108 ASPECT Of CHILOE. [CHAP. xiu. 



powerful in proportion to the weight of its body. When hovering by a 

 flower, its tail is constantly expanded and shut like a fan, the body 

 being kept in a nearly vertical position. This action appears _to steady 

 and support the bird, between the slow movements of its wings. 

 Although flying from flower to flower in search of food, its stomach 

 generally contained abundant remains of insects, which I suspect are 

 much more the object of its search than honey. The note of this 

 species, like that of nearly the whole family, is extremely shrill, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS, 



Chiloe General Aspect Boat Excursion Native Indians Castro Tame 

 Fox Ascend San Pedro Chonos Archipelago Peninsula of Tres 

 Montes Granitic Range Boat-wrecked Sailors Low's Harbour Wild 

 Potato Formation of Peat Myopotamus, Otter and Mice Cheucau 

 and Barking-bird Opetiorhynchus Singular Character of Ornithology 

 Petrels, 



November loth. 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 Archipelago, as far south as the 

 Peninsula of Tres Montes. On the 2ist we anchored in the bay of 

 San 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 diffi- 

 cult 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, 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 

 tne decomposition of the volcanic rocks, supports a rank vegetation, 



