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A HISTORY OF CHILE

been gradually built up in Peru through fifteen or more generations of Yupanquis and Amautas, and the Chilean system. The Chileans were somewhat like the ancient free German tribes, the Peruvians were subjected to a Persian or Egyptian absolutism. The Peruvians submitted to authority and formed an invincible empire; the Chileans, lovers of liberty then as they ever since have been, were the Highlanders, the Swiss, of the ancient Pacific coast nations. They were even jealous of the inherited prerogatives of their own ulmenes and toquis, and maintained their democratic love of freedom to the uttermost. In consequence of this, the Chileans could not be subjugated by the imprisonment of a Montezuma or Atahualpa; they were bushwackers and had to be fought in about the same manner as the colonists of the United States fought the five nations. Almagro had no easy task before him in essaying to do what Yupanqui had failed to accomplish. For many generations the invincible Araucanians could maintain their independence against Spanish arms, long after the subjects of Montezuma and of Atahualpa had bowed their heads beneath the Spanish yoke and became merged with their conquerors. It is the mountaineers who preserve the liberties of men, perpetuate courage and individuality, and infuse regenerating life blood into nations and society which highly complex civilizations tend to corrupt.

These Chilean Indians, like their Peruvian neighbors, manufactured cloth for garments, making use of the spindle, distaff and loom; the women sewed and embroidered. They made excellent clay pots, cups, plates and jars. Not only did they use clay in their manufactures, they also made utensils from wood and even from marble, as did the Peruvians, polishing,