Polygamy is practised by these people, every man having as many wives as he can maintain, it being deemed reproachful to remain unmarried. Instead of the husband receiving a portion with his wife, he pays a considerable sum to the parents for their permission to wed her; after he has obtained which, he carries off his bride without any further ceremony, excepting giving a feast to her relations. The first wife is regarded as the head of the family, the others being under her orders in respect to the management of the house; each wife has a separate apartment where she prepares food for her husband every day, and all present him once a year with a poncho or embroidered cloak, but the women are in general condemned to the laborious occupations. Both sexes practise daily ablutions in the rivers, and are excellent swimmers. Oratory is held in the highest esteem by these people; and their language, which is the ancient dialect of Chili, is very soft, harmonious, and rich. Molina in his description of Chili has given a full account of it, and says that it differs essentially from all the languages of the American tribes. The government of that part of Chili inhabited by this nation is singular; they divide the territory into four parallel provinces, the maritime, the plains, the foot of the Andes, and that which lies on the sides of these mountains; each province is separated into five districts, and these are again subdivided into nine other portions. The four provinces are governed each by a _toqui_ or general, subordinate to whom are the _Apo Ulmens_; and on these, as far as military affairs are concerned, the _Ulmens_ are dependent, each subdivision having its Ulmen or Cacique. All these magistrates have distinctive badges; the toqui a hatchet; the Apo Ulmen a silver-headed rod encircled by a ring; and the Ulmen a rod with a silver head; and these dignities are hereditary. The whole are occasionally combined in a general council, which meets on a plain; the chief occasion to assemble this council being to elect a supreme toqui for the command of the army when it is about to take the field; and any native is eligible to this appointment. Their wars are terrible, and as they are excellent horsemen, the Araucanian cavalry is very formidable, their arms being swords and lances; those of the infantry, clubs and pikes; their onset is furious, but always conducted with order, and though swept down in rants by the cannon, they close with their Spanish enemies, and fighting hand to hand, are frequently victors in spite of the superiority of European discipline and arms. After a great victory they sacrifice a prisoner to the manes of their warriors who have fallen in battle; and this ceremony is said to be attended with some disgusting circumstances, such as the toqui and chiefs sucking the blood from the panting heart of the victim, which is cut for that purpose from his breast.