200 CHILOE. [CHAP. xm. 



were exceedingly civil. While we were eating our supper the 

 governor paid us a visit. He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the 

 Spanish service, but now was miserably poor. He gave us two sheep, 

 and accepted in return two cotton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets, 

 and a little tobacco. 



November z^th. Torrents of rain : we managed, however, to run 

 down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this eastern 

 side of Chiloe has one aspect : it is a plain, broken by valleys and 

 divided into little islands, and the whole thickly covered with one 

 impervious blackish-green forest. On the margins there are some 

 cleared spaces, surrounding the high-roofed cottages. 



November zbth. The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of 

 Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most beautiful 

 mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white with snow, stands 

 out in front of the Cordillera. Another great volcano, with a saddle- 

 shaped summit, also emitted from its immense crater little jets of 

 steam. Subsequently we saw the lofty-peaked Corcovado well deserv- 

 ing the name of " el famoso Corcovado." Thus we beheld, from one 

 point of view, three great active volcanos, each about seven thousand 

 feet high. In addition to this, far to the south, there were other lofty 

 cones covered with snow, which, although not known to be active, must be 

 in their origin volcanic. The line of the Andes is not, in this neighbour- 

 hood, nearly so elevated as in Chile; neither does it appear to form 

 so perfect a barrier between the regions of the earth. This great 

 range, although running in a straight north and south line, owing to 

 an optical deception, always appeared more or less curved ; for the 

 lines drawn from each peak to the beholder's eye, necessarily con- 

 verged like the radii of a semicircle, and as it was not possible (owing 

 to the clearness of the atmosphere and the absence of all intermediate 

 objects) to judge how far distant the farthest peaks were off, they 

 appeared to stand in a flattish semicircle. 



Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian extraction. The 

 father was singularly like York Minster; and some of the younger 

 boys, with their ruddy complexions, might have been mistaken for 

 Pampas Indians. Everything I have seen, convinces me of the close 

 connection of the different American tribes, who nevertheless speak 

 distinct languages. This party could muster but little Spanish, and 

 talked to each other in their own tongue. It is a pleasant thing to see 

 the aborigines advanced to the same degree of civilization, however 

 low that may be, which their white conquerors have attained. More 

 to the south we saw many pure Indians: indeed, all the inhabitants 

 of some of the islets retain their Indian surnames. In the census 

 of 1 832, there were in Chiloe and its dependencies forty-two thousand 

 souls: the greater number of these appear to be of mixed blood. 

 Eleven thousand retain their Indian surnames, but it is probable that 

 not nearly all of these are of a pure breed. Their manner of life 

 is the same with that of the other poor inhabitants, and they are all 

 Christians ; but it is said that they yet retain some strange superstitious 

 ceremonies, and that. they pretend to hold communication with the 



