Chiloé Island

“ Indian Belles, Chiloé Island, Chile
Next to Ancud, the most important place on the island is Castro which was the capital until 1834. It is the oldest town on Chiloé and here the Spaniards made their last [301] stand. It is a well-built village of 1243 inhabitants, situated on the west side of the long and narrow Putemun Bay, and is well sheltered from the winds by the ten-mile-distant mountains to the west. It consists of several parallel streets running lengthwise along the bay. A wagon road runs southeastward from here about thirty miles to the settlement of Ahoni. ”

“ I did not think it adviseable to risk another anchor, and therefore immediately crossed over for the island of Chiloe, in a boisterous gale with thick rainy weather, surrounded on all hands with seeming shoals, and in a manner bewildered in an unknown navigation. When within a mile of Chiloe, we ranged along shore to the southward, [257] in hope of discovering the town of Chacao. We passed two commodious bays, which had no appearance of any town, and came to a point of land marked by a high pyramidal rock. ”

“ Chiloe is the first of the Spanish possessions on the coast of Chili, reckoning from the south; and, though it produces neither gold nor silver, is a fine island, and is considered as of great consequence; insomuch that the Spaniards would be under great apprehensions when strange ships enter its ports, did they not confide in the number of its inhabitants, which is extraordinary for this part of the world. The body of this island is in lat. ”

“ There is but little trade in San Carlos, for Chile itself possesses in superfluity all the productions of Chiloe, and the inhabitants of the island are so poor, and their wants so limited, that they require but few foreign articles. The port is therefore seldom visited by any trading vessel from Europe. Some of the Chiloe boats keep up a regular traffic along the coast. They carry wood, brooms, hams, and potatoes, to Valparaiso, Arica, Callao, &c., and they bring back in return, linen, woollen and cotton cloths, ironware, tobacco, and spirits. ”

“ They have probably retired from this part of the coast in consequence of being persecuted, as ambergris was formerly found in great abundance on these shores, but is now very rare.
All the islands are very mountainous and craggy, so that only a few vallies among the hills and the flat grounds near the shore are susceptible of cultivation. On this scanty cultivable ground, there are forty-one settlements, called pueblas or townships, in the isla grande, or large island of Chiloé. There is one road indeed across the mountains, but the whole interior of the island is uninhabited. ”

“ About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and his four remaining companions set out for Chiloe; their Indian conductor having provided several canoes, and gathered many of his countrymen together for that purpose. Mr Elliot, the surgeon, soon afterwards died, so that there now only remained four of the whole company. At last, after a very complicated passage, partly by sea and partly by land, Captain Cheap, Mr Byron, and Mr Campbell, arrived at the island of Chiloe, where they were received by the Spaniards with great humanity ”

“ I believe every one was glad to say farewell to Chiloe; yet if we could forget the gloom and ceaseless rain of winter, Chiloe might pass for a charming island. There is also something very attractive in the simplicity and humble politeness of the poor inhabitants.
We steered northward along shore, but owing to thick weather did not reach Valdivia till the night of the 8th. The next morning the boat proceeded to the town, which is distant about ten miles. We followed the course of the river, occasionally passing a few hovels, and patches of ground cleared out of the otherwise unbroken forest ”

“ Every part of them exhibits the most unquestionable marks of the operation of volcanic fire. Several mountains in the great island of Chiloé, which gives name to the archipelago, are composed of basaltic columns, which have been certainly produced by volcanic fire, whatever may be alleged to the contrary. The inhabited part of this province, extends from Maullin to Huilad, comprising forty leagues from north to south, and eighteen or twenty from east to west, and comprises twenty-five islands. There are Isla Grande, Ancud, or Chiloe Proper ”

“ The Chilote Indians inhabit the Island of Chiloe, and a portion of the coast country in the province of Llanquihue, in which territory they constitute the [Pg 84] working population. They are a light copper color, and differ materially in physical appearance from the Araucanians. They are short in stature, heavy-set, broad, square shoulders, thick necks, large heads, hands and feet. They have no chiefs or tribal government, being peculiarly unrestrained in their personal lives by traditional laws or government. They are peaceful and industrious. ”

“ Chiloe.—This fine island is about one hundred miles in length. The entire southern part, and the whole western coast, consists of mica-schist, which likewise is seen in the ravines of the interior. The central mountains rise to a height of 3,000 feet, and are said to be partly formed of granite and greenstone: there are two small volcanic districts. The eastern coast, and large parts of the northern extremity of the island are composed of gravel, the boulder formation, and underlying horizontal strata. The latter are well displayed for twenty miles north and south of Castro ”

“ The climate of the island is moist and cool, and upon the whole very unpleasant. During the winter months, the sun is seldom seen; and it is a proverbial saying in Chiloe, that it rains six days of the week, and is cloudy on the seventh. In summer there are occasionally fine days, though seldom two in succession. The thick forests are therefore never dry, and beneath the trees, the vegetation of the marshy soil is peculiarly luxuriant. The constant moisture is one of the greatest obstacles to agriculture. ”

“ Chillon, Castle of, a castle and state prison built on a rock, 62 ft. from the shore, at the eastern end of the Lake of Geneva; surnamed the Bastille of Switzerland, in which Bonivard, the Genevese patriot, was, as celebrated by Byron, incarcerated for six years; it is now an arsenal.
Chiloë (77) , a thickly wooded island off the coast, and forming a province, of Chile, 115 m. long from N. to S., and 43 m. broad; inhabited chiefly by Indians; exports timber; is said to contain vast deposits of coal. ”

“ In fact the whole of this space is fronted by large islands and extensive archipelagos, of which the most conspicuous are the great island of Chiloe. Wellington Island, the Archipelago of Madre de Dios, Hanover Island, and Queen Adelaide's Archipelago. ”

“ This southern [Pg 20] archipelago, with its hundreds of islands, presents a panorama of scenes peculiarly picturesque and interesting. Among the more important islands of the coast are Chiloe, the original habitat of the potato, Wellington, Hanover, Queen Adelaide, St. Ines, and Desolation, so-called because of the lack of vegetation and desolate aspect of this long narrow strip of land lying at the western entrance to the Straits of Magellan. ”

“ As we drew in with the land, rocks, trees, and shrubs, clothing the sides of the lofty and picturesque mountains, grew more and more distinct; and then a few cottages peeped out here and there, and a fort guarding the only harbour, with the Chilian flag flying over it, showing us that it was no longer a deserted island; but, unfortunately, the inhabitants we found were not of a class to make it the abode of peace and contentment. The Chilian Government have turned it into a penal settlement, and the chief residents are the convicts and their guards. ”

“ A perfect labyrinth of tortuous, wind-swept waterways separate the hundreds of islands which form this group. They are not all a desolate mass of ice and snow, however, but contain plains which are covered with succulent grasses, and slopes which are thickly wooded. The Chilean portion of these islands, and the mainland along the coast beyond the fiftieth parallel of latitude, is included in the territory of Magellanes, the largest territorial division in the republic. The largest island, called Tierra del Fuego, land of the fire, is half as large as Illinois. ”

“ We hear that inland live naked people called Chichimecos. As far as could be seen, this island lacks provisions.
News reached the master-of-camp that, in a river five leagues from the place where the ships had anchored, were two vessels from China, the inhabitants of which these natives call Sangleyes. [2] Seeing that the weather did not permit him to send the large ship, because the wind was blowing south by west, he despatched Captain Juan de Salzedo, with the praus [3] and rowboats to reconnoiter the said ships, and to request peace and friendship with them. ”

“ Chile is the only South American country owning territory situated at a considerable distance from her shores; it was picked up, in fact, in 1888 as a kind of derelict child of Spain in whom nobody had much interest.
For Easter Island has little commercial importance; it has never yielded precious metals, includes no fair widespread lands inviting agricultural settlers, and has no woodlands nor a single river. The sheep and cattle bred upon the island are the property of one company, a British enterprise, and the natives are but a couple of hundred in number. ”

“ THE CHILIAN BLUEJACKET A TALE OF EASTER ISLAND Alone, in the most solitary part of the Eastern Pacific, midway between the earthquake-shaken littoral of Chili and Peru, and the thousand palm-clad islets of the Low Archipelago, lies an island of the days “when the world was young.” By the lithe-limbed, soft-eyed descendants of the forgotten and mysterious race that once quickened the land, this lonely outlier of the isles of the Southern Seas is called in their soft tongue Rapa-nui, or the Great Rapa. ”

“ The country thence, to the Strait of Magalhaens, is known by the appellation of Western Patagonia.
Besides the Isla Grande, as Chilóe is called, the following islands are inhabited:—Achao, or Quinchao, Lemuy, Quehuy, Chelin, Linlin, Llignua, Quenac, Meulin, Caguach or Cahuache, Alao, Apiao, Chaulinec, all in front of Castro; the Chaugues Islands, opposite to Tenoun; Calbuco, Llaichua, Quenu, Tabor, Abtao, Chiduapi (on which is the fort) ; Huar in the neighbourhood, and district of Calbuco; and, to the South, Tanqui, to which may be added Caylin, which is also called El fin de la Cristiandad. ”

“ It is the seat of a bishopric, the frame cathedral being the best building in the town. There is absolutely nothing to do in the place which for amusement has but one moving picture theater. Numbers of mixed bloods and Indians are in evidence seemingly outnumbering the whites, many of the latter being Germans.
Chiloé has an area of 8593 square miles, being larger than the State of Massachusetts; its population is slightly in excess of eighty thousand inhabitants many of whom are [300] Indians. These Indians are not warlike like the Araucanians nor are their physiques as good. ”

“ The inhabitants direct their industry chiefly to agriculture and navigation. But rude and imperfect are their implements for field labor, as well as their nautical vessels. To a stranger nothing can appear more extraordinary than their mode of ploughing. As to a regular plough, I do not believe such a thing is known in Chiloe. If a field is to be tilled, it is done by two Indians, who are furnished with long poles, pointed at one end. The one thrusts his pole, pretty deeply, and in an oblique direction, into the earth, so that it forms an angle with the surface of the ground. ”

“ The island lies in a lonely position, at the extreme west of the South Pacific series, and measures but thirteen miles in length and about seven in width. The hues of the land are sand and tawny; the sea is a faithful mirror of the turquoise sky; the dreamy heat of Polynesia endures throughout the year. Easter Island is lonely, lazy, unproductive, a little speck upon the broad breast of the Pacific. ”

“ The colony was subsequently removed to its present position, and in addition to the involuntary immigrants, chiefly deserters from the army, settlers were tempted by liberal grants of land, and a large number of Chilotes or natives of Chiloe were introduced. These men, who are of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, are a hardy, sturdy race, accustomed to the use of the axe in their own thickly-wooded country, whence they export quantities of timber. They are very Paddies in their diet, living almost altogether on potatoes, which grow freely in Chiloe, but in Punta Arenas do not attain large size. ”

“ Lying nearly forty miles west of Grande Isle, it was nevertheless far more populated a generation ago: it was not only the most celebrated island of the group, but also the most fashionable watering-place of the aristocratic South;—to-day it is visited by fishermen only, at long intervals. Its admirable beach in many respects resembled that of Grande Isle to-day; the accommodations also were much similar, although finer: a charming village of cottages facing the Gulf near the western end. ”

“ The Captain of the Kildalton feared lest even the distance of the settlement from the Manager’s house might not suffice to prevent the plague being carried there by insects, and told a gruesome tale, within his knowledge, of two white men who had gone for a visit to a Pacific island, one of whom on their return to an American port had been immediately sent back to a leper colony. But how could one allow the last vestige of knowledge in Easter Island to die out without an effort? ”