“During the great effort of the Araucanians to recover their country from the Spaniards, Osorno resisted their arms with extraordinary vigour for six months.  At the end of this period, the Spaniards repelled a general assault of the besiegers, and compelled them to abandon the blockade.  Being afraid of another attack, the Spaniards retired about three or four leagues, to a peninsula at the foot of the Andes, formed by the lake from which the river Bueno issues.  They there built a new city on the isthmus, which they secured with walls, bulwarks, moats and draw-bridges; and multiplied in process of time so as to be obliged to build another city on the opposite side of the lake, and their descendents still continue to occupy the same place.  This people, called Alcahuncas by the Indians, are armed with lances, swords and daggers, but whether these are of iron or not, the person who discovered the existence of these cities had not been able to learn.  They also use the laque or thong and ball with great dexterity, on which account they are much dreaded by their neighbours.  They have also cannon, but no musquets.  They retain the dress, complexion and beard of their Spanish ancestors.  They used formerly to purchase salt from the Pehuenches, and even from the Indians who live under the Spanish government, which they paid for in silver, which occasioned so great a demand for that article in the Spanish settlements, that a loaf of salt used to sell at the price of an ox.  Of late this demand has ceased, as they have found salt in abundance in their own country.”

“A year only before this account was written, or in 1773, a man from Chiloe got to the city gates one morning before the drawbridge was lifted, and knocked for admittance.  The soldier who was on guard told him to hasten back as fast as possible, as their king was a cruel tyrant, and would certainly put him to death if taken; and even seemed astonished that the Indians had permitted him to arrive at the gate.  This man was killed on his way back; but the news of his adventure reached Valdivia, where it was fully believed.  It is said that the people of these two cities live under a grievous tyranny, and are therefore desirous of making their situation known to the Spaniards; but that their chiefs use every possible precaution to prevent this, and the Indians of the intervening country are equally solicitous to prevent any intelligence respecting this state being conveyed to the Spaniards, lest it might induce them to make new attempts to penetrate into the interior.”

“This account is said to have been written in 1774, by Don Ignacio Pinuer, captain of infantry and interpreter general at Valdivia, in a letter addressed to the president of Chili.  The writer states that his thorough knowledge of the language of the natives, and his great intimacy with them, had enabled him to collect this information, by means of the artful and persevering inquiries of twenty-eight years[95].”