WRECK OF THE CHALLENGER. 101 



to discover the means of keeping off the damp 

 from below, as well as from above. 



Tuesday^ June 9. — Squally weather, with 

 showers of rain ; the wind n. w. A few Indians 

 made their appearance at the camp, bringing, 

 tied to their saddles, some nets of potatoes and 

 apples for barter : also Rafael Lobo, with a pre- 

 sent to the captain of some avellanos (a species 

 of nut, the kernels of which the Indians roast, 

 and are not unlike a small chesnut) ; and to esta- 

 blish a claim of some reward, for having given 

 us his protection and assistance against the hos- 

 tile Indians at Molquillo, as he then had assumed 

 the command of the armed Indians, and had 

 sent spies out to the southward. The seine, 

 which had been carefully preserved, and brought 

 to the Leubu, was this day tried in the river, but 

 with no great success. At night, we afterwards 

 found the attempts were more productive of 

 luck. The few fish we caught were highly ac- 

 ceptable. The crew's employment for this day 

 was draining the ground round their tents ; a 

 party bringing stones from the beach at the en- 

 trance of the river, to lay as a footpath through 

 the camp, — the rain having rendered it almost 

 impossible to walk, from the swampy state of the 



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