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. 42° 4' S. being about thirty leagues in length from N. to S. and not above six or seven leagues from E. to W.[259] It is watered by several rivers, and produces many kinds of useful trees, yielding an agreeable prospect, by the great number of Indian farms and plantations dispersed at small distances from each other, on rising grounds among the woods. Within this great island there is an archipelago or cluster of smaller islands, the number of which is not well known; yet the smallest of these is said to be well inhabited, and to abound in cattle. Among these islands there are very uncertain and violent currents, which are by no means safe. I would recommend all strangers to go in at the north end of the great island, giving the northern point of the island a good birth, and then to keep the island side of the channel on board, running along shore to the southward (eastward). Passing two bays, which seem commodious, you come to a point, almost contiguous to which is a high rock, somewhat like a pyramid; and passing between that rock and a small high island near it, you run directly into a harbour resembling the mouth of a river, which forms a safe anchorage. In going in, take care not to come nearer shore than having the depth of five fathoms, as the nearer to the small island the less water; wherefore keep the lead going, and be bold with the shore towards the north side of the harbour, which has the greatest depth, while the south side is shoaly.[260]
[Footnote 259: Chiloe reaches from lat. 41° 50' to 43° 50', both S. and from long. 73° 18' to 74° 24', both W. extending 135 English miles in extreme length, by 35 in medium breadth. See vol. V. p. 592, for an account of the Archipelago of Chiloe.--E.]
[Footnote 260: Shelvocke seems here to describe the harbour leading to the town or village of San Carlos.--E.]
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; yet I suspect the winter may be rigorous, being bounded on the west by an immense ocean, without any land to screen it from the cold moist vapours brought thither by the tempestuous westerly winds, which generally reign in these latitudes, and which must render it uncomfortable in the winter months, as the parallels of latitude to the south of the equator are much colder than those in the same degrees to the northwards.
In this island they have abundance of very handsome middle-sized horses, which the natives are said to manage with great dexterity. They have also an animal, called guanaco or carneso de tierra, that is, sheep of the country, which very much resembles a camel, but not nearly so large. They have long necks, and I have seen one of them between five and six feet high. Their wool or soft hair is very fine. They smell very rank, and move with a very slow majestic pace, which hardly any violence can make them quicken; yet they are of great service at the mines in Peru, where they are employed in carrying the ore and other things. Their flesh is very coarse, as we experienced, having salted some of them for our future use. Besides these, the inhabitants have European sheep and great numbers of hogs, but not many black cattle. The island has plenty of fowls, both wild and tame. Among the former is a small species of goose, found on the banks of the rivers, which are beautifully white, and of an excellent taste. The tame poultry are of the same kinds with our own.
The natives are almost in all respects the same with those on the continent of Chili, of moderate stature, with deep olive complexions, and coarse shaggy black hair, some of them having by no means disagreeable features. They seem naturally of fierce and warlike dispositions; but the oppressions of the Spaniards, and the artifices of the jesuits, who are the missionaries in these parts, have curbed and broken their spirits. Frezier says, that the Indians on the continent, to the southward of this island, are called Chonos, who go quite naked; and that there is a race of men of extraordinary size in the inland parts of the country, called Cacahues,[261] who are in amity with the Chonos, and sometimes accompany them to the Spanish settlements in Chiloe. Frezier says, that he has been credibly informed by eye-witnesses, that some of these were about nine or ten feet high. I had sight of two of these Indians, who came from the southward of St Domingo river, one of whom was a cacique, who did not seem to me to differ in their persons from the ordinary natives of Chiloe. They were decently clothed in ponchos, monteras, and poulains. The poncho is a sort of square carpet, having a slit or hole cut in the middle, wide enough to slip over the head, so that it hangs down over the shoulders, half before and half behind, under which they generally wear a short doublet. On their heads they have a montera, or cap nearly like those of our postillions, and their legs are covered by the poulains, a kind of knit buskins, or hose without feet. In short, their appearance has little or none of the savage. Their habitations are firmly built of planks, but have no chimneys, so that they are very black and sooty within.
[Footnote 261: See an account of the native tribes, inhabiting the southern extremity of South America, vol. V. p. 401.]
They inclose some of their land for cultivation, by means of rails or paling; and although they have plenty of every thing necessary to a comfortable subsistence, they have no bread, from wanting mills in which to grind and prepare their wheat They use a miserable substitute, making a kind of cakes of sea-weeds, which from use is much esteemed by them, and was not even disliked by some of our men. Besides this, they prepare their maize in several manners to answer the purpose of bread, and they use potatoes and other roots with the same intention. They prepare a liquor called chicha from their Indian corn, in imitation of their neighbours on the continent of Chili; but the Spaniards endeavor to curb their propensity to the use of this liquor, as their drinking bouts have often occasioned seditions and revolts. Such of the natives as have no European weapons, use pikes, darts, and other arms of the country. 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.
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; as a great deal of business might be done here, before intelligence could be sent as far as Lima, and the ships could be fitted out and sent so great a way to wind-ward. It is observed of the Chilese, that, differing from all other nations ever heard of, they have no notion of a Supreme Being, and consequently have no kind of worship; and they are such enemies to civil society that they never live together in towns and villages, so that their country seems thinly inhabited, though very populous, the whole nation being dispersed in farms at a good distance, every family having its own plantation, and raising its own necessaries.
Though thus scattered, they are not wholly independent, each tribe being subject to a chief, called a cacique, whose dwelling is conveniently situated among them, for the more speedy summoning them together on affairs of importance. This is done by the sound of a sort of horn, on hearing which all his vassals repair to him without delay. The chief commands them in war, and has an absolute power of dispensing justice among his subjects, who all consider themselves as his relations, he being as it were the head of his family, and his authority hereditary. In all these respects the inhabitants of Chiloe resemble their neighbours on the continent, excepting that their caciques are stript in a great measure of their power and influence, by the tyranny of the Spaniards, who keep them under the most servile slavery, while the missionaries blind them by a superstitious and imperfect conversion to Christianity, of which not one of these natives know any thing more than merely that they were baptized; all their devotion consisting of mere idolatry of the cross, or the images of saints; for the Spanish clergy use no manner of pains to enlighten their minds, but probably think it better, by keeping them in ignorance, to make them more contented under the rigorous government of the Spaniards. Under this delusion, the caciques have changed their lawful prerogatives for the vain ostentation of being allowed to wear a silver-headed cane, which places them on a footing outwardly with a Spanish captain. Yet have they sometimes rebelled against their proud oppressors, deeming death preferable to slavery, as may be seen in the account of Frezier's voyage.