Transcribed

Prologue, editing and notes by Dr. Rudolf Lenz

Full title: “Vida y costumbres de los indígenas araucanos de la segunda mitad del Siglo XIX”

Background

The text is the autobiography of Chief (Lonco) Pascual Coña, as related to the Capuchin priest Ernst Wilhelm Moesbach. By the time these memories were compiled (mid-1920s), Coña was an older man, in his 70s or 80s, so much of the content relates to the second half of the 19th century. Mösbach gathered the material over the course of four years and many visits to the Chief’s home, near Lake Budi, in the Lafkenche (Coastal) Mapuche territories. Due to its extension and early first-person account of Mapuche life and customs, it is an invaluable part of the people and the language’s heritage.