FOOTNOTES:
[19] In a subsequent report of Viedma's, he says that, when the first accounts of San Joseph's were brought to Monte Video, a merchant of that place, Don Francisco de Medina, fitted out a vessel to go a whaling there, the crew of which, in the first month, harpooned no less than fifty fish within the port.
[20] Their day's journey is usually about four leagues when on a long march.
[21] Captain FitzRoy followed it for nearly 200 miles, and found it a very considerable river the whole way,—never fordable, according to the accounts he received. He must have been very near the lake when he found himself obliged to turn back.
[22] In 1670 Sir John Narborough passed six months at San Julian's; he also visited Port Desire, and took possession of it, with all due form, for his master, Charles II.—Anson was also at both places in 1741, and the account of his voyage contains views of that part of the coast, and of the harbour of San Julian's.
Narborough, who is very precise in his description of the country, gives an account of a geological fact, which is of some interest now-a-days. He says, "Going on shore on the north-west side of the harbour of San Julian's with thirty men, I travelled seven or eight miles over the hills, &c. On the tops of the hills and in the ground are very large oyster-shells; they lie in veins in the earth and in the firm rocks, and on the sides of the hills in the country; they are the biggest oyster-shells that ever I saw, some six, some seven inches broad, yet not one oyster is to be found in the harbour."
[23] The Choleechel is not now a single island, but is divided into two or three, by branches of the river which intersect it. These channels may have been formed since Vallarino's voyage.
[24] Fort Villariño in the map.
[25] The river was probably unusually low even for the season; for Villariño observes in this part of his journal, that it was nearly five months since they had had a rainy day.
[26] Nahuel-huapi signifies the Island of Tigers according to Falkner.
CHAPTER VIII.
SURVEYS AND DISCOVERIES IN THE INTERIOR.
Malaspina Surveys the Shores of the Rio de la Plata in 1789. Bauza maps the Road to Mendoza: De Souillac that to Cordova. Azara, and other Officers, in 1796, fix the positions of all the Forts and Towns in the Province of Buenos Ayres. Don Luis de la Cruz crosses the Pampas, from the frontiers of Conception in Chile to Buenos Ayres, in 1806. Attempt at a new delineation of the Rivers of the Pampas from his Journal. His account of the Volcanic appearances along the Eastern Andes. Sulphur, Coal, and Salt found there, also Fossil Marine Remains. The Indians of Araucanian origin: Habits and customs of the Pehuenches.
Piedra's orders confined him to the east coast of Patagonia, as has been shown in the preceding chapter; but in 1789 Spain sent forth an expedition of much more importance, especially in a scientific point of view.[27]
The ships employed were the Atrevida and Descubierta, under the command of the well-known Malaspina, who not only revised Piedra's and Viedma's surveys of Patagonia, but, rounding Cape Horn, explored the greater part of the coast of the Pacific, from its southern extreme to the Russian settlements in the north-west. Malaspina, upon his return, was thrown into a dungeon and deprived of his papers,—why, has never transpired; nor was it till several years afterwards that those admirable charts, the results of his labours, were published by order of Langara, the Spanish Minister of Marine, which have since been so useful to modern navigators in the South American Seas, and will long be an honour to the Spanish navy. Malaspina's name, however, was not permitted to be affixed to them, neither has the journal of his voyage ever been published.
It is only very recently that the details have been discovered at Buenos Ayres of the first portion of his work, viz., the survey, in 1789, of the whole of the northern and southern shores of the Plate, as high up as the Paranã, in which nearly 150 points were fixed by him. In the Appendix all those of any importance will be found, in a tabular form, together with other positions, determined on good authority.
It was this survey, with the soundings afterwards taken by Oyarvide (who lost his life in completing them), that furnished the materials for the chart of the river Plate, officially published at Madrid in 1810: nor was this all that Buenos Ayres owed to Malaspina: upon his return to Valparaiso from the north-west coast, he detached two of his most intelligent officers, Don José Espinosa, and Don Felipe Bauza, well known in this country, to map the road across the pampas; and by them the true positions of Santiago in Chile, of Mendoza, San Luis, the post of Gutierres on the river Tercero, and other points along the line, were, for the first time, determined. Their map, so far as it extends, is the best, and the only one of that line of country, I believe, ever drawn by any one capable of taking an observation.[28]
Whilst they were thus engaged in fixing one part of the geography of the interior, the Viceroy turned to account the temporary sojourn at Buenos Ayres of some of the officers attached to the commission for laying down the boundaries under the treaty of 1777 with Portugal, and employed them in mapping other portions of the territory under his immediate jurisdiction.
In 1794 M. Sourreyere de Souillac, the astronomer of the third division of that commission, laid down the line of road from Buenos Ayres to Cordova, and fixed the latitude of that city in 31° 26´ 14".
In 1796 Azara, with Cerviño and other officers employed on the same service, made a detailed survey of the frontiers of the province of Buenos Ayres, in the course of which they fixed the positions of all the towns and forts of any importance between Melinqué, its north-western extremity, and the most southern bend of the river Salado, beyond Chascomus. That river they found to have its origin in a lake in latitude 34° 4´ 45", longitude from Buenos Ayres 3° 36´ 32"; it is an insignificant stream, of trivial importance till joined by the Flores.
Thus materials were collected for laying down a considerable portion of country upon the very best authorities; but, like the surveys of the coast, many years were suffered to elapse ere they were made available to the public. Bauza's map was not published till 1810, and it was only in 1822 that the positions fixed by Azara in 1796 appeared for the first time as his in the "Statistical Register," published that year at Buenos Ayres. De Souillac's might have remained unknown for ever, had not Señor de Angelis lately brought them to light; as well as Malaspina's "Fixed Points on the Shores of the River Plate."
But, after all, however valuable were these data in perfecting a knowledge of the country already occupied, they led to no new discoveries, and by far the greater part of the interior of the continent, to the south of the Plate, remained unexplored, till Spain becoming involved in the general war carried on between the great powers in Europe, her colonial subjects on the shores of the Pacific began to experience more or less inconvenience from the stoppage of their ordinary trade. They found that the ships which used to visit them direct from Europe for the most part ran into the river Plate, rather than encounter the increased risk of capture in the longer voyage round Cape Horn; and it became therefore to them an object of considerable importance to shorten, if possible, the over-land journey from thence to the opposite side of the continent, and particularly to the southern parts of Chile.
This led to explorations being set on foot by the public authorities, in the years 1803, 1804, and 1805, the result of which was, the discovery of several new passes over the Cordillera, south of Mendoza, one of which, the pass de las Damas, was examined by the same M. de Souillac, already spoken of, who reported that at a very small expense it might be made practicable for the passage of wheel-carriages. It only remained to be shown whether or not it was possible to travel in a direct line across the pampas from any of those passes to Buenos Ayres.
In this state of things, Don Luis de la Cruz, an enterprising officer who had seen much of the Indians, offered to start from Antuco, in the province of Conception, the most southern of the passes yet known, to endeavour to reach Buenos Ayres by a straight course across the pampas. This proposal was accepted by the Governor of Chile, and in order to secure as far as possible the co-operation of the native tribes, which indeed was absolutely necessary to the success of the undertaking, the Caciques of the Pehuenches, who inhabited the country on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera, were summoned to hold a grand parlamento, or parley, to consider it. There had been long a friendly intercourse between them and the Spaniards, who, moreover, had at times afforded them protection from the attacks of their enemies; they therefore did not hesitate on this occasion to intimate to them that they expected in return all the good offices and aid which they could give to Cruz and his party.
They attended at the time appointed, and after a grave discussion after their fashion, which lasted several days, they agreed to take the expedition under their particular protection, and see it safe to Buenos Ayres; Cruz, on his part, engaging that the Indians who accompanied him should be presented to the Viceroy, rewarded with suitable presents, and sent back in safety to their friends at the conclusion of the service. This pact was ratified with much formality; the hand of Cruz being solemnly placed in that of the most ancient of the Caciques, to signify that thenceforward he was under his special care.
Whist the expedition was preparing, Cruz spent a couple of days in an unsuccessful attempt to get to the summit of the volcano in the vicinity of Antuco, which he describes as being then in continual action, and at times burning so strongly as to be visible from a very considerable distance: but he was stopped, and obliged to turn back, by a heavy fall of rain and snow, considered by the Indians as an interposition of the Deity to prevent the examination of a region which they held it to be forbidden to mortals to approach.
On the 7th of April (1806), all being ready, the party left the fort of Ballenar, near Antuco, to commence their journey. It consisted of twenty persons, viz., Cruz and four officers, a surveyor to measure the daily distances, and fifteen attendants, besides their Indian escort; having with them carts and horses and all things they might want on the way. Striking across the pampas in as direct a course for Buenos Ayres as the nature of the country would permit, in forty-seven days they arrived at Melinqué,[29] the north-western frontier fort of that province, having travelled, according to their measured daily journeys, rather more than 166 leagues;—adding 68 more for the distance between Melinqué and Buenos Ayres, made the total distance from Antuco to that city, by this route, 234 leagues;—being 75 less than the ordinary post-road from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza.
The narrative which Cruz subsequently drew up of this expedition is extremely diffuse, and would be tiresome to most readers from the extreme minuteness with which he has thought it necessary to detail the daily discussions and parleys which, upon every trivial occurrence, took place with the Indians.
In a geographical point of view, the most interesting part of it is that in which he describes the rivers which he crossed after descending the Cordillera; from which I have attempted in the map to give an idea of them, differing, as will be seen, from that hitherto adopted. In this I have been also much guided by the observations, in my possession, of the late Dr. Gillies, my correspondent for many years at Mendoza, who had himself been as far south as the river Diamante, and had taken great pains to collect information respecting the geography of that part of the country.
The old notion was, that nearly all the rivers south of Mendoza uniting in one wide stream, to which the Diamante, as one of the principal affluents, gave its name, ran direct south into the Rio Negro; and this, as I have mentioned in the preceding chapter, was Villariño's idea, and led him, without hesitation, to believe that the great river, whose mouth he explored, and which, he says, he does not doubt would have led him to Mendoza, was the Diamante.
From a careful examination of Cruz's journal, and other data in my possession, I am satisfied this will be found to be an error, and that the great river which flows into the Negro is the Neuquen, which Cruz crossed on the sixth day after he left Antuco, at the place called Butacura, and about eighteen leagues on his journey. The Neuquen[30] is formed by many streams from that part of the Cordillera, all which Cruz names, and the principal of which appear to be the Rinqui-leubú, which descends from the mountain of Pichachen, and further north the Cudi-leubú, the drain of many small rivers. No one, he says, doubts that the Neuquen, from the junction of the Cudi-leubú, is navigable as far as the Rio Negro, and thence to the ocean.
Proceeding in a north-easterly direction, Cruz fell in with another, considerable river, as large, he says, as the Neuquen, called by the Indians the Cobu-leubú,[31] whose sources they reported to be in the Cordillera of Curriliquin, over-against the province of Maule, in Chile; and they spoke of seven rivers which fell into it in its course from the north to the place where the expedition crossed it. Cruz says distinctly it does not fall into the Neuquen, but, changing its southerly course about where they passed it, it ran eastward, in which direction the travellers kept it in view, at times coasting it, for several days, till at a place called Puelec it again turned towards the south, taking thence, as the Indians affirmed, its course to the sea. This river, there can be no doubt whatever, is the Colorado, which falls into the sea a little to the north of the Rio Negro.
The hilly ranges of the Cordillera were found to extend about ten leagues beyond the pass of the Cobu-leubú, above spoken of, after which the pampas commence, which continue unbroken to Buenos Ayres.
Two days after passing Puelec, whence the river Cobu-leubú takes a southerly course, and having gone about seventy-four leagues by their daily computation from Antuco, the travellers reached the river called by the Indians Chadi-leubú, or the Salt River (probably a continuation of the Atuel), which, uniting with the Desaguadero, or Drain of the Diamante, about five leagues below where they crossed it, discharges itself into a vast lake about ten leagues further south, called by the Indians the Urré-lauquen, or the bitter lake.
In old times, according to Dr. Gillies, the Diamante, which he says rises from the eastern base of Cauquenes Peak in the Cordillera, fell into the Atuel a little below Fort San Rafael, where it will be seen on reference to the map that the two rivers very nearly approximate; but about twenty-five years ago it took another course, forming for itself a separate channel, by which it discharges itself into the Desaguadero, which carries to the south the waters of the rivers Tunuyan and Mendoza, and is finally lost with the Chadi-leubú in the great salt lake above mentioned.[32]
The Chadi-leubú, according to Cruz, was one of the most considerable of the rivers he had yet passed. The people and houses crossed it swimming, and the baggage was carried over in a balsa, a sort of hide-raft. It formed the boundary of the lands of the Pehuenches, and many were the debates which ensued amongst Cruz's Indian companions as to the probable view which the tribes in the pampas beyond would take of the expedition.
One day it was the dream of some old woman, another, the augury of a soothsayer, that excited their doubts and alarms, and made them hesitate as to the propriety or not of going on with the Spaniards. In their embarrassment, however, they made a notable discovery, which was no other than that Cruz held constant communication with a spirit which directed him in all his proceedings:—he was observed continually to refer to it, and the spirit, which was his watch, was heard to give out certain mysterious sounds whenever consulted. Cruz had no desire to deceive them, but the impression was not to be got rid of, and it was so far of use that it inspired them with fresh courage to go on.
It was determined, after much consultation, to send forward an embassy to the Caciques of the Ranqueles tribes, who lived in the pampas beyond, and especially to Carripilum, the most influential amongst them, to announce the approach of the expedition, and its peaceable objects, and to endeavour to propitiate them beforehand in its favour. Fortunately, Carripilum was in good humour, and, in the belief that he should get presents in proportion to the importance of the expedition, not only received them with honour, but resolved to accompany them himself to Buenos Ayres, where Cruz assured him the Viceroy would welcome his arrival, and be glad to enter into treaties with him for opening a new road through his territories for the Spaniards trading between Buenos Ayres and Chile.
In twenty-nine days after passing the Chadi-leubú, and in forty-seven after their departure from Antuco, the travellers arrived at the fort of Melinqué, on the north-west frontier of the province of Buenos Ayres; where, whilst halting to refresh themselves, and to allow the Indians to celebrate their safe, arrival, according to their custom, in beastly drunkenness, some straggling soldiers, flying from the rout, brought in the disastrous intelligence of the landing of the British troops under General Beresford, and the fall of Buenos Ayres.
The dismay of poor Cruz at this unexpected intelligence may be easily imagined. Encumbered with a numerous party of Indians who had accompanied him across the continent, far from their homes, in the expectation of the rich presents they were to have upon their arrival at Buenos Ayres, and relying upon promises which it was now totally out of his power to fulfil, he was in the greatest embarrassment.
To proceed was out of the question; and as to going to Cordova, whither it was reported the Viceroy had fled, it was evident that at such a time matters of much more pressing importance would prevent his attending to the objects of the expedition. His resources too were utterly exhausted. The Indians, however, who soon heard reports of what had happened, evinced a degree of good feeling which could hardly have been expected from them under the sore disappointment of their own expectations. Having heard from Cruz a confirmation of the bad news, they at once expressed themselves satisfied that it was impossible for him to fulfil his engagements towards them, and announced their resolution to relieve him from any difficulty on their account by returning whence they came. All they desired was, that he would duly report to the Viceroy that they had faithfully, and as far as they could, fulfilled their engagements, so that they might claim their due reward in better times. The Pehuenches did not part without much lamentation from their Christian friends, and they repeated again and again their readiness to obey any orders the Viceroy might be pleased to send them. Carripilum made the same protestations, and left one of his relations to proceed with Cruz in search of the Viceroy, expressly to make an offer of any aid which the Spaniards might desire from the Indians against the common enemy.
Cruz found the Viceroy at Cordova, who received him with kindness, and paid every attention to the Cacique who accompanied him. He was equipped in a new suit of Spanish clothes, and after a time dismissed with presents and every demonstration of the high estimation in which the Viceroy held the services of Carripilum and his companions.
Don Luis himself, upon the recovery of Buenos Ayres, repaired thither, and drew up the diary of his interesting journey, which, like those of Villariño and Viedma, and many other interesting papers of the same sort, was thenceforward consigned to oblivion in the secret archivo.[33] The various important political events which shortly afterwards began and rapidly succeeded each other were, however, perhaps some excuse for its remaining unnoticed.
In describing the eastern parts of the Cordillera, Cruz says that, at the time he was there, only the volcanoes of Antuco and Villarica were in activity,[34] though the traces of others extinct might be seen in every direction:—the evidences of their ancient eruptions, he says, might be followed for thirty leagues continuously:—he speaks, amongst other volcanic appearances, of hot springs resorted to by the Indians for their medicinal qualities, and says so abundant is the sulphur in all those parts that several rivers are strongly impregnated with it; vast quantities also of bituminous substances are everywhere to be seen, and beyond the Neuquen, he says, there is an abundance of coal.[35] Nor is there good ground for doubting his assertion, since on the opposite side of the Cordillera, in about the same latitude, coal has long been known to exist, and has been occasionally used by the foreign vessels trading with that part of Chile. Near the sources of the Neuquen are mines of rock-salt: in the level lands, also, between that river and the Chadi-leubú, salt may at all times be collected from the surface of the ground, and the intermediate streams are all more or less brackish from its influence.
Fossil marine remains appear to abound amongst the lower ranges of the Cordillera which Cruz passed, not only strewed over the surface at considerable elevations, but deeply imbedded in the soil, as might be seen wherever sections were formed by the courses of the mountain-torrents.
In addition to his description of their country, Cruz has added to his journal some account of the manners and customs of the Pehuenches;[36] those Indians who take their name from the abundance of pine-trees in the lands they occupy, derive their origin from the Araucanian race inhabiting the southern parts of Chile; as indeed do all the wandering tribes found in the pampas from the frontiers of Mendoza and Cordova to the Rio Negro in the south:—they all speak a common language, and, if their customs in any degree vary, it will only be found to arise from the greater or less distance they are removed from their original stock, or as they are brought into occasional contact with their Christian neighbours. Divided and subdivided into innumerable petty tribes, or rather family groups, they wander from place to place in quest of pasturage for the sheep and cattle which constitute their sole possessions; continually quarrelling and fighting with each other, and rarely united by any common object save to make some occasional plundering expedition against the defenceless properties of the Spaniards on the frontiers. Such at least are the habits of those generally known as the Pampas, and Ranqueles, tribes; but of them I shall speak more particularly in the next chapter.
The Pehuenches, whose customs Cruz describes, appear to be a somewhat better race. They are not so far removed from their original stock in Araucania; and their vicinity to the Spaniards of Chile, and friendly intercourse with them, has had a manifest influence in modifying their original habits.
In person they are described as fine men, stouter and taller than the inhabitants of the plains, but, like all the Indians of the same stock, in the habit of disgustingly bedaubing and disfiguring their faces with paint. They wear a sort of cloak over the neck and shoulders, with another square cloth fastened round the loins, and those who can get them, little conical hats bought from the Spaniards, and the same sort of boots as are made by the gauchos of Buenos Ayres from the dried skin of a horse's leg fitted to the foot. The bridles of their horses are beautifully plaited, and often ornamented with silver: spurs of the same material are in great request amongst them, and are eagerly purchased of the Spaniards.
The women as well as the men paint themselves: their chief ornaments consist of as many gold or silver rings as they can collect upon the fingers, and large ear-rings, resembling both in size and shape a common English brass padlock.
Their habitations consist of tents made of hides sewn together, which are easily set up and moved from place to place. Their principal food is the flesh of mares and colts, which they prefer to any other; if they add anything in the shape of cakes or bread, it is made from maize and corn obtained from the Spaniards in exchange for salt and cattle, and blankets, of the manufacture of their women, for it is rarely they remain long enough in the same place to sow and reap themselves.
Their Caciques or Ulmenes, as they call them, are generally chosen either for their superior valour or wisdom in speech—occasionally, but not always, the honour descends from father to son: they have but little authority in the tribe, except in time of war, when all submit implicitly to their direction.
They are not, however, entirely without laws and punishments for certain crimes, such as murder, adultery, theft, and witchcraft. Thus he who kills another is condemned to be put to death by the relations of the deceased, or to pay them a suitable compensation. The woman taken in adultery is also punishable with death by her husband, unless her relations can otherwise satisfy him. The thief is obliged to pay for what he is convicted of stealing; and, if he has not the means, his relations must pay for him. As to those accused of witchcraft, they are burnt alive with very little ceremony; and such executions are of frequent occurrence, inasmuch as a man rarely dies a natural death but it is ascribed to the machinations of some one in communication with the evil spirit. The relatives of the deceased, in their lamentations, generally denounce some personal enemy as having brought about his end, and little more is necessary to ensure his condemnation by the whole tribe: sometimes in his agony the unhappy victim names others as his accomplices, and, if the dead man be of any importance amongst them, they too are often sacrificed to his manes in the same barbarous manner.
As to their religion, they believe in a God, the creator and ruler of all things, though they have no form of worship: they also believe in the influence of an evil spirit, to whom they attribute any ill that befalls them. They consider that God has sent them into the world to do right or wrong as they please; that, when the body perishes, the soul becomes immortal, and flies to a place beyond the seas, where there is an abundance of all things, and where husbands and wives meet, and live happily together again.
On the occasion of their funerals, that they may want for nothing in the other world to which they have been used in this, their clothing and accoutrements, and arms, are buried with them; sometimes a stock of provisions is added; and when a Cacique is buried his horses are also slain and stuffed with straw, and set upright over his grave. The internment is conducted with more or less ceremony, according to the rank of the deceased:—if he be a man of weight amongst them, not only his relations, but all the principal persons of the tribe, assemble and hold a great drinking-bout over his grave, at which the more drink, the more honour.
They have great faith in dreams, especially in those of their ancients and Caciques, to whom they believe they are sent as revelations for the guidance of the tribe on important occasions; and they seldom undertake any affair, either of personal or general importance, without much consultation with their diviners and old women as to the omens which may have been observed.
Marriage is an expensive ceremony to the bridegroom, who if obliged to make rich presents, sometimes all he is worth, to the parents of his love, before he obtains their consent. Thus daughters are a source of sure wealth to their parents, whilst those who have only sons are often ruined by the assistance which is required from them on these occasions. Such as can afford it take more wives than one, but the first has always precedence in the household arrangements, and so on in succession.
When a child is born it is taken with the mother immediately to the nearest stream, in which after both are bathed, the mother returns to her household duties, and takes part in preparing for the feast that follows.
In almost all these habits, the Pehuenches appear to fellow the Araucanians, of whose manners and customs Molina has given a full account in his History of Chile.
The mother of one of my servants lived seven years amongst these savages, and confirmed Cruz's account on all the points I have here stated. In general, she said, she was as kindly treated by them as was possible under the circumstances:—she had been taken by the Pampas Indians, and by them sold to the Pehuenches, that she might have less chance of escaping and ever reaching her own home again. Men, women, and children, she said, lived much more on horseback than on foot.
A knowledge of their language might assist much to make us better acquainted with their country, for their nomenclature of places, as well as of persons, is rarely insignificant. I have already stated that the Pehuenches derive their name from pehuen, the pine-tree, which abounds on the slopes of the Cordillera where they dwell. The Ranqueles are so called from ranquel, the thistle, which covers the plains which they inhabit. The Picunches take their name from picun, the north. The Puelches signify the people to the east, and the Huilliches those to the south: che means people.
The following will serve as examples of some of the appellations of their Caciques:—Culucalquin, the Eagle; Maripil, the Viper; Ancapichui, the Partridge; Quilquil, the Little Bird; Guayquiante, the Sun; Cari-mangue, the Condor; Antu-mangue, the Ostrich; Pichi-mangue, the Vulture; Paine-mangue, the Old Condor.