314 



CHARLES DARWIN 



because we are poor Indians, and know nothing; but it was 

 not so when we had a King." 



The next day after breakfast, we rode a few miles north- 

 ward to Punta Huantamo. The road lay along a very broad 

 beach, on which, even after so many fine days, a terrible surf 

 was breaking. I was assured that after a heavy gale, the 

 roar can be heard at night even at Castro, a distance of no 

 less than twenty-one sea-miles across a hilly and wooded 

 country. We had some difficulty in reaching the point, owing 

 to the intolerably bad paths; for everywhere in the shade 

 the ground soon becomes a perfect quagmire. The point 

 itself is a bold rocky hill. It is covered by a plant allied, I 

 believe, to Bromelia, and called by the inhabitants Chepones. 

 In scrambling through the beds, our hands were very mucli 

 scratched.^ I was amused by observing the precaution our 

 Indian guide took, in turning up his trousers, thinking that 

 they were more delicate than his own hard skin. This plant 

 bears a fruit, in shape like an artichoke, in which a number 

 of seed-vessels are packed: these contain a pleasant sweet 

 pulp, here much esteemed. I saw at Low's Harbour the 

 Chilotans making chichi, or cider, with this fruit: so true is 

 it, as Humboldt remarks, that almost everywhere man finds 

 means oi preparing some kind of beverage from the vege- 

 table kingdom. The savages, however, of Tierra del Fuego, 

 and I believe of Australia, have not advanced thus far in 

 the arts. 



The coast to the north of Punta Huantamo is exceedingly 

 rugged and broken, and is fronted by many breakers, on 

 which the sea is eternally roaring. Mr. King and myself 

 were anxious to return, if it had been possible, on foot along 

 this coast; but even the Indians said it was quite imprac- 

 ticable. We were told that men have crossed by striking 

 directly through the woods from Cucao to S. Carlos, but 

 never by the coast. On these expeditions, the Indians carry 

 with them only roasted corn, and of this they eat sparingly 

 twice a day. 



26th.— Re-embarking in the periagua, we returned across 

 the lake, and then mounted our horses. The whole of Chiloe 

 tqok advantage of this week of unusually fine weather, to 

 clear the ground by burning. In every direction volumes of 



