cooPEu] BIBLIOGEAPHY OF TRIBES OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 37 



narrator. But we must bear in mind that neither he nor his captain 

 understood or spoke the HuilUs' tongue, although Cortes Hojea knew 

 some Araucanian. The information regarding the HuiUis themselves 

 was in all probability gathered on Cortes Hojea's trip four years 

 earlier when he accompanied Ulloa. There is no explicit evidence 

 that linguistic investigation was made on either expedition. 



Father Del Techo puts the Huillis south of the Guaitecas Islanders 

 or Chonos; the two peoples were at odds and the Chonos used to 

 capture the Huillis and keep them in servitude or sell them to the 

 Chilotans. He also notes some differences in culture and physical 

 appearance between the two groups and adds that the Huillis 

 "stlopos pro vocibus edunt" (160). Stlopus is a word seldom met 

 with in Latin literature; it means the sound produced by striking on 

 the inflated cheeks.^ Father Del Techo's silence regardmg the 

 Chonos' tongue contrasts with his strong characterization of the 

 outlandish nature of the Huillis'. This apparently implied contrast 

 taken in connection with the cultural and somatological differences 

 and with the intertribal man-raiding, might perhaps be interpreted 

 as a possible indication of linguistic distinction between the Guaitecas 

 Islanders and their more southern neighbors. 



De Vea's Relacion is a little more satisfactory. A certain Tal- 

 capillan, apparently a Chono in spite of his Araucanian name, had 

 been overheard at Chacao on Chiloe making a remark which implied 

 that the ''Holandes" had founded a colony in the southern islands. 

 In October, 1674, Bartolome Gallardo set out from Chiloe to locate 

 the supposed colony, but after scouring the northern shores of the 

 Gulf of Peiias returned from a fruitless quest (An. Jiidr., xi, 525-537). 

 In September, 1675, Antonio de Vea sailed from Lima and Callao 

 with the same object in view, stopping at Chiloe on the way south 

 and taking on some troops and friendly Indians. They crossed the 

 Isthmus of Ofqui, and on Xavier Island in the eastern part of the 

 Gulf of Peiias captured a native woman. She was evidently not a 

 Chilotan, for she was called a Chona by de Vea (576), she was cap- 

 tured in Chonoan territory, and her cross-examination by de Vea, 

 who did not apparently speak Chilotan, had to be carried on through 

 tandem interpreters "sirviendo de interprete el alferez Lazaro Gomez 

 con el indio don Cristobal [Talcapillan mentioned above], y este con 

 la india" (576; cf. also 574), while of her third and final examination 

 de Vea wrote " primeramente quise volver a examinar la india por el 

 indio Mailen interprete Machuca con el" (578).^ 



' It is interesting to recall that Prof. Topinard described the intonation of the Alacaluf whom he studied 

 at Paris, as not guttural, but "buccale et comme muqueuse" (775). 



^Mailen, Mailes, or Mayles had served as interpreter the year before between B. Gallardo and the Chonos 

 taken back to Chile and Peru (B. Gallardo, 536); he also examined the Chono woman (de Vea, 574); it is 

 pretty clear, then, that he spoke Chonoan. Lieut. Machuca spoke Chilotan at least, for he examined Tal- 

 capillan (de Vea, 578), but probably did not speak Chonoan. Talcapillan did not speak Spanish, for 

 Machuca had to interpret for him, but apparently spoke Cliilotan as well as his own Chonoan. 



