JOURNAL. 



CHAPTER I. 



Chiloe' — General Aspect — Boat Excursion — Native Indians- 

 Castro — Tame Fox— Ascend San Pedro— Chonos Archipelago 

 -Peninsula of Tres Monies— Granitic Range— Boat-wrecked 

 Sailors — Low's Harbour— Wild Potato— Formation of Peat 

 — Myopotamus, Otter, and Mice — Cheucau and Barking- 

 bird — Opetiorhynchus — Singular character of Ornithology — 

 Petrels. 



CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS. 



November IQth. — The Beagle sailed from Val- 

 paraiso to the south, for the purpose of surveying 

 the southern part of Chile, the island of Chiloe, 

 and the broken land called the Chonos Archipel- 

 ago, as far south as the peninsula of Tres Montes, 

 On the 21st we anchored in the bay of S. Carlos, 

 the capital of Chiloe. 



This island is about ninety miles long, with a 

 breadth of rather less than thirty. The land is 

 hilly, but not mountainous, and is covered by one 

 great forest, except where a few green patches 

 have been cleared round the thatched cottages. 

 From a distance the view somewhat resembles 

 that of Tierra del Fuego ; but the woods, when 

 seen nearer, are incomparably more beautiful. 

 Many kinds of fine evergreen trees, and plants 

 with a tropical character, here take the place of 

 the gloomy beech of the southern shores. In win- 

 ter the climate is detestable, and in summer it is 

 only a little better. I should think there are few 

 parts of the world, within the temperate regions, 

 where so much rain falls. The winds are very 



