312 



and lurners. In the ir.r.v.ufciCturing of flax and wool, they 

 dis;>': y much skill, and make beautiful bed-coverings from 

 these materials, mixed with feathers, and also some cloths, 

 uhich they embroider with various colours. They have a 

 strong attachment to a sea life, and become excellent sailors. 

 Their barks, called piragiies, consist of three or four large 

 planks sewed together, and caulked with a kind of oakum or 

 moss, collected from a shrub. These are very numerous 

 throughout the Archipelago, and arc managed with sails and 

 oars, and voyages are often ma'le in them as far as Concep- 

 tion. The Chilotes educate their sons well, and accustom 

 them to labour at an early age. When taught, they make a 

 rapid progress in learning. Some years since, a school was 

 established for them in a village called Ciionchi, into which 

 one hundred and fifty were admitted, and all of them, in the 

 space of a single year, were taught reading and writing, the 

 first rules of arithmeiic. the doctrines of Christianity, and the 

 Spanish language. They were easily converted to Christianity, 

 and they live m such strict regard to its duties, that the purity 

 of the primitive church appears to be revived in them. Some 

 tribes of savages have likewise settled in tliese islands, who 

 have been persuaded by the missionaries to Io:*.vc the iMagel- 

 I^mic districts, in order to establish theuiselves in the Arclii- 

 pelago. 



Tlie {.'"verim'.cr:* i's vested in a governor, who is dej}er,dant 

 upon the picsident of Ciiili, ',;nd resides at CliaciiO, a Cabildo, 

 or n);ig!'<trato, vitii liis Prei'ert, or Cor re gidnr, in the city of 

 Caslrfj, who have conjuviCLively cogi!i;:ance uf the private suits 

 of ll;e Indians, and u co:Tnuai;Ja;it in the island of Calhuco, 

 situated in the i.ortheri.r/io^^t part of the gulph. The Archi- 

 jtelfig > is divi:!ed into three parishes, depenoant upon the dio- 

 (:'->( of Concej.lion, tiie bishops of which, except one and a 

 bi-hup in pari'ibus. never go there, because of the danger of 

 the voy.ige. It contains seventy-fi\ e towns, mostly inhabited 

 by Indians, who are under tise government of iliiir Ulmenc*, 



