1*34.] FLOATING ISLANDS. 253 



ravines, that Piucheira entered Chile and ravaged the neighbour- 

 ing country. This is the same man whose attack on an estancia at 

 the Eio Negro I have described. He was a renegade half-caste 

 Spaniard, who collected a great body of Indians together and 

 established himself by a stream in the Pampas, which place none 

 of the forces sent after him could ever discover. From this point 

 he used to sally forth, and crossing the Cordillera by passes hitherto 

 nnattempted, he ravaged the farm-houses and drove the cattle to 

 his secret rendezvous. Pincheira was a capital horseman, and he 

 made all 'around him equally good, for he invariably shot any one 

 who hesitated to follow him. It was against this man, and other 

 wandering Indian tribes, that Kosas waged the war of extermina- 

 tion. 



September 13th. We left the baths of Cauquenes, and, rejoining 

 the main road, slept at the Eio Claro. From this place we rode to 

 the town of San Fernando. Before arriving there, the last land- 

 locked basin had expanded into a great plain, which extended so 

 far to the south, that the snowy summits of the more distant Andes 

 were seen as if above the horizon of the sea. San Fernando is forty 

 leagues from Santiago; and it was my farthest point southward; 

 for we here turned at right angles towards the coast. We slept 

 at the gold-mines of Yaquil, which are worked by Mr. Nixon, 

 an American gentleman, to whose kindness I was much indebted 

 during the four days I stayed at his house. The next morning \ve 

 rode to the mines, which are situated at the distance of some leagues, 

 near the summit of a lofty hill. On the way we had a glimpse of 

 the lake Tagua-tagua, celebrated for its floating islands, which have 

 been described by M. Gay.* They are composed of the stalks of 

 various dead plants intertwined together, and on the surface of 

 which other living ones take root. Their form is generally circular, 

 and their thickness from four to six feet, of which the greater part 

 is immersed in the water. As the wind blows, they pass from one 

 side of the lake to the other, and often carry cattle and horses as 

 passengers. 



When we arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale appear- 

 ance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr. Nixon respecting 

 their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep, and each man brings 



* Annales des Sciences Xaturelles, March, 1833. M* Gay, a zealous 

 and able naturalist, \vas then occupied in studying every branch of 

 natural history throughout the kingdom of Chile. 



