Chiloé

“ The province, area 8593 sq. m., pop. (1895) 77,750, is composed of three groups of islands, Chiloé, Guaitecas and Chonos, and extends from the narrow strait of Chacao in 41° 40′ S. to the peninsula of Taytao, about 45° 45′ S. The population is composed mainly of Indians, distantly related to the tribes of the mainland, and mestizos. The capital of the province is Ancud or San Carlos, at the northern end of the island of Chiloé, on the sheltered bay of San Carlos, once frequented by whalers. ”

“ Churches are not wanting, for at one place nineteen can be counted on islands and mainland when the weather is clear. The church is always an important and conspicuous building in every community. A few colonists, German, French and British, have located on this island, and have succeeded in carving a home out of the wilderness if sufficiently industrious. Nevertheless many of them have endured great hardships. The Chilean government brought them over but had neglected to provide the necessary roads.
Chiloé is the name of a province composed entirely of islands. ”

“ The district of Cucao is the only inhabited part on the whole west coast of Chiloe. It contains about thirty or forty Indian families, who are scattered along four or five miles of the shore. They are very much secluded from the rest of Chiloe, and have scarcely any sort of commerce, except sometimes in a little oil, which they get from seal-blubber. They are tolerably dressed in clothes of their own manufacture, and they have plenty to eat. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hence this country is calculated to support a most extensive population, in all the comforts and enjoyments of civilized society, and if once settled under a regular government, will probably become at no great distance of time an exceedingly populous and commercial nation. The islands belonging to Chili consist principally of the Archipelago of Chiloé, with that of the Chones, which is dependent upon the former. The largest of these islands, named likewise Chiloé, is about 120 miles in extent from north to south, and about 60 miles from east to west. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Unlike the northern provinces of Chili, the rains in Chiloe are so frequent that it is only in the autumn they discontinue, and that but for a short time. The air is, therefore, humid, and grain and fruits are not so abundantly produced as on the continent. The corn raised in Chiloe is however fully sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants; and barley, beans and pease thrive very well. The vegetables principally cultivated, are cabbages and garlic; but the gardens do not produce much fruit; apples and some other hardy plants being the only ones which arrive to perfection. ”

“ The difference in height, namely, about 9000 feet, between the snow-line on the Cordillera behind Chiloe (with its highest points ranging from only 5600 to 7500 feet) and in central Chile [11] (a distance of only 9° of latitude) , is truly wonderful. The land from the southward of Chiloe to near Concepcion (lat. 37°) is hidden by one dense forest dripping with moisture. The sky is cloudy, and we have seen how badly the fruits of southern Europe succeed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ GEORGE. "Poor man! what ignorant people they must be. Are we to stop at the Island of Chiloe?"
MR. BARRAUD. "Most certainly, as you will agree when you hear what I have to say. It lies near the south coast of Chili: its length is 120 miles, average breadth 40 miles. It is mountainous and covered with cedar, which is exported in great quantities to Peru and Chili. The climate is healthy, but damp, as it rains ten months out of the year. Money is here almost unknown, and traffic is conducted by barter, or payment in indigo, tea, salt, or Cayenne pepper. ”

“ The continental part, or Chili Proper, is divided into thirteen partidos, which extend from the twenty-fourth degree to the thirty-seventh degree of south latitude, and are named Copiapo, Coquimbo, Quillota, Aconcagua, Melipilla, Santiago, Rancagua, Colchagua, Maule, Itata, Chillan, Puchucay, and Huilquilemu; from the thirty-seventh degree to the islands of Chiloe, the country is chiefly under the power of three native tribes, the Araucanians, the Cunches, and the Huilliches. ”

“ Such is the miserable situation of the Spanish inhabitants of the archipelago of Chiloe: yet they dare not leave their wretched birth-place in the hope of bettering their fortunes. The small-pox is hitherto unknown among them, and those, who have attempted to go elsewhere have been cut off by that loathsome disease. In 1783, the entire population of this dreary province amounted to 23,477, of whom 11,985 were of Spanish descent, and 11,492 Indians. ”

“ Where gold and silver are to be found, or where wealth is to be acquired by commerce, men will readily settle, however barren and unfavourable the country, or however pestilential the climate. But Chiloé offers no incitements to avarice, and only a bare and comfortless subsistence to perpetual industry. Perhaps the principal part of the original settlers were people who escaped from the fury of the Araucanians, unable to remove to Peru, or to subsist if they got there, and who were therefore glad of getting any place of rest and security. ”

“ Small steamers cross the lake to Llifen, where there are famous curative sulphur baths.
From Puerto Montt southward is a long series of fiords, islands, indentations and inland channels whose intricacy and extent are unequalled even by the famous fiords of Norway. For natural beauty the Norwegian complex cannot compare with that of Chile, for no woodland exists in Europe that rivals the pathless, luxuriant, flower-hung forests of Chiloé Island, the Andean spurs of Western Patagonia, the broken archipelago of Chonos, and the noble mountains of the Strait of Magellan. ”

“ The eastern or inland side of Chiloe, with its many adjacent islets, consists of tertiary and boulder deposits, worn into irregular plains capped by gravel. Near Castro, and for ten miles southward, and on the islet of Lemuy, I found the surface of the ground to a height of between twenty and thirty feet above high-water mark, and in several places apparently up to fifty feet, thickly coated by much comminuted shells, chiefly of the Venus costellata and Mytilus Chiloensis; the species now most abundant on this line of coast. ”

“ Both men and women of the Spanish population in Chiloé go barefooted, except a few of the principal families who sacrifice convenience to pride; as in a country so continually wet it is safer to go about with naked feet than to have them in wet coverings. The men universally wear the poncho. ”

“ The natives of Chiloe carry on a small woollen manufacture, consisting of ponchoes and other articles of clothing, formerly mentioned. They also export considerable quantities of cedar, both in plank, and wrought up into boxes, chests, desks, and the like, with which they supply all Chili and Peru. They have no European trade; but the Spaniard who came to me from the governor expressed his astonishment that no trading ships ever put in there, saying they had plenty of money among them, with a safe port, free from the danger of going to the northward among the Spanish ships of war ”

“ Opposite Chiloé, on the mainland, is the Palena River, the largest river in Chile. The excessive rains and melting snows from the [114] lofty peaks, which are plainly visible when the mists have cleared away, keep the banks filled with water. Every cloud that sweeps in from the Pacific comes down in rain as soon as it encounters the mountains. The slopes are dotted with wood clear up to the snow-line. The woods here, as well as elsewhere, are seemingly impenetrable. There are many flowering trees which add their beauty to the scene. ”

“ You have not submitted to Lima neither directly nor indirectly, and from the moment the independence of that country was declared under the protectoral Government of San Martin ceased the provisional control that he had upon the squadron.
The province of Conception is almost free of enemies, and I hope Chiloe will be so very soon, to accomplish our greatness. There is a nursery for a good navy, and when you can visit that archipelago you will discover advantages and richness, relieved from the care of indolent and despotic Spain. ”

“ From north to south these are Tacna, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Choapa, Aconcagua, Santiago, Colchagua, Curico, Talca, Concepcion, Cautin, Valdivia, and Llanquihue. Four provinces are maritime, Valparaiso, Maule, Arauco, and Chiloé; their eastern limits are defined by the summits of the Coast Range and do not extend to the central valley. Chiloé is an archipelago. In the littoral provinces the [227] climate is cooler than in others whose latitude is farther south owing to the breezes that blow from the Pacific. ”

“ Among these is a running noose on a long leathern thong, called a lays, which they use with surprising dexterity for catching cattle, horses, or other animals, even when at full career. From all that I could see of the natives of Chiloe, or hear respecting the Chilese, they seem to resemble each other in all things, which is not wonderful, considering the near neighbourhood of this island to the continent of Chili. They use small drums, the heads of which are made of goats skins with the hair on, and give a very dull sound. ”

“ My pilot carried me the contrary way to that here directed, advising me to keep near the main land of Chili, which I did till I got to Carelampo Point, having several small islands to the southward of my course, which proved unfortunate for me by the loss of my anchor. The soil of Chiloe is very fertile, producing all sorts of European fruits and grains, and has fine pasture lands, in which great numbers of cattle are grazed, particularly sheep. The air is wholesome and temperate ”