Read Ebook: Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746 by Byron John

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That common people in general are addicted to superstitious conceits, is an observation founded on experience; and the reason is evident: but I cannot allow that common seamen are more so than others of the lower class. In the most enlightened ages of antiquity, we find it to have been the popular opinion, that the spirits of the dead were not at rest till their bodies were interred; and that they did not cease to haunt and trouble those who had neglected this duty to the departed. This is still believed by the vulgar, in most countries; and in our men, this persuasion was much heightened by the melancholy condition they were reduced to; and was farther confirmed by an occurrence which happened some little time before we went upon our last expedition. One night we were alarmed with a strange cry, which resembled that of a man drowning. Many of us ran out of our huts towards the place from whence the noise proceeded, which was not far off shore; where we could perceive, but not distinctly , an appearance like that of a man swimming half out of water. The noise that this creature uttered was so unlike that of any animal they had heard before, that it made a great impression upon the men; and they frequently recalled this apparition at the time of their distresses, with reflections on the neglect of the office they were now fulfilling.

We were soon driven again to the greatest straits for want of something to subsist upon, by the extreme bad weather that now set in upon us. Wild celery was all we could procure, which raked our stomachs instead of assuaging our hunger. That dreadful and last resource of men, in not much worse circumstances than ours, of consigning one man to death for the support of the rest, began to be mentioned in whispers; and indeed there were some among us who, by eating what they found raw, were become little better than cannibals. But fortunately for us, and opportunely to prevent this horrid proceeding, Mr. Hamilton, at this time, found some rotten pieces of beef, cast up by the sea at some miles distance from the huts, which he, though a temptation which few would have resisted in parallel circumstances, scorned to conceal from the rest; but generously distributed among us.

A few days after, the mystery of the nailing up of the hut, and what had been doing by the Indians upon the island in our absence, was partly explained to us; for about the fifteenth day after our return, there came a party of Indians to the island in two canoes, who were not a little surprised to find us here again. Among these, was an Indian of the tribe of the Chonos, who live in the neighbourhood of Chiloe. He talked the Spanish language, but with that savage accent which renders it almost unintelligible to any but those who are adepts in that language. He was likewise a cacique, or leading man of his tribe; which authority was confirmed to him by the Spaniards; for he carried the usual badge and mark of distinction by which the Spaniards, and their dependents, hold their military and civil employments, which is a stick with a silver head. These badges, of which the Indians are very vain, at once serve to retain the cacique in the strongest attachment to the Spanish government, and give him greater weight with his own dependents: yet, withal, he is the merest slave, and has not one thing he can call his own. This report of our shipwreck having reached the Chonos, by means of the intermediate tribes, which handed it to one another, from those Indians who first visited us; this cacique was either sent to learn the truth of the rumour, or having first got the intelligence, set out with a view of making some advantage of the wreck, and appropriating such iron-work as he could gather from it to his own use: for that metal is become very valuable to those savages, since their commerce with the Spaniards has taught them to apply it to several purposes. But as the secreting any thing from a rapacious Spanish rey, or governor , by any of their Indian dependents, is a very dangerous offence, he was careful to conceal the little prize he had made, till he could conveniently carry it away; for in order to make friends of these savages, we had left their hoard untouched.

Our surgeon, Mr. Elliot, being master of a few Spanish words, made himself so far understood by the cacique as to let him know, that our intention was to reach some of the Spanish settlements, if we could; that we were unacquainted with the best and safest way, and what tract was most likely to afford us subsistence in our journey; promising, if he would undertake to conduct us in the barge, he should have it, and every thing in it, for his trouble, as soon as it had served our present occasions. To these conditions the cacique, after much persuasion, at length agreed. Accordingly, having made the best preparation we could, we embarked on board the barge to the number of fifteen, including the cacique, whose name was Martin, and his servant Emanuel. We were, indeed, sixteen, when we returned from our last fruitless attempt to get off the island; but we had buried two since that, who perished with hunger; and a marine, having committed theft, run away to avoid the punishment his crime deserved, and hid himself in the woods; since which he was never heard of. We now put off, accompanied with the two Indian canoes; in one of which was a savage, with his two wives, who had an air of dignity superior to the rest, and was handsome in his person. He had his hut, during his stay with us, separate from the other Indians, who seemed to pay him extraordinary respect; but in two or three nights, these Indians, being independent of the Spaniards, and living somewhere to the southward of our Chono guide, left us to proceed on our journey by ourselves.

The first night we lay at an island destitute of all refreshment; where having found some shelter for our boat, and made ourselves a fire, we slept by it. The next night we were more unfortunate, though our wants were increasing; for having run to the westward of Montross island, we found no shelter for the barge; but were under the necessity of lying upon our oars, suffering the most extreme pangs of hunger. The next day brought us to the bottom of a great bay, where the Indian guide had left his family, a wife and two children, in a hut. Here we staid two or three days, during which we were constantly employed in ranging along shore in quest of shell-fish.

We now again proceeded on our voyage, having received on board the family of our guide, who conducted us to a river, the stream of which was so rapid, that after our utmost efforts from morning to evening, we gained little upon the current, and at last were obliged to desist from our attempt and return. I had hitherto steered the boat; but one of our men sinking under the fatigue, expired soon after, which obliged me to take the oar in his room, and row against this heart-breaking stream. Whilst I was thus employed, one of our men whose name was John Bosman, though hitherto the stoutest man among us, fell from his seat under the thwarts, complaining that his strength was quite exhausted for want of food, and that he should die very shortly. As he lay in this condition, he would every now and then break out in the most pathetic wishes for some little sustenance; that two or three mouthfuls might be the means of saving his life. The Captain, at this time, had a large piece of boiled seal by him, and was the only one that was provided with any thing like a meal; but we were become so hardened against the impressions of others' sufferings by our own; so familiarized to scenes of this, and every other kind of misery; that the poor man's dying entreaties were vain. I sat next to him when he dropped, and having a few dried shell-fish in my pocket, from time to time put one in his mouth, which served only to prolong his pains; from which, however, soon after my little supply failed, he was released by death. For this, and another man I mentioned a little before to have expired under the like circumstances, when we returned from this unsuccessful enterprise, we made a grave in the sands.

It would have redounded greatly to the tenderness and humanity of Captain Cheap, if at this time he had remitted somewhat of that attention he shewed to self-preservation; which is hardly allowable but where the consequence of relieving others must be immediately and manifestly fatal to ourselves; but I would venture to affirm, that in these last affecting exigencies, as well as some others, a sparing perhaps adequate to the emergency, might have been admitted consistently with a due regard to his own necessities. The Captain had better opportunities for recruiting his stock than any of us; for his rank was considered by the Indian as a reason for supplying him when he would not find a bit for us. Upon the evening of the day in which these disasters happened, the Captain producing a large piece of boiled seal, suffered no one to partake with him but the surgeon, who was the only man in favour at this time. We did not expect, indeed, any relief from him in our present condition; for we had a few small muscles and herbs to eat; but the men could not help expressing the greatest indignation at his neglect of the deceased; saying that he deserved to be deserted by the rest for his savage behaviour.

The endeavouring to pass up this river was for us, who had so long struggled with hunger, a most unseasonable attempt; by which we were harassed to a degree that threatened to be fatal to more of us; but our guide, without any respect to the condition our hardships had reduced us to, was very solicitous for us to go that way, which possibly he had gone before in light canoes; but for such a boat as ours was impracticable. We conceived, therefore, at that time, that this was some short cut, which was to bring us forward in our voyage; but we had reason to think afterwards, that the greater probability there was of his getting the barge, which was the wages of his undertaking, safe to his settlement by this, rather than another course, was his motive for preferring it to the way we took afterwards, where there was a carrying place of considerable length, over which it would have been impossible to have carried our boat.

The country hereabouts wears the most uncouth, desolate, and rugged aspect imaginable; it is so circumstanced, as to discourage the most sanguine adventurers from attempts to settle it: were it for no other reason than the constant heavy rains, or rather torrents, which pour down here, and the vast sea and surf which the prevailing westerly winds impel upon this coast, it must be rendered inhospitable. All entrance into the woods is not only extremely difficult, but hazardous; not from any assaults you are likely to meet with from wild beasts; for even these could hardly find convenient harbour here; but from the deep swamp, which is the reigning soil of this country, and in which the woods may be said rather to float than grow; so that, except upon a range of deformed broken rocks which form the sea-coast, the traveller cannot find sound footing any where. With this unpromising scene before us we were now setting out in search of food, which nothing but the most pressing instances of hunger could induce us to do: we had, indeed, the young Indian servant to our cacique for our conductor, who was left by him to shew us where the shell-fish was most plenty. The cacique was gone with the rest of his family, in the canoe, with a view of getting some seal, upon a trip which would detain him from us three or four days.

After searching the coast some time with very little success, we began to think of returning to the barge; but six of the men, with the Indian, having advanced some few paces before the officers, got into the boat first; which they had no sooner done than they put off, and left us, to return no more. And now all the difficulties we had hitherto endured, seemed light in comparison of what we expected to suffer from this treachery of our men, who, with the boat, had taken away every thing that might be the means of preserving our lives. The little clothes we had saved from the wreck, our muskets and ammunition were gone, except a little powder, which must be preserved for kindling fires, and one gun, which I had, and was now become useless for want of ammunition; and all these wants were now come upon us at a time when we could not be worse situated for supplying them. Yet under these dismal and forlorn appearances was our delivery now preparing; and from these hopeless circumstances were we to draw hereafter an instance scarce to be paralleled, of the unsearchable ways of Providence. It was at that time little suspected by us, that the barge, in which we founded all our hopes of escaping from this savage coast, would certainly have proved the fatal cause of detaining us till we were consumed by the labour and hardships requisite to row her round the capes and great headlands; for it was impossible to carry her by land, as we did the boats of the Indians. At present, no condition could be worse that we thought ours to be: there ran at this time a very high sea, which breaking with great fury upon this coast, made it very improbable that sustenance in any proportion to our wants could be found upon it; yet, unpromising as this prospect was, and though little succour could be expected from this quarter, I could not help, as I strolled along shore from the rest, casting my eyes towards the sea. Continuing thus to look out, I thought I saw something now and then upon the top of a sea that looked black, which upon observing still more intently, I imagined at last to be a canoe; but reflecting afterwards how unusual it was for Indians to venture out in so mountainous a sea, and at such a distance from the land, I concluded myself to be deceived. However, its nearer approach convinced me, beyond all doubt, of its being a canoe; but that it could not put in any where hereabouts, but intended for some other part of the coast. I ran back as fast as I could to my companions, and acquainted them with what I had seen. The despondency they were in would not allow them to give credit to it at first; but afterwards, being convinced that it was as I reported it, we were all in the greatest hurry to strip off some of our rags to make a signal withal, which we fixed upon a long pole. This had the desired effect: the people in the canoe seeing the signal, made towards the land at about two mile distance from us; for no boat could approach the land where we were: there they put into a small cove, sheltered by a large ledge of rocks without, which broke the violence of the sea. Captain Cheap and I walked along shore, and got to the cove about the time they landed. Here we found the persons arrived in this canoe, to be our Indian guide and his wife, who had left us some days before. He would have asked us many questions; but neither Captain Cheap nor I understanding Spanish at that time, we took him along with us to the surgeon, whom we had left so ill that he could hardly raise himself from the ground. When the Indian began to confer with the surgeon, the first question was, What was become of the barge and his companion? and as he could give him no satisfactory answer to this question, the Indian took it for granted that Emanuel was murdered by us, and that he and his family ran the same risk; upon which he was preparing to provide for his security, by leaving us directly. The surgeon seeing this, did all in his power to pacify him, and convince him of the unreasonableness of his apprehensions; which he at length found means to do, by assuring him that the Indian would come to no harm, but that he would soon see him return safe; which providentially, and beyond our expectation, happened accordingly; for in a few days after, Emanuel having contrived to make his escape from the people in the barge, returned by ways that were impassable to any creature but an Indian. All that we could learn from Emanuel relative to his escape was, that he took the first opportunity of leaving them; which was upon their putting into a bay somewhere to the westward.

We had but one gun among us, and that was a small fowling-piece of mine; no ammunition but a few charges of powder I had about me; and as the Indian was very desirous of returning to the place where he had left his wife and canoe, Captain Cheap desired I would go with him and watch over him all night, to prevent his getting away. Accordingly I set out with him; and when he and his family betook themselves to rest in the little wigwam they had made for that purpose, I kept my station as centinel over them all night.

The next morning Captain Cheap, Mr. Hamilton, and the surgeon, joined us: the latter, by illness, being reduced to the most feeble condition, was supported by Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Campbell. After holding some little consultation together, as to the best manner of proceeding in our journey, it was agreed, that the Indian should haul his canoe, with our assistance, over land, quite across the island we were then upon, and put her into a bay on the other side, from whence he was to go in quest of some other Indians, by whom he expected to be joined; but as his canoe was too small to carry more than three or four persons, he thought it advisable to take only Captain Cheap and myself with him, and to leave his wife and children as pledges with our companions till his return.

As it was matter of uncertainty whether we should ever recover the barge or not, which was stipulated, on our side, to become the property of the cacique, upon his fulfilling his engagements with us; the inducements we now made use of to prevail upon him to proceed with us in our journey were, that he should have my fowling-piece, some little matters in the possession of Captain Cheap, and that we would use our interest to procure him some small pecuniary reward.

We were now to set off in the canoe, in which I was to assist him in rowing. Accordingly, putting from this island, we rowed hard all this day and the next, without any thing to eat but a scrap of seal, a very small portion of which fell to my share. About two hours after the close of the day, we put ashore, where we discovered six or seven wigwams. For my part, my strength was so exhausted with fatigue and hunger, that it would have been impossible for me to have held out another day at this toilsome work. As soon as we landed, the Indian conducted Captain Cheap with him into a wigwam; but I was left to shift for myself.

Thus left, I was for some time at a loss what I had best do; for knowing that in the variety of dispositions observable among the Indians, the surly and savage temper is the most prevalent, I had good reason to conclude, that if I obtruded myself upon them, my reception would be but indifferent. Necessity, however, put me upon the risk; I accordingly pushed into the next wigwam upon my hands and knees; for the entrance into these kind of buildings is too low to admit of any other manner of getting into them. To give a short description of these temporary houses, called wigwams, may not be improper here, for the satisfaction of those who never saw any; especially as they differ somewhat from those of North America, which are more generally known from the numerous accounts of that country.

When the Indians of this part of the world have occasion to stop any where in their rambles, if it be only for a night or two, the men, who take this business upon them, while the women are employed in much more laborious offices, such as diving in the sea for sea-eggs, and searching the rocks for shell-fish, getting fuel, &c., repair to the woods, and cutting a sufficient number of tall, strait branches, fix them in an irregular kind of circle, of uncertain dimensions; which having done, they bend the extremities of these branches so as to meet in a centre at top, where they bind them by a kind of woodbine, called supple-jack, which they split by holding it in their teeth. This frame, or skeleton of a hut, is made tight against the weather with a covering of boughs and bark; but as the bark is not got without some trouble, they generally take it with them when they remove, putting it at the bottom of their canoes: the rest of the wigwam they leave standing. The fire is made in the middle of the wigwam, round which they sit upon boughs; and as there is no vent for the smoke, besides the door-way, which is very low, except through some crevices, which cannot easily be stopped, they are not a little incommoded on that account; and the eyes of some of them are much affected by it.

But to return: in this wigwam, into which I took the liberty to introduce myself, I found only two women, who, upon first seeing a figure they were not accustomed to, and such a figure too as I then made, were struck with astonishment. They were sitting by a fire, to which I approached without any apology. However inclined I might have been to make one, my ignorance of their language made it impossible to attempt it. One of these women appeared to be young, and very handsome for an Indian; the other old, and as frightful as it is possible to conceive any thing in human shape to be. Having stared at me some little time, they both went out; and I, without any farther ceremony, sat me down by the fire to warm myself, and dry the rags I wore. Yet I cannot say my situation was very easy, as I expected every instant to see two or three men come in and thrust me out, if they did not deal with me in a rougher manner.

Soon after the two women came in again, having, as I supposed, conferred with the Indian, our conductor; and appearing to be in great good-humour, began to chatter and laugh immoderately. Perceiving the wet and cold condition I was in, they seemed to have compassion on me, and the old woman went out and brought some wood, with which she made a good fire; but my hunger being impatient, I could not forbear expressing my desire that they would extend their hospitality a little further, and bring me something to eat. They soon comprehended my meaning, and the younger beginning to rummage under some pieces of bark that lay in the corner of the wigwam, produced a fine large fish: this they presently put upon the fire to broil; and when it was just warm through, they made a sign for me to eat. They had no need to repeat the invitation; I fell to, and dispatched it in so short a time, that I was in hopes they would comprehend, without further tokens, that I was ready for another; but it was of no consequence, for their stock of eatables was entirely exhausted.

After sitting some time in conference together, in which conversation I could bear no part, the women made some signs to me to lay down and go to sleep, first having strewed some dry boughs upon the ground. I laid myself down, and soon fell fast asleep; and about three or four hours after awaking, I found myself covered with a bit of blanket, made of the down of birds, which the women usually wear about their waist. The young woman, who had carefully covered me, whilst sleeping, with her own blanket, was lying close by me: the old woman lay on the other side of her. The fire was low, and almost burnt out; but as soon as they found me awake they renewed it, by putting on more fuel. What I had hitherto eat served only to sharpen my appetite; I could not help, therefore, being earnest with them to get me some more victuals. Having understood my necessities, they talked together some little time; after which getting up, they both went out, taking with them a couple of dogs, which they train to assist them in fishing. After an hour's absence, they came in trembling with cold, and their hair streaming with water, and brought two fish; which having broiled, they gave me the largest share; and then we all laid down as before to rest.

In the morning my curiosity led me to visit the neighbouring wigwams, in which were only one or two men; the rest of the inhabitants were all women and children. I then proceeded to enquire after Captain Cheap and our Indian guide, whom I found in the wigwam they at first occupied: the authority of the cacique had procured the Captain no despicable entertainment. We could not learn what business the men, whose wives and children were here left behind, were gone out upon; but as they seldom or never go upon fishing-parties without their wives, who take the most laborious part of this pursuit upon themselves, it is probable they were gone upon some warlike expedition, in which they use bows and arrows sometimes, but always the lance. This weapon they throw with great dexterity and force, and never stir abroad without it. About this time their return was looked for; a hearing by no means pleasant to me; I was, therefore, determined to enjoy myself as long as they were absent, and make the most of the good fare I was possessed of; to the pleasure of which I thought a little cleanliness might in some measure contribute; I therefore went to a brook, and taking off my shirt, which might be said to be alive with vermin, set myself about to wash it; which having done as well as I could, and hung on a bush to dry, I heard a bustle about the wigwams; and soon perceived that the women were preparing to depart, having stripped their wigwams of their bark covering, and carried it into their canoes. Putting on, therefore, my shirt just as it was, I hastened to join them, having a great desire of being present at one of their fishing parties.

It was my lot to be put into the canoe with my two patronesses, and some others who assisted in rowing; we were in all four canoes. After rowing some time, they gained such an offing as they required, where the water here was about eight or ten fathom deep, and there lay upon their oars. And now the youngest of the two women, taking a basket in her mouth, jumped overboard, and diving to the bottom, continued under water an amazing time: when she had filled the basket with sea-eggs, she came up to the boat-side; and delivering it so filled to the other women in the boat, they took out the contents, and returned it to her. The diver, then, after having taken a short time to breathe, went down and up again with the same success; and so several times for the space of half an hour. It seems as if Providence had endued this people with a kind of amphibious nature, as the sea is the only source from whence almost all their subsistence is derived. This element too, being here very boisterous, and falling with a most heavy surf upon a rugged coast, very little, except some seal, is to be got any where but in the quiet bosom of the deep. What occasions this reflection is the early propensity I had so frequently observed in the children of these savages to this occupation; who, even at the age of three years, might be seen crawling upon their hands and knees among the rocks and breakers; from which they would tumble themselves into the sea without regard to the cold, which is here often intense; and showing no fear of the noise and roaring of the surf.

This sea-egg is a shell-fish, from which several prickles project in all directions, by means whereof it removes itself from place to place. In it are found four or five yolks, resembling the inner divisions of an orange, which are of a very nutritive quality, and excellent flavour.

The water was at this time extremely cold; and when the divers got into the boats, they seemed greatly benumbed; and it is usual with them after this exercise, if they are near enough their wigwams, to run to the fire; to which presenting one side, they rub and chafe it for some time; then turning the other, use it in the same manner, till the circulation of the blood is restored. This practice, if it has no worse effect, must occasion their being more susceptible of the impressions of cold, than if they waited the gradual advances of their natural warmth in the open air. I leave it to the decision of the gentlemen of the faculty, whether this too hasty approach to the fire may not subject them to a disorder I observed among them, called the elephantiasis, or swelling of the legs.

The divers having returned to their boats, we continued to row till towards evening, when we landed upon a low point. As soon as the canoes were hauled up, they employed themselves in erecting their wigwams, which they dispatch with great address and quickness. I still enjoyed the protection of my two good Indian women, who made me their guest here as before; they first regaled me with sea-eggs, and then went out upon another kind of fishery by the means of dogs and nets. These dogs are a cur-like looking animal, but very sagacious, and easily trained to this business. Though in appearance an uncomfortable sort of sport, yet they engage in it readily, seem to enjoy it much, and express their eagerness by barking every time they raise their heads above the water to breathe. The net is held by two Indians, who get into the water; then the dogs, taking a large compass, dive after the fish, and drive them into the net; but it is only in particular places that the fish are taken in this manner. At the close of the evening, the women brought in two fish, which served us for supper; and then we reposed ourselves as before. Here we remained all the next day; and the morning after embarked again, and rowed till noon; then landing, we descried the canoes of the Indian men, who had been some time expected from an expedition they had been upon. This was soon to make a great alteration in the situation of my affairs, a presage of which I could read in the melancholy countenance of my young hostess. She endeavoured to express herself in very earnest terms to me; but I had not yet acquired a competent knowledge of the Indian language to understand her.

As soon as the men were landed, she and the old Indian woman went up, not without some marks of dread upon them, to an elderly Indian man, whose remarkable surly and stern countenance was well calculated to raise such sensations in his dependents. He seemed to be a cacique, or chief man among them, by the airs of importance he assumed to himself, and the deference paid him by the rest. After some little conference passed between these Indians, and our cacique conductor, of which, most probably, the circumstances of our history, and the occasion of our coming here, might be the chief subject, for they fixed their eyes constantly upon us, they applied themselves to building their wigwams. I now understood that the two Indian women with whom I had sojourned, were wives to this chieftain, though one was young enough to be his daughter; and as far as I could learn, did really stand in the different relations to him both of daughter and wife. It was easy to be perceived that all did not go well between them at this time: either that he was not satisfied with the answers that they returned him to his questions, or that he suspected some misconduct on their side; for presently after, breaking out into savage fury, he took the young one up in his arms, and threw her with violence against the stones; but his brutal resentment did not stop here, he beat her afterwards in a cruel manner. I could not see this treatment of my benefactress without the highest concern for her, and rage against the author of it; especially as the natural jealousy of these people gave occasion to think that it was on my account she suffered. I could hardly suppress the first emotions of my resentment, which prompted me to return him his barbarity in his own kind; but besides that this might have drawn upon her fresh marks of his severity, it was neither politic, nor indeed in my power, to have done it to any good purpose at this time.

Our cacique now made us understand that we must embark directly, in the same canoe which brought us, and return to our companions; and that the Indians we were about to leave, would join us in a few days, when we should all set out in a body, in order to proceed to the northward. In our way back, nothing very material happened; but upon our arrival, which was the next day, we found Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, in a very bad way; his illness had been continually increasing since we left him. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Campbell were almost starved, having fared very ill since we left them: a few sea-eggs were all the subsistence they had lived upon; and these procured by the cacique's wife, in the manner I mentioned before. This woman was the very reverse of my hostess; and as she found her husband was of so much consequence to us, took upon her with much haughtiness, and treated us as dependents and slaves. He was not more engaging in his carriage towards us; he would give no part of what he had to spare to any but Captain Cheap, whom his interest led him to prefer to the rest, though our wants were often greater. The captain, on his part, contributed to keep us in this abject situation, by approving this distinction the cacique showed to him. Had he treated us with not quite so much distance, the cacique might have been more regardful of our wants. The little regard and attention which our necessitous condition drew from Captain Cheap, may be imputed likewise, in some measure, to the effects of a mind soured by a series of crosses and disappointments; which, indeed, had operated on us all to a great neglect of each other, and sometimes of ourselves.

We were not suffered to be in the same wigwam with the cacique and his wife; which, if we had had any countenance from Captain Cheap, would not have been refused. What we had made for ourselves was in such a bungling manner, that it scarce deserved the name even of this wretched sort of habitation. But our untoward circumstances now found some relief in the arrival of the Indians we waited for; who brought with them some seal, a small portion of which fell to our share. A night or two after they sent out some of their young men, who procured us a quantity of a very delicate kind of birds, called shags and cormorants. Their manner of taking these birds resembles something a sport called bat fowling. They find out their haunts among the rocks and cliffs in the night, when taking with them torches made of the bark of the birch tree, which is common here, and grows to a very large size, they bring the boat's side as near as possible to the rocks, under the roosting-places of these birds; then waving their lights backwards and forwards, the birds are dazzled and confounded so as to fall into the canoe, where they are instantly knocked on the head with a short stick the Indians take with them for that purpose.

Seals are taken in some less frequented parts of these coasts, with great ease; but when their haunts have been two or three times disturbed, they soon learn to provide for their safety, by repairing to the water upon the first alarm. This is the case with them hereabouts; but as they frequently raise their heads above water, either to breathe or look about them, I have seen an Indian at this interval, throw his lance with such dexterity as to strike the animal through both its eyes, at a great distance; and it is very seldom that they miss their aim.

As we were wholly unacquainted with these methods of providing food for ourselves, and were without arms and ammunition, we were driven to the utmost straits; and found ourselves rather in worse condition than we had been at any time before. For the Indians having now nothing to fear from us, we found we had nothing to expect from them upon any other motive. Accordingly, if ever they did relieve us, it was through caprice; for at most times they would shew themselves unconcerned at our greatest distresses. But the good Indian women, whose friendship I had experienced before, continued, from time to time, their good offices to me. Though I was not suffered to enter their wigwams, they would find opportunities of throwing in my way such scraps as they could secrete from their husbands. The obligation I was under to them on this account was great, as the hazard they ran in conferring these favours was little less than death. The men, unrestrained by any laws or ties of conscience, in the management of their own families, exercise a most despotic authority over their wives, whom they consider in the same view as any other part of their property, and dispose of them accordingly: even their common treatment of them is cruel; for though the toil and hazard of procuring food lies entirely upon the women, yet they are not suffered to touch any part of it till the husband is satisfied; and then he assigns them their portion, which is generally very scanty, and such as he has not a stomach for himself. This arbitrary proceeding, with respect to their own families, is not peculiar to this people only. I have had occasion to observe it in more instances than this I have mentioned, among many other nations of savages I have since seen.

These Indians are of a middling stature, well set, and very active; and make their way among the rocks with an amazing agility. Their feet, by this kind of exercise, contract a callosity which renders the use of shoes quite unnecessary to them. But before I conclude the few observations I have to make on a people so confined in all their notions and habits, it may be expected I should say something of their religion; but as their gross ignorance is in nothing more conspicuous, and as we found it advisable to keep out of their way when the fits of devotion came upon them, which is rather frantic than religious, the reader can expect very little satisfaction on this head. Accident has sometimes made me unavoidably a spectator of scenes I should have chosen to have withdrawn myself from; and so far I am instructed. As there are no fixed seasons for their religious exercises, the younger people wait till the elders find themselves devoutly disposed; who begin the ceremony by several deep and dismal groans, which rise gradually to a hideous kind of singing, from which they proceed to enthusiasm, and work themselves into a disposition that borders on madness; for suddenly jumping up, they snatch firebrands from the fire, put them in their mouths, and run about burning every body they come near: at other times, it is a custom with them to wound one another with sharp muscle-shells till they are besmeared with blood. These orgies continue till those who preside in them foam at the mouth, grow faint, are exhausted with fatigue, and dissolve in a profusion of sweat. When the men drop their part in this frenzy, the women take it up, acting over again much the same kind of wild scene, except that they rather outdo the men in shrieks and noise. Our cacique, who had been reclaimed from these abominations by the Spaniards, and just knew the exterior form of crossing himself, pretended to be much offended at these profane ceremonies, and that he would have died sooner than have partaken of them. Among other expressions of disapprobation, he declared that whilst the savages solemnized these horrid rites, he never failed to hear strange and uncommon noises in the woods, and to see frightful visions; and assured us, that the devil was the chief actor among them upon these occasions.

It might be about the middle of March, that we embarked with these Indians. They separated our little company entirely, not putting any two of us together in the same canoe. The oar was my lot, as usual, as also Mr. Campbell's; Mr. Hamilton could not row, and Captain Cheap was out of the question; our surgeon was more dead than alive at the time, and lay at the bottom of the canoe he was in. The weather coming on too bad for their canoes to keep the sea, we landed again, without making great progress that day. Here Mr. Elliot, our surgeon, died. At our first setting out, he promised the fairest for holding out, being a very strong, active young man: he had gone through an infinite deal of fatigue, as Mr. Hamilton and he were the best shots amongst us, and whilst our ammunition lasted never spared themselves, and in a great measure provided for the rest; but he died the death many others had done before him, being quite starved. We scraped a hole for him in the sand, and buried him in the best manner we could. Here I must relate a little anecdote of our Christian cacique. He and his wife had gone off, at some distance from the shore, in their canoe, when she dived for sea-eggs; but not meeting with great success, they returned a good deal out of humour. A little boy of theirs, about three years old, whom they appeared to be dotingly fond of, watching for his father and mother's return, ran into the surf to meet them: the father handed a basket of sea-eggs to the child, which being too heavy for him to carry, he let it fall; upon which the father jumped out of the canoe, and catching the boy up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost violence against the stones. The poor little creature lay motionless and bleeding, and in that condition was taken up by the mother; but died soon after. She appeared inconsolable for some time; but the brute his father shewed little concern about it. A day or two after we put to sea again, and crossed the great bay I mentioned we had been to the bottom of, when we first hauled away to the westward. The land here was very low and sandy, with something like the mouth of a river which discharged itself into the sea; and which had been taken no notice of by us before, as it was so shallow that the Indians were obliged to take every thing out of their canoes, and carry it over the neck of land, and then haul the boats over into a river, which at this part of it was very broad, more resembling a lake than a river. We rowed up it for four or five leagues, and then took into a branch of it, that ran first to the eastward, and then to the northward: here it became much narrower, and the stream excessively rapid, so that we made but little way, though we worked very hard. At night we landed upon its banks, and had a most uncomfortable lodging, it being a perfect swamp; and we had nothing to cover us, though it rained very hard. The Indians were little better off than we, as there was no wood here to make their wigwams; so that all they could do was to prop up the bark they carry in the bottom of their canoes with their oars, and shelter themselves as well as they could to leeward of it. They, knowing the difficulties that were to be encountered here, had provided themselves with some seal; but we had not the least morsel to eat, after the heavy fatigues of the day, excepting a sort of root we saw some of the Indians make use of, which was very disagreeable to the taste. We laboured all the next day against the stream, and fared as we had done the day before. The next day brought us to the carrying-place. Here was plenty of wood; but nothing to be got for sustenance. The first thing the Indians did was to take every thing out of their canoes; and after hauling them ashore, they made their wigwams. We passed this night, as generally we had done, under a tree; but what we suffered at this time is not easily to be expressed. I had been three days at the oar without any kind of nourishment, but the wretched root I mentioned before. I had no shirt, as mine was rotted off by bits, and we were devoured by vermin. All my clothes consisted of an old short grieko, which is something like a bearskin, with a piece of a waistcoat under it, which once had been of red cloth, both which I had on when I was cast away; I had a ragged pair of trowsers, without either shoe or stocking. The first thing the Indians did in the morning was to take their canoes to pieces: and here, for the information of the reader, it will be necessary to describe the structure of these boats, which are extremely well calculated for the use of these Indians, as they are frequently obliged to carry them over land a long way together, through thick woods, to avoid doubling capes and headlands in seas where no open boat could live. They generally consist of five pieces, or planks; one for the bottom, and two for each side; and as these people have no iron tools, the labour must be great in hacking a single plank out of a large tree with shells and flints, though with the help of fire. Along the edges of the plank they make small holes, at about an inch from one to the other, and sew them together with the supple-jack, or woodbine; but as these holes are not filled up by the substance of the woodbine, their boats would be immediately full of water if they had not a method of preventing it. They do this very effectually by the bark of a tree, which they first steep in water for some time, and then beat it between two stones till it answers the use of oakum, and then chinse each hole so well, that they do not admit of the least water coming through, and are easily taken asunder and put together again. When they have occasion to go over land, as at this time, each man or woman carries a plank; whereas it would be impossible for them to drag a heavy boat entire. Every body had something to carry except Captain Cheap; and he was obliged to be assisted, or never would have got over this march; for a worse than this, I believe, never was made. He, with the others, set out some time before me. I waited for two Indians, who belonged to the canoe I came in; and who remained to carry over the last of the things from the side we were on. I had a piece of wet heavy canvas, which belonged to Captain Cheap, with a bit of stinking seal wrapped in it to carry upon my head, which was a sufficient weight for a strong man in health, through such roads, and a grievous burthen to one in my condition. Our way was through a thick wood, the bottom of which was a mere quagmire, most part of it up to our knees, and often to our middle; and every now and then we had a large tree to get over, for they often lay directly in our road. Besides this, we were continually treading upon the stumps of trees, which were not to be avoided, as they were covered with water; and having neither shoe nor stocking, my feet and legs were frequently torn and wounded. Before I had got half a mile, the two Indians had left me; and making the best of my way, lest they should be all gone before I got to the other side, I fell off a tree that crossed the road, into a very deep swamp, where I very narrowly escaped drowning, by the weight of the burthen I had on my head. It was a long while before I could extricate myself from this difficulty; and when I did my strength was quite exhausted. I sat down under a tree, and there gave way to melancholy reflections. However, as I was sensible these reflections would answer no end, they did not last long. I got up, and marking a great tree, I there deposited my load, not being able to carry it any farther, and set out to join my company. It was some hours before I reached my companions. I found them sitting under a tree, and sat myself down by them without speaking a word; nor did they speak to me, as I remember, for some time; when Captain Cheap, breaking silence, began to ask after the seal and piece of canvas. I told him the disaster I had met with, which he might have easily guessed by the condition the rags I had on were in, as well as having my feet and ancles cut to pieces: but instead of compassion for my sufferings, I heard nothing but grumbling from every one, for the irreparable loss they had sustained by me. I made no answer; but after resting myself a little, I got up and struck into the wood, and walked back at least five miles to the tree I had marked, and returned just time enough to deliver it before my companions embarked, with the Indians, upon a great lake, the opposite part of which seemed to wash the foot of the Cordilleras. I wanted to embark with them; but was given to understand I was to wait for some other Indians that were to follow them. I knew not where these Indians were to come from: I was left alone upon the beach, and night was at hand. They left me not even a morsel of the stinking seal that I had suffered so much about. I kept my eyes upon the boats as long as I could distinguish them; and then returned into the wood, and sat myself down upon the root of a tree, having eat nothing the whole day but the stem of a plant which resembles that of an artichoke, which is of a juicy consistence, and acid taste. Quite worn out with fatigue, I soon fell asleep; and awaking before day, I thought I heard some voices at no great distance from me. As the day appeared, looking further into the wood, I perceived a wigwam, and immediately made towards it; but the reception I met with was not at all agreeable; for stooping to get into it, I presently received two or three kicks in my face, and at the same time heard the sound of voices seemingly in anger; which made me retire, and wait at the foot of a tree, where I remained till an old woman peeped out, and made signs to me to draw near. I obeyed very readily, and went into the wigwam: in it were three men and two women; one young man seemed to have great respect shewn to him by the rest, though he was the most miserable object I ever saw. He was a perfect skeleton, and covered with sores from head to foot. I was happy to sit a moment by their fire, as I was quite benumbed with cold. The old woman took out a piece of seal, holding one part of it between her feet, and the other end in her teeth, and then cut off some thin slices with a sharp shell, and distributed them about to the other Indians. She then put a bit on the fire, taking a piece of fat in her mouth, which she kept chewing, every now and then spirting some of it on the piece that was warming upon the fire; for they never do more with it than warm it through. When it was ready, she gave me a little bit, which I swallowed whole, being almost starved. As these Indians were all strangers to me, I did not know which way they were going; and indeed it was now become quite indifferent to me which way I went, whether to the northward or southward, so that they would but take me with them, and give me something to eat. However, to make them comprehend me, I pointed first to the southward, and after to the lake, and I soon understood they were going to the northward. They all went out together, excepting the sick Indian, and took up the plank of the canoe, which lay near the wigwam, and carried it to the beach, and presently put it together; and getting every thing into it, they put me to the oar. We rowed across the lake to the mouth of a very rapid river, where we put ashore for that night, not daring to get any way down in the dark; as it required the greatest skill, even in the day, to avoid running foul of the stumps and roots of trees, of which this river was full. I passed a melancholy night, as they would not suffer me to come near the wigwam they had made; nor did they give me the least bit of any one thing to eat since we embarked. In the morning we set off again. The weather proved extremely bad the whole day. We went down the river at an amazing rate; and just before night they put ashore upon a stony beach. They hauled the canoe up, and all disappeared in a moment, and I was left quite alone: it rained violently, and was very dark. I thought it was as well to lay down upon the beach, half side in water, as to get into a swamp under a dropping tree. In this dismal situation I fell asleep, and awaked three or four hours after in such agonies with the cramp, that I thought I must die upon the spot. I attempted several times to raise myself upon my legs, but could not. At last I made shift to get upon my knees, and looking towards the wood I saw a great fire at some distance from me. I was a long time crawling to it; and when I reached it, I threw myself almost into it, in hopes of finding some relief from the pain I suffered. This intrusion gave great offence to the Indians, who immediately got up, kicking and beating me till they drove me some distance from it; however I contrived a little after to place myself so as to receive some warmth from it, by which I got rid of the cramp. In the morning we left this place, and were soon after out of the river. Being now at sea again, the Indians intended putting ashore at the first convenient place, to look for shell-fish, their stock of provisions having been quite exhausted for some time. At low water we landed upon a spot that seemed to promise well; and here we found plenty of limpets. Though at this time starving, I did not attempt to eat one, lest I should lose a moment in gathering them; not knowing how soon the Indians might be going again. I had almost filled my hat when I saw them returning to the canoe. I made what haste I could to her; for I believe they would have made no conscience of leaving me behind. I sat down to my oar again, placing my hat close to me, every now and then eating a limpet. The Indians were employed the same way, when one of them, seeing me throw the shells overboard, spoke to the rest in a violent passion; and getting up, fell upon me, and seizing me by an old ragged handkerchief I had about my neck, almost throttled me; whilst another took me by the legs, and was going to throw me overboard, if the old woman had not prevented them. I was all this time entirely ignorant by what means I had given offence, till I observed that the Indians, after eating the limpets, carefully put the shells in a heap at the bottom of the canoe. I then concluded there was some superstition about throwing these shells into the sea, my ignorance of which had very nearly cost me my life. I was resolved to eat no more limpets till we landed, which we did some time after upon an island. I then took notice that the Indians brought all their shells ashore, and laid them above high water mark. Here, as I was going to eat a large bunch of berries I had gathered from a tree, for they looked very tempting, one of the Indians snatched them out of my hand and threw them away, making me to understand that they were poisonous. Thus, in all probability, did these people now save my life, who, a few hours before, were going to take it from me for throwing away a shell.

In two days after, I joined my companions again; but do not remember that there was the least joy shewn on either side at meeting. At this place was a very large canoe belonging to our guide, which would have required at least six men to the oar to have made any kind of expedition: instead of that, there was only Campbell and myself, besides the Indian, his companion, or servant, to row, the cacique himself never touching an oar, but sitting with his wife all the time much at his ease. Mr. Hamilton continued in the same canoe he had been in all along, and which still was to keep us company some way further, though many of the others had left us. This was dreadful hard work to such poor starved wretches as we were, to be slaving at the oar all day long in such a heavy boat; and this inhuman fellow would never give us a scrap to eat, excepting when he took so much seal that he could not contrive to carry it all away with him, which happened very seldom. After working like galley-slaves all day, towards night, when we landed, instead of taking any rest, Mr. Campbell and I were sometimes obliged to go miles along shore to get a few shell-fish; and just as we had made a little fire in order to dress them, he has commanded us into the boat again, and kept us rowing the whole night without ever landing. It is impossible for me to describe the miserable state we were reduced to: our bodies were so emaciated, that we hardly appeared the figures of men. It has often happened to me in the coldest night, both in hail and snow, where we had nothing but an open beach to lie down upon, in order to procure a little rest, that I have been obliged to pull off the few rags I had on, as it was impossible to get a moment's sleep with them on for the vermin that swarmed about them; though I used, as often as I had time, to take my clothes off, and putting them upon a large stone, beat them with another, in hopes of killing hundreds at once; for it was endless work to pick them off. What we suffered from this, was ten times worse even than hunger. But we were clean in comparison to Captain Cheap; for I could compare his body to nothing but an ant-hill, with thousands of those insects crawling over it; for he was now past attempting to rid himself in the least from this torment, as he had quite lost himself, not recollecting our names that were about him, or even his own. His beard was as long as a hermit's: that and his face being covered with train-oil and dirt, from having long accustomed himself to sleep upon a bag, by the way of a pillow, in which he kept the pieces of stinking seal. This prudent method he took to prevent our getting at it whilst he slept. His legs were as big as mill-posts, though his body appeared nothing but skin and bone.

One day we fell in with about forty Indians, who came down to the beach we landed on, curiously painted. Our cacique seemed to understand but little of their language, and it sounded to us very different from what we had heard before. However, they made us comprehend that a ship had been upon the coast not far from where we then were, and that she had a red flag: this we understood some time after to have been the Anne pink, whose adventures are particularly related in Lord Anson's voyage; and we passed through the very harbour she had lain in.

As there was but one small canoe that intended to accompany us any longer, and that in which Mr. Hamilton had been to this time, intended to proceed no farther to the northward, our cacique proposed to him to come into our canoe, which he refused, as the insolence of this fellow was to him insupportable; he therefore rather chose to remain where he was, till chance should throw in his way some other means of getting forward: so here we left him; and it was some months before we saw him again.

We now got on, by very slow degrees, to the northward; and as the difficulties and hardships we daily went through would only be a repetition of those already mentioned, I shall say no more, but that at last we reached an island, about thirty leagues to the southward of Chiloe. Here we remained two days for a favourable opportunity to cross the bay, the very thoughts of which seemed to frighten our cacique out of his senses; and, indeed, there was great reason for his apprehensions; for there ran a most dreadful hollow sea, dangerous, indeed, for any open boat whatever, but a thousand times more for such a crazy vessel as we were in. He at length mustered up resolution enough to attempt it, first having crossed himself for an hour together, and made a kind of lug-sail out of the bits of blankets they wore about them, sewed together with split supple jacks. We then put off, and a terrible passage we had. The bottom plank of the canoe was split, which opened upon every sea; and the water continually rushing over the gunnel, I may say that we were in a manner full the whole way over, though all hands were employed in baling without ceasing a moment. As we drew near the shore, the cacique was eager to land, having been terrified to that degree with this run, that if it had not been for us, every soul must have perished; for he had very near got in amongst the breakers, where the sea drove with such violence upon the rocks, that not even an Indian could have escaped, especially as it was in the night. We kept off till we got into smooth water, and landed upon the island of Chiloe; though in a part of it that was not inhabited. Here we staid all the next day, in a very heavy snow, to recover ourselves a little after our fatigue; but the cold was so excessive, having neither shoe nor stocking, we thought we should have lost our feet; and Captain Cheap was so ill, that if he had had but a few leagues further to have gone without relief, he could not have held out. It pleased God now that our sufferings, in a great measure, were drawing to an end.

What things our cacique had brought with him from the wreck, he here buried under ground, in order to conceal them from the Spaniards, who would not have left him a rusty nail if they had known of it. Towards evening, we set off again; and about nine the same night, to our great joy, we observed something that had the appearance of a house. It belonged to an acquaintance of our cacique; and as he was possessed of my fowling-piece, and we had preserved about one charge of powder, he made us load it for him, and desired we would show him how to discharge it; upon which, standing up, and holding his head from it as far as possible, he fired, and fell back into the bottom of the canoe. The Indians belonging to the house, not in the least used to fire-arms, ran out and hid themselves in the woods. But after some time, one of them, bolder than the rest, got upon a hill, and hollowed to us, asking who and what we were. Our cacique now made himself known, and they presently came down to the boat, bringing with them some fish, and plenty of potatoes. This was the most comfortable meal we had made for many long months; and as soon as this was over, we rowed about two miles farther to a little village, where we landed. Here our cacique presently awoke all the inhabitants by the noise he made, and obliged one of them to open his door to us, and immediately to make a large fire; for the weather was very severe, this being the month of June, the depth of winter in this part of the world. The Indians now flocked thick about us, and seemed to have great compassion for us, as our cacique related to them what part he knew of our history. They knew not what countrymen we were, nor could our guide inform them; for he had often asked us if we were French, Dutch, or English, the only nations he had ever heard of besides the Spaniards. We always answered we were from Grande Bretagne, which he could make nothing of; for we were afraid, if he knew us to be English, as he had heard that nation was at war with the Spaniards, he never would have conducted us to Chiloe.

These good-natured compassionate creatures seemed to vie with each other who should take the most care of us. They made a bed of sheepskins close to the fire, for Captain Cheap, and laid him upon it; and indeed, had it not been for the kind assistance he now met with, he could not have survived three days longer. Though it was now about midnight, they went out and killed a sheep, of which they made broth, and baked a large cake of barley-meal. Any body may imagine what a treat this was to wretches who had not tasted a bit of bread, or any wholesome diet, for such a length of time. After we could eat no longer, we went to sleep about the fire, which the Indians took good care to keep up. In the morning, the women came from far and near, each bringing with her something. Almost every one had a pipkin in her hand, containing either fowls or mutton made into broth, potatoes, eggs, or other eatables. We fell to work as if we had eat nothing in the night, and employed ourselves so for the best part of the day. In the evening, the men filled our house, bringing with them some jars of a liquor they called chicha, made of barley-meal, and not very unlike our oat-ale in taste, which will intoxicate those who drink a sufficient quantity of it; for a little has no effect. As soon as the drink was out, a fresh supply of victuals was brought in; and in this manner we passed the whole time we remained with these hospitable Indians. They are a strong well-made people, extremely well featured, both men and women, and vastly neat in their persons. The men's dress is called by them a puncho, which is a square piece of cloth, generally in stripes of different colours, with a slit in the middle of it wide enough to let their heads through, so that it hangs on their shoulders, half of it falling before, and the other behind them: under this they wear a short kind of flannel shirt without sleeves or neck. They have wide-knee'd breeches, something like the Dutch seamen, and on their legs a sort of knit buskins without any feet to them; but never any shoes. Their hair is always combed very smooth, and tied very tight up in a great bunch close to the neck: some wear a very neat hat of their own making, and others go without. The women wear a shift like the men's shirts, without sleeves; and over it a square piece of cloth, which they fasten before with a large silver pin, and a petticoat of different stripes: they take as much care of their hair as the men; and both have always a kind of fillet bound very tight about the forehead, and made fast behind: in short, these people are as cleanly as the several savage nations we had met with before were beastly. Upon our first coming here, they had dispatched a messenger to the Spanish corregidore at Castro, a town a considerable distance from hence, to inform him of our arrival. At the end of three days, this man returned with an order to the chief caciques of these Indians we were amongst, to carry us directly to a certain place, where there would be a party of soldiers to receive us. These poor people now seemed to be under great concern for us, hearing by the messenger the preparations that were making to receive us; for they stand in vast dread of the Spanish soldiery. They were very desirous of knowing what countrymen we were. We told them we were English, and at that time at war with the Spaniards; upon which they appeared fonder of us than ever; and I verily believe, if they durst, would have concealed us amongst them, lest we should come to any harm. They are so far from being in the Spanish interest, that they detest the very name of a Spaniard. And, indeed, I am not surprised at it; for they are kept under such subjection, and such a laborious slavery, by mere dint of hard usage and punishments, that it appears to me the most absurd thing in the world, that the Spaniards should rely upon these people for assistance upon any emergency. We embarked in the evening, and it was night before we got to the place where we were to be delivered up to the Spanish guard. We were met by three or four officers, and a number of soldiers, all with their spados drawn, who surrounded us as if they had the most formidable enemy to take charge of, instead of three poor helpless wretches, who, notwithstanding the good living we had met with amongst these kind Indians, could hardly support ourselves. They carried us to the top of a hill, and there put us under a shed; for it consisted of a thatched roof, without any sides or walls, being quite open; and here we were to lay upon the cold ground. All sorts of people now came to stare at us as a sight; but the Indian women never came empty-handed; they always brought with them either fowls, mutton, or some kind of provision to us; so that we lived well enough. However, we found a very sensible difference between the treatment we had met with from the Indians, and what we now experienced from the Spaniards. With the former, we were quite at liberty to do as we pleased; but here, if we only went ten yards to attempt at getting rid of some of the vermin that devoured us, we had two soldiers, with drawn spados, to attend us. About the third day, a Jesuit from Castro came to see us; not from a motive of compassion, but from a report spread by our Indian cacique, that we had some things of great value about us. Having by chance seen Captain Cheap pull out a gold repeating watch, the first thing the good father did was to lug out of his pocket a bottle of brandy, and give us a dram, in order to open our hearts. He then came roundly to the point, asking us if we had saved no watches or rings. Captain Cheap declared he had nothing, never suspecting that the Indian had seen his watch, having, as he thought, always taken great care to conceal it from him; but knowing that Campbel had a silver watch, which had been the property of our surgeon, he desired him to make it a present to the jesuit, telling him, at the same time, that as these people had great power and authority, it might be of service to us hereafter. This Campbel very unwillingly did, and received from the father, not long after, a pitiful present, not a quarter part of the value of the rim of the watch. We understood afterwards, that this had come to the governor's ears, who was highly offended at it, as thinking that if any thing of that sort had been to be had, it was his due; and did not spare the jesuits in the least upon the occasion. Soon after this, the officer of the guard informed us there was an order come to carry us to Castro. In the evening, we were conducted to the water-side, and put into a large periago; and there were several more, to attend us, full of soldiers. About eight o'clock at night, we were off the town. The boats all laid upon their oars, and there was a great deal of ceremony used in hailing and asking for the keys, as if it had been a regular fortification. After some time, we landed; but could see neither gates nor walls, nor any thing that had the appearance of a garrison. As we walked up a steep hill into the town, the way was lined with men who had broomsticks upon their shoulders instead of muskets, and a lighted match in their hands. When we came to the corregidore's house, we found it full of people. He was an old man, very tall, with a long cloak on, a tie-wig without any curl, and a spado of immense length by his side. He received us in great state and form; but as we had no interpreter, we understood little or nothing of the questions he asked us. He ordered a table to be spread for us with cold ham and fowls; which we three only sat down to, and in a short time dispatched more than ten men with common appetites would have done. It is amazing, that our eating to that excess we had done, from the time we first got amongst these kind Indians, had not killed us; we were never satisfied, and used to take all opportunities, for some months after, of filling our pockets when we were not seen, that we might get up two or three times in the night to cram ourselves. Captain Cheap used to declare, that he was quite ashamed of himself. After supper, the corregidore carried us to the jesuits' college, attended by the soldiers, and all the rabble of the town. This was intended, at present, for our prison, till orders were received from the governor, who resided at Chaco, above thirty leagues from this place. When we got to the college, the corregidore desired the father provincial, as they styled him, or head of the jesuits here, to find out what religion we were of, or whether we had any or not. He then retired, the gates were shut, and we were conducted to a cell. We found in it something like beds spread on the floor, and an old ragged shirt a-piece, but clean, which was of infinite service to us; nor did eating at first give me half the satisfaction this treasure of an old shirt did. Though this college was large, there were but four jesuits in it, nor were there any more of that order upon the island. In the morning Captain Cheap was sent for by the father provincial: their conversation was carried on in Latin, perhaps not the best on either side; however, they made shift to understand one another. When he returned, he told us the good fathers were still harping upon what things of value we might have saved and concealed about us; and that if we had any thing of that sort, we could not do better than let them have it. Religion seemed to be quite out of the question at present; but a day or two after the corregidore being informed that we were heretics, he desired these jesuits would convert us; but one of them told him it was a mere joke to attempt it, as we could have no inducement upon that island to change our religion, but that when we got to Chili, in such a delightful country as that was, where there was nothing but diversions and amusements, we should be converted fast enough. We kept close to our cell till the bell rang for dinner, when we were conducted into a hall, where there was one table for the fathers, and another for us. After a very long Latin prayer, we sat down and eat what was put before us, without a single word passing at either table. As soon as we had finished, there was another long prayer, which, however, did not appear so tedious as the first; and then we retired to our cell again. In this manner we passed eight days without ever stirring out; all which time one might have imagined one's-self out of the world; for excepting the bell for dinner, a silence reigned throughout the whole, as if the place had been uninhabited. A little before dark, on the eighth evening, we heard a violent knocking at the gate, which was no sooner opened than there entered a young officer booted and spurred, who acquainted the fathers that he was sent by the governor to conduct us to Chaco. This young man was the governor's son; by which means he obtained a commission next in authority, upon this island, to his father. He ought to have been kept at school, for he was a vain, empty coxcomb, much disliked by the people of the island. After taking leave of the jesuits, who I imagined were not sorry to be rid of us, after finding their expectations balked, we set out, having about thirty soldiers on horseback to attend us. We rode about eight miles that night, when we came to an Estancia, or farm-house, belonging to an old lady who had two handsome daughters. Here we were very well entertained, and the good old lady seemed to have great compassion for us. She asked the governor's son if he thought his father would have any objection to my passing a month with her at her farm. As she was a person of rank in this island, he said he would acquaint his father with her request, and made no doubt but he would grant it. I observed our soldiers, when they came into the house, had none of them any shoes on, but wore buskins, like the Indians, without any feet to them. They all had monstrous great spurs, some of silver and others of copper, which made a rattling when they walked like chains. They were all stout, strong-looking men, as the Spaniards, natives of the island, in general are. After a good supper, we had sheepskins laid near the fire for us to sleep on. Early in the morning we mounted again, and after riding some miles across the country, we came to the water-side, where we found several periagos waiting for us, with some officers in them. Most of the soldiers dismounted and embarked with us, a few only being sent round with the horses. It was three days before we arrived at Chaco, as the tides between this island and the main are so rapid that no boat can stem them. The same precaution was taken here as at Castro; we passed through a whole lane of soldiers, armed as I mentioned those to have been before, excepting a few, who really had matchlocks, the only fire-arms they have here. The soldiers, upon our journey, had given a pompous account of el Palacio del Rey, or the king's palace, as they styled the governor's house, and therefore we expected to see something very magnificent; but it was nothing better than a large thatched barn, partitioned off into several rooms. The governor was sitting at a large table covered with a piece of red serge, having all the principal officers about him. After some time he made us sit down, attempting to converse with us by his linguist, who was a stupid old fellow, that could neither talk English nor Spanish, but said he was born in England, had resided above forty years in that country, and having formerly been a buccaneer, was taken by the Spaniards near Panama. The governor kept us to supper, and then we were conducted across the court to our apartment, which was a place that had served to keep the fire wood for the governor's kitchen; however, as it was dry over head, we thought ourselves extremely well lodged. There was a soldier placed at the door with a drawn spado in his hand, to prevent our stirring out; which was quite unnecessary, as we knew not where to go if we had been at liberty. One of these soldiers took a great fancy to my ragged grieko, which had still some thousands about it; and in exchange gave me an old puncho, the sort of garment with a hole in the middle to put one's head through, as above related to be worn by the Indians; and for the little bit of my waistcoat that remained, he gave me a pair of breeches. I now should have thought myself very handsomely equipped, if I had had but another shirt. The next day, about noon, the governor sent for us, and we dined at his table; after which we returned to our lodging, where we were never alone, for every body was curious to see us. We passed about a week in this manner, when the sentinel was taken off, and we were allowed to look about us a little, though not to go out of the palace, as they were pleased to call it. We dined every day with the governor; but were not very fond of his fast days, which succeeded each other too quickly. I contrived to make friends with his steward and cook, by which means I always carried my pockets full to my apartment, where I passed my time very agreeably. Soon after, we had leave to walk about the town, or go wherever we pleased. Every house was open to us; and though it was but an hour after we had dined, they always spread a table, thinking we never could eat enough after what we had suffered; and we were much of the same opinion. They are, in general, a charitable, good sort of people, but very ignorant, and governed by their priests, who make them believe just what they please. The Indian language is chiefly spoken here, even by the Spaniards one amongst another; and they say they think it a finer language than their own. The women have fine complexions, and many of them are very handsome; they have good voices, and can strum a little upon the guitar; but they have an ugly custom of smoking tobacco, which is a very scarce commodity here; and therefore is looked upon as a great treat when they meet at one another's houses. The lady of the house comes in with a large wooden pipe crammed with tobacco; and after taking two or three hearty whiffs, she holds her head under her cloak lest any of the smoke should escape, and then swallows it; some time after you see it coming out of her nose and ears. She then hands the pipe to the next lady, who does the same, till it has gone through the whole company. Their houses are but very mean, as will be easily imagined by what I have said of the governor's. They make their fire in the middle of their rooms, but have no chimneys; there is a small hole at each end of the roof to let the smoke out. It is only the better sort of people that eat bread made of wheat, as they grow but very little here, and they have no mills to grind it; but then they have great plenty of the finest potatoes in the world: these are always roasted in the ashes, then scraped, and served up at meals instead of bread. They breed abundance of swine, as they supply both Chili and Peru with hams. They are in no want of sheep, but are not overstocked with cows; owing, in a great measure, to their own indolence in not clearing away the woods, which if they would be at the pains to do, they might have sufficient pasture. Their trade consists in hams, hogs-lard, which is used throughout all South America instead of butter; cedar plank, which the Indians are continually employed in cutting quite to the foot of the Cordilleras; little carved boxes, which the Spanish ladies use to put their work in; carpets, quilts, and punchos neatly embroidered all round; for these, both in Chili and Peru, are used by the people of the first fashion, as well as the inferior sort, by way of riding-dress, and are esteemed to be much more convenient for a horseman than any kind of coat whatever.

They have what they call an annual ship from Lima, as they never expect more than one in the year; though sometimes it happens that two have come, and at other times they have been two or three years without any. When this happens they are greatly distressed, as this ship brings them baize, cloth, linens, hats, ribbons, tobacco, sugar, brandy, and wine; but this latter article is chiefly for the use of the churches: matte, an herb from Paraguay, used all over South America instead of tea, is also a necessary article. This ship's cargo is chiefly consigned to the jesuits, who have more Indians employed for them than all the rest of the inhabitants together, and of course engross almost the whole trade. There is no money current in this island. If any person wants a few yards of linen, a little sugar, tobacco, or any other thing brought from Peru, he gives so many cedar planks, hams, or punchos, in exchange. Some time after we had been here, a snow arrived in the harbour from Lima, which occasioned great joy amongst the inhabitants, as they had no ship the year before, from the alarm Lord Anson had given upon the coast. This was not the annual vessel, but one of those that I mentioned before which come unexpectedly. The captain of her was an old man, well known upon the island, who had traded here once in two or three years, for more than thirty years past. He had a remarkable large head, and therefore was commonly known by a nick-name they had given him of Cabu?o de Toro, or Bull's-head. He had not been here a week before he came to the governor, and told him, with a most melancholy countenance, that he had not slept a wink since he came into the harbour, as the governor was pleased to allow three English prisoners liberty to walk about instead of confining them; and that he expected every moment they would board his vessel, and carry her away: this he said when he had above thirty hands aboard. The governor assured him he would be answerable for us, and that he might sleep in quiet; though at the same time he could not help laughing at the man, as all the people in the town did. These assurances did not satisfy the captain: he used the utmost dispatch in disposing of his cargo, and put to sea again, not thinking himself safe till he had lost sight of the island. It was about three months after us that Mr. Hamilton was brought in by a party that the governor had sent to the southward on purpose to fetch him. He was in a wretched condition upon his first arrival, but soon recovered with the good living he found here.

It is usual for the governor to make a tour, every year, through the several districts belonging to his government: on this occasion he took us with him. The first place he visited was Carelmapo, on the main; and from thence to Castro. At these places he holds a kind of court; all the chief caciques meeting him, and informing him of what has passed since his last visit, and receiving fresh orders for the year to come. At Castro we had the same liberty we enjoyed at Chaco, and visited every body. It seemed they had forgot all the ceremony used upon our first landing here, which was with an intent to make us believe it was strongly fortified; for now they let us see plainly that they had neither fort nor gun. At Chaco they had a little earthen fort, with a small ditch palisadoed round it, and a few old honey-combed guns without carriages, and which do not defend the harbour in the least. Whilst we were at Castro, the old lady, sent to the governor, and begged I might be allowed to come to her for a few weeks: this was granted; and accordingly I went and passed about three weeks with her very happily, as she seemed to be as fond of me as if I had been her own son. She was very unwilling to part with me again; but as the governor was soon to return to Chaco, he sent for me, and I left my benefactress with regret.

Amongst the houses we visited at Castro, there was one belonging to an old priest, who was esteemed one of the richest persons upon the island. He had a niece, of whom he was extremely fond, and who was to inherit all he possessed. He had taken a great deal of pains with her education, and she was reckoned one of the most accomplished young ladies of Chiloe. Her person was good, though she could not be called a regular beauty. This young lady did me the honour to take more notice of me than I deserved, and proposed to her uncle to convert me, and afterwards begged his consent to marry me. As the old man doted upon her, he readily agreed to it; and accordingly on the next visit I made him, acquainted me with the young lady's proposal, and his approbation of it, taking me at the same time into a room where there were several chests and boxes, which he unlocked; first shewing me what a number of fine clothes his niece had, and then his own wardrobe, which he said should be mine at his death. Amongst other things, he produced a piece of linen, which he said should immediately be made up into shirts for me. I own this last article was a great temptation to me; however, I had the resolution to withstand it, and made the best excuses I could for not accepting of the honour they intended me; for by this time I could speak Spanish well enough to make myself understood.

Amongst the Indians who had come to meet the governor here, there were some caciques of those Indians who had treated us so kindly at our first landing upon Chiloe. One of these, a young man, had been guilty of some offence, and was put in irons, and threatened to be more severely punished. We could not learn his crime, or whether the governor did not do it in a great measure to shew us his power over these Indian chiefs: however, we were under great concern for this young man, who had been extremely kind to us, and begged Captain Cheap to intercede with the governor for him. This he did, and the cacique was released; the governor acquainting him at the same time, with great warmth, that it was to us only he owed it, or otherwise he would have made a severe example of him. The young man seemed to have been in no dread of farther punishment, as I believe he felt all a man could do from the indignity of being put in irons in the public square, before all his brother caciques and many hundreds of other Indians. I thought this was not a very politic step of the governor, as the cacique came after to Captain Cheap to thank him for his goodness, and in all probability would remember the English for some time after; and not only he, but all the other caciques who had been witnesses of it, and who seemed to feel, if possible, even more than the young man himself did. We now returned to Chaco, and the governor told me, when the annual ship came, which they expected in December, we should be sent in her to Chili. We felt several earthquakes while we were here. One day as I happened to be upon a visit at a house where I was very well acquainted, an Indian came in, who lived at many leagues distance from this town, and who had made this journey in order to purchase some little trifles he wanted; amongst other things, he had bought some prints of saints. Very proud of these, he produced them, and put them into the hands of the women, who very devoutly first crossed themselves with them, and afterwards kissed them; then gave them to me, saying at the same time, they supposed such a heretic as I was would refuse to kiss them. They were right in their conjectures: I returned them to the Indian without going through that ceremony. At that very instant, there happened a violent shock of an earthquake, which they imputed entirely to the anger of the saints; and all quitted the house as fast as they could, lest it should fall upon their heads. For my part, I made the best of my way home for fear of being knocked on the head, when out of the house, by the rabble, who looked on me as the cause of all this mischief, and did not return to that house again till I thought this affair was forgotten.

Here is a very good harbour; but the entrance is very dangerous for those who are unacquainted with it, as the tides are so extremely rapid, and there are sunken rocks in the mid-channel. The island is above seventy leagues round; and the body of it lies in about 40? 20' south, and is the most southern settlement the Spaniards have in these seas. Their summer is of no long duration, and most of the year round they have hard gales of wind and much rain. Opposite the island, upon the Cordilleras, there is a volcano, which, at times, burns with great fury, and is subject to violent eruptions. One of these alarmed the whole island, whilst we were here: it sounded in the night like great guns. In the morning, the governor mounted his horse, and rode backwards and forwards from his house to the earthen fort, saying it was the English coming in, but that he would give them a warm reception; meaning, I suppose, that he would have left them a good fire in his house; for I am certain he would soon have been in the woods, if he had seen any thing like an English ship coming in.

Women of the first fashion here seldom wear shoes or stockings in the house, but only keep them to wear upon particular occasions. I have often seen them coming to the church, which stood opposite to the governor's house, barelegged, walking through mud and water; and at the church door put on their shoes and stockings, and pull them off again when they came out. Though they are in general handsome, and have good complexions, yet many of them paint in so ridiculous a manner, that it is impossible to help laughing in their faces when you see them. The governor we found here was a native of Chili. The government, which is appointed by that presidency, is for three years; which appears to be a long banishment to them, as their appointments are but small, though they make the most of it. The towns of Castro and Chaco, consist only of scattered houses, without a regular street; though both have their places or squares, as almost all Spanish towns have. Chaco is very thinly inhabited, excepting at the time the Lima ship arrives; then they flock thither from all parts of the island, to purchase what little matters they want; and as soon as that is done, retire to their estancias, or farms. It was about the middle of December this ship came in; and the second of January, 1742-3, we embarked on board of her. She was bound to Valparaiso. We got out to sea with some difficulty, having been driven by the strength of the tide very near those sunken rocks mentioned before. We found a great sea without; and as the ship was as deep as any laden collier, her decks were continually well washed. She was a fine vessel, of about two hundred and fifty tons. The timber the ships of this country are built of is excellent, as they last a prodigious time; for they assured us that the vessel we were then in had been built above forty years. The captain was a Spaniard, and knew not the least of sea affairs; the second captain, or master, the boatswain, and his mate, were all three Frenchmen, and very good seamen; the pilot was a Mulatto, and all the rest of the crew were Indians and Negroes. The latter were all slaves and stout fellows; but never suffered to go aloft, lest they should fall overboard, and the owners lose so much money by it. The Indians were active, brisk men, and very good seamen for that climate. We had on board the head of the jesuits as passenger. He and Captain Cheap were admitted into the great cabin, and messed with the captain and his chaplain. As for us, we were obliged to rough it the whole passage; that is, when we were tired we lay down upon the quarter-deck, in the open air, and slept as well as we could; but that was nothing to us, who had been used to fare so much worse. We lived well, eating with the master and boatswain, who always had their meals upon the quarter-deck, and drank brandy at them as we do small beer; and all the rest of the day were smoking cigars.

The fifth day we made the land four or five leagues to the southward of Valparaiso; and soon after falling calm, a great western swell hurried us in very fast towards the shore. We dropped the lead several times, but had such deep water we could not anchor. They were all much alarmed, when the jesuit came out of the cabin for the first time, having been sea-sick the whole passage. As soon as he was informed of the danger, he went back into the cabin, and brought out the image of some saint, which he desired might be hung up in the mizen-shrouds; which being done, he kept threatening it, that if we had not a breeze of wind soon, he would certainly throw it overboard. Soon after, we had a little wind from off the land, when the jesuit carried the image back with an air of great triumph, saying he was certain that we should not be without wind long, though he had given himself over for lost some time before it came. Next morning we anchored in the port of Valparaiso. In that part which is opposite to the fort, ships lay so near the land, that they have generally three anchors ashore, as there is eight or ten fathom close to; and the flaws come off the hills with such violence, that if it was not for this method of securing them, they would be blown out. This is only in summer time, for in the winter months no ships ever attempt to come in here; the northerly winds then prevail, and drive in such a sea that they must soon be ashore. The Spanish captain waited upon the governor of the fort, and informed him that he had four English prisoners on board. We were ordered ashore in the afternoon, and were received as we got upon the beach, by a file of soldiers, with their bayonets fixed, who surrounded us, and then marched up to the fort, attended by a numerous mob. We were carried before the governor, whose house was full of officers. He was blind, asked a few questions, and then spoke of nothing but the strength of the garrison he commanded, and desired to know if we had observed that all the lower battery was brass guns. We were immediately after, by his order, put into the condemned hole. There was nothing but four bare walls, excepting a heap of lime that filled one third of it, and made the place swarm with fleas in such a manner that we were presently covered with them. Some of Admiral Pizarro's soldiers were here in garrison that had been landed from his ships at Buenos Ayres, as he could not get round Cape Horn. A centinel's box was placed at our door, and we had always a soldier with his bayonet fixed, to prevent our stirring out. The curiosity of the people was such, that our prison was continually full from morning till night, by which the soldiers made a pretty penny, as they took money from every person for the sight. In a few days, Captain Cheap and Mr. Hamilton were ordered up to St. Jago, as they were known to be officers by having saved their commissions; but Mr. Campbell and I were to continue in prison. Captain Cheap expressed great concern when he left us; he told me it was what he had all along dreaded, that they would separate us when we got into this country; but he assured me, if he was permitted to speak to the president, that he would never leave soliciting him till he obtained a grant for me to be sent up to him. No sooner were they gone than we fared very badly. A common soldier, who was ordered to provide for us by the governor, brought us each, once a day, a few potatoes mixed with hot water. The other soldiers of the garrison, as well as the people who flocked to see us, took notice of it, and told the soldier it was cruel to treat us in that manner. His answer was, "The governor allows me but half a real a day for each of these men; what can I do? It is he that is to blame: I am shocked every time I bring them this scanty pittance, though even that could not be provided for the money he gives them." We from this time lived much better, and the soldier brought us even wine and fruit. We took it for granted, that our case had been represented to the governor, and that he had increased our pay. As to the first, we were right in our conjectures; it had been mentioned to him, that it was impossible we could subsist on what he allowed; and his answer to it was, that we might starve; for we should have no more from him, and that he believed he should never be repaid even that. This charitable speech of the governor was made known every where, and now almost every one who came to see us gave us something; even the mule-drivers would take out their tobacco pouch, in which they kept their money, and give us half a real. All this we would have given to our soldier, but he never would receive a farthing from us, telling us we might still want it; and the whole time we were there, which was some weeks, he laid aside half his daily pay to supply us, though he had a wife and six children, and never could have the least hope or expectation of any recompence. However, two years after this, I had the singular pleasure of making him some return, when my circumstances were much better than his. One night, when we were locked up, there happened a dreadful shock of an earthquake. We expected, every moment, the roof and walls of our prison to fall in upon us, and crush us to pieces; and what added to the horror of it was, the noise of chains and imprecations in the next prison which joined to ours, where there were near seventy felons heavily loaded with irons, who are kept here to work upon the fortifications, as in other countries they are condemned to the gallies. A few days after this, we were told an order was come from the president to the governor to send us up to St. Jago, which is ninety miles from Valparaiso, and is the capital of Chili. There were at this time several ships in the port from Lima delivering their cargoes; so that almost every day there were large droves of mules going up to St. Jago with the goods. The governor sent for one of the master-carriers, and ordered him to take us up with him. The man asked him how he was to be paid our expences, as he should be five days upon the road. The governor told him he might get that as he could, for he would not advance him a single farthing. After taking leave of our friendly soldier, who even now brought us some little matters to carry with us, we set out, and travelled about fourteen miles the first day, and lay at night in the open field, which is always the custom of these people, stopping where there is plenty of pasture and good water for the mules. The next morning we passed over a high mountain, called Zapata; and then crossing a large plain, we passed another mountain, very difficult for the mules, who each carried two heavy bales: there were above a hundred of them in this drove. The mules of Chili are the finest in the world; and though they are continually upon the road, and have nothing but what they pick up at nights, they are as fat and sleek as high-fed horses in England. The fourth night we lay upon a plain in sight of St. Jago, and not above four leagues from it. The next day, as we moved towards the city, our master-carrier, who was naturally well disposed, and had been very kind to us all the way upon the road, advised me, very seriously, not to think of remaining in St. Jago, where he said there was nothing but extravagance, vice, and folly, but to proceed on with them as mule-driver, which, he said, I should soon be very expert at; and that they led an innocent and happy life, far preferable to any enjoyment such a great city as that before us could afford. I thanked him, and told him I was very much obliged to him; but that I would try the city first, and if I did not like it, I would accept of the offer he was so good to make me. The thing that gave him this high opinion of me was, that as he had been so civil to us, I was very officious in assisting to drive in those mules that strayed from the rest upon those large plains we passed over; and this I thought was the least I could do towards making some returns for the obligations we were under to him.

When we got into St. Jago, the carrier delivered us to the captain of the guard, at the palace gate; and he soon after introduced us to the president, Don Joseph Manso, who received us very civilly, and then sent us to the house where Captain Cheap and Mr. Hamilton were. We found them extremely well lodged at the house of a Scotch physician, whose name was Don Patricio Gedd. This gentleman had been a long time in this city, and was greatly esteemed by the Spaniards, as well for his abilities in his profession, as his humane disposition. He no sooner heard that there were four English prisoners arrived in that country, than he waited upon the president, and begged they might be lodged at his house. This was granted; and had we been his own brothers, we could not have met with a more friendly reception; and during two years that we were with him, his constant study was to make every thing as agreeable to us as possible. We were greatly distressed to think of the expence he was at upon our account; but it was in vain for us to argue with him about it. In short, to sum up his character in a few words, there never was a man of more extensive humanity. Two or three days after our arrival, the president sent Mr. Campbell and me an invitation to dine with him, where we were to meet Admiral Pizarro and his officers. This was a cruel stroke upon us, as we had not any clothes fit to appear in, and dared not refuse the invitation. The next day, a Spanish officer belonging to Admiral Pizarro's squadron, whose name was Don Manuel de Guiror, came and made us an offer of two thousand dollars. This generous Spaniard made this offer without any view of ever being repaid, but purely out of a compassionate motive of relieving us in our present distress. We returned him all the acknowledgments his uncommon generous behaviour merited, and accepted of six hundred dollars only, upon his receiving our draught for that sum upon the English consul at Lisbon. We now got ourselves decently clothed after the Spanish fashion; and as we were upon our parole, we went out where we pleased to divert ourselves.

This city is situated about 33 degrees and 30 minutes, south latitude, at the west foot of the immense chain of mountains called the Cordilleras. It stands on a most beautiful plain of about thirty leagues extent. It was founded by Don Pedro de Baldivia, the conqueror of Chili. The plan of it was marked out by him in squares, like Lima; and almost every house belonging to people of any fashion, has a large court before it, with great gates, and a garden behind. There is a little rivulet, neatly faced with stone, runs through every street; by which they can cool the streets, or water their gardens, when they please. The whole town is extremely well paved. Their gardens are full of noble orange-trees and floripondies, with all sorts of flowers, which perfume the houses, and even the whole city. Much about the middle of it, is the great square, called the Pla?a Real, or the Royal Square; there are eight avenues leading into it. The west side contains the cathedral and the bishop's palace; the north side is the president's palace, the royal court, the council house, and the prison; the south side is a row of piazzas, the whole length of which are shops, and over it a gallery to see the bull-feasts; the east side has some large houses belonging to people of distinction; and in the middle is a large fountain, with a brass bason. The houses have, in general, only a ground floor, upon account of the frequent earthquakes; but they make a handsome appearance. The churches are rich in gilding as well as in plate: that of the jesuits is reckoned an exceeding good piece of architecture; but it is too high built for a country so subject to earthquakes, and where it has frequently happened that thousands of people have been swallowed up at once. There is a hill, or rather high rock, at the east end of the city, called St. Lucia, from the top of which you have a view of all the city, and the country about for many leagues, affording a very delightful landscape. Their estancias, or country houses, are very pleasant, having generally a fine grove of olive trees, with large vineyards to them. The Chili wine, in my opinion, is full as good as Madeira, and made in such quantities that it is sold extremely cheap. The soil of this country is so fertile, that the husbandmen have very little trouble; for they do but in a manner scratch up the ground, and without any kind of manure it yields an hundred fold. Without doubt the wheat of Chili is the finest in the world, and the fruits are all excellent in their kinds. Beef and mutton are so cheap, that you may have a good cow for three dollars, and a fat sheep for two shillings. Their horses are extraordinary good; and though some of them go at a great price, you may have a very good one for four dollars, or about eighteen shillings of our money. It must be a very poor Indian who has not his four or five horses; and there are no better horsemen in the world than the Chileans; and that is not surprising, for they never choose to go a hundred yards on foot. They have always their la?o fixed to their saddle: the la?o is a long thong of leather, at the end of which they make a sliding noose. It is of more general use to them than any weapon whatever; for with this they are sure of catching either horse or wild bull, upon full gallop, by any foot they please. Their horses are all trained to this, and the moment they find the thong straitened, as the other end is always made fast to the saddle, the horse immediately turns short, and throwing the beast thus caught, the huntsman wounds or secures him in what manner he may think proper. These people are so dexterous, that they will take from the ground a glove or handkerchief, while their horse is upon full stretch; and I have seen them jump upon the back of the wildest bull, and all the efforts of the beast could not throw them. This country produces all sorts of metals; it is famous for gold, silver, iron, tin, lead, and quicksilver, but some of these they do not understand working, especially quicksilver. With copper they supply all Peru, and send, likewise, a great deal to Europe. The climate of Chili is, I believe, the finest in the world. What they call their winter does not last three months; and even that is very moderate, as may be imagined by their manner of building, for they have no chimneys in their houses. All the rest of the year is delightful; for though from ten or eleven in the morning till five in the afternoon, it is very hot, yet the evenings and mornings are very cool and pleasant; and in the hottest time of the year, it is from six in the evening till two or three in the morning, that the people of this country meet to divert themselves with music and other entertainments, at which there is plenty of cooling liquors, as they are well supplied with ice from the neighbouring Cordilleras. At these assemblies, many intrigues are carried on; for they think of nothing else throughout the year. Their fandangoes are very agreeable; the women dance inimitably well, and very gracefully. They are all born with an ear for music, and most of them have delightful voices; and all play upon the guitar and harp. The latter, at first, appears a very aukward instrument for a woman; yet that prejudice is soon got over, and they far excel any other nation upon it. They are extremely complaisant and polite; and when asked either to play, dance, or sing, they do it without a moment's hesitation, and that with an exceeding good grace. They have many figure-dances; but what they take most delight in, are more like our hornpipes than any thing else I can compare them to; and upon these occasions they shew surprising activity. The women are remarkably handsome, and very extravagant in their dress. Their hair, which is as thick as is possible to be conceived, they wear of a vast length, without any other ornament upon the head than a few flowers; they plait it behind in four plaits, and twist them round a bodkin, at each end of which is a diamond rose. Their shifts are all over lace, as is a little tight waistcoat they wear over them. Their petticoats are open before, and lap over, and have commonly three rows of very rich lace of gold or silver. In winter they have an upper waistcoat of cloth of gold or silver; and in summer, of the finest linen, covered all over with the finest Flanders lace. The sleeves of these are immensely wide. Over all this, when the air is cool, they have a mantle, which is only of bays, of the finest colours, round which there is abundance of lace. When they go abroad, they wear a veil, which is so contrived that one eye is only seen. Their feet are very small, and they value themselves as much upon it as the Chinese do. Their shoes are pinked and cut; their stockings silk, with gold and silver clocks; and they love to have the end of an embroidered garter hang a little below the petticoat. They have fine sparkling eyes, ready wit, a great deal of good nature, and a strong disposition to gallantry.

The ladies are fond of having their Mulatto female slaves dressed almost as well as themselves in every respect, excepting jewels, in which they indulge themselves to the utmost extravagance. Paraguay tea, which they call Matte, as I mentioned before, is always drunk twice a-day: this is brought upon a large silver salver, with four legs raised upon it, to receive a little cup made out of a small calabash, or gourd, and tipped with silver. They put the herb first into this, and add what sugar they please, and a little orange juice; and then pour hot water on them, and drink it immediately, through the conveyance of a long silver tube, at the end of which there is a round strainer, to prevent the herb getting through. And here it is reckoned a piece of politeness for the lady to suck the tube two or three times first, and then give it the stranger to drink without wiping it.

They eat every thing so highly seasoned with red pepper, that those who are not used to it, upon the first mouthful would imagine their throats on fire for an hour afterwards; and it is a common custom here, though you have the greatest plenty at your own table, to have two or three Mulatto girls come in at the time you dine, bringing, in a little silver plate, some of these high-seasoned ragouts, with a compliment from Donna such-a-one, who desires you will eat a little bit of what she has sent you; which must be done before her Mulatto's face, or it would be deemed a great affront. Had this been the fashion at Chiloe, we should never have offended; but sometimes here we could have wished this ceremony omitted.

The president never asked any of us a second time to his table. He expected us once a fortnight to be at his levee, which we never failed; and he always received us very politely. He was a man of a very amiable character, and much respected by every body in Chili, and some time after we left that country, was appointed viceroy of Peru.

We had leave, whenever we asked it, to make an excursion into the country for ten or twelve days at a time; which we did sometimes to a very pleasant spot belonging to Don Joseph Dunose, a French gentleman, and a very sensible, well-bred man, who had married a very agreeable lady at St. Jago, with a very good fortune. We also sometimes had invitations from the Spaniards to their country-houses. We had a numerous acquaintance in the city, and in general received many civilities from the inhabitants. There are a great many people of fashion, and very good families from Old Spain settled here. A lady lived next door to us, whose name was Donna Francisca Giron; and as my name sounded something like it, she would have it that we were Parientes. She had a daughter, a very fine young woman, who both played and sung remarkably well: she was reckoned the finest voice in St. Jago. They saw a great deal of company, and we were welcome to her house whenever we pleased. We were a long time in this country, but we passed it very agreeably. The president alone goes with four horses to his coach; but the common vehicle here is a calash, or kind of vis-?-vis, drawn by one mule only. Bull-feasts are a common diversion here, and they far surpass anything of that kind I ever saw at Lisbon, or any where else. Indeed, it is amazing to see the activity and dexterity of those who attack the bulls. It is always done here by those only who follow it as a trade, for it is too dangerous to be practised as a diversion; as a proof of which, it is found that though some may hold out longer than others, there are few who constantly practice it, that die a natural death. The bulls are always the wildest that can be brought in from the mountains or forests, and have nothing on their horns to prevent their piercing a man the first stroke, as they have at Lisbon. I have seen a man, when the bull came at him with the utmost fury, spring directly over the beast's head, and perform this feat several times, and at last jump on his back, and there sit a considerable time, the bull the whole time attempting every means to throw him. But though this practitioner was successful, several accidents happened while I was there. The ladies, at these feasts, are always dressed as fine as possible; and, I imagine, go rather to be admired than to receive any amusement from a sight that one should think would give them pain. Another amusement for the ladies here, are the nights of their great processions, when they go out veiled; and as in that dress they cannot be known, they amuse themselves in talking to people much in the manner that is done at our masquerades. One night in Lent, as I was standing close to the houses as the procession went by, and having nothing but a thin waistcoat on under my cloak, and happening to have my arm out, a lady came by, and gave me a pinch with so good a will, that I thought she had taken the piece out; and, indeed, I carried the marks for a long time after. I durst not take the least notice of this at the time; for had I made any disturbance, I should have been knocked on the head. This kind lady immediately after mixed with the crowd, and I never could find out who had done me that favour. I have seen fifty or sixty penitents following these processions; they wear a long white garment with a long train to it, and high caps of the same, which fall down before, and cover all their faces, having only two small holes for their eyes; so that they are never known. Their backs are bare, and they lash themselves with a cat-o'-nine-tails till the long train behind is covered all over with blood. Others follow them with great heavy crosses upon their backs; so that they groan under the weight as they walk barefooted, and often faint away. The streets swarm with friars of all the different orders. The president has always a guard at his palace regularly clothed. The rest of their forces consists of militia, who are numerous.

All European goods are very dear. English cloth, of fourteen or fifteen shillings a yard, sells there for ten or eleven dollars; and every other article in proportion. We found many Spaniards here that had been taken by Commodore Anson, and had been for some time prisoners on board the Centurion. They all spoke in the highest terms of the kind treatment they had received; and it is natural to imagine, that it was chiefly owing to that laudable example of humanity, our reception here was so good. They had never had anything but privateers and buccaneers amongst them before, who handled their prisoners very roughly; so that the Spaniards in general, both of Peru and Chili, had the greatest dread of being taken by the English; but some of them told us, that they were so happy on board the Centurion, that they should not have been sorry if the Commodore had taken them with him to England. After we had been here some time, Mr. Campbell changed his religion, and of course left us. At the end of two years, the president sent for us, and informed us a French ship from Lima, bound to Spain, had put into Valparaiso, and that we should embark in her. After taking leave of our good friend Mr. Gedd, and all our acquaintance at St. Jago, we set out for Valparaiso, mules and a guide being provided for us. I had forgot to say before, that Captain Cheap had been allowed by the president six reals a day, and we had four for our maintenance the whole time we were at St. Jago, which money we took up as we wanted it. Our journey back was much pleasanter than we found it when we were first brought hither, as we had now no mules to drive. The first person I met, upon our entrance into Valparaiso, was the poor soldier whom I mentioned to have been so kind to us when we were imprisoned in the fort. I now made him a little present, which, as it came quite unexpected, made him very happy. We took lodgings till the ship was ready to sail, and diverted ourselves as we pleased, having the good fortune, at this time, to have nothing to do with the governor or his fort. The town is but a poor little place; there are, indeed, a good many storehouses built by the water side for the reception of goods from the shipping.

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