TENURE OF LAND. 13 



giving to each man, according to his grade of life, 

 a certain portion of land. The value of uncleared 

 ground is very little. The government gave Mr. 

 Douglas (the present surveyor, who informed me 

 of these circumstances) eight and a half square 

 miles of forest near San Carlos in lieu of a debt ; 

 and this he sold for 350 dollars, or about 6670 ster- 

 ling. 



The tw^o succeeding days were fine, and at night 

 we reached the island of Quinchao, This neigh- 

 bourhood is the most cultivated part of the Archi- 

 pelago ; for a broad strip of land on the coast of 

 the main island, as well as on many of the smaller 

 adjoining ones, is almost completely cleared. Some 

 of the farm-houses seemed very comfortable. I 

 was curious to ascertain how rich any of these 

 people might be, but Mr. Douglas says that no one 

 can be considered as possessing a regular income. 

 One of the I'ichest landowners might possibly ac- 

 cumulate, in a long industrious life, as much as 

 661000 sterling ; but should this happen, it would 

 all be stowed away in some secret corner, for it is 

 the custom of almost every family to have ajar or 

 treasure-chest buried in the ground. 



November 30th. — Early on Sunday morning we 

 reached Castro, the ancient capital of Chiloe, but 

 now a most forlorn and deserted place. The usual 

 quadrangular arrangement of Spanish towns could 

 be traced, but the streets and plaza were coated 

 with fine green turf, on which sheep were browsing. 

 The church, which stands in the middle, is entirely 

 built of plank, and has a picturesque and venerable 

 appearance. The poverty of the place may be 

 conceived from the fact, that although containing 

 some hundreds of inhabitants, one of our party was 

 unable anywhere to purchase either a pound of 

 sugar or an ordinary knife. No individual pos- 

 11.— B 



