294 CHILOE CHAP. 



25///. — Torrents of rain : we managed, however, to run 

 down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this 

 eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect : it is a plain, broken by 

 valleys and divided into little islands, and the whole thickly 

 covered with one impervious blackish-green forest On the 

 margins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding the high- 

 roofed cottages. 



26///. — The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of 

 Osorno was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most 

 beautiful mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white with 

 snow, stands out in front of the Cordillera. Another great 

 volcano, with a saddle-shaped summit, also emitted from its 

 immense crater little jets of steam. Subsequently we saw the 

 lofty -peaked Corcovado — well deserving the name of "el 

 famoso Corcovado." Thus we beheld, from one point of view, 

 three great active volcanoes, each about seven thousand feet 

 high. In addition to this, far to the south there were other 

 lofty cones covered with snow, which, although not known to 

 be active, must be in their origin volcanic. The line of the 

 Andes is not, in this neighbourhood, nearly so elevated as in 

 Chile ; neither does it appear to form so perfect a barrier 

 between the regions of the earth. This great range, although 

 running in a straight north and south line, owing to an optical 

 deception always appeared more or less curved ; for the lines 

 drawn from each peak to the beholder's eye necessarily 

 converged like the radii of a semicircle, and as it was not 

 possible (owing to the clearness of the atmosphere and the 

 absence of all intermediate objects) to judge how far distant 

 the farthest peaks were off, they appeared to stand in a flattish 

 semicircle. 



Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian 

 extraction. The father was singularly like York Minster ; and 

 some of the younger boys, with their ruddy complexions, might 

 have been mistaken for Pampas Indians. Everything I have 

 seen convinces me of the close connexion of the different 

 American tribes, who nevertheless speak distinct languages. 

 This party could muster but little Spanish, and talked to each 

 other in their own tongue. It is a pleasant thing to see the 

 aborigines advanced to the same degree of civilisation, however 

 low that may be, which their white conquerors have attained. 



