31st December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
After breakfast the next morning, a party ascended one of the highest viz. 2400 ft. elevation. — The scenery was very remarkable; the chief part of the range is composed of grand solid abrupt masses of granite, which look as if they had been coeval with the very beginning of the world. — The granite is capped with slaty gneiss, & this in the lapse of ages of time has been worn into strange finger-shaped points. These two formations, thus differing in their outlines, agree in being almost destitute of vegetation; and this barrenness had to our eyes a more strange appearance, from being accustomed to the sight of an almost universal forest of dark green trees. I took much delight in examining the structure of these mountains. — The complicated & lofty ranges bore a noble aspect of durability — equally profitless however to man & to all other animals. Granite to the Geologist is a classic ground: from its wide-spread limits, its beautiful & compact texture, few rocks have been more anciently recognised. Granite has given rise perhaps to more discussion concerning its origin than any other formation. — We see it generally the fundamental rock, & however formed, we know it to be the deepest layer in the crust of this globe to which man is able to penetrate. — The limit of mans knowledge in every subject possesses a high interest, which is perhaps increased by its close neighbourhood to the realms of imagination.

30th December 1834


Chonos Archipelago
In the morning went on shore; to our great surprise we found the Island well stocked with fine wild Goats. The sportsmen soon killed eight, which have given us two days fresh meat. I should think these Goats must originally have been turned out by some of the old Spanish Missionary expeditions. Others besides us have visited this place; I found marks of trees long ago cut down, an old fire, & remains of a sort of Shed. I presume it has been one of the prowling tribe of Sealers. In the evening changed our anchorage to a snug cove at the foot of some high hills.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
On landing an old wooden hut was discovered in a sheltered corner, and we found that the island was overrun with goats, which I suppose to have been left by the Santa Barbara's crew, if not by Machado's people. While Mr. Stokes and I were engaged with the instruments, and two boats sounding, a couple of guns were sent against the goats, and in consequence of their effectual employment in the hands of Mr. Bynoe and H. Fuller, all on board had a good fresh meal the next two days. After noon we sailed across the Bay, and found a snug, though very small cove, where we moored in security, and remained till the 4th of January, exploring the neighbourhood—an unprofitable wilderness of rocky mountains, woody and swampy valleys, islands and rocks in profusion, and inlets or arms of the sea penetrating in every direction.

29th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
Ran along the Coast till we came to an anchor at Yuche Island, a little to the North of the Peninsula of Tres Montes.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
While examining the coast towards Cape Taytao, we found a very dangerous patch of rocks, five miles from the nearest land; there are soundings near them. In the evening we dropped our anchor under Inchemo Island; an interesting locality, because there the Anna Pink anchored before she was drifted across the adjacent bay into Port Refuge (in 1741).

Just as all hope seemed lost, they saw the entry to a harbour (now called Bahaia Anna Pink*, Chile at 45.83S 74.83W) and were able to take refuge. For two months they stayed to perform makeshift repairs to the ship and allow the crew to recover their health before departing for Juan Fernandez. The harbour had a good fresh water supply, wild greens and game. Given the abundant provisions and minimal crew on the merchant ship, the crew was in much better health even than those on the warships at the time she was blown ashore. However, a survey after arrival at Juan Fernandez reported that she was so badly damaged that she was beyond repair so Anson had the ship broken up and the crew transferred to the Gloucester.

*Anna Pink" where "pink" is a "small sailing vessel with sharply narrowed stern and an overhanging transom".

(from George Anson's voyage around the world 1741)

28th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
At last the weather barely permitted us to run out; our time has hung heavy on our hands, as it always does when we are detained from day to day by successive gales of wind. — Our Christmas day was not such a merry one as we had last year at Port Desire. — Between 30 & 40 miles of coast was surveyed & in the afternoon we found an excellent harbor. — Directly after anchoring we saw a man waving a shirt. A boat was sent & brought two men off. — They turned out to be N. American seamen, who from bad treatment had run away from their vessel when 70 miles from the land. The party consisted of five men & the officer of the watch; who together in the middle watch had lowered a boat & taken a weeks provisions with them, thinking to go along the coast to Valdivia; The boat on their first landing had been dashed into pieces. — This happened 15 months ago; since which time the poor wretches have been wandering up & down the coast, without knowing which way to go or where they were (they knew nothing of Chiloe). What a singular piece of good fortune our happening to discover this harbor at the very time they were in it. Excepting by this chance they might have wandered till they had been old men & probably would not have been picked up. — This explains the bed in the last harbor; the party had separated when this was used. — They were now all together & the boat subsequently brought off three more. — one man had fallen from a cliff & perished. — I never saw such anxiety as was pictured in the mens faces to get into the boat. — before she landed, they were nearly jumping into the water. They were in good condition, having plenty of seals-flesh which together with shell- fish had entirely supported them. — In the evening we paid a visit to their little hut made of reeds; a few days since, they had killed nine seals; they cut the flesh into pieces & secured it on sticks which they place cross-wise over the fire & thus preserve it. — They had some few clothese, a book (well thumbed), 2 hatchets & knives; with these they had hollowed out two trees to make canoes, but neither answered. — The difficulties they encountered in trying to travel up the coast were dreadful; it was in passing a head- land the man was lost; some of the Bays gave them 5 days walking to reach the head. Latterly they appear to have given up in despair their attempt at reaching Valdivia! And well they might.— They had one comfort in having always plenty of firewood; they managed to make a fire by placing a bit of tinder with a spark from a steel & flint between two pieces of charcoal, & by blowing this was sufficient to ignite it. — There are no Indians. — Their treatment on board the Whaler does not appear to have been so very bad; but their remedy, probably from ignorance of the dangers, has been a most desperately perilous one. I am very glad the Beagle has been the means of saving their lives. — Considering what they have undergone, I think they have kept a very good tally of the time; they making this day to be the 24th instead of the 28th.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Directly the weather would admit, we weighed and coasted along till the sun was getting low, when we ran under shelter from sea and wind, and anchored in the corner of a bay which I afterwards concluded must be the bay or port called Stephens, and more properly, San Estevan. While we were furling sails, some men were seen on a point of land near the ship, making signals to us in a very earnest manner. Being dressed as sailors, it was natural for us to conclude that they were some boat's crew left there to collect sealskins. A boat was sent to them, and directly she touched the land they rushed into her, without saying a word, as men would if pursued by a dreaded enemy; and not till they were afloat could they compose themselves enough to tell their story. They were North American sailors, who had deserted from the Frances Henrietta (a whaler of New Bedford), in October 1833. When off Cape Tres Montes, but out of sight of land, and in the middle of the night, these six men lowered a boat and left their ship, intending to coast along until they should arrive at Chilóe. Their first landing was effected on the 18th, but owing to negligence the boat was so badly stove that they could not repair her, and all their hopes of effecting a coasting voyage were thus crushed in the very outset.

Finding it impossible to penetrate far into the country, on account of its ruggedness, and thick forests, which, though only trifling in height, were almost impervious, they began a pilgrimage along-shore; but it was soon evident, to their dismay, that there were so many arms of the sea to pass round, and it was so difficult to walk, or rather climb, along the rocky shores, that they must abandon that idea also, and remain stationary. To this decision they were perhaps more inclined after the death of one of their number; who, in trying to cross a chasm between two cliffs, failed in his leap, fell, and was dashed to pieces. Their permanent abode was then taken up at the point which shelters Port San Estevan, now called Rescue Point; where they passed a year in anxious hope. Of course the few provisions which their boat had carried ashore were soon exhausted, and for thirteen months they had lived only upon seals' flesh, shell-fish, and wild celery: yet those five men, when received on board the Beagle, were in better condition, as to healthy fleshiness, colour, and actual health, than any five individuals belonging to our ship. Few remarks worth noticing had been made by them, as the only experienced man (whose name was John Lawson) lost his life as above-mentioned. There was an almost continual succession of rain and wind for several months after their first landing, except from the 20th to the 29th of December, which passed without rain: in July (1834) they had an extraordinary storm from south-west, which began early one morning, after a rainy night with northerly wind: and in November (1834) there were twenty-one days successively without rain. One day (in May) they saw eight vessels sailing northwards together; excepting which, not a sail was ever seen by their aching eyes till the Beagle hove in sight. Between San Andres, near which they first landed, and San Estevan, the hull of a small vessel was found, quite bedded in sand; she seemed to be about thirty-five tons burthen, from thirty to thirty-five feet in the keel, and about sixteen broad. She was full-built; neither coppered nor sheathed. In a cave, which had been used as a dwelling, near San Andres, the skull of a man was found, and some burned wood. A bracelet of beads was lying in the cave, but they noticed nothing else. The skull seemed to them to have been that of a black man. No animals were seen at any time except deer and nutria, seal and otter; the former were of a reddish colour, with short straight horns, and very rough coats: no traces of other quadrupeds were observed, nor during the whole fourteen months did they ever meet a native human being. They told me that the night tides seemed always to be a foot or more higher than those of the day, which, as they said, rose from four to seven or eight feet perpendicularly. I had intended to explore the interior of Port San Estevan; but as they had already done so, and found it terminate in a fresh water river, or rather mountain stream, I gave up that plan, and sailed next day.

25th December 1834

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Strong gales set in afterwards and kept us prisoners several days. This Christmas was unlike the last: it was a sombre period. The wind blew heavily (though we did not feel it much, being well sheltered); all looked dismal around us; our prospects for the future were sadly altered; and our immediate task was the survey of another Tierra del Fuego, a place swampy with rain, tormented by storms, without the interest even of population: for hitherto we had neither found traces, nor heard the voices of natives.

24th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
I was here much interested by finding quantities of Lava & other Volcanic products.

Syms Covington Journal:
Anchored in a small bay, Near the Sugar-loaf, (Cape Tres Montes), on the western coast of South America, where we spent the Christmas; the two previous days, blowing very heavy.

23rd December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
Stood out to sea, but bad weather coming on from the Northward, we ran back again & anchored in another cove.

22nd December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
On the Monday I succeeded in reaching the summit (1600 ft. high); it was a laborious undertaking; the ascent being so steep as to make it necessary to use the trees like a ladder. (Note in margin: Great thickets of Fushza.) In these wild countries it gives much delight to reach the summit of any high hill; there is an indefinite expectation of meeting something very strange, which however often it is baulked, never with me failed to recur.— Every one must know the feeling of triumph or pride which a great & extensive view from a height communicates to the mind. — In this case there is joined to it a little vanity of distinction, that you perhaps are the first man who ever stood on this pinnacle, or admired this view. — There is always a strong desire to ascertain whether any body has previously visited the place where one may happen to be. — A bit of wood with a nail in it is picked up & studied as if it was covered with hieroglyphics. Owing to this feeling, I was much interested by finding on a wild piece of the coast, a bed made of grass, beneath a ledge of rock; close by it there had been a fire, & the man had used an axe. — The fire, bed & situation were chosen with the dexterity of an Indian, but it could scarcely be an Indian. — We subsequently found traces of a sealing vessel having been in here; yet I cannot help having some misgivings that the solitary man who had made his bed on this wild spot, was some poor shipwrecked sailor, trying to travel up the coast. If so, probably before this, he has laid himself down & died.

21st December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
Found an harbor, which on this unknown & dangerous coast might be of great utility to a distressed vessel. It can be easily recognized by the most perfectly conical hill I ever saw; it quite beats the famous Sugar-loaf at the entrance of Rio de Janeiro harbor.

20th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
The Beagle had a fair wind to the extreme Southern point where it was necessary to proceed; & when at Noon on the 20th, we bid farewell to the South & put the Ships head to the North, the wind continued fair. — From C. Tres Montes we ran pleasantly along this lofty weather-beaten coast. It is remarkable by the bold outline of the hills & the thick covering, even on the almost precipitous sides of [the] forest.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
At day-light on the 20th we were off Cape Tres Montes: having a fine day and smooth water, we surveyed the coast between that promontory and San Andres Bay, but it became dark before an anchorage could be gained. Next morning we anchored in a narrow creek, close by a singular cone (1,300 feet high), an unfailing landmark. Finding it a place difficult to get out of, and not to be recommended, unless in distress, we did not stay there long, but moved to a cove at the south-west part of the bay. While under sail for this purpose, advantage was taken of an interval of moderate weather to run several miles along the coast northward, and back again.

18th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
Stood out to sea. — Mr Stokes, the day before, was despatched in a Whale-boat with three weeks provisions to survey the Northern part of the Archipelago & there meet us. — We have now three boats away; which is something for a ten gun-brig to say. — The Jonas is out of the Ship (whoever he may be);

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
The Beagle weighed and sailed out of Vallenar Road, after experiencing the shelter afforded by that anchorage, during a heavy gale from the south-west and southward
.

15th to 17th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
The weather continued bad; to me it did not much signify, because the land in all these islands is next thing to impassable; the coast is rugged & so very uneven that it is one never ceasing climb to attempt to pass that way; as for the woods, I have said enough about them; I shall never forget or forgive them; my face, hands, shin-bones all bear witness what maltreatment I have received in simply trying to penetrate into their forbidden recesses.

14th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
It is fortunate we reached this shelter. For now a real storm of T. del Fuego is raging with its wonted fury. White massive clouds were piled up against a dark blue sky & across them black ragged sheets of vapor were rapidly driven. The successive ranges of mountains appeared like dim shadows; it was a most ominous, sublime scene. — The setting sun cast on the woodland a yellow gleam, much like the flame of spirits of wine on a man's countenance. The water was white with the flying spray; & the wind lulled & roared again through the rigging: the gale in all its features was complete. It was curious to notice the effect which the spray had on a bright rain-bow; instead of approaching to a semicircle, the ring was nearly complete, for the prismatic colors were carried on the surface of the water on both sides to the Ships stern; & hence formed a circle.

13th December 1834

Chonos Archipelago
We ran into an opening in the Southern part of the Guyatecas or Chonos Archipelago & soon found a good harbor.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
We succeeded in finding a sheltered, and apparently safe anchorage in a road named by me Vallenar, because it corresponded in situation to an island so called in an old chart, said to be of the Chonos, but which bore no resemblance whatever to them. However, being anxious to remove no "neighbour's landmark," and retain original names, when they could be ascertained, I kept them wherever I was able to do so. As to the native names, those given by Indians, I had not the means of finding them out, for no inhabitants were seen; but, so far as Moraleda had collected them from his Indian interpreters, and made them known by his chart, I have scrupulously followed him.

11th December 1834

Chiloe
We left S. Pedro in the Beagle.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Having despatched Mr. Sulivan, with the same party excepting Mr. Darwin, we got under weigh, and hastened towards the middle of the Chonos group, in order to find a port whence Mr. Stokes might set out to explore northwards, while I should examine the southern half of the archipelago.

10th December 1834

Chiloe
The Yawl & Whale-boat, with Mr Sulivan, started to continue their survey.

9th December 1834

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
We remained a few days in San Pedro harbour; and on the 9th Mr. Sulivan and his party joined us. Next day Mr. Stokes and I endeavoured to get to the top of the mountain named Huampelen, Huamblin, or San Pedro; but after climbing, creeping, struggling, and tumbling about, among old decayed trees, strongly interwoven canes, steep, slippery places, and treacherous bog, we failed, and gave up the attempt. Mr. Darwin, Douglas, and others were with me, but we were all foiled.

8th December 1834

Chiloe
A party with Capt FitzRoy tried to reach the summit of San Pedro, the highest part of the islands. — The woods here have a different aspect from those in the North, there is a much larger proportion of trees with deciduous leaves. — the rock also being primitive Micaceous slate, there is no beach, but the steep sides of the hills dip directly down into the sea; the whole appearance is in consequence much more that of T. del Fuego than of Chiloe. In vain we tried to gain the summit; the wood is so intricate that a person who has never seen it will not be able to imagine such a confused mass of dead & dying trunks. I am sure oftentimes for quarter of an hour our feet never touched the ground, being generally from 10 to 20 feet above it; at other times, like foxes, one after the other we crept on our hands & knees under the rotten trunks. In the lower parts of the hills, noble trees of Winters bark, & the Laurus sassafras (?) with fragrant leaves, & others the names of which I do not know, were matted together by Bamboos or Canes. Here our party were more like fish struggling in a net than any other animal. On the higher parts brushwood took the place of larger trees, with here & there a red Cypress or an Alerce. I was also much interested by finding our old friend the T. del F. Beech, Fagus antarcticus; they were poor stunted little trees, & at an elevation of little less than a thousand feet. This must be, I should apprehend from their appearance, nearly their Northern limit. We ultimately gave up the ascent in despair.

7th December 1834

Chiloe
In the morning we stopped for a few minutes at a house at the extreme North point of Isd of Laylec. This was the last house; the extreme point of S. American Christendom; & a miserable hovel it was. The latitude is about 43° 10′, which is considerably to the South of the R. Negro on the Atlantic coast of America. The people were miserably poor & as usual begged for a little tobacco. I forgot to mention an anecdote which forcibly shows the poverty of these Indians; some days since, we met a man who had travelled 3 & ½ days on foot, on bad roads, & had the same distance to return to recover the value of an axe & a few fish! How difficult it must be to buy the smallest article, where such trouble is taken to recover so small a debt.

We had a foul wind & a good deal of swell to struggle with, but we reached the Island of S. Pedro, the SE extremity of Chiloe, in the evening. When doubling the point of the harbor, Mrs Stuart & Usborne landed to take a round of angles. A fox (of Chiloe, a rare animal) sat on the point & was so absorbed in watching their mænœvres, that he allowed me to walk behind him & actually kill him with my geological hammer. We found the Beagle at anchor, she had arrived the day before & from bad weather had not been able to survey the outer coast of Chiloe. The most singular result of the observations is that Chiloe is made 30 miles too long, hence it will be necessary to shorten the island; ¼ of its received size.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
These three outlying islands are thickly wooded, rather level, compared with their neighbours, and not exceeding eight hundred feet in height. There are few, if any others, like them in the Chonos Archipelago; almost all the rest, however portions of some may resemble them, being mountainous, and very like those of Tierra del Fuego and the west coast of Patagonia, beyond 47° south; therefore I need only remark, that the vegetation is more luxuriant; that there is a slight difference in it, consequent probably upon a milder climate; that some productions, such as canes and potatoes, &c., are found there which do not grow near the Strait of Magalhaens; and that in other respects, as to appearance, nature, and climate, the Chonos Archipelago is like Tierra del Fuego in summer.

6th December 1834

Chiloe
Reached Caylen, called "el fin del Christianitad". It is rather better inhabited.

5th December 1834

Chiloe
I noticed to day growing on the cliffs of soft sandstone some very fine plants of the Pangi*, which somewhat resembles the Rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are sub-acid, & with the root tan leather & prepare a black dye. (Note in margin: The stalks are called Nalca, so indeed is the plant sometimes.) The leaf is much indented in its margin & is nearly circular; the diameter of one was nearly 8 feet (giving a circumference of 24 feet!). The stalk rather more than a yard high: each plant throws out from four to six of these enormous leaves & a group of them hence has a very fine appearance.

*Probably a Gunnera - Gunnera Masafuerae of the Juan Fernandez Islands off the Chilean coast. They can have leaves up to 2.9 m (9 ft 5 inches) in width on stout leaf stalks 1.5 m (5 ft) long and 11 cm (4.5 in) thick according to Skottsberg. On nearby Isla Más Afuera, G. peltata frequently has an upright trunk to 5.5 m (18 ft) in height by 25–30 cm (10–12 in) thick, bearing leaves up to 2 m (6 ft 4 inches) wide. G. magnifica of the Colombian Andes bears the largest leaf buds of any plant; up to 60 cm (2 ft) long and 40 cm (16 inches) thick. The succulent leaf stalks are up to 2.7 m (8 ft 10 inches) long. The massive inflorescence of small, reddish flowers is up to 2.3 m (7 ft 6 inches) long and weighs about 13 kg. [Wikipedia] I have one growing in my garden in the UK.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
On the 5th, we were near Huafo, which, to our surprise, we found to be twenty-five miles farther north than the Spanish charts (following Moraleda) showed its position, yet the longitude was almost correct. In a small cove, near the south-east point of Huafo, we anchored, but broke a bower-anchor in doing so; for the cove is small—an unexpected puff of wind gave us too much way—and dropping the bower in haste, it fell upon a rock, and broke.§ Only two days before another anchor was broken, near Socorro, by the ship pitching while a short scope of cable was out, and the anchor hooking to a rock. I found, on landing, that the formation of the island, like that of Socorro and Narborough Island, is a soft sandstone, which can be cut with a knife as easily as a cake of chocolate.

4th December 1834

Chiloe
The weather was squally, but we reached P. Chagua: the general features of the country remain precisely the same: it is much less thickly inhabited: the whole of the large island of Tanqui has scarcely one cleared spot; the trees on every side extend their branches over the sea.

3rd December 1834

Chiloe
During our last visit, I fancied Chiloe never enjoyed such a day as this; I cannot imagine a more beautiful scene, than the snowy cones of the Cordilleras seen over an inland sea of glass, only here & there rippled by a Porpoise or logger-headed Duck. And I admired this view from a cliff adorned with sweet-smelling evergreens, where the bright colored, smooth trunks, the parasitical plants, the ferns, the arborescent grasses, all reminded me of the Tropics, neither did the temperature recall me to the reality.

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
Having passed the night quietly at single anchor, near the north-east point of Socorro, we weighed and continued our route to and fro along the coast, taking angles, soundings, and observations.

2nd December 1834

Chiloe
2nd The day was calm & we only reached the South extreme of Lemuy.*

* In Down House Notebook 1.8, CD wrote: 'I have mentioned having found at Lemuy an beach very much silicified wood — one piece pentrated by Teredo. Likewise I found many fragments on coast above Yal.[?] At last I found in the yellow sandstone a great trunk (structure beautifully clear) throwing off branches: main stem much thicker than my body & standing out from weathering 2 feet. — Central parts generally black & vascular, & structure not visible. — This tree coetaneous (near in position) with the shells of above: it is curious chemical action, such a sandstone in sea, holding such silex in solution: vessels transparent quartz. This observation most important, as proof of general facts of petrified wood. For here the inhabitants firmly believe the process is now going on.'

Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
While standing towards distant mountainous land, about the latitude of 45°, we saw a comparatively low and level island;† considerably detached from those which seemed like Tierra del Fuego, being a range of irregular mountains and hills, forming apparently a continuous coast. This level island I have since ascertained to be that formerly called Nuestra Señora del Socorro, where Narborough anchored and landed, in 1670. It was selected in 1740, by Anson, as a rendezvous for his squadron; but no one seemed to know where to look for it: the Anna Pink having made the land in 45°.35′, and the unfortunate Wager in 47°, near Cape Tres Montes. Narborough mentions seeing 'an old Indian hut' on this island; and in a MS. journal, written by Moraleda‡ (now in my possession) it is said that the former natives of the Chonos used to make annual excursions to that as well as other outlying islands. After witnessing the distance to which savages venture in such frail canoes as those of Tierra del Fuego, it does not surprise one to find them going fifteen or twenty miles across an open space of sea in such large canoes as those of the Chonos Indians, which are indeed boats. Fuegian wigwams have been found upon Staten Land and upon Noir Island, each of which is as far from any neighbouring coast as Socorro is from the nearest shore.

While Narborough's ship was under sail, near Socorro, he went in his boat to the island which is nearest to it, by him named Narborough Island. There he landed, and took possession for his Majesty and his heirs.

1st December 1834

Chiloe
We steered for the Isd of Lemuy. — I was anxious to examine a reported coal mine, which turned out to be Lignite of little value in the tertiary Sandstones of which these Islands are composed. — During the day we passed many Chapels; the number of these all over Chiloe is remarkable; every collection even of a few houses has its Capella. When we reached Lemuy we had great difficulty in finding a place for the tents, owing to it being Spring tides & the land being universally wooded to the high water line.

We were soon surrounded by a large group of the nearly pure Indian inhabitants. They were much surprised at our arrival & said one to the other, this is the reason we have seen so many Parrots lately; the Cheucau (an odd red-breasted little bird, which inhabits the thick forest & utters very peculiar noises) has not cried "beware" for nothing. They were soon eager for barter. Money is scarcely worth anything, but their esteem & anxiety for tobacco was something quite extraordinary: after tobacco, indigo came next in value, then capsicum, old clothes & gunpowder; the latter article was required for a very innocent purpose; each parish has a public musket, & the gunpowder was wanted to make a noise on their Saint or Feast days.

The people here live chiefly on shell-fish & potatoes; at certain seasons they catch also, in "Corrales"or hedges under water, many fish which are left as the tide falls dry on the mud-banks. — They occasionally possess fowls, sheep & goats, pigs, horses & cattle, the order in which they are mentioned expressing their frequency. — I never saw anything more obliging & humble than the manners of these people. — They generally begin with stating that they are poor natives of the place & not Spaniards & are 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 half-pennies, two fowls (one of which the Indian stated had skin between its toes & turned out to be a fine duck): & with some cotton handkerchiefs worth three shillings, we procured three sheep & a large bunch of onions. — All these purchases were transacted under the denomination of money; the stick of tobacco was valued at one shilling & the proportion of a shilling to the half-pennies expresses the profit of the traders with these Islanders.

The Yawl at this place was anchored some way from the shore & 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, & not understanding Spanish, if we saw any person in the dark, we should assuredly shoot him. The constable, with much humility, agreed to the propriety of this consequence & promised us that no one should stir out of his house during the night.