1834.] BOAT EXCURSION. ' 199 



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 paths exist, they are scarcely 

 passable from the soft and swampy slate of the soil. The inhabitants, 

 like those of Tierra del Fuego, move about chiefly on the beach or in 

 boats. 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 carrying 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. 



November 242/1. The yawl and whale-boat wero sent under the 

 command of Mr. (now Captain) 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 out- 

 side, so as thus to circumnavigate the whole. 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 absolutely 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 this means neither man nor horse would be able to pass 

 along. I arrived at the village of Chacao, shortly after the tents be- 

 longing to the boats were pitched for the night. 



The land in this neighbourhood has been extensively cleared, and 

 there were many quiet and most picturesque nooks in the forest. 

 Chacao was formerly the principal port in the island; 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 

 San Carlos. We had not long bivouacked, before 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 inhabit- 

 ants were much astonished at the appearance of men-of-war's boats, 

 and hoped and believed it was the forerunner of a Spanish fleet, coming 

 to recover the island from the patriot government of Chile. All the 

 men in power, however, had been informed of our intended visit, and 



