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

Jan. 1835, chiloe. 361 behaved to the poor Indians as if they had been slaves, rather than free men. They ordered provisions and the use of their horses, without ever condescending to say how much, or indeed whether the owners should be paid at all. In the morning, being left alone with these poor people, v/e soon in- gratiated ourselves by presents of cigars and mate. A lump of white sugar was divided between all present, and tasted with the greatest curiosity. The Indians ended all their com- plaints by saying, " and it is only because we are poor In- dians, and know nothing; but it was not so when we had a king.'^ The next day, after breakfast, we road to Punta Huantamo, a few miles to the northward. The road lay along a very broad beach, on which, even after so many fine days, a ter- rible surf was breaking. I was assured that after a heavy gale, the roar can be heard at night even at Castro, a distance of no less than twenty-one sea miles, across a hilly and wooded country. We had some difficulty in reaching the point, owing to the intolerably bad paths ; for every where in the shade the ground soon becomes a perfect quagmire. The point itself is a bold rocky hill. It is covered by a plant allied, I believe, to Bromelia, and called by the inhabit- ants Chepones. In scrambling through the beds, our hands were very much scratched. I was amused by observing the precaution our Indian guide took, in turning up his trousers, thinking that they were more deficate than his own hard skin. This plant bears a fruit, in shape like an artichoke, in which a number of seed-vessels are packed; these contain a pleasant sweet pulp, here much esteemed. I saw at Lowe's Harbour, the Chilotans making chichi, or cider, with this fruit : so true is it, as Humboldt remarks, that almost every where man finds means of preparing some kind of beverage from the vegetable kingdom. The savages, however, of Tierra del Fuego, and I believe of AustraUa, have not advanced thus far in the arts. The coast to the northward of Punta Huantamo is exceed- ingly rugged and broken, and is fronted by many breakers,