_ON THE COAST OF CHILI._
On anchoring at Valparaiso on the 16th May, the first news we heard was
that the country was in a great state of excitement, anent the war in
which Chili was then engaged with Peru and Bolivia. All the available
troops and men-of-war had been despatched to the seat of war in the
north, leaving the capital in almost a defenceless condition, so that
great fears were entertained lest one of the Peruvian cruisers should
take advantage of this to bombard the town. The last detachment sent
off consisted of the town police, and at the time of our visit the
maintenance of order in the streets, and the manning of the guns of the
forts, had been entrusted to the corps of "Bomberos" (fire brigade).
The principal part of the town is built on a plateau about ten feet
above high-water mark, which forms a margin to the curving shore of
the bay, and reaches inland for a few hundred yards. Beyond this the
outskirts of the town are disposed irregularly over a number of steep
ridges, which converge radially on the town from the mountain range
behind. There was one principal street running more or less parallel
with the shore, and containing fine-looking shops well supplied with
everything needful, but the second-rate ones were very dingy in
comparison. Owing to the great stagnation of trade brought about by
the war, and the consequent scarcity of money amongst consumers,
the prices of provisions were very moderate, although under normal
conditions Valparaiso is famous among Europeans for its high prices.
Fruit also and vegetables were in great abundance, and large bunches of
delicious grapes were to be had for almost a nominal price.
One remarkable feature of Valparaiso is that within the precincts of
the town a considerable number of people of the very lowest grade live
in a sort of gipsy encampment. The buildings which they here occupy are
filthy nondescript hovels, constructed out of a patchwork of mud, bits
of tin, old planks, discarded doors, pieces of sackcloth, etc., all
stuck up together anyhow. Even in the respectable quarter of the town
these filthy dens were sometimes to be seen occupying blind alleys, or
the site of razed buildings.
Sir George Nares left us here to return home by mail-steamer, on
appointment to the Marine and Harbour Department of the Board of Trade,
and was relieved in command of the _Alert_ by Captain J. F. L. P.
Maclear.
After wishing him good-bye on the 18th of May, we got under way and
steered for Coquimbo. On gaining an offing of about ten miles, and
looking in towards the Chilian coast, to which we were then pursuing
a parallel course, we saw the lowlands partially veiled in a thin
stratum of mist, above which towered magnificently the snowy summit
of Aconcagua, 23,220 feet in height. As we approached the Bay of
Coquimbo, we passed through immense shoals of fishes, which sheered off
in great confusion to either side of our bows with the parting waves.
On subsequently hauling in the "patent log," it was found that the
revolving blades had disappeared, the towing-line having been chopped
in two just above its attachment. This was probably the work of some
hungry and indiscriminating shark, whose stomach must have been put to
a severe trial in endeavouring to digest this angular and unwholesome
piece of metal.
The port of Coquimbo, where we stayed from the 19th of May to the
16th of July, derives whatever importance it has got from being one
of the best (if not the very best) of the anchorages on the Chilian
coast, and from its connection with the copper trade. It is brought
into communication with the mines and smelting works by means of a
line of railway, which, independently of its collateral branches,
pierces the copper-producing country to a distance of sixty miles. The
copper, either in the form of ingots, bars, or regulus, is shipped to
Europe--principally to England--in steamers or sailing vessels. The
country, as far as the eye can reach from the anchorage, is a mere
sandy desert, dotted here and there with an odd oasis of cultivated
land, which has been rendered productive by means of artificial
irrigation. Trees are rare; but within the last few years the
eucalyptus has been introduced, and with great success. In properly
irrigated localities it thrives and grows with great rapidity,--in
half-a-dozen years rising to a height of sixty feet,--and forming
masses of foliage, which, by the shade it affords, increases the
productiveness of the neighbouring soil.
Coquimbo has been rendered celebrated for its shell terraces by the
writings of Darwin, Basil Hall, and others. These are long plateaux of
variable size, sometimes a couple of hundred yards, sometimes a mile
in width, with their sharply-defined free margins running more or less
parallel to the curved outline of the sea beach, and extending inland
by a series of gradations, like the tiers of boxes in a theatre. There
are five or six of these terraces; that furthest inland being about 250
feet above the sea-level, and its free margin being about six miles
from the beach. They are of entirely marine origin, and abound in
shells of existing species, and they testify to the different periods
of elevation to which this part of the continent has been subjected.
On the night of the 2nd of June we felt a slight shock of earthquake.
The cable rattled in the hawse-pipe as if it were being violently
shaken below by some giant who had got hold of the other end; and the
ship vibrated and surged up and down as if she had been struck by a
wave coming vertically from the bottom of the sea. The shock lasted
about ten seconds, and then all was again silent. Earthquakes of this
magnitude are of common occurrence in Chili.
One day a large party of us went on a shooting excursion to Las Cardas,
an estate occupying a mountain valley thirty-six miles from Coquimbo,
and belonging to Mr. Lambert, an English gentleman. For this trip we
were indebted to Mr. Weir, the courteous manager of Mr. Lambert's
mines, smelting works, and estate, who not only provided a special
train to convey us to the shooting ground, but entertained us there
most sumptuously. The estate of "Las Cardas" lies at the termination
of the southernmost part of the two valleys which open into the Bay
of Coquimbo, and beyond this station the railway pursues its further
course over the brow of a hill called the "Cuesta," which it ascends by
a series of zigzags. Although its route here appears, at first sight,
circuitous enough, the gradient of the incline is an average of one
in thirty feet, ranging as high as one in twenty-five. We found it
interesting to stop for a while at the station and watch our departing
train trailing along its zigzag course up the hillside, as it steamed
on towards the inland terminus of the line, viz., "Rio Grande," which
was some thirty miles further on. The "Rio Grande" station is 2,000
feet above the level of the Coquimbo terminus at the other end.
In the bed of a broad valley, and in the gullies communicating with it
laterally from the hills, we expected to get a good many partridges;
but owing to the thickness of the brushwood, and the absence of dogs,
we saw very few, and shot fewer still. However, we were assured that
the birds were there, and only wanted proper stirring up to make them
visible; so that as we were every minute expecting that the next moment
a great covey would start up from the bushes, and consequently kept our
guns ready for action, we managed to keep up the requisite amount of
excitement for several hours without materially violating the spirit
of the regulations of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Society.
In the evening we assembled at a clump of trees, which seemed to be a
favourite roosting-place for doves; and as the birds came down from
the hills to take up their quarters for the night, they afforded us
some very nice shooting while the daylight lasted. The most interesting
birds which I noticed in the valley were two species of _Pteroptochus_,
the smaller of which was almost identical in general character with
the _Tapaculo_ of Coquimbo, where it inhabits the low rocky hills, and
attracts attention by its barking noise, and by the odd manner in which
it erects its tail. Although the barking noise is heard frequently,
and sometimes within a few yards of one, yet the bird itself is seen
comparatively rarely. The bird of Las Cardas, however, might with a
little care be seen, whilst uttering its odd programme of noises, as
it stood under the overhanging branches of some large bush. On being
startled it makes off in a peculiar manner, taking long strides rather
than hops, and moving in a series of sharp curves in and out among the
bushes. In adapting itself to these curves, the body of the bird is
inclined considerably to the inner side, so that in this position, with
its long legs and great clumsy tail, it forms a truly grotesque object.
Examples of the larger species of Pteroptochus (_P. albicollis_) were
generally to be seen in pairs, perched on the summit of a tall bush,
the white throat and white stripes over the eye showing conspicuously.
We sailed from Coquimbo on the 16th of July, and shaped our course
for the Islands Felix and Ambrose, which lie about five hundred miles
to the north-west of Coquimbo. The object of this cruise was to take
some deep-sea soundings between the mainland and the above-mentioned
islands. The weather was, for the most part, very unfavourable, the
ship rolling and kicking diabolically, and making our lives very
miserable. On the afternoon of the 20th, St. Ambrose, the eastward
island of the two, hove in sight, but as the day was too far advanced
to admit of our landing, we "lay-to" about six miles to windward
of it. Viewing the island at this distance from the eastward, it
presented the appearance of a roughly cubical flat-topped mass of
rock, leaning slightly to the northward, and bounded--so far as one
could see--by perpendicular cliffs of a gloomy and forbidding aspect,
which rose to an altitude of 1,500 feet. As we approached the island
on the following morning its appearance by no means improved, and
nowhere could be seen any break in the rampart of lofty cliffs, which
seemed to forbid our disturbing their solitude. We looked in vain
for the "sheltered cove," where, as the sailing instructions say,
"there is good landing for boats at all times of the year." After
making the circuit of the island, we "lay-to" about a mile from the
N.E. cliff, and two boats were sent to reconnoitre, in one of which
I took passage. After pulling a considerable distance along the foot
of the cliffs, we at length succeeded, though with great difficulty,
in landing at the foot of a spur of basaltic rock, which sloped down
from the cliffs at a high angle. The first thing that attracted our
attention was a grotesque-looking crab (_Grapsus variegatus_), of a
reddish-brown colour, mottled on the carapace with yellow spots. It
scuttled about in a most independent way, and seemed quite indifferent
as to whether it trotted over the bottoms of the rock pools, or ran
up the steep face of the rock to a height of forty feet above the
water-line. Sea-birds innumerable flew about us in all directions, but
on careful inspection we could only muster up three different species;
viz., a large white-winged gannet (_Sula_), a plump dark-coloured
petrel (_Œstrelata defilippiana_), and a slender white and grey
tern (_Anous_).[1] The petrels were nesting in the rock crevices. The
nest consisted of a few withered twigs and dirty feathers, forming
a very scanty bed on the hard rock, and containing a solitary white
egg. The birds stuck bravely to their nests, and would not relinquish
their charge until, with bill and claws, they had given an account of
themselves, calculated to rather astonish an incautious intruder.
Nevertheless, I subsequently ascertained, by dissection of specimens
taken from the nests, that both male and female birds take part in
the duty of hatching. The rock in this locality was almost completely
sterile; only three or four plants (stunted undershrubs) were found,
which eked out a miserable existence among fragments of crumbling rock.
[1] These and other birds collected during the cruise have been
described and determined by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, the distinguished
ornithologist of the British Museum.
The island is of volcanic formation. The cliffs which we examined
displayed a section, fully 1,000 feet deep, of various layers of
tuff, laterite, and scoriæ, which, for the most part, stretched out
horizontally, and were intersected in every conceivable direction by
dykes of basalt. In some places ridges or spurs of rock projected
like buttresses from the vertical cliff; and where we landed the spur
was composed of a vertical dyke of basalt flanked by a crumbling
scoriaceous rock, which latter was being worn away by the action
of waves and weather much more rapidly than its core of basalt.
The columnar blocks of which the basalt was composed were bedded
horizontally; _i.e._, at right angles to the plane of the dyke, so
that the appearance of the whole was strikingly suggestive of an
immense stone staircase. After a stay of an hour and a half we were
signalled to return on board, as Captain Maclear was obliged to get
under way, and accordingly at half-past twelve we were sailing away to
the southward, leaving this comparatively unknown island as a prize for
future explorers.
In the course of this cruise we were followed by great numbers of
petrels, among which were the giant petrel (_Ossifraga gigantea_), the
Cape pigeon (_Daption capensis_), and two species of _Thalassidroma_
(I think _T. leucogaster_ and _T. wilsoni_). I noticed on this, as
on several subsequent occasions, that the little storm petrel is in
the habit of kicking the water with one leg when it is skimming the
surface in searching for its food. This movement is usually seen most
clearly when the sea presents a slightly undulating surface; and when
the bird strikes the water in performing a slight curve in its flight,
one can see that it is invariably the _outer_ leg that is used. The
object of this manœuvre seems to be to give the body sufficient
upward impulse to prevent the wings from becoming wetted in rising from
near the surface. I have often observed the Atlantic storm petrels
steady themselves on the water with both legs together, but have never
seen them perform this one-legged "kick," like their congeners of the
Pacific. There are contradictory statements in natural history works
as to whether petrels do or do not follow ships during the night time.
Those who adopt the negative view of the question maintain that the
birds rest on the waves during the night and pick up the ship next
morning by following her wake. For a long time I was in doubt as to
which was the correct view to take, although I had often on dark
nights, when sitting on the taffrail of the ship, fancied I had heard
the chirp of the small petrels. At length I became provoked that after
having spent so many years at sea I should still be in doubt about
such a matter as this, so I began to make systematic observations, in
which I was assisted by the officers of watches and quartermasters, who
were also interested in the matter. The result is that I am now quite
certain that the storm petrel and Cape pigeon _do_ follow the ship by
night as well as by day, and that, moreover, the night is the best time
for catching them. Every night, for a time, I used to tow a long light
thread from the stern of the ship; it was about sixty yards long, and
fitted at the end with an anchor-shaped piece of bottle wire, which
just skimmed along the surface of the water and yet allowed the thread
to float freely in the air. I found this device a great improvement
on the old-fashioned method of using several unarmed threads, and in
this way I caught at night-time, and even on the darkest nights, both
storm petrels and Cape pigeons; the latter, however, usually breaking
my thread and escaping. If I sat down quietly and held the line
lightly between my finger and thumb, I would feel every now and then a
vibration as a bird collided with it. On moonlight nights, moreover,
one could always, by watching carefully, see the big Cape pigeons
flitting about the stern of the ship.
My experience of petrels and albatrosses is that whenever they are
having a really good meal, they invariably sit down on the water.
This is especially noticeable about noon, when mess garbage is thrown
overboard, and in perfectly calm weather I have even seen a flock
of storm petrels settle down on the surface as if meaning to rest
themselves, and remain as still as ducks on a pond, basking in the
sunshine. One day also in moderately fine weather I thought I saw
a Cape pigeon dive. This surprised me so that I watched, and saw
the manœuvre repeated again and again. Some refuse had been cast
overboard which scarcely floated, and this petrel, being desirous of
possessing some morsels of food which were submerged, dived bodily
down, apparently without the least inconvenience.
Before quitting this subject, I shall say a few words on a somewhat
hackneyed but still open question, viz.,--"the flight of the
albatross." I have had many opportunities of watching the yellow-billed
species (_D. melanophrys_), and I have noticed that it sometimes
uses its wings to raise or propel itself in such a manner that to a
superficial observer it would then appear to be only soaring with wings
stationary. It does not "flap" them, but depresses them rapidly towards
the breast, so that it seems as if the body were being raised at the
expense of the wings, whereas, in reality, the entire bird is elevated.
The movement does not resemble a flap, simply because the return of the
wings to the horizontal position is accomplished by a comparatively
slow movement. By resorting to this manœuvre occasionally, it is
able to maintain a soaring flight for periods which, without its aid,
might be considered extraordinarily long. Of course, when it wants to
gain a fresh stock of buoyancy and momentum, it gives three or four
flaps like any other bird.
During our return stay at Valparaiso from the 1st to the 21st of
August, I made a trip to Santiago, the capital of Chili. Santiago
is built on the great plateau which lies between the coast range of
hills and the Cordillera, and is 1,500 feet above the sea level.
The distance by rail from Valparaiso is about 120 miles, but as the
railroad makes the greater part of the ascent within a distance of 50
miles, the average gradient of the incline is considerable. The train
follows the line of the seashore for a distance of about 3 miles to the
northward of Valparaiso, when it reaches the mouth of a wide valley
running inland, the windings of whose right bank it follows until a
station called Llallai (pronounced "Yayai") is reached. It then makes
a steep ascent along the side of a mountain, and here on one side a
precipitous wall of conglomerate rock faces the carriage windows, while
on the other the eye gazes into the depths of an ever-receding valley,
above which the train seems poised as if by magic. While one is still
lost in contemplation of this abyss, a short tunnel in a buttress of
the mountain is traversed, and the train suddenly sweeps round a sharp
corner, and crossing the valley by a light iron bridge which here spans
a part of it, constricted to a narrow chasm, enters a highland defile
on the opposite side. This place is known as the "Mequin Paso." The
train now pursues a meandering track among the hills of Montenegro,
where the summit level of the railway is reached, and then inclines
gradually downwards to the great plain of Santiago.
After establishing ourselves in the Oddo Hotel, which is situated in
the middle of the city, close to the "Plaza De Armas," we commenced
our explorations, and first proceeded to the Natural History Museum.
It lies on the outskirts of the town and occupies a spacious building
which was originally constructed for the Exhibition of 1875, and
to which the Natural History collections were transferred in 1877.
Favoured by a letter of introduction, we were here fortunate enough to
make the acquaintance of Dr. Phillipi, the distinguished naturalist,
who has for many years had charge of the museum; and to whose courtesy
and good nature we were much indebted. The collections illustrative of
South American ornithology and ethnology were particularly fine. The
herbarium seemed to be very extensive, and was so excellently arranged
as to afford ready access to any groups of specimens. In the spacious
hall devoted to this department, we saw a section of a beech tree from
Magellan which was more than seven feet in diameter, and the silicified
trunk of a tree fifty centimetres in diameter, which had been found
near Santa Barbara. The mammalian collection included two specimens
of the Huemul (_Cervus chilensis_), one of which was said to be the
original figured by Gay in his "Historia Physica y Politica de Chilé."
Among the human crania were some very curious specimens illustrating
the extremes of dolichocephaly and brachycephaly. It is to be regretted
that the subsidy voted by the Chilian government for the maintenance of
this admirable museum does not exceed £100 a year, and Dr. Phillipi may
well be congratulated on the results of his self-sacrificing labours.
About the centre of the town of Santiago is a remarkable hill called
Santa Lucia, whose summit affords a very extended view. It is a mass of
columnar basalt rising abruptly from the plain to a height of about 300
feet, and presenting on all sides boldly scarped faces in which several
flights of stone steps have been ingeniously cut, so as to lead by
various labyrinthine routes to the summit. We made the ascent towards
the close of day, and were well repaid for our trouble by the really
magnificent view. The town lay extended at our feet with its various
buildings and monuments standing up in bold relief. As we raised our
eyes, its outskirts dwindled into the broad plain of Santiago valley,
which here seemed to form an immense amphitheatre, surrounded in the
distance by a chain of lofty hills whose snow-capped summits were at
this hour illumined with the lovely roseate colours so characteristic
of sunset in the Cordilleras.
On the following day we visited the site of the church of La Compania,
where the fire took place in the year 1863, when some 2,000 people,
mostly women, were burnt to death. The church was never rebuilt, but
in its place now stands a handsome bronze monument to commemorate the
victims of this dreadful calamity. Immediately adjoining are the
splendid buildings in which the sittings of congress are held.
The morning of our return was cold and frosty, and the plain of
Santiago was enveloped in a dense mist, from which we did not emerge
until the train had entered the mountain valleys, through which it
wound towards the heights of Montenegro. Here we rose above the
gloomy mists, and were gladdened by the bright and warm rays of a
sun whose beams were as yet screened from the lowlands. Wild ducks
were to be seen in the marshes near the railways, scarcely disturbed
by the passage of the train; flocks of doves rose from the bushes
here and there; owls hovered about in a scared sort of way, as if
ashamed of being seen out in the honest sunlight; and on many a tree
top was perched a solitary buzzard or vulture. Later in the forenoon
small flocks of the military starlings were frequently sighted, their
brilliant scarlet plumage showing to great advantage against the pale
green bushes of the hill sides. After passing the summit level we
rattled down the incline towards Llallai, at what seemed to me to be a
very high speed. I kept looking out of the window at first, watching
the engine disappearing from sight as it suddenly swept round an abrupt
curve and entered a cutting, and admiring the wriggling of the train as
it swiftly threaded its way in and out among the hills. Sometimes our
route would seem to lead us into a _cul-de-sac_ of the hills, and when
apparently almost at the end of it, the engine would abruptly alter
her course and sweep away in a direction nearly at right angles to its
former course, dragging the docile and flexible chain of carriages away
with it. I had missed all this on the upward journey--I suppose because
our slower speed then made curves and cuttings look less alarming.
After a while, I began to reflect on the probable consequences of our
suddenly coming upon a flock of heavy cattle in one of these nasty
cuttings, and the more I pondered the more I became convinced that
although the cow-catcher of our engine was well able to cope with a
single bullock or even two, yet that in the case of our colliding
with a flock of half-a-dozen or so, something unpleasant must surely
happen. This was not a cheering subject of thought, so I turned away
from the window and tried to interest myself in the contents of a
Chilian newspaper. A few days previously, I heard that a single bullock
had been met with on this same incline, and had been satisfactorily
accounted for by the "cow-catcher." The body was smashed to pieces and
thrown off the track, but the people in the train (one of whom was my
informant) experienced only a very slight shock. At Llallai station
we stopped for breakfast, for which the cold air of the morning had
sufficiently prepared us, and in the afternoon we arrived comfortably
at Valparaiso.
We again stayed at Coquimbo from the 23rd to the 30th of August,
having been obliged to return there on account of a court-martial. The
appearance of the country had changed very much since our previous
visit. Bare tracts of sand had given place to an uniform coating
of verdure, and a great variety of flowering plants were visible
in full bloom. There was a species of _Aristolochia_ very common
on the rocky hills, whose large pitcher-shaped perianth frequently
imprisoned a number of flies of different species, and I found that
I could add materially to my entomological collection by examining
these plants, and despoiling them of their living prey, for most of
the pitchers contained living flies, and some of them the remains of
insects apparently in a half-digested state. This flower constitutes
a very effectual fly-trap; and I once noticed a great bluebottle-fly
endeavouring in vain to work his way over the "chevaux-de-frise" of
white hairs, which, with their ends pointing inwards, studded the
interior of the tube.
During this stay I made a trip to the copper mines of Brillador, which
are worked in connection with the smelting houses at Compañia. Both
establishments are the property of Mr. Lambert, an English gentleman
residing at Swansea, whose Chilian manager is Mr. Weir, to whom I have
already alluded. I went by train to Compañia, which is the terminus of
that branch of the line, and spent the night at the residence of Mr.
Weir, by whose kind invitation I was enabled to make this interesting
excursion. On the following morning we started on horseback, and rode
over the hills to Brillador. The mines are eight miles distant from
Compañia, and are situated at an elevation of 1,500 feet above the
sea level. Here we put ourselves under the guidance of Mr. Richards,
the courteous engineer, who clothed us in canvas mining suits, and
supplied each of us with an oil lamp hung on gimbals at the extremity
of a long stick; and thus equipped we entered one of the adit levels
opening on to a steep hillside, and bade adieu for some hours to the
friendly daylight. One of the peculiarities of a Chilian mine is that
the ordinary ladder of civilization is replaced by a notched pole, and
that, by means of a succession of these poles, the descent and ascent
of the shaft of the mine is accomplished. Another is that the ore is
conveyed from the works at the bottom of the shaft in sacks of hide,
each man thus carrying on his shoulders the enormous weight of 200
lbs. The miners whom I saw employed in this work were naked to the
waist, and exhibited splendid muscular development of chest and arm. I
examined one of the sacks of ore, and found that I could barely raise
it off the ground. These fine athletic fellows are fed principally upon
maize, figs, and bread, few of them eating meat. Three kinds of copper
ore are found in this mine. Near the surface is a light green carbonate
of copper which is easily smelted, and when rich in metal (_i.e._,
free from extraneous mineral matter) is in much request; but even when
of low percentage it can be advantageously used for the manufacture
of sulphate of copper. Next in order of depth is found a purple ore,
which is a double sulphide of copper and iron; and at the bottom of
the lode is the yellow sulphide of copper, commonly known in Chili as
"bronce." Here we saw a most ingenious "rock drill," working at the
end of a new level cutting. The apparatus, which is simple and most
effective, consists of a solid piston working in a very strong cylinder
and driven to and fro by compressed air, whose action is regulated
by a slide valve. The drill is fitted directly into the end of the
piston rod, and by an ingenious arrangement it is made to perform a
partial movement of rotation during each backward motion, so that it
may strike the rock in a new direction each time. The working pressure
of air was 50 lbs. per square inch. We noted the time while a boring
was being made, and found that it took exactly nine minutes to make a
hole nine inches deep, through the hard rock. The power is originated
by a double-acting steam-engine, situated at the inner extremity of the
main adit level, from whence a supply of compressed air is conveyed in
flexible pipes along the various tunnels in which boring is being done.
In subsequently blasting the rock, gunpowder is used in preference to
dynamite or other explosives, I believe on account of the toughness of
the ore, which therefore yields more satisfactorily to a comparatively
gradual explosive. In the evening we rode back to Mr. Weir's residence
at Compañia, and on the following day I returned on board the ship,
which weighed anchor the same afternoon, and proceeded southward
towards Talcahuano.
Talcahuano, where we lay from the 4th of September to the 4th of
October, is the most important seaport in southern Chili, and possesses
an excellent and roomy anchorage. It is situated in a fertile and
picturesque country; and it is in direct communication by rail, not
only with Concepcion and all the more important towns of the south
and central provinces, but also by branch line with an extensive
grain-producing territory bordering on Araucania, whose produce it
receives. Concepcion, which takes rank as the third city in the
Republic, is nine miles from Talcahuano, and lies on the bank of the
Bio Bio, a broad, shallow, and sluggish river. The houses and public
buildings there have the appearance of considerable antiquity, although
in reality the greater number must have been rebuilt since the great
earthquake of 1835, when the city was reduced to ruins. Penco, the
old Spanish capital of the province of Concepcion, was situated in the
eastern extremity of the Bay of Concepcion; but when it was destroyed
by a tidal wave in 1730, the people moved inland and established
themselves near the site of the present city. However, by the cataclysm
of 1751, the newly-founded city of Concepcion shared the fate of
Penco, but was soon rebuilt, as it was again, in great part, after the
earthquake of 1835.
We had intended to make only a short stay at Talcahuano, but on the day
preceding our arrival there, a case of small-pox appeared among the
crew, followed by a second and third, and we were therefore obliged to
remain in this harbour until our patients should be sufficiently well
to return on board.
There was a long, low, sandy island (Isla de los Reyes) lying across
the head of Talcahuano Bay, and inhabited only by a couple of shepherds
who were looking after a herd of cattle and horses. There being no
available hospital to which our patients could be sent, we obtained
leave from the Chilian authorities to establish a temporary quarantine
station on the island. Accordingly, on the day of our arrival we
set up tents on an unfrequented and particularly airy part of the
island, and having supplied them with provisions and all the necessary
appliances, we installed our patients in their new quarters. They
made good recoveries. My medical duties required me to make frequent
visits to this little establishment, and I found it convenient to make
it the centre of my afternoon rambles. On the mainland immediately
adjoining the island, I found a great marshy plain of many miles in
extent, and intersected in various directions by deep muddy ditches
which communicated with the sea, and at high tide brought supplies of
sea-water to a chain of broad, shallow lagoons, the home of multitudes
of waterfowl. Pintail ducks, widgeon, herons, curlew, flamingoes,
turkey-buzzards, gulls, lapwings, and sandpipers found here a congenial
home. The shrill, harsh cry of the spur-winged lapwing (the "terutero"
of the Pampas so graphically described by Darwin) was for ever scaring
the other peacefully-disposed birds, and at the same time invoking
maledictions from the sportsman. The plumage of this bird is very
handsome, and the bright crimson colour of the iris and eyelid during
life gave it a strange fascinating appearance, which can hardly be
realized from a stuffed specimen.
When the first ebb of the tide left bare the mudbanks in the lagoons,
the gulls and curlews collected in vast numbers for their diurnal
meal. Of the gulls only three kinds were seen, viz., _L. dominicanus_,
_L. glaucoides_, and _L. maculipennis_. The latter were in various
conditions of plumage; some birds having a deep black hood, and others
with a head almost entirely white, while between these two extremes,
there was every gradation. The turkey-buzzards derived a plentiful
supply of food from the bodies of fish stranded on the beach. For some
reason or other dogfish were constantly coming to grief in this way,
bodies of fish, two and three feet long, being met with sometimes, all
along the beach, at average distances of about one hundred yards apart.
One day we made an excursion up the river Andalien, which flows
into Talcahuano Bay, near the village of Penco, and which at high
tide is navigable for boats to a distance of seven miles from its
mouth. Our main object was to see something of the nutria--a large
rodent (_Myopotamus coypu_), which is common in some of the rivers of
southern Chili, and which the natives call "Coypo." In a deep, narrow,
ditch-like tributary of the Andalien, we came across several of these
animals, swimming and diving about, some half-immersed clumps of
bushes. At first sight their manner of swimming and diving would lead
one to imagine that they were otters, but on closer inspection the
broad muzzle with its long bristly whiskers, and foxy-red hair, reveal
their true character. The "coypo" is distinguished from its northern
ally, the beaver, in having the scaly tail round instead of flat, and
from the Chilian river otter, the "huillin" (_Lutra huidobrio_), it
is easily known by its dental characters as well as by its tail and
feet. The hind feet are webbed as in the beaver. I dissected one which
we shot, and found the stomach full of green vegetable matter, and
in the abdominal cavity, which was a good deal injured by the shot,
were fragments of a large tapeworm. This specimen weighed 10 lbs., and
measured 2 ft. 10 in. from snout to extremity of tail.
Some days subsequently I accompanied Captain Maclear on a railway trip
up the country, Mr. Lawrence, the superintendent of the line, having,
with the courtesy so characteristic of English residents in Chili,
invited the captain and one other officer to join him in a tour of
inspection which he was about to make along the Angol branch of the
South Chilian railway. We started from Concepcion at 9 a.m., on a small
locomotive which was set apart for the use of the superintendent. It
was a lightly built affair, partly "housed in" and partly open, and
was fitted to accommodate two or three passengers besides the driver
and fireman, so that it afforded us an exceedingly pleasant method of
seeing something of the country. This swift little vehicle was called
the "Quillapan," in commemoration of a distinguished native chief
of that name. Our driver was a most intelligent and well-informed
Englishman named Clark, who had lost his foot about three years
previously in a railway accident, at which I understood that Lady
Brassey, of the _Sunbeam_, had been present; and he spoke gratefully of
the kind attention which she paid to him. His wooden leg did not seem
to be much impediment to his engine-driving, for he rattled us along
round curves and down inclines at a speed which, while possessing all
the charms of novelty, had also in no small degree the excitement of
danger. However, we soon got used to this, as well as to the jumping
and jolting of the light little engine.
For the first ten miles after leaving Concepcion, our route lay along
the right or northerly bank of the Bio Bio river. Here most of the
railway cuttings were through a clay-slate rock, which alternated
with bands of black shale, and occasionally exhibited thin seams
of coal. Further on, and throughout the rest of the journey to
Angol, the cuttings were through banks of sand exhibiting horizontal
stratification, and being apparently of fluviatile origin. A run of two
hours brought us to the junction station of San Rosendo, from whence
the northerly line to Chillan, Talca, and Santiago, and the S.E. line
to Angol diverge. Here we breakfasted, and stretched our legs by a
stroll. Immediately on resuming our journey we crossed the Lara,--a
tributary of the Bio Bio,--and then continued our course along the
right bank of the main river, until we had just passed the station of
Santa Fé. Here the line made a short semicircular sweep, and crossed
the Bio Bio by a low wooden bridge of about two hundred yards in
length. Clark, the driver, told us that during freshets the water rose
about fifteen feet above this bridge, completely stopping the traffic.
On asking him why they did not build a strong high level bridge, he
replied that a rude wooden structure such as the present one cost
little, and when swept away could be readily and cheaply replaced; but
that a bridge of durable style would take too long to pay the cost of
its own construction. This explanation may not at first sight seem very
lucid, but it is worthy of consideration, for the principle which it
involves is, I fancy, applicable to many of the affairs of Chili.
We had now entered the great central valley of the country, a broad
plateau interposed between the coast range and the Cordillera, and
extending in one unbroken sheet of fertile land from here to Santiago.
Before us now, as far as the eye could penetrate, lay a straight level
track, so Mr. Clark turned the steam full on, and the "Quillapan"
responded to the tune of forty-five miles an hour. When about a mile
or two from a desolate station called "Robleria," we were rapidly
approaching a long wooden bridge, when we saw a man appear on the track
just on our side of the bridge, and step leisurely from sleeper to
sleeper. On hearing our whistle he looked round in a startled attitude;
but to our astonishment, instead of jumping to one side of the line,
he lost his head, and passing on to the bridge made frantic efforts
to cross before our engine came up. The bridge was an open framework,
consisting simply of wooden piles, span-beams, and sleepers, and was
so narrow that there was no room for a foot-passenger at either side
of a passing train. The wretched man's misery must have been extreme,
for as he crossed the bridge he had to jump continually from sleeper to
sleeper, and could not of course look back again behind him to see how
things were going on. It was a moment of intense suspense to us also,
for it was now too late to stop the engine, Clark not having calculated
on the man attempting to cross before us. However, he gained the off
buttress of the bridge just in time to throw himself down a bank on one
side of the line, while the "Quillapan" sped on like a whirlwind.
We reached the Angol terminus at 1.30 p.m., and on coming to a
standstill, found ourselves the centre of a small admiring crowd,
consisting of Chilian peasants and Araucanian Indians. The latter wore
very scanty clothing, in which the only distinctive feature which I
noticed was a band of red cloth tied round the forehead and occiput.
In stature and regular features they somewhat resembled the Chilians,
but their distinctly coppery colour marked them out at once. Angol
is now one of the frontier settlements established recently by the
Chilian Government in Araucanian territory, and it is fortified against
the marauding expeditions of these hardy warriors by a chain of forts
which overlook the settlement, and are garrisoned by regular Chilian
troops. The district is of great value, on account of the richness of
the soil and its suitability for the cultivation of wheat, which has
now become the staple article of commerce in the southern provinces of
the Republic. Our stay at Angol was, unfortunately, very short, as the
station-master told us that a train due at Angol that afternoon was
even then telegraphed as waiting at one of the upper stations until
our return, when the line would be clear for it to move on.
On our journey back we narrowly escaped colliding seriously with a herd
of bullocks. We had just passed Robleria, when we noticed some distance
ahead of us a solitary bullock standing quietly on the line. On the
whistle being sounded he at once left the track, so that the steam,
which had been momentarily turned off, was again put on, and the engine
resumed her usual speed. We had now approached to within forty yards of
the place where the animal had been, when suddenly from a dense clump
of bushes to the light there emerged a herd of half-a-dozen bullocks,
who with one accord began leisurely to cross the line. Quick as thought
Clark with one hand turned on the whistle, while with the other he
reversed the engine, leaving the steam valve wide open; and immediately
there was a great rattle of machinery below the platform, and the
engine checked her way considerably. And now at the last moment, and
when the cattle seemed to be almost under the buffers of the engine,
they, suddenly coming to a sense of their danger, scattered, and
sheered off; but not quickly enough to prevent one unlucky animal
being caught by the hind quarters and chucked off like a football,
its body rolling down the embankment to the left in a cloud of dust
as we whirled by. Clark coolly replaced the reversing lever, and let
the engine rush ahead again as if nothing had happened. He remarked
that if he had been on one of the regular big engines he would not
have bothered himself about the beasts at all, but that half-a-dozen
bullocks were rather too much for the little "Quillapan."
Another trip which we made was to the Island of Quiriquina, which lies
in the entrance of the bay at about five miles' distance from the
anchorage of Talcahuano. An hour's run in the steam-cutter brought
us near the northern extremity of the island, where we landed with
difficulty in the Bay of Las Tablas. This name has reference to the
tabular form of the blocks of sandstone which have fallen from the face
of the cliffs and lie strewn on the beach, in which position they
resembled the blocks of concrete which one often sees near a pier or
breakwater in course of construction. Close to where we landed we found
portions of the silicified trunk of a tree, resting on the _débris_
at the foot of the cliff, its fractured ends exhibiting a jagged
appearance, as if the fragment had not long previously been broken from
the parent stem. It was two and a half feet long by a foot in diameter,
and presented well-marked sections of the concentric rings of growth.
In one of the rock pools closely adjoining we found also a smaller
water-worn fragment, which we were able to annex as a specimen. The
sandstone cliff above us exhibited well-marked lines of stratification,
dipping to the southward at an angle of about 15°, and in the talus at
its base were several large globular masses, which consisted almost
entirely of fossil shells, bound together by a matrix of soft clayey
sandstone. Conspicuous among these shells were examples of the genera
_Baculites_ and _Cardium_. While the lowest rock in the series of
strata was a hard grey sandstone, full of fossil shells, and forming
a kind of level terrace skirting the beach, and a wash at high tide,
on the north side of the bay this last-mentioned rock was continuous
with another horizontal terrace, which ran at a somewhat higher level,
as if introduced there by a fault in the strata. It was a coarse,
unfossiliferous conglomerate, composed of angular pieces of shingle
bound together by a hard but very scanty matrix.