TRAVELS IN PERU.

CHAPTER I.

Embarkation at Havre—The Voyage—Arrival at the Island of Chiloe—Landing—The Gyr-Falcon—Punta Arena—The Island of Chiloe described—Climate and Cultivation—Cattle—The Bay—San Carlos—The Governor's House—Poverty and Wretchedness of the Inhabitants of the Town—Strange method of Ploughing—Coasting Vessels—Smuggling—Zoology—Departure from Chiloe.

On the 27th of February, 1838, I sailed from Havre-de-Grace on board the "Edmond." This vessel, though a French merchantman, was freighted with a cargo of Swiss manufactured goods, suited to any commercial transactions which might be entered into in the course of a circumnavigatory voyage. It was a boisterous morning. A fall of snow and heavy clouds soon intercepted our view of the coast of France, and not one cheering sunbeam shone out to betoken for us a favorable voyage. We passed down the British Channel, where the multitude of vessels, and the flags of all nations, presented an enlivening picture, and we finally cleared it on the 5th of March. Favored by a brisk north wind, we soon reached Madeira and came in sight of Teneriffe, the peak being just perceptible on the skirt of the horizon. Easterly breezes soon brought us to the island of Fogo, which, having passed on the 35th day of our voyage, we received the usual marine baptism, and participated in all the ceremoniesobserved on crossing the equator. We soon reached the tropic of Capricorn, and endeavored to gain the channel between the Falkland Islands and Patagonia; but unfavorable winds obliged us to direct our course eastwards, from the Island of Soledad to the Staten Islands. On the 3d of March we made the longitude of Cape Horn, but were not able to double it until we got into the 60th degree of south latitude. In those dangerous waters, where it is admitted by the boldest English sailors that the waves rage more furiously than in any other part of the world, we encountered great risk and difficulty. For twenty-two days we were driven about on the fearfully agitated sea, southward of Tierra del Fuego, and were only saved from being buried in the deep, by the excellent build and soundness of our ship.

We suffered much, and were long delayed by this storm; but when it subsided, a smart breeze sprang up from the southward, and we held our course along the Pacific to the coast of Chile. After a voyage of 99 days we cast anchor on Sunday the 5th of June, in the Bay of San Carlos. Like the day of our departure from Europe, that of our arrival off Chiloe was gloomy and overcast. Heavy clouds obscured the long-looked-for island, and its picturesque shore could only be seen, when, at intervals, the wind dispersed the dark atmospheric veil. We had no sooner cast anchor than several boats came alongside rowed by Indians, who offered us potatoes, cabbage, fish, and water, in exchange for tobacco. Only those who have been long at sea can form an idea of the gratification which fresh provisions, especially vegetables, afford to the weary voyager. In a couple of hours, the harbor-master came on board to examine the ship, the cargo, &c., and to give us permission to go ashore. The long-boat being got out, and well manned, we stepped into it, and were conveyed to the harbor. The Bay of San Carlos being shallow, large ships, or vessels, heavily laden, are obliged to go three English miles or more from the landing-place before they can anchor. Our boat was gaily decorated and newly painted; but this was mere outside show, for it was in a very unsound condition. During our passage through the tropics, the sun had melted the pitch between the planks of the boat, which lay on the deck keel uppermost. In this crazy boat, we had scarcely got a quarter of a league from the ship, when the water rushed in so forcibly through all the cracks and fissures, that it was soon more than ankle deep. Unluckily the sailors had forgotten to put on board a bucket or anything for baling out the water, so that we were obliged to use our hats and boots for that purpose. Fourteen persons were crowded together in this leaky boat, and the water continued rising, until at length we began to be seriously apprehensive for our safety, when, fortunately, our situation was observed by the people on shore. They promptly prepared to send out a boat to our assistance, but just as it was got afloat, we succeeded in reaching the pier, happy once more to set our feet on terra firma.

Our first business was to seek shelter and refreshment. There is no tavern in San Carlos, but there is a sort of substitute for one, kept by an old Corsican, named Filippi, where captains of ships usually take up their quarters. Filippi, who recognized an old acquaintance in one of our party, received us very kindly, and showed us to apartments which certainly had no claim to the merits of either cleanliness or convenience. They were long, dark, quadrangular rooms, without windows, and were destitute of any article of furniture, except a bed in a kind of recess.

As soon as I got on shore, I saw a multitude of small birds of prey. They keep in flocks, like our sparrows, hopping about everywhere, and perching on the hedges and house-tops. I anxiously wished for an opportunity to make myself better acquainted with one of them. Presuming that shooting in the town might be displeasing to the inhabitants, who would naturally claim to themselves a sort of exclusive sporting right, I took my gun down to the sea-shore, and there shot one of the birds. It belonged to the Gyr-Falcon family (Polyboriniæ), and was one of the species peculiar to South America (Polyborus chimango, Vieil). The whole of the upper part of the body is brown, but single feathers here and there have a whitish-brown edge. On the tail are several indistinct oblique stripes. The under-part of the body is whitish-brown, and is also marked with transverse stripes feebly defined. The bird I shot measured from the point of the beak to the end of the tail 1 foot 6¹⁄₂ inches. Though these Gyr-Falcons live socially together, yet they are very greedy and contentious about their prey. They snap up, as food, all the offal thrown out of doors; and thus they render themselves serviceable to the inhabitants, who consequently do not destroy them. In some of the valleys of Peru, I met with these birds again, but very rarely and always single and solitary. I continued my excursions on the sea-shore, but with little satisfaction, for the pouring rain had driven animals of every kind to their lurking-holes. After a few days, I went on board the "Edmond," for the purpose of visiting Punta Arena, a town on the side of the bay, whither our boat used to be sent for fresh water. The ground surrounding the spring whence the ships obtain supplies of water, is sandy, and it becomes exceedingly marshy further inland. After wandering about for a few hours, I found myself quite lost in a morass, out of which I had to work my way with no little difficulty. The whole produce of my hard day's sport consisted of an awlbeak, a small dark-brown bird (Opethiorhyncus patagonicus), and some land-snails. On our return, as we were nearing the ship, we killed a seal (Otaria chilensis, Müll.), which was rising after a dive, close to the boat.

On the 22d of June, all our ship's company were on board by order of the captain. We weighed anchor, and cruized about for some time. At length, about five in the afternoon, we returned, and the ship was anchored again precisely on the spot she had left a few hours before. It was set down in the log-book that the wind was not sufficiently favorable to allow the ship to pass out safely through the narrow entrance to the bay. But all on board were well aware that this was merely a pretence on the part of the captain, who, for some reason or other, wished to stop longer at San Carlos.

I was very much pleased at this opportunity of prolonging my stay at the Island of Chiloe, hoping that better weather would enable me to make an excursion into the interior. But the sky still continued overcast, and the rain poured incessantly. One day, however, I undertook a journey to Castro, in company with the French Chargé d'Affaires to Peru, one of my fellow passengers on the voyage. A merchant accommodated us with two horses, saddled in the Chilian manner; but he warned us to be on our guard, as horses were often restive when just returned from their summer pasturage. We set off very promisingly. The commencement of our ride was pleasant enough, though the road was steep and very difficult. It sometimes lay over smooth slippery stones, then through deep marshes, or over scattered logs of wood, which bore evidence of attempts to render the ground passable, by this rude kind of paving. After we had ridden for several hours in the forest, the rain checked our further progress, and we turned, to retrace our way back. Our horses seemed well pleased with the project of returning home. For a time they proceeded with wonderful steadiness; but on coming to a part of the road where the ground was comparatively level and firm, they quickened their pace, and at length dashed forward through the wood, uncontrolled by the bridle. The long narrow saddle, with its woollen covering, the crescent-shaped wooden stirrups, and the heavy spurs, with their clumsy rowels, baffled all our skill in horsemanship, and it was with no little difficulty we kept our seats. We thought it best to give the animals the rein, and they galloped through the umbrageous thickets, until at last, panting and breathless, they stuck in a morass. Here we recovered our control over them, and pursued the remainder of our journey without further accident, though we were drenched to the skin on our return to the town.