some little education, he bitterly complained of the total want of
society. With no particular zeal for religion, no business or pursuit,
how completely must this man's life be wasted! The next day, on our
return, we met seven very wild-looking Indians, of whom some were
caciques that had just received from the Chilian government their
yearly small stipend for having long remained faithful. They were
fine-looking men, and they rode one after the other, with most gloomy
faces. An old cacique, who headed them, had been, I suppose, more
excessively drunk than the rest, for he seemed extremely grave and very
crabbed. Shortly before this, two Indians joined us, who were
travelling from a distant mission to Valdivia concerning some lawsuit.
One was a good-humoured old man, but from his wrinkled beardless face
looked more like an old woman than a man. I frequently presented both
of them with cigars; and though ready to receive them, and I dare say
grateful, they would hardly condescend to thank me. A Chilotan Indian
would have taken off his hat, and given his "Dios le page!" The
travelling was very tedious, both from the badness of the roads, and
from the number of great fallen trees, which it was necessary either to
leap over or to avoid by making long circuits. We slept on the road,
and next morning reached Valdivia, whence I proceeded on board.
A few days afterwards I crossed the bay with a party of officers, and
landed near the fort called Niebla. The buildings were in a most
ruinous state, and the gun-carriages quite rotten. Mr. Wickham
remarked to the commanding officer, that with one discharge they would
certainly all fall to pieces. The poor man, trying to put a good face
upon it, gravely replied, "No, I am sure, sir, they would stand two!"
The Spaniards must have intended to have made this place impregnable.
There is now lying in the middle of the courtyard a little mountain of
mortar, which rivals in hardness the rock on which it is placed. It
was brought from Chile, and cost 7000 dollars. The revolution having
broken out, prevented its being applied to any purpose, and now it
remains a monument of the fallen greatness of Spain.
I wanted to go to a house about a mile and a half distant, but my guide
said it was quite impossible to penetrate the wood in a straight line.
He offered, however, to lead me, by following obscure cattle-tracks,
the shortest way: the walk, nevertheless, took no less than three
hours! This man is employed in hunting strayed cattle; yet, well as he
must know the woods, he was not long since lost for two whole days, and
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