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

340 CHiLOE. Dec. 1834. under water, many fish which are left on the mud-banks as the tide falls. They occasionally possess fowls, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and cattle ; the order in which they are here mentioned expressing their respective frequency. I never saw any thing more ohhging and humble than the manners of these people. They generally began with stating, that they were poor natives of the place, and not Spaniards, and that they were in sad want of tobacco and other comforts. At Caylen, the most southern island, we bought with a stick of tobacco of the value of three-halfpence, two fowls — one of which, the Indian stated, had skin between its toes, and turned out to be a fine duck ; and with some cotton hand- kerchiefs, worth three shillings, we procured three sheep, and a large bunch of onions. The yawl at this place was anchored some way from the shore, and we had fears for her safety during the night. Our pilot, Mr. Douglas, accordingly told the constable of the district, that we always placed sentinels with loaded arms, and not understanding Spanish, if we saw any person in the dark, we should assuredly shoot him. The constable, with much humiUty, agreed to the perfect propriety of this arrangement, and promised us that no one should stir out of his house during that night. During the four succeeding days we continued sailing southward. The general features of the country remained the same, but it was much less thickly inhabited. On the large island of Tanqui there was scarcely one cleared spot the trees on every side extending their branches over the sea-beach. I one day noticed some very fine plants of the panke {Gunnera scabra), which somewhat resembles the rhu- barb on a gigantic scale, growing on the sandstone cliffs. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are suljacid, and tan leather with the roots, and prepare a black die from them. The leaf is nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin : I measured one which had a diameter of nearly eight feet, and therefore a circumference of no less than twenty-four The stalk is rather more than a yard high, and each plant