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to watch, as the sun rose, the outline gradually fading away
in the glare of the eastern sky.
The inhabitants, from their complexion and low stature,
appear to have three-fourths of Indian blood in their veins.
They are an humble, quiet, industrious set of men. Although
the fertile soil, resulting from the decomposition of
volcanic rocks, supports a rank vegetation, yet the climate
is not favourable to any production which requires much
sunshine to ripen it. There is very little pasture for the
larger quadrupeds; and in consequence, the staple articles of
food are pigs, potatoes, and fish. The people all dress in
strong woollen garments, which each family makes for itself,
and dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour. The arts, however,
are in the rudest state;—as may be seen in their strange
fashion of ploughing, their method of spinning, grinding
corn, and in the construction of their boats.
The forests are so impenetrable, that the land is nowhere
cultivated except near the coast, and on the adjoining islets.
Even where roads exist, they are scarcely passable from the
soft and swampy state of the soil. The inhabitants, like
those of Tierra del Fuego, chiefly move about on the beach,
or in boats : in some cases the latter afford the only means
of getting from one house to another. Although with plenty
to eat, the people are very poor: there is no demand for
labour, and consequently the lower orders cannot scrape together
money sufficient to purchase even the smallest luxuries.
There is also a great deficiency of a circulating medium. I
have seen a man bringing on his back a bag of charcoal, with
which to buy some trifle, and another a plank to exchange
for a bottle of wine. Hence every tradesman must also be
a merchant, and again sell the goods which he takes in exchange.
N o v e m b e r 2 4 t i i .—The yawl and whale-boat were sent
under the command of Mr. Sulivan, to survey the eastern or
inland coast of ChilOe; and with orders to meet the Beagle
at the southern extremity of the island ; to which point she
would proceed by the outside, so as thus to circumnavigate
the island. I accompanied this expedition, but instead
of going in the boats the first day, I hired horses to take
me to Chacao, at the northern extremity of the island. The
road followed the coast ; every now and then crossing promontories
covered by fine forests. In these shaded paths it
is absolutely necessary that the whole road should be made of
logs of wood, which are squared and placed hy the side of each
other. From the rays of the sun never penetrating the evergreen
foliage, the ground is so damp and soft, that except by
such means, neither man nor horse would be able to pass
along. I arrived at the village of Chacao, shortly after the
tents belonging to the boats had been pitched for the night.
The land in this neighbourhood had been extensively
cleared, and there were many quiet and most picturesque
nooks in the forest. Chacao was formerly the principal port ;
but many vessels having been lost, owing to the dangerous
currents and rocks in the straits, the Spanish government
burnt the church, and thus arbitrarily compelled the greater
number of inhabitants to migrate to S. Carlos. In a short
time the barefooted son of the governor came down to reconnoitre
us. Seeing the English flag hoisted at the yawl’s
mast-head, he asked, with the utmost indifference, whether it
was always to fly at Chacao. In several places, the inhabitants
were much astonished at the appearance of men-of-
war’s boats, and hoped and believed it was the forerunner of
a Spanish fleet, coming to recover the island from the patriot
government of Chile. All the men in power had, however,
been informed of our intended visit,and were exceedingly civil.
While we were eating our supper, the governor paid us a visit.
He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish service, but
now was miserably poor. He gave us two sheep, and accepted
in return two cotton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets,
and a little tobacco.
2 5 t h .—Torrents of rain: we managed, however, to run
down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this
eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect : it is a plain, broken
by valleys, and divided into little islands, and the whole