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398 TOWN ABORIGINAL NATIVES.
48-9° S. I thought another copy might be found at Lima, but
during my subsequent stay there, not one could be discovered.
The town of Valdivia, formerly dignified by the appellation
of city, disappointed our party extremely. I t proved to be no
more than a straggling village of wooden houses, surrounded
with apple-trees; and the only building, even partially constructed
of stone, was a church.* Many of us were in the
town on the 20th of February, at the time of that great earthquake,
which ruined so many places besides the city of Concepcion
: an awful event, which will be related in the following
pages.
An Fnglish carpenter, who had served on hoard the Beagle,
in 1828, but had since settled on the banks of the river Cruces,
about thirty miles from Valdivia, came on hoard his old ship
one day, to see those whom he knew. I t happened that I had
formerly been of some assistance to him, and he was naturally
glad to oblige me, by giving such information about the country
and the natives as he was able to impart; and having lived
nearly four years among them, his accounts were not only interesting,
but, I think, worthy of credence.-f- As some of these
were confirmed by what I heard from residents at Valdivia,
and I have no doubt of their truth, I shall mention them without
hesitation in the course of my narrative.
I was much struck by the peculiar physiognomy of those
aboriginal natives whom I saw during my stay : and there must
have been some ground for Mr. Darwin and myself remarking
at different times, unknown at first to one another, that their
countenances reminded us of portraits of Charles I. This was
my impression at the first glance; but after closer examination
it wore off, and I thought less of that likeness than I did of
their resemblance to the Hindoo race. There was neither
the open honesty of a Patagonian, nor the brutal look of
most Fuegians; but there was a sombre cast of depressed
* That church and other edifices have since been laid in ruins by the
violent earthquake of Nov. 7? 1837.
t He was a very intelligent, observing man, and a good workman: while
belonging to the Beagle, he was rated carpenter’s mate.