166 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CARNEGIE 



The wooden images we obtained were, no doubt, modern imita- 

 tions. It was learned that expeditions value these objects, and 

 so they are made for trading with the infrequent ships that come 

 this way. They were originally made of "toromiro," a native 

 hard-wood brush now almost extinct from the depredations of 

 the sheep and cattle. Surgeon Cooke of the Mohican Expedition 

 describes these wooden house-gods as "rudely carved out of the 

 solid wood, hideous imitations of the nude human form, male 

 or female; two to three feet in length, with preposterous develop- 

 ment of the chest and preternatural collapse of the abdomen, as 

 though famine had brooded over the land and the patient had 

 perished of inanition; with attenuated forms, long, slender arms 

 and legs, narrow faces, a goatee, and long prominent ears. In 

 the eyes of these idols the iris is usually represented by a circular 

 button of bone, generally cut from a human skull; while a frag- 

 ment of obsidian, fixed in a round hole in the center of the bone, 

 and which glistens in the light, makes a fair imitation of the pupil, 

 both being deftly fitted in the wood of the eyeball." 



Paul succeeded in acquiring two "reimiros," one of which was 

 a beautiful specimen of ornamental wood-carving. These curious 

 objects were hung by strings over the chest as a decoration in 

 the days when "war-dances" were performed. They are shaped 

 like a crescent moon, from one to two feet from horn to horn. 

 The hard wood from which they are made is intricately carved 

 with the characteristic hieroglyphics of the ancient race. 



After our first bout of bartering with the natives aboard, several 

 of the staff went ashore for lunch with Mr. Edmunds. How 

 good his fresh vegetables tasted after our two months of tinned 

 food! There were cucumbers, lettuce, fresh mutton, and bananas. 

 Others stayed aboard and became acquainted with the two Chilean 

 exiles : one a military attache in Paris who was sent here for being 

 involved in a revolutionary plot; the other a senator who had 

 made some political blunder. Neither spoke English, but our 

 fragmentary knowledge of French, German, and Spanish gave us 

 the necessary vocabulary for small talk with these two charming 

 gentlemen. Who knows but that the authorities in Chile have 

 forgotten their political crimes — forgotten their very existence.'^ 



