XIV 
RIDE TO PUNT A HU ANT AM 6 
3i7 
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 between all present, 
and tasted with the greatest curiosity. The Indians ended all their 
complaints by saying/'And it is only 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 northward 
to Punta Huantamb. 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 much 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 
of preparing some kind of beverage from the vegetable 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 impracticable. 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. 
2 6th. —Re-embarking in the periagua, we returned across 
the lake, and then mounted our horses. The whole of Chiloe 
took advantage of this week of unusually fine weather, to clear 
