1835. 



DESEllTFIlS PADRE FOllASTES. 



393 



vated ground : but he had no time to make further remarks, 

 for his party was discovered, vigorously attacked and driven 

 back, with loss, to the sea. The old man said the climate and 

 soil of that plain were better than those of Chiloe: and, as a 

 proof of it, he found Indian corn with from five to nine large 

 heads, though in Chiloe the same kind of plant only bears 

 from one to three small heads. 



A few of the remarks relative to Chiloe, contained in the 

 preceding pages, arose out of an excursion made by me, in 

 1829, among the neighbouring islands : and many of the 

 other notices mentioned by Captain King (vol. i.) or myself, 

 ■and given in the narrative as they were received from our 

 associates, were corroborated by what I then witnessed. The 

 excursion alluded to was undertaken in consequence of two 

 carpenters belonging to the Beagle being enticed to desert by a 

 Homan Catholic priest named Forastes, who not only afforded 

 them the means of travelling to Castro and Lemuy, but hid 

 them on his own premises afterwards ; and, when he heard that 

 I was seeking for them among the islands, sent them across the 

 gulf of Ancud, in a piragua, to remain in a cove near the Cor- 

 covado until the search should be over. One of these men was 

 not worth taking trouble about ; but the other was a man who 

 had borne a high character, and had a wife and children in 

 England depending upon him for support. I was satisfied that 

 this man (Wells) had not deserted until overcome by extraor- 

 dinary temptation and the evil advice of his companion, and 

 determined to do my utmost to recover him. He had pay due 

 for several years' service, and his ' servitude time*** was consi- 

 derable. 



I despatched Mr. Kirke overland to Castro for intelligence ; 

 and set out in a light whale-boat, with five men, all as eager as 

 I was myself to rescue their shipmate from the deceitful allure- 

 ments of Padre Forastes. As a carpenter, also, every one was 

 well aware, that his recovery was of much consequence to our 

 small vessel, in a place where we could not obtain a substitute. 



* For the pension granted to seamen in the Royal Navy after twenty- 

 one years' servitude. 



