Nov. 1834. 



CIIILOE. 



335 



gate the island. I accompanied this expedition^ but instead 

 of going in the boats the first day, I hired horses to take 

 me to Chacao, at the northern extremity of the island. The 

 road followed the coast ; every now and then crossing pro- 

 montories covered by fine forests. In these shaded paths it 

 is absolutely necessary that the whole road should be made of 

 logs of wood, which are squared and placed by the side of each 

 other. From the rays of the sun never penetrating the ever- 

 green foliage, the ground is so damp and soft, that except by 

 such means, neither man nor horse would be able to pass 

 along. I arrived at the village of Chacao, shortly after the 

 tents belonging to the boats had been pitched for the night. 



The land in this neighbourhood had been extensively 

 cleared, and there were many quiet and most picturesque 

 nooks in the forest. Chacao was formerly the principal port ; 

 but many vessels having been lost, owing to the dangerous 

 currents and rocks in the straits, the Spanish government 

 burnt the church, and thus arbitrarily compelled the greater 

 number of inhabitants to migrate to S. Carlos. In a short 

 time the barefooted son of the governor came down to re- 

 connoitre us. Seeing the English flag hoisted at the yawl's 

 mast-head, he asked, with the utmost indifference, whether it 

 was always to fly at Chacao. In several places, the inha- 

 bitants were much astonished at the appearance of men-of- 

 war's boats, and hoped and believed it was the forerunner of 

 a Spanish fleet, coming to recover the island from the patriot 

 government of Chile. All the men in power had, however^ 

 been informed of our intended visit, and were exceedingly civil. 

 While we were eating our supper, the governor paid us a visit. 

 He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish service, but 

 now was miserably poor. He gave us two sheep, and ac- 

 cepted in return two cotton handkerchiefs, some brass trin- 

 kets, and a little tobacco. 



25th. — Torrents of rain : we managed, however, to run 

 down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou. The whole of this 

 eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect : it is a plain, broken 

 by valleys, and divided into little islands, and the whole 



