282 CHARLES DARWIN 



lished himself oy 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 unattempted, 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 Rosas waged the war of extermination. 



September ijth. We left the baths of Cauquenes, and, 

 rejoining the main road, slept at the Rio Clara. 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 San- 

 tiago; 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 in- 

 debted during the four days I stayed at his house. The next 

 morning we 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, cele- 

 brated for its floating islands, which have been described by 

 M. Gay. a 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 

 appearance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr. 

 Nixon respecting their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep, 

 and each man brings up about 200 pounds weight of stone. 

 With this load they have to climb up the alternate notches cut 

 in the trunks of trees, placed in a zigzag line up the shaft. 



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

 able naturalist, was then occupied in studying every branch of natural 

 history throughout the kingdom of Chile. 



