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

382 FISH — COAL CASTRO. Feb. account, but I may here add that smelt, mullet, a kind of bass, and other fish are plentiful during the summer months- The natives often catch ntiany more than they want by placing very simple weirs across creeks at high-water, with a passage in the middle, which is shut when the tide begins to ebb. Some of these weirs are rough stone walls (on a small scale), others are wattled like hurdles. The number of fish kept back by them and left dry, as the water falls, is really sur- prising. Seals are now rare, and whales are fast diminishing in numbers. There is a good deal of coal in Chiloe, but I am told that it is of an inferior description, like that of Concep- cion. Geologists say it is not true coal : lignite would be a more appropriate term. Be this as it may I tried some of it* in my cabin stove, and found it burn readily, though what I had was a lump taken from the surface of the ground. The Chilotes scarcely noticed it then, having so much wood around them, but a day may arrive in which its value may be better appreciated. Next to San Carlos,-f- in size and population, is Castro, the former seat of Government, which has dwindled to a mere village. Chacao, where the governor afterwards resided, is only a hamlet. Remains of a town, such as lines of streets and the ruins of a church,- are visible, but there are now only a few stragghng cottages and a ruinous chapel. It is said, on the spot, that the former church of Chacao was burned by the old Spaniards, to oblige the natives to quit the place and go to San Carlos. Castro, formerly styled a city, now consists of two or three short streets of bad wooden houses and two churches : one of which was built by the Jesuits more than a hundred years ago, and is fast decaying though ' shored up ^ (supported by props) on all sides. The first discovery of Chiloe was made by Spaniards in 1558, one of whom was Ercilla. Enthusiastic in every thing, the warrior-poet tells us that he ran to a tree, half-a-mile south • Obtained for me by Mr. Robert Williams from the neighbourhood of San Carlos. t Described in vol. i. p. 274-5.