Landing at midday, we saw a family of pure Indian extraction. The
father was singularly like York Minster; and some of the younger boys,
with their ruddy complexions, might have been mistaken for Pampas
Indians. Everything I have seen, convinces me of the close connexion
of the different American tribes, who nevertheless speak distinct
languages. This party could muster but little Spanish, and talked to
each other in their own tongue. It is a pleasant thing to see the
aborigines advanced to the same degree of civilization, however low
that may be, which their white conquerors have attained. More to the
south we saw many pure Indians: indeed, all the inhabitants of some of
the islets retain their Indian surnames. In the census of 1832, there
were in Chiloe and its dependencies forty-two thousand souls; the
greater number of these appear to be of mixed blood. Eleven thousand
retain their Indian surnames, but it is probable that not nearly all of
these are of a pure breed. Their manner of life is the same with that
of the other poor inhabitants, and they are all Christians; but it is
said that they yet retain some strange superstitious ceremonies, and
that they pretend to hold communication with the devil in certain
caves. Formerly, every one convicted of this offence was sent to the
Inquisition at Lima. Many of the inhabitants who are not included in
the eleven thousand with Indian surnames, cannot be distinguished by
their appearance from Indians. Gomez, the governor of Lemuy, is
descended from noblemen of Spain on both sides; but by constant
intermarriages with the natives the present man is an Indian. On the
other hand the governor of Quinchao boasts much of his purely kept
Spanish blood.
We reached at night a beautiful little cove, north of the island of
Caucahue. The people here complained of want of land. This is partly
owing to their own negligence in not clearing the woods, and partly to
restrictions by the government, which makes it necessary, before buying
ever so small a piece, to pay two shillings to the surveyor for
measuring each quadra (150 yards square), together with whatever price
he fixes for the value of the land. After his valuation the land must
be put up three times to auction, and if no one bids more, the
purchaser can have it at that rate. All these exactions must be a
serious check to clearing the ground, where the inhabitants are so
extremely poor. In most countries, forests are removed without much
difficulty by the aid of fire; but in Chiloe, from the damp nature of
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