In This Island They Have Abundance Of Very Handsome Middle-Sized Horses,
Which The Natives Are Said To Manage With Great Dexterity.
They have
also an animal, called guanaco or carneso de tierra, that is, sheep
of the country, which very much resembles a camel, but not nearly so
large.
They have long necks, and I have seen one of them between five
and six feet high. Their wool or soft hair is very fine. They smell very
rank, and move with a very slow majestic pace, which hardly any violence
can make them quicken; yet they are of great service at the mines in
Peru, where they are employed in carrying the ore and other things.
Their flesh is very coarse, as we experienced, having salted some of
them for our future use. Besides these, the inhabitants have European
sheep and great numbers of hogs, but not many black cattle. The island
has plenty of fowls, both wild and tame. Among the former is a small
species of goose, found on the banks of the rivers, which are
beautifully white, and of an excellent taste. The tame poultry are of
the same kinds with our own.
The natives are almost in all respects the same with those on the
continent of Chili, of moderate stature, with deep olive complexions,
and coarse shaggy black hair, some of them having by no means
disagreeable features. They seem naturally of fierce and warlike
dispositions; but the oppressions of the Spaniards, and the artifices of
the jesuits, who are the missionaries in these parts, have curbed and
broken their spirits.
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