Was He At A Loss How To
Classify Them, And Did He Consequently Think That Silence
Was The More Prudent Course?
It is one more instance of the
frequency of omissions by authors, on those very subjects
where it might have been least expected.
CHAPTER XIII
CHILOE AND CHONOS ISLANDS
Chiloe - General Aspect - Boat Excursion - Native
Indians - Castro - Tame Fox - Ascend San Pedro - Chonos
Archipelago - Peninsula of Tres Montes - Granitic
Range - Boat-wrecked Sailors - Low's Harbour - Wild
Potato - Formation of Peat - Myopotamus, Otter and Mice -
Cheucau and Barking-bird - Opetiorhynchus - Singular
Character of Ornithology - Petrels.
NOVEMBER 10th. - The Beagle sailed from Valparaiso
to the south, for the purpose of surveying the southern
part of Chile, the island of Chiloe, and the broken
land called the Chonos Archipelago, as far south as the
Peninsula of Tres Montes. On the 21st we anchored in the
bay of S. Carlos, the capital of Chiloe.
This island is about ninety miles long, with a breadth of
rather less than thirty. The land is hilly, but not mountainous,
and is covered by one great forest, except where a few
green patches have been cleared round the thatched cottages.
From a distance the view somewhat resembles that of Tierra
del Fuego; but the woods, when seen nearer, are incomparably
more beautiful. Many kinds of fine evergreen trees, and
plants with a tropical character, here take the place of the
gloomy beech of the southern shores. In winter the climate
is detestable, and in summer it is only a little better. I
should think there are few parts of the world, within the
temperate regions, where so much rain falls. The winds are
very boisterous, and the sky almost always clouded: to have a
week of fine weather is something wonderful. It is even
difficult to get a single glimpse of the Cordillera: during
our first visit, once only the volcano of Osorno stood out in
bold relief, and that was before sunrise; it was curious to
watch, as the sun rose, the outline gradually fading away in
the glare of the eastern sky.
The inhabitants, from their complexion and low stature;
appear to have three-fourths of Indian blood in their veins.
They are an humble, quiet, industrious set of men. Although
the fertile soil, resulting from the decomposition of the
volcanic rocks, supports a rank vegetation, yet the climate is
not favourable to any production which requires much sunshine
to ripen it. There is very little pasture for the larger
quadrupeds; and in consequence, the staple articles of food are
pigs, potatoes, and fish. The people all dress in strong
woollen garments, which each family makes for itself, and
dyes with indigo of a dark blue colour. The arts, however,
are in the rudest state; - as may be seen in their strange
fashion of ploughing, their method of spinning, grinding
corn, and in the construction of their boats. The forests are
so impenetrable, that the land is nowhere cultivated except
near the coast and on the adjoining islets.
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