Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1835. VOLCANOES — NAMES — HUAFO. 377 means ' having a shivering, and unnatural heat'), and Minchen- madom, which, in the Huilli-che tongue, means ' under a fire- brand' ; names so expressive and appropriate as to put to shame much of our own nomenclature. Wherever I have been able to discover the aboriginal name of a place in South America, and could ascertain its meaning, I have been struck by the extreme appositeness, as well as by the copious though condensed allu- sion usually conveyed. In Chiloe and about the north-eastern Chonos Islands, almost all the aboriginal names are preserved, because there interpre- ters could be procured ; but, of course^ such advantages were generally unattainable in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. In Chiloe, as in Araucania, every corner and every con- spicuous spot, whether land or water, has a particular and expressive name, a word usually compounded of two or three others : thus, Huapi-quilan means Three Islands : Calbu-co, Blue Water; Cauca-huapi, Gull Island; Huechu-cucuy, Point Cucuy,* or Grandmother ; Carel-mapu (Cara-el-mapu), Bad-city-country ; Petu-cura, middle stone (a rock in Chacao Narrow), &c. 15th. We sailed from Port Low and went to Huafo once more, wishing to give Mr. Darwin an opportunity of examining it geologically. There are now no inhabitants on that island, though there are a good many sheep belonging to Chilotes, who live at Caylin. Formerly there were Indians called Huy- huen-che,f upon Huafo ; but the Spaniards obliged them to quit it, for fear they should give information or supplies to English ships. Near the Beagle, when at anchor, there was a square place, like an entrance to some cave, seemingly cut by man in the soft sand-stone rock ; and I have since often reproached myself for having left the place without ascertaining * Cucuy is the name of a bird, much noticed by the aborigines because its motions are supposed to be ominous : it also means grandmother. + The Huyhuen-che, often called Huyhuenes, were a tribe of Chonos Indians, adjoining the Pichi-huilli-che, who lived in the northern portion of Chiloe. The word Huyhuen signifies < whistle,' or ' hiss,' or ' to whistle, or hiss.'