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Show 334 CHILO E. Nov. 1834. to watch, as the sun rose, ~he 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 OVE:MBER 24'l'H.-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 circumnavi- Nov. 1834. CHILOE. 335 gate 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 absolutelv necessary that the whole road should be made of logs of wood, which are squared and placed by 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-ofwar's boats and hoped and believed it was the forerunner of a Spanish f'l eet, coming to recover the island from the patn.o t government of Chi]e. All the men in power had, however1 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 trin-kets, and a little tobacco. 25TH.-Torrents of rain: we managed, however, to ~n 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 |