1834.1 ASPECT OF CHILOE. 273 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Chiloe — General aspect — Boat excursion — Native Indians — Castro — Tamo 

 fox — Ascend San Pedro — Chonos Archipelago — Peninsula of Tres Montes 

 — Granitic range — Boat-wrecked sailors — Low's Harbour — Wild potato — 

 Formation of j>eat — Myopotamus, otter and mice — Cheucau and Barking- 

 bird — Opetiorhynchus — Singular character of Ornithology — Petrels. 



CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS. 



November lOfh. — The Beagle sailed from Valparaiso to the 

 south, for the purpose of surveying the southern part of Chile, 

 the island of Chiloe, and the broken land called the Chonos Ar- 

 chipelago, as far south as the Peninsula of Tres Monies. On the 

 21st we anchored in the bay of S. Carlos, the capital of Chiloe. 



This island is about ninety miles long, with a breadth of rather 

 less than thirty. The land is hilly, but not mountainous, and is 

 covered by one great forest, except where a few green patches have 

 been cleared round the thatched cottages. From a distance the 

 view somewhat resembles that of Tierra del Fuego ; but the woods, 

 when seen nearer, are incomparably more beautiful. Many kinds 

 of fine evergreen trees, and plants with a tropical character, here 

 take the place of the gloomy beech of the southern shores. In 

 winter the climate is detestable, and in summer it is only a little 

 better. I should think there are few parts of the world, within 

 the temperate regions, where so much rain falls. The winds are 

 very boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded : to have a 

 week of fine weather is something wonderful. It is even difficult 

 to get a single glimpse of the Cordillera : during our first visit, 

 once only the volcano of Osorno stood out in bold relief, and 

 that was before sunrise ; it was curious 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, ap- 

 pear to have three-fourths of Indian blood in their veins. They 

 are an humble, quiet, industrious set of men. Although the fer- 



