CHAPTER XIII 

 Chiloe and Chonos Islands 



Chiloe General Aspect — Boat Excursion — Native Indians — Castro — 



Tame Fox— Ascend San Pedro— Chonos Archipelago— Peninsula, 

 of Tres Montes — Granitic Range — Boat-wrecked Sailors — Low's 

 Harbour — Wild Potato — Formation of Peat — Myopotamus, Otter 

 and Mice— Cheucau and Barking-tr'rd— Opetiorhynchus— Singular 

 Character of Ornithology — Petrels. 



71 TOVEMBER ioth— The Beagle sailed from Valparaiso 



to the south, for the purpose of surveying the south- 



ern part of Chile, the island of Chiloe, and the broken 

 land called the Chonos Archipelago, as far south as the 

 Peninsula of Tres Montes. On the 21st we anchored in the 

 bay of S. Carlos, the capital of Chiloe. 



This island is about ninety miles long, with a breadth of 

 rather less than thirty. The land is hilly, but not mountain- 

 ous, and is covered by one great forest, except where a few 

 green patches have been cleared round the thatched cottages. 

 From a distance the view somewhat resembles that of Tierra 

 del Fuego ; but the woods, when seen nearer, are incompara- 

 bly more beautiful. Many kinds of fine evergreen trees, and 

 plants with a tropical character, here take the place of the 

 gloomy beech of the southern shores. In winter the climate 

 is detestable, and in summer it is only a little better. I should 

 think there are few parts of the world, within the temperate 

 regions, where so much rain falls. The winds are very bois- 

 terous, and the sky almost always clouded : to have a week of 

 fine weather is something wonderful. It is even difficult to 

 get a single glimpse of the Cordillera : during our first visit, 

 once only the volcano of Osorno stood out in bold relief, and 

 that was before sunrise ; it was curious to watch, as the sun 

 rose, the outline gradually fading away in the glare of the 

 eastern sky. 



The inhabitants^ from their complexion and low stature, 



290 



