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

438 VALENZUELA — AiiAuco. June 1835. dante,' and were directed to a rancho rather higher and larger than the rest. Without a question we were received, and told to make the house our own. That we were wet and tired, was a sufficient introduction to the hospitable Chilian. Before thinking of present comfort, it was necessary to secure horses for the next day's journey, and dispose of our own tired animals ; but money and the willing assistance of the coman- dante (Colonel Ger°. J. Valenzuela), soon ensured us both horses and a guide. In the colonel's house, a barn-like building, entirely of wood, and divided into three parts by low partitions, I was surprised to see an arm-chair of European make, which in no way corresponded to the rest of the furniture. Some large shells, not found in these seas, also caught my eye, and tempted me to ask their history. They had been brought only the previous day from the wreck of the Challenger, and were given by Captain Seymour to Don Geronimo, who had himself but just returned from assisting the shipwrecked party. His account and the chances of an attack being made by the Indians, increased our anxiety to proceed ; it would, however, have been worse than useless to attempt finding our way in a dark night, while it was raining fast and blowing very hard ; but at daybreak in the morning we saddled, and soon afterwards were splashing along the low flat tract of land extending from Arauco westward towards Tubul. Heavy rain during the night had almost inundated the low country, and to our discomfort appeared likely to continue dviring the day. In half an hour after starting we were soaked with mud and water ; but being well warmed by galloping, we felt indifferent to the rain, and to a heavy gale of wind that was blowing. Arauco, famous in Spanish song and history, is simply a small collection of huts, covering a space of about two acres, and scarcely defended from an enemy by a low wall or moimd of earth. It stands upon a flat piece of ground, at the foot of the Colocolo Heights, a range of steep, though low hills, rising about six hundred feet above the sea. In the sixteenth centui'y, Arauco was svirrounded by a fosse, a strong palisade, and a substantial wall, whose only opening