CHILIAN CHILDREN
If you look at a map of South America you will find a long, narrow
strip of country running north and south alongside of Argentina. Some
funny person has described this Republic of Chili as being 2000 miles
long and two inches wide! Long and narrow though it is, nevertheless
it is very rich in nitrates, so useful for cleansing and enriching the
soil. Gold, petroleum, and coal are also to be found there.
Chili is very much like her sister Republics, both morally and
spiritually, and especially as regards dirt and disease. Smallpox is
rampant both in Santiago and Valparaiso, and people suffering from this
dreadful disease are actually to be seen walking about the streets.
The “conventillos,” which are here only one storey high, are killing
grounds for children. Eight out of ten children die under two years of
age. Dr Speer says: “Alcoholism, dirt, and uncleanness of the houses,
and murderous ignorance of the care of children” are at the bottom of
this exceedingly high death-rate in Chili. So much for Chilians.
Now a word as to the Araucanian Indians in the interior of that
Republic. They are semi-civilized, and a very superior tribe of people.
Though nominally under the Government of Chili, they are actually
independent of it, and are governed by their own laws. The Araucanians
are quite different in appearance, manners, and habits from other
Indians. As far as cleanliness goes, they are far in advance of the
Chilians themselves.
“They are quite as proud, and as resentful of dishonour as the Red Man
of the North, and quite as brave in disposition; and, like the Red
Indians, they are open, free and generous, and form strong attachments
to those who gain their confidence, with equally strong hatred towards
those who do them wrong. They have coarse, black hair, and large
widespread noses.
“The women are among the best looking in the entire country. They do
not marry at so early an age as the other Indians, and they do not
seem to be ever ill-treated by their husbands. They are fond of their
children and respectful to old age.
“The religion of these people is much like that of the Red Indians.
They acknowledge a ‘Spirit’ who is the Author of, and Master over all.”
Take your pen and underline three places on the map, viz.: “Temuco,
Cholcol, Quepe.” There the Mapuche Indians live, and amongst them
labour the missionaries of the South American Missionary Society.
“Mapuche” means, “people of the land,” and a successful, spiritual work
is being carried on especially amongst the children. There are schools
for boys and girls at Quepe, also at Temuco, ten miles away; and at
Cholcol, a small Chilian town twenty-one miles from Temuco, there are
boarding-schools for boys and girls, day-schools, a dispensary, and a
church.
Rev. G. Daunt says: “In the old days they were all clever hunters.
They could glide through the forest without making a sound, and could
imitate exactly the cries of various birds and beasts. They showed
great skill in following up a ‘trail,’ and could observe the slightest
movement of leaf or twig in the pursuit of prey or of an enemy.
“Now, the Mapuche are losing their hunting habits, and are settling
down to a peaceable and industrious life, growing corn, and feeding
cattle. But in their games they still act as if scenting and following
up a trail.
“The Indian boys and girls have to work as well. In the summer, when
the crops are ripening, the children are seen in the fields guarding
the sheep, cattle, horses, and pigs, so that these may not enter and
destroy the harvest.
“The girls draw water from the wells and streams, and help their
mothers to make and mend the clothes they wear. The boys, with their
axes, form ploughs, and carts, and with their knives carve toys of wood
or cut belts and purses from the skins of animals into strange shapes.”
Miss Wetherell gives a very interesting pen-picture of school-life with
the Mapuche boys and girls at Quepe:--
“The body of one of our schoolboys was committed to the grave. Poor
laddie, he came into the hospital about two years ago with a diseased
leg, which the doctor had to remove. His people, finding that he would
be unable to help in the farm work, promptly deserted him, so he was
kept on at the hospital, and during school time he was out here. He
got on very well with his lessons, but he never got really strong,
and eventually he had to return to the hospital, where he died. The
following morning we all went across to the little Mapuche Cemetery,
and buried him there. It must have seemed very strange to these Mapuche
boys and girls, this quiet Christian burial--the simple service, the
flowers strewn on the grave, and the hymn sung as the soil was being
shovelled in.
“We have one Chilian boarder, a very nice gentle lad, whom we all
like very much, and we hope he will one day be a true Christian. He
saved the life of an Englishman in Argentina under quite romantic
circumstances; and his master, who is in England, wished to leave
him where he could be educated and treated kindly--so he is here.
At present his thoughts are chiefly occupied with football and his
lessons, football of course first.
“One small mite announced to-day that she was going to ‘stay with the
Señora all the holidays.’
“‘But,’ said I, ‘you would not like to stay here and not go home at
all?’
“‘Oh, yes, I should,’ promptly answered little Fatty; ‘school is _much_
nicer than being at home.’
“I imagine the little ones do sometimes find this the case, as they
do quite a lot of work in their homes. I remember one day teaching in
my Scripture class something about a mother’s love, and I asked the
children: ‘Now on cold, frosty mornings, when you are all cosily tucked
up in bed, who gets up to light the fire and get the breakfast?’
“Of course I expected them to say in a chorus: ‘My mother’; but instead
of that the answer came: ‘Why, my little brother, of course.’
“Last night, while most of the big ones were out at evening service,
the little ones and I had great times hymn-singing. Two or three quite
wee mites will sing alone, and it is wonderful how well they sing and
how many hymns they know by heart. The brother of one small person was
telling the native teacher that last holidays he built a new house for
himself, and invited all his relations to the house-warming, and when
the meal was over he said: ‘Now someone should sing a song. Who will
sing for me?’
“‘Fancy’ added he, ‘my surprise when my little sister, who did not know
a word of Spanish a few months ago, stood up before us and sang most
sweetly and correctly a hymn that she had learned at school!’
“Sometimes our little Mapuche friends fall sick, and then the small
patients are taken to Temuco, placed in the mission-hospital, and
nursed and tended by Dr Baynes and his splendid family.
“At evening time, when the light begins to fail, the missionary turns
his horse homewards, and as he rides rapidly over the plain, here and
there the words of the vesper hymn sung by some Indian boy or girl are
wafted to him on the evening air:--
“‘Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,
It is not night if Thou be near;
O may no earth-born cloud arise
To hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes.’”
There are “other lambs” in Chili who have yet to be sought out and
brought in. Some day you may be helping Christ to seek and find them.
In the meantime give the Mapuche children a place in your prayers, and
tell others about them.