340 



CHILOE. 



Dec. 1834. 



under water, many fish which are left on the mud-banks as 

 the tide falls. They occasionally possess fowls, sheep, goats, 

 pigs, horses, and cattle ; the order in which they are here 

 mentioned expressing their respective frequency. T never 

 saw any thing more obliging and humble than the manners 

 of these people. They generally began with stating, that 

 they were poor natives of the place, and not Spaniards, and 

 that they were in sad want of tobacco and other comforts. 

 At Caylen, the most southern island, we bought with a stick 

 of tobacco of the value of three-halfpence, two fowls — one 

 of which, the Indian stated, had skin between its toes, and 

 turned out to be a fine duck ; and with some cotton hand- 

 kerchiefs, worth three shillings, we procured three sheep, 

 and a large bunch of onions. The yawl at this place was 

 anchored some way from the shore, and we had fears for her 

 safety during the night. Our pilot, Mr. Douglas, accordingly 

 told the constable of the district, that we always placed 

 sentinels with loaded arms, and not understanding Spanish, 

 if we saw any person in the dark, we should assuredly 

 shoot him. The constable, with much humility, agreed 

 to the perfect propriety of this arrangement, and promised 

 us that no one should stir out of his house during that 

 night. 



During the four succeeding days we continued sailing 

 southward. The general features of the country remained 

 the same, but it was much less thickly inhabited. On the 

 large island of Tanqui there was scarcely one cleared spot ; 

 the trees on every side extending their branches over the 

 sea-beach. I one day noticed some very fine plants of the 

 panke [Gunnera scabra), which somewhat resembles the rhu- 

 barb on a gigantic scale, growing on the sandstone cliflfs. 

 The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, and tan 

 leather with the roots, and prepare a black die from them. 

 The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin : 

 I measured one which had a diameter of nearly eight feet, 

 and therefore a circumference of no less than twenty-four ! 

 The stalk is rather more than a yard high, and each plant 



