392 



LOADS LAND-SLIPS—-' CESARES.^ Jan. Feb. 



with tlie load on one shoulder, and on the other the stick, which 

 partly supports the weight till one shoulder is tired ; he then 

 shifts the burthen to the other, and goes on. This half rest is 

 called ' cantuntun.^ After eight, ten, or twelve of these, 

 according to his strength, and the road, he casts down the 

 load, and rests about ten minutes. This is his 'descanso and 

 he makes about one such every two or three miles. The astil- 

 lero of Melipulli is ten ' descansos,*' a whole day ""s journey, from 

 the place of embarkation. In examining the different forests 

 of alerse, Mr. Douglas saw some immense land-slips (quechi), 

 one of which was said to have brought down one thousand 

 alerses,»some of them being five fathoms round near the roots. 

 This land-slip measured seven hundred yards in length and 

 three hundred yards in width. 



Mr. Douglas finds much fault with the manner in which the 

 Chilotcs associate for a voyage, or any joint undertaking. He 

 says, " their voyages being planned like a commonwealth, it 

 follows that their government on board must be republican, 

 and the consequence is that every thing is decided by most 

 votes and most noise.'" He also complains of their extreme 

 selfishness, and of their reluctance to do any thing, however 

 trifling, for a neighbour, unless for a consideration ; another 

 evil consequence of democratic inclinations. 



When Moraleda was about Chiloe he went across the Cor- 

 dillera to the lake Nahuel- huapi, in quest of information rela- 

 tive to the ' Cesares but he could hear nothing positive 

 about any such city or people, from the Indians whom he met 

 near that lake — well known to the Spaniards as a jesuit mis- 

 sionary station. Mr. Douglas's father-in-law* once commanded 

 a party sent from Chiloe to look for this reported city of ' Cesa- 

 res.'-f He got over and beyond the Cordillera to an elevated 

 plain, where he saw a very large number of Indian huts (tol- 

 dos), placed so as to form regular streets. Near them were 

 large droves of horses and cattle, and small patches of culti- 



* A Spaniard of Castik. 



t Don Pedro de Angelis, of Buenos Ayres, has collected and published 

 a great number of documents relating to the * Cesares.' 



