In addition to his description of their country, Cruz has added to his journal some account of the manners and customs of the Pehuenches;[36] those Indians who take their name from the abundance of pine-trees in the lands they occupy, derive their origin from the Araucanian race inhabiting the southern parts of Chile; as indeed do all the wandering tribes found in the pampas from the frontiers of Mendoza and Cordova to the Rio Negro in the south:--they all speak a common language, and, if their customs in any degree vary, it will only be found to arise from the greater or less distance they are removed from their original stock, or as they are brought into occasional contact with their Christian neighbours. Divided and subdivided into innumerable petty tribes, or rather family groups, they wander from place to place in quest of pasturage for the sheep and cattle which constitute their sole possessions; continually quarrelling and fighting with each other, and rarely united by any common object save to make some occasional plundering expedition against the defenceless properties of the Spaniards on the frontiers. Such at least are the habits of those generally known as the Pampas, and Ranqueles, tribes; but of them I shall speak more particularly in the next chapter.
The Pehuenches, whose customs Cruz describes, appear to be a somewhat better race. They are not so far removed from their original stock in Araucania; and their vicinity to the Spaniards of Chile, and friendly intercourse with them, has had a manifest influence in modifying their original habits.
In person they are described as fine men, stouter and taller than the inhabitants of the plains, but, like all the Indians of the same stock, in the habit of disgustingly bedaubing and disfiguring their faces with paint. They wear a sort of cloak over the neck and shoulders, with another square cloth fastened round the loins, and those who can get them, little conical hats bought from the Spaniards, and the same sort of boots as are made by the gauchos of Buenos Ayres from the dried skin of a horse's leg fitted to the foot. The bridles of their horses are beautifully plaited, and often ornamented with silver: spurs of the same material are in great request amongst them, and are eagerly purchased of the Spaniards.