They Wear, By Way Of Ornament, Little Sticks Thrust Through
Their Cheeks And Underlips, And Are Said To Be Cannibals, Using Poisoned
Arrows And Darts.
They live chiefly by hunting and fishing, shifting
their habitations according to the seasons.
Their kings, or chiefs, are
distinguished by a particular manner of shaving their crowns, and by
wearing their nails very long. Their priests are sorcerers, making the
people believe that the devils appear to them in the form of certain
insects, and they perform their diabolical worship in the night, when
the women make dismal howlings, in which consists their principal
devotion. They allow polygamy, yet punish adultery with death. When the
young women are marriageable, but not courted, their mothers carry them
to the chiefs, who deflower them, and this is deemed a great honour.
Some of these people were considerably civilized by the Dutch, while
they possessed a part of Brazil, and did them good service under the
conduct of their native chiefs.
Leaving Isla Grande on the 30th November, we continued our voyage far to
the south, where we endured great cold, owing to which, a third part of
both ships companies fell sick while passing round Cape Horn, for which
reason we bore away for the island of Juan Fernandez, which we had some
difficulty to find, owing to its being laid down differently in all the
charts. Even Captain Dampier was much at a loss, though he had been
there so often, and had as it were a map of the island in his head,
which exactly agreed with it when we came there. This ought to induce
sea-officers to prefer their own proper business to amusement, since,
with all this knowledge, we were forced to make the main land of Chili,
in order to find this island, and did not strike it at the last without
considerable difficulty.
We arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez on the 1st February 1709,
and having a good observation the day before, when we found our lat. 34 deg.
10' S.[219] In the afternoon we hoisted out our pinnace, in which
Captain Dover set off to go on shore, though not less than four leagues
from the ship. As it grew dark, we observed a light on shore, which some
were of opinion was from our boat, but it was evidently too large for
that, and we hung up a light to direct our boat, firing our quarter-deck
gun, and showing lights in our mizen and fore shrouds, that our boat
might find us, as we had fallen to leeward of the island. Our boat came
aboard again about two in the morning, having turned back on seeing the
light ashore when within a league, and we were glad they had got off so
well, as it now began to blow. We were all convinced that the light
which we had seen was from the shore, and therefore prepared our ships
for an engagement, supposing it might proceed from some French ships at
anchor, which we must either fight or want water. All this stir and
apprehension, as we afterwards found, arose from one poor man, who
passed in our imaginations for a Spanish garrison, a body of Frenchmen,
or a crew of pirates, and it is incredible what strange notions some of
our people entertained about this light; yet it served to show their
tempers and spirits, and enabled us to guess how our men would behave,
in case there really were enemies on the island.
[Footnote 219: Juan Fernandez is in lat 33 deg. 40' S. long. 79 deg. W. Massa
Faera, in the same latitude, is in long. 80 deg. 50' W. from Greenwich. - E.]
While under these apprehensions, we stood to the back of the island in
order to fall in with the southerly wind, till we were past the island.
We then stood back for it again, and ran close aboard the land that
begins to form its N.E. side. The flaws came heavy off the land, and we
were forced to reef our top-sails when we opened the middle bay, where
we expected to have found our enemy, but saw all clear, and no ships
either there or in the other bay near the N.E. end. These are the only
bays in which ships can ride that come here for refreshments, the middle
one being the best. We now conjectured that there had been ships here,
but that they had gone away on seeing us. About noon of the 2d February,
we sent our yawl on shore, in which was Captain Dover, Mr Fry, and six
men, all armed; and in the mean time we and the Duchess kept turning in,
and such heavy squalls came off the land that we had to let fly our
top-sail sheets, keeping all hands to stand by our sails, lest the winds
should blow them away. These flaws proceed from the land, which is very
high in the middle of the island; but when they passed by, we had little
or no wind. As our yawl did not return, we sent the pinnace well armed,
to see what had occasioned the yawl to stay, being afraid there might be
a Spanish garrison on the island, who might have seized her and our men.
Even the pinnace delays returning, on which we put up a signal for her
to come back, when she soon came off with abundance of cray-fish,
bringing also a man cloathed in goat-skins, who seemed wilder than the
original owners of his apparel. His name was Alexander Selkirk, a
Scotsman, who had been left here by Captain Stradling in the
Cinque-ports, and had lived alone on the island for four years and four
months. Captain Dampier told me he had been master of the Cinque-ports,
and was the best man in that vessel; so I immediately agreed with him to
serve as a mate in the Duke.
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