292 



CHARLES DARWIN 



evergreen foliage, the ground is so damp and soft, that except 

 by this 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 were pitched for the night. 



The land in this neighbourhood has been extensively 

 cleared, and there were many quiet and most picturesque 

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

 in the island ; but many vessels having been lost, owing to the 

 dangerous currents and rocks in the straits, the Spanish gov- 

 ernment burnt the church, and thus arbitrarily compelled the 

 greater number of inhabitants to migrate to S. Carlos. We 

 had not long bivouacked, before the barefooted son of the 

 governor came down to reconnoitre 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 sev- 

 eral places the inhabitants 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, however, had 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 lieuten- 

 ant-colonel in the Spanish service, but now was miserably 

 poor. He gave us two sheep, and accepted in return two cot- 

 ton handkerchiefs, some brass trinkets, 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 thickly 

 covered with one impervious blackish-green forest. On the 

 margins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding the high- 

 roofed cottages. 



26th. — The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of 

 Orsono was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most 

 beautiful mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white 

 with snow, stands out in front of the Cordillera. Another 

 great volcano, with a saddle-shaped summit, also emitted 

 from its immense crater little jets of steam. Subsequently 

 we saw the lofty-peaked Corcovado — well deserving the name 

 of " el famoso Corcovado." Thus we beheld, from one point 



