DARWIN. 43 



these abject people have been infinitely raised since that 

 period by missionaries, and Darwin, hearing of this 

 success, which he termed wonderful, sent a donation 

 to the South American Missionary Society. 



The Falkland Islands were explored both in 1833 

 and 1834, and the Straits of Magellan were carefully 

 examined, and many valuable geological facts recorded. 

 The southern portion of the continent was at last 

 quitted for Chili, Valparaiso being reached on July 23, 

 1834. After Tierra del Fuego this was a delightful 

 change, and here Darwin found an old schoolfellow and 

 friend, Mr. Richard Corfield, who entertained him 

 hospitably during his stay in Chili. Various expeditions 

 to the Andes, to Santiago, to gold mines and copper 

 mines, supplied abundant objects of curiosity and science, 

 as well as varied visions of beauty ; but the fatigues 

 undergone had to be paid for by a month's illness at 

 Valparaiso, during which Mr. Corfield's kindness was 

 unremitting. 



The large island of Chiloe was visited in November, 

 and its climate even in summer proved wretched, re- 

 minding one of some parts of the Hebrides, a week 

 without torrents of rain being wonderful. Castro, the 

 almost deserted Spanish capital, could not furnish, even 

 among hundreds of inhabitants, a pound of sugar or an 

 ordinary knife. No one possessed either a watch or a 

 clock, and the church bell was rung by guess by an old 

 man who was supposed to have the best notion of time. 



In December the rugged Chonos Archipelago, still 

 further south, was explored. Here a storm worthy of 

 Tierra del Fuego was experienced. " White, massive 



