38 ciiii-OE. 



finds means of preparing some kind of beverage 

 from the vegetable kingdom. The savages, how- 

 ever, of Tierra del Fuego, and I believe of Aus- 

 tralia, have not advanced thus far in the arts. 



The coast to the north of Punta Huantamo is 

 exceedingly rugged and broken, and is. fronted by 

 many breakers, on which the sea is eternally roar- 

 ing. Mr. King and myself were anxious to return, 

 if it had been possible, on foot along this coast ; 

 but even the Indians said it was quite impractica- 

 ble. We were told that men have crossed by 

 striking directly through the woods from Cucao to 

 S. Carlos, but never by the coast. On these expe- 

 ditions, the Indians cany with them only roasted 

 corn, and of this they eat sparingly twice a day. 



2Qth. — Re-embarking in the periagua, we re- 

 turned across the lake, and then mounted our hor- 

 ses. The whole of Chiloe took advantage of this 

 week of unusually fine weather to clear the ground 

 by burning. In every direction volumes of smoke 

 were curling upwards. Although the inhabitants 

 were so assiduous in setting fire to every part of the 

 wood, yet I did not see a single fire which they 

 had succeeded in making extensive. We dined 

 with our friend the commandant, and did not reach 

 Castro till after dai"k. The next morning we 

 started very early. After having ridden for some 

 time, we obtained from the brow of a steep hill an 

 extensive view (and it is a rare thing on this road) 

 of the great forest. Over the horizon of trees, the 

 volcano of Corcovado, and the great flat-topped one 

 to the north, stood out in proud pre-eminence : 

 scarcely another peak in the long range showed 

 its snowy summit. I hope it will be long before I 

 forget, this farewell view of the magnificent Cor- 

 dillera fronting Chiloe. At night we bivouacked 

 under a cloudless skv, and the next morning reach- 



