With the indigenous races of Chile, and the same is true of other countries, vices tread fast upon the heels of civilization. With the influx of peaceful neighbors, the martial valor of these warlike Indians seems to have disappeared. They have acquired a passion for the cheap brands of liquor introduced by foreigners, and in the indulgence of their appetites for strong drink they have become indolent, and are neglecting their farms and ranches. Many of them have turned their lands over to the colonists, to work on shares, and are thus enabled to lead lives of indolence and excessive indulgence. The raw liquor which they drink is called “Blanco Toro” (white bull); the vile tobacco they smoke is “peclen,” and their pipes are called “guitas.” They still consume large quantities of the ancient Indian drink, “chicha mascada,” which is made from corn that is first chewed by old women, and then put through a process of fermentation. A drink is made from flaxseed by the same process. They are determined and inveterate gamblers, their favorite game being cards, “cayo.” The game they play is peculiar to the tribe, and is called “achaco.” Among the traditional customs to which they cling tenaciously are their Indian dances, “loncomeos,” which are indulged in to the music of an instrument called “cuntum.” This instrument is odd in design and peculiar in tone, being a sort of combination banjo and tambourine. The Araucanians are as improvident as they are dishonest, and as proud as they are lazy. Yet there is little extreme poverty and there are no beggars among them. Until recent years they were strict vegetarians, and still abstain from eating the flesh of cattle, but they have become so far civilized as to develop a fondness for horse meat. An Indian will willingly exchange a cow or bullock, regardless of value, for a horse, if the equine is sufficiently fat to make it desirable for food. Although many of them are skilled in the use of firearms, which have been generally introduced in recent years, they still manifest a fondness and preference for their bamboo lances, the weapon of war used by their ancestors. They frequently indulge in personal encounters, but always without weapons. These fights are questions of force and endurance, science being left out of the contest, and the belligerent methods employed are not sufficiently violent to result in death. The combatants clutch each other by the hair of the head and indulge in a game of pull-and-haul, the performance being accompanied usually with a volley of wrathful words uttered in a high shrill voice. Unlike the North American Indians they seldom resort to the use of a knife as a weapon of offense or defense. The system of counting is strictly decimal--from one to ten. Twenty is two tens, fifty, five tens, and one hundred is ten tens; two hundred is two tens of ten, etc.