THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



313 



be paid. The periagua is a strange rough boat, but the crew 

 were still stranger : I doubt if six uglier little men ever got 

 into a boat together. They pulled, however, very well and 

 cheerfully. The stroke-oarsman gabbled Indian, and uttered 

 strange cries, much after the fashion of a pig-driver driving 

 his pigs. We started with a light breeze against us, but yet 

 reached the Capella de Cucao before it was late. The coun- 

 try on each side of the lake was one unbroken forest. In the 

 same periagua with us, a cow was embarked. Td get so 

 large an animal into a small boat appears at first a difficulty, 

 but the Indians managed it in a minute. They brought the 

 cow alongside the boat, which was heeled towards her; then 

 placing two oars under her belly, with their ends resting on 

 the gunwale, by the aid of these levers they fairly tumbled 

 the poor beast heels over head into the bottom of the boat, 

 and then lashed her down with ropes. At Cucao we found 

 an uninhabited hovel (which is the residence of the padre 

 when he pays this Capella a visit), where, lighting a fire, we 

 cooked our supper, and were very comfortable. 



The district of Cucao is the only inhabited part on the 

 whole west coast of Chiloe. It contains about thirty or forty 

 Indian families, who are scattered along four or five miles 

 of the shore. They are very much secluded from the rest of 

 Chiloe, and have scarcely any sort of commerce, except 

 sometimes in a little oil, which they get from seal-blubber. 

 They are tolerably dressed in clothes of their own manu- 

 facture, and they have plenty to eat. They seemed, however, 

 discontented, yet humble to a degree which it was quite pain- 

 ful to witness. These feelings are, I think, chiefly to be 

 attributed to the harsh and authoritative manner in which 

 they are treated by their rulers. Our companions, although 

 so very civil to us, behaved to the poor Indians as if they 

 had been slaves, rather than free men. They ordered pro- 

 visions and the use of their horses, without ever condescend- 

 ing to say how much, or indeed whether the owners should 

 be paid at all. In the morning, being left alone with these 

 poor people, we soon ingratiated ourselves by presents of 

 cigars and mate. A lump of white sugar was divided be- 

 tween all present, and tasted with the greatest curiosity. The 

 Indians ended all their complaints by saying, "And it is only 



