294 
CHILOE 
CHAP. 
25 th .—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. 
2 6 th .-—The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of 
Osorno 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 of view, 
three great active volcanoes, each about seven thousand feet 
high. In addition to this, far to the south there were other 
lofty cones covered with snow, which, although not known to 
be active, must be in their origin volcanic. The line of the 
Andes is not, in this neighbourhood, nearly so elevated as in 
Chile ; neither does it appear to form so perfect a barrier 
between the regions of the earth. This great range, although 
running in a straight north and south line, owing to an optical 
deception always appeared more or less curved ; for the lines 
drawn from each peak to the beholder’s eye necessarily 
converged like the radii of a semicircle, and as it was not 
possible (owing to the clearness of the atmosphere and the 
absence of all intermediate objects) to judge how far distant 
the farthest peaks were off, they appeared to stand in a flattish 
semicircle. 
Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian 
extraction. The father was singularly like York Minster ; and 
some of the younger boys, with their ruddy complexions, might 
have been mistaken for Pampas Indians. Everything I have 
seen convinces me of the close connexion of the different 
American tribes, who nevertheless speak distinct languages. 
This party could muster but little Spanish, and talked to each 
other in their own tongue. It is a pleasant thing to see the 
aborigines advanced to the same degree of civilisation, however 
low that may be, which their white conquerors have attained. 
