276 CHILOE. [cuap. XH. 
canic. 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, 
cwing 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, con- 
vinces 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 civilization, however low that mzy be, which 
* their white conquerors have attained. More to the south we saw 
many pure Indians: indeed, all the inhabitants of some of the 
islets retain their Indian surnames. In the census of 1832, there 
were in Chiloe and its dependencies forty-two thousand souls: 
the greater number of these appear to be of mixed blood. Eleven 
thousand retain their Indian surnames, but it is probable that 
not nearly all of these are of a pure breed. Their manner of life 
is the same with that of the other poor inhabitants, and they are 
all Christians; but it is said that they yet retain some strange 
superstitious ceremonies, and that they pretend to hold commu- 
nication with the devil in certain caves. Formerly, every one 
convicted of this offence was sent to the Inquisition at Lima. 
Many of the inhabitants who are not included in the eleven 
thousand with Indian surnames, cannot be distinguished by their 
appearance from Indians. Gomez, the governor of Lemuy, is 
descended from noblemen of Spain on both sides; but by con- 
stant intermarriages with the natives’the present man is an 
Indian. On the other hand, the governor of Quinchao boasts 
much of his purely kept Spanish blood. 
