10 CHILOE. 



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 inhabitants were 

 much astonished at the appearance of men-of-war's 

 boats, and hoped and believed it was the forerun- 

 ner of a Spanish fleet, coming to recover the island 

 fi'om the patriot government of Chile. All the men 

 in power, however, had been informed of our in- 

 tended visit, and 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 cot- 

 ton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets, and a little 

 tobacco. 



25th. — ToiTents of rain : we managed, however, 

 to i-un 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 mar- 

 gins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding 

 the high-roofed cottages. 



2&th. — The day rose splendidly clear. The vol- 

 cano of Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke. 

 This most beautiful mountain, formed like a per- 

 fect cone, and white with snow, stands out in front 

 of the Cordillera. Another great volcano, with a 

 saddle-shaped summit, also emitted from its im- 

 mense 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 volcanoes, 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 



