394 



SCHOOLS — VAQUEANO. 



Aug. Sept. 



While visiting various islands I was much struck by the 

 good order and cheerful alertness of several schools of boys, 

 and by the apparent respectability of their teachers : and I was 

 informed that these schools were much fostered by General 

 Aldunate and his worthy secretary, Forelius (a Swede). 



Nothing could be more pleasing than the appearance of the 

 islands ; all highly cultivated, and thickly peopled by a quiet 

 race of men, apparently industrious, certainly most obliging 

 and hospitable. 



At Lemuy I heard that the fugitives had just left Chelin 

 and Quehuy, in a piragua belonging to one Antonio Vargas, 

 and were gone to the Cordillera, somewhere near the Corcovado, 

 to kill seals and collect oil for him and Padre Forastes, until 

 we should leave Chiloe, when they would return and work for 

 the priest. This information cost me an ounce of gold, given 

 to Vargas's own brother : and for six dollars, in advance, with 

 a promise of more, I engaged a guide (vaqueano) to go with me 

 to the main land. This man had no idea of moving by night ; 

 but, understanding clearly that the piragua was gone to an 

 inlet under the Corcovado Mountain, I sailed at once across the 

 gulf, steering by the light of the volcano, much to the terror 

 of our vaqueano, who shrunk down to tlie bottom of the 

 boat, drew his poncho over his head, and kept muttering 

 prayers, sometimes to the Virgin and his ' devoto' (patron 

 saint), sometimes to 'bruxos;' but never ventured to look up 

 at the large sail, or watch the boat reeling through the waves, 

 as she sailed across with a fresh westerly wind. 



After a variety of petty difficulties and disappointments, and 

 searching every inlet within twenty miles of the Corcovado, 

 without finding a trace of the fugitives, I at last abandoned 

 the pursuit and returned to San Carlos ; having relanded our 

 unhappy vaqueano, who, while close to the land, had been use- 

 ful ; but whom we had ruined, he often asserted, by obliging 

 him to promise away all his property in masses, in offerings to 

 saints, and in presents to ' bruxos' for his safe deliverance from 

 such continual peril. After hearing such a melancholy state- 

 ment of his prospects, I added a present to his earnings, which 



