We managed, however, to run
down the coast as far as Huapi-lenou.
The whole of this
eastern side of Chiloe has one aspect; it is a plain, broken by
valleys and divided into little islands, and the whole thickly
covered with one impervious blackish-green forest. On the
margins there are some cleared spaces, surrounding the high-
roofed cottages.
26th - The day rose splendidly clear. The volcano of
Orsono was spouting out volumes of smoke. This most
beautiful mountain, formed like a perfect cone, and white
with snow, stands out in front of the Cordillera. Another
great volcano, with a saddle-shaped summit, also emitted
from its immense crater little jets of steam. Subsequently
we saw the lofty-peaked Corcovado - well deserving the name
of "el famoso Corcovado." Thus we beheld, from one point
of view, three great active volcanoes, each about seven thousand
feet high. In addition to this, far to the south, there
were other lofty cones covered with snow, which, although
not known to be active, must be in their origin volcanic.
The line of the Andes is not, in this neighbourhood, nearly
so elevated as in Chile; neither does it appear to form so
perfect a barrier between the regions of the earth. This
great range, although running in a straight north and south
line, owing to an optical deception, always appeared more or
less curved; for the lines drawn from each peak to the
beholder's eye, necessarily converged like the radii of a
semicircle, and as it was not possible (owing to the clearness
of the atmosphere and the absence of all intermediate objects)
to judge how far distant the farthest peaks were off,
they appeared to stand in a flattish semicircle.
Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian extraction.
The father was singularly like York Minster; and some
of the younger boys, with their ruddy complexions, might
have been mistaken for Pampas Indians. Everything I have
seen, convinces me of the close connexion of the different
American tribes, who nevertheless speak distinct languages.
This party could muster but little Spanish, and talked to each
other in their own tongue. It is a pleasant thing to see the
aborigines advanced to the same degree of civilization, however
low that may be, which their white conquerors have
attained. More to the south we saw many pure Indians:
indeed, all the inhabitants of some of the islets retain their
Indian surnames. In the census of 1832, there were in Chiloe
and its dependencies forty-two thousand souls; the greater
number of these appear to be of mixed blood. Eleven thousand
retain their Indian surnames, but it is probable that not
nearly all of these are of a pure breed. Their manner of life
is the same with that of the other poor inhabitants, and they
are all Christians; but it is said that they yet retain some
strange superstitious ceremonies, and that they pretend to
hold communication with the devil in certain caves.
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