"The dress of these ladies, extremely different from what we have been
accustomed to see, consists of a plaited
Petticoat, tied considerably
below the waist; stockings striped red, blue and white; and shoes so
short that the toes are bent under the ball of the foot so as to make
it appear nearly round. Their hair is without powder and is divided
into small braids behind, hanging over the shoulders. Their bodice is
generally of gold or silver stuff, over which there are two short
cloaks, that underneath of muslin and the other of wool of different
colours, blue, yellow and pink. The upper one is drawn over the
head when they are in the streets and the weather is cold; but within
doors it is usual to place it on their knees; and there is a game
played with the muslin cloak by continually shifting it about, in which
the ladies of Concepcion display considerable grace. They are for the
most part handsome, and of so polite and pleasing manners that there is
certainly no maritime town in Europe where strangers are received with
so much attention and kindness."
At this city Laperouse met the adventurous Irishman, Ambrose O'Higgins,
who by reason of his conspicuous military abilities became commander of
the Spanish forces in Chili, and afterwards Viceroy of Peru. His name
originally was simply Higgins, but he prefixed the "O" when he
blossomed into a Spanish Don, "as being more aristocratic." He was the
father of the still more famous Bernardo O'Higgins, "the Washington of
Chili," who led the revolt against Spanish rule and became first
president of the Chilian Republic in 1818. Laperouse at once conceived
an attachment for O'Higgins, "a man of extraordinary activity," and one
"adored in the country."
In April, 1786, the expedition was at Easter Island, where the
inhabitants appeared to be a set of cunning and hypocritical thieves,
who "robbed us of everything which it was possible for them to carry
off." Steering north, the Sandwich Islands were reached early in May.
Here Laperouse liked the people, "though my prejudices were
strong against them on account of the death of Captain Cook." A passage
in the commander's narrative gives his opinion on the annexation of the
countries of native races by Europeans, and shows that, in common with
very many of his countrymen, he was much influenced by the ideas of
Rousseau, then an intellectual force in France -
"Though the French were the first who, in modern times, had landed on
the island of Mowee, I did not think it my duty to take possession in
the name of the King. The customs of Europeans on such occasions are
completely ridiculous. Philosophers must lament to see that men, for no
better reason than because they are in possession of firearms and
bayonets, should have no regard for the rights of sixty thousand of
their fellow creatures, and should consider as an object of conquest a
land fertilised by the painful exertions of its inhabitants, and for
many ages the tomb of their ancestors.
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