on these occasions. Such as can afford it take more wives than one, but the first has always precedence in the household arrangements, and so on in succession. When a child is born it is taken with the mother immediately to the nearest stream, in which after both are bathed, the mother returns to her household duties, and takes part in preparing for the feast that follows. In almost all these habits, the Pehuenches appear to fellow the Araucanians, of whose manners and customs Molina has given a full account in his History of Chile. The mother of one of my servants lived seven years amongst these savages, and confirmed Cruz's account on all the points I have here stated. In general, she said, she was as kindly treated by them as was possible under the circumstances:--she had been taken by the Pampas Indians, and by them sold to the Pehuenches, that she might have less chance of escaping and ever reaching her own home again. Men, women, and children, she said, lived much more on horseback than on foot. A knowledge of their language might assist much to make us better acquainted with their country, for their nomenclature of places, as well as of persons, is rarely insignificant. I have already stated that the Pehuenches derive their name from pehuen, the pine-tree, which abounds on the slopes of the Cordillera where they dwell. The Ranqueles are so called from ranquel, the thistle, which covers the plains which they inhabit. The Picunches take their name from picun, the _north_. The Puelches signify the people to the east, and the Huilliches those to the south: _che_ means people.