Feb.i835. osorno — san carlos — chiloe. 



379 



from the sea, at a distance of ninety or a hundred nailes, the 

 whole of the cone, 6,000 feet in height* at least, and covered 

 with snow, stands out in the boldest relief from among ranges 

 of inferior mountains. The apex of this cone being very acute, 

 and the cone itself regularly formed, it bears a resemblance to 

 a gigantic glass-house ; which similitude is increased not a little 

 by the column of smoke so frequently seen ascending. 



We remained till the 4th of February in the port of San 

 Carlos. Mr. Darwin profited by the opportunity afforded to 

 make an excursion into the interior of the island, while the 

 surveying party were occupied in arranging data, in laying 

 down chart- work, and in taking and calculating observations. 

 I paid Douglas for his services and for a variety of informa- 

 tion collected for me, from which — from Lieut. Sulivan's 

 journal — and from my own notes — I shall now add such few 

 notices of Chiloe as I think may be interesting, and which 

 have not been already introduced in the first volume, (pp. 

 269—301.) 



Various accounts have been given of the characters and 

 dispositions of the Chilotes. Some have said that they are a 

 noble, industrious, and docile race ; others that they are dis- 

 honest, idle, and ill-disposed : to reconcile these contradictory 

 accounts is, therefore, at first sight, rather perplexing. There 

 are four distinct classes of inhabitants in Chiloe and the adja- 

 cent islands ;f the aboriginal Huyhuen-che, or Chonos ; the 

 Huilli-che, who came from southern Chile ; the foreigners, 

 those neither born in Chiloe nor descended from Chilotes ; and 

 the Creoles. Of these the Chonos are now nearly lost : in con- 

 sequence of disease and emigration they have by degrees aban- 

 doned not only Chiloe but the adjacent Chonos islands, and 

 are only found southward. Some Indians to the south-west 

 of Castro, in the interior of the island near the lake Cucao, 



* The volcano of Osorno, or Purraraque, or Huenauca, is 7,550 feet 

 above the sea level. 



t The smaller islands of the Archipelago of Chiloe, those in the gulf 

 between Chiloe and the main-land, called the Gulf of Ancoed or Ancud. 



