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Thus in the war of 1722, the supreme command was confided to Vilumilla, a man of low origin, and in that which terminated in 1773, to Curignanca, the younger son of an Ulmen in the province of Encol.
On being informed of this unfortunate accident, calculated to weaken the exalted notion which he wished to inspire into the natives of the character of his soldiers, Almagro hastened his march for Coquimbo, where he immediately ordered Marcando the head ulmen of the province, his brother, and twenty others of the principal inhabitants to be brought before him; all of whom he committed to the flames; This act of cruelty appeared extraordinary and unjust to every one; for even among these adventurers, inured to rapine and bloodshed, there still were some men of humanity and justice.
Colocolo, son of the celebrated ulmen of that name, but of a very different disposition from that of his father, was lord of that district, and being indignant at seeing his country occupied by the Spaniards endeavoured to drive them off; but being defeated and made prisoner, he solicited for his life, which he obtained on condition of persuading his subjects to return from the mountains and to submit to the authority of the Spaniards.
He accordingly issued orders to his soldiers to retreat to that narrow defile, passing the word from rank to rank, with directions to turn and make head occasionally against the enemy. At this time Valdivia was attended by an Araucanian, youth named Lautaro, the son of an ulmen, who had been bred up in his family from a boy, and baptized by the name of Philip.
Like the Bedowin Arabs, the Pehuenches dwell in tents made of skins, disposed in a circular form around a spacious area, in which their cattle feed while the herbage lasts; and when that begins to fail they remove their camp to a fresh pasture, continually traversing in this manner the valleys among the Andes. Each village or encampment is governed by a hereditary ulmen.
Although these messengers were escorted to the confines of Chili by thirty additional horsemen, they were attacked and defeated in the province of Copaipo by a hundred archers, commanded by Coteo, an officer of the Ulmen of that province. Of the whole party none escaped with life but the two officers, Monroy and Miranda, who were made prisoners and carried before the ulmen covered with wounds.
The Araucanian valour, which had been repressed by the imprudent conduct of Paynenancu, was revived in 1585, by the elevation of Cayancura to the dignity of toqui, an ulmen of the province or district of Mariguenu.
The civil government is a kind of aristocratic republic, under three orders of hereditary nobility, each subordinate to the other. Each of the four Uthal-mapus is governed by a Toqui. The Ailla-regues, are each under the command of an Apo-ulmen; and every one of the Regues is ruled by an Ulmen. The four toquis are independent of each other, but are confederated for the public welfare.
If the skull of the victim has not been broken by the stroke of death, it is made into a drinking cup, called ralilonco, which is used in their banquets in the manner of the ancient Scythians and Goths." On the present occasion, the honour of dispatching the victim was conferred upon the ulmen Maulican.
The number of inhabitants at present amounts to upwards of eleven thousand, which are distributed into seventy-six districts, each of which is governed by a native ulmen.
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