Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

Nov. 1834. INDIAN INHABITANTS. 337 the Indian surname. In the census of 1832, there were in Chiloe and its dependencies, forty- two thousand souls. The greater number of these appear to be httle copper-coloured men, of mixed blood. Eleven thousand actually retain their Indian surname ; but it is probable that not nearly all of them are of pure blood. 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 cere- monies, and that they pretend to hold communication with the devil in certain caves. Formerly, every one convicted of this offence was sent to the Inquisition at Lima. Many of those people who are not included in the eleven thousand, cannot be distinguished by their appearance from Indians. Gomez^ the governor of Lemuy, is descended from noblemen of Spain on both sides, but by constant intermarriages with natives, the present man is an Indian. On the other hand, the governor of Quinchao boasts much of his pure Spanish blood. We reached at night a beautiful little cove, north of the island of Caucahue. The people here complained of want of land. This is partly owing to their own negligence in not clearing the woods, and partly to restrictions of the government, which makes it necessary before buying ever so small a piece, to pay two shillings to the surveyor, for mea- suring each quadra (150 yards square), together with whatever price he fixes for the value of the land. After his valuation, the land must be put up three times to auction, and if no one bids more, the purchaser can have it at that rate. All these exactions must be a serious check to clearing the ground, where the inhabitants are so extremely poor. In most countries, forests are removed without much difficidty, by the aid of fire ; but in Chiloe, from the damp nature of the climate, and the sort of trees, it is necessary first to cut them down. This is a heavy drawback to the prosperity of Chiloe. In the time of the Spaniards the Indians coidd not hold land; and a family, after having cleared a piece of ground, might be driven away, and the property seized by VOL. III. Z