The colony of Magellan was founded by the Chilian Government in the
year 1851. The population of Sandy Point, including the convicts and
garrison, and the Swiss settlers of Agua Fresca, numbered, at the time
I am speaking of, about eight hundred souls. The town lies at the foot
of a high ridge of hills, facing the straits. It contained a fort, a
church, and some tolerable-looking Government buildings, but,
excepting one or two streets in the lower part of the town, the rest
of the place had a poor, straggling appearance, the houses being
mostly one-storied wooden shanties, and the streets grass-grown and
hillocky, with here and there the stump of a beech-tree sticking up
from the ground. But to me, as I rode through it, just before sundown,
tired and fagged with my day's ride, it looked pleasant and cheerful
enough, for it held out promises of shelter, rest, and good cheer,
after a long, weary time of exposure and hardship, and it was,
besides, a connecting link with the outer world, to reach which had
been my only thought for weeks--weeks which, as I looked back on
them, in the variety of sensation and incident which had marked their
course, seemed almost so many years.
I rode slowly up the main street, letting my eyes wander leisurely
over the unaccustomed sights which everywhere met my gaze, and which I
greeted inwardly one by one, as it were renewing an old acquaintance.
The shops with their many wares displayed in the windows, the knots of
drinkers standing at the bars, which in Sandy Point grace every
establishment, be it a butcher's, or a baker's, or a tailor's; the
little children playing about the streets; the housewives taking in
their little washing from the clothes-line, and doing a great deal of
gossip over it, as is their wont; the cows coming lowing down from the
woods with their calves, and going to their respective homes to be
milked; the loungers in collars and neckties (strange sight), who
stared at me as I went past--everything and everybody came in for a
share of my attention. Each one sight helped to confirm the complacent
feeling of security from further danger which had come over me since I
passed the Cabo Negro farm-house. The turn in the long lane had come
at last, the chapter of accidents was over, and, like the heroes of
the fairy tales, I was to live happy ever after. Alas for human
foresight! Could I have foreseen the events which in a few hours were
to take place, in all probability I should then and there have turned
my horse round and ridden with all speed back to the pampas. But if
coming events do cast their shadows before them, it is very seldom
that our imperfect mental vision can perceive them, and certainly
there was no forecast of the horrors of the coming day in the
atmosphere of the settlement of Sandy Point, on the evening of that
10th of November. People came and went, and laughed and talked with
each other, just as usual, little thinking that by that time to-morrow
they would be flying from their pillaged and burning homes, with their
wives and children, and that the colony, now so tranquil and peaceful,
would to-morrow be delivered into the hands of a set of sanguinary
ruffians, free to indulge in their worst passions unchecked.
There are no inns at Sandy Point, visitors being of rare occurrence,
so we put up at the house of an Austrian, named Pedro, who had
formerly been an Indian trader, and now kept a small shop. After
having indulged in the luxury of a warm bath and a shave, and having
made some suitable changes in my raiment, I sat down to dine with
Pedro. The havoc I made amongst cheeses, fresh butter, bread, jam,
etc., was tremendous. I think--and it is an important consideration
which, strange to say, has escaped even Brillat-Savarin--that every
man who has any pretension to considering himself a gastronome, should
make it a supreme duty to give his palate a complete rest, at least
once a year, and subsist for a month or two on as poor a diet as is
compatible with keeping body and soul together. His temporary
self-denial will be more than repaid by the renewed sensibility of his
palate which will result from such a course, and he will return to his
favourite dishes with that fresh zest and exquisite enjoyment which is
vouchsafed to most people only in the palmy heyday of their schoolboy
appetites.
After dinner I lost no time in going to bed. I had been fifteen hours,
not in the saddle, but literally on horseback, and I was weary enough,
as may be supposed. I felt, as I lay down on my bed, that I had well
earned a good night's rest, and was but little prepared for the rude
awakening in store for me.
Towards midnight I was aroused by a noise which at first I took for
thunder, but which on repetition, to my astonishment, proved to be the
report of cannon. While I was still listening and wondering what could
be the matter, Guillaume came hurriedly into the room and cried: 'The
convicts and the soldiers have mutinied, and are firing on the lower
town.' I was too sleepy to be able to quite seize the situation, and
this startling piece of news only elicited a growl from me to the
effect that I thought they might have waited till the morning, and I
fell back, and was just dozing off again, when a volley of musketry,
discharged at that moment close to our door, followed by a loud
shriek, thoroughly awoke me, and I jumped out of bed and hurriedly
put on my clothes.
As soon as all was quiet outside the house, I went to the door and
cautiously opened it. It was still dark, but daybreak, to all
appearance, was not far off. The streets near Pedro's house were quite
deserted, but in the direction of the plaza there was a great
commotion, and the shouting of many voices, the rattling of horses'
hoofs over the paved streets, the deep growl of cannon, or the sharp
report of a Remington, broke ominously on the silence of the night.
Curious to know what was going on, Guillaume and I slipped into the
street and stole towards the plaza, in order to question any person we
might happen to meet as to the exact nature of the disturbance.
Presently, in running along, I stumbled over something, and on turning
back to look I found, with a shudder, that it was the dead body of a
man, probably the one whose shriek we heard a short time ago. We had
not gone far, when we saw somebody hastening our way as fast as his
legs could carry him. We detained him for a moment, though he was as
impatient to be gone as the wedding guest in the ballad, and he told
us that the convicts and soldiers had mutinied, and had killed the
governor of the colony, the captain of the garrison, and all the
officers, and were now engaged in fighting among themselves. With this
information we went back to the house, wondering what the upshot of
the whole affair would be--a matter which it was rather difficult to
foretell, as the Chilian man-of-war generally stationed at Sandy Point
was at that time surveying the straits some distance away, and till
she arrived the convicts and soldiers would be masters of the
situation.
Our evil star, as I remarked to Guillaume, was still in the ascendant;
indeed, it was a most peculiar instance of a continued run of bad
luck, that _on the very night_ of our safe arrival amongst civilised
people, after having overcome not a few obstacles which had risen one
after the other to frustrate our plans, an event should occur whose
ultimate consequences might cause us to regret that we had ever
crossed the Gallegos. Besides, it was not as if it were one of the
ordinary accidents that may reasonably happen at any moment; far from
it, the event in question was of so unusual a nature as to fairly make
it improbable that it could happen even once in half a century. This
being the case, it was rather provoking that, given all the
antecedents of my journey, it should just happen at the very moment of
my passing through Sandy Point.
There were as yet, however, no grounds for apprehending anything
serious. It was probable that the mutineers, having obtained their
liberty, would make use of it to escape as quickly as possible to the
pampas, though what they were to do when they got there was best
known to themselves. With these and sundry other unpleasant
reflections passing through my mind, I lay down on my couch, and went
to sleep again. When I awoke it was broad daylight. On opening my eyes
I was startled by the sight of a drunken convict, who was leaning
against the door of my room, holding a box of sardines in one hand and
a piece of bread in the other. His Remington rifle, which, judging by
the smell of powder it emitted, had been discharged several times, lay
on the table beside my bed. He glared stupidly at me as I got up and
went past him into the shop, which I found full of convicts and
soldiers, who were eating and drinking and squabbling, and brandishing
their Remingtons about in such a clumsy way that I expected at any
moment to see some accident happen. They told me that they had killed
the governor and all his family, and that they were now going off to
the pampa to escape to the Argentine Republic. They professed to have
no intention of harming any of the colonists, all they required being
that they should be allowed to take whatever they wanted free of
payment. They were continually quarrelling among themselves, the chief
object of their dispute being the honour, to which every one seemed to
lay claim, of having killed the governor--the truth being that he had
not been killed by anyone, having escaped on horseback shortly after
the revolt broke out. When one crowd left, another would come in, and
so on all the morning, till very soon all the drinkables and eatables
in Pedro's shop had disappeared.
Most of the mutineers, both soldiers and convicts, were Chilotes, as
the people of the island of Chiloe are called. To do them justice, I
must say that I have never seen a more repulsively ugly and
wretched-looking race than these same Chilotes, at least, if I am to
judge of them by the numerous specimens I had the pleasure of seeing
at Sandy Point. They are of low stature and light build, their
complexion is swarthy, their foreheads low, and the general expression
of their faces is one of brutish stupidity blended with savage
ferocity. I think there is, on the whole, very little to choose
between them and the Fuegians, who, I believe, are commonly admitted
to represent the lowest type of humanity extant.
Meanwhile the day wore on, but the mutineers did not seem in any hurry
to quit the colony. It was impossible to leave the house to obtain any
news of the revolt, as they were amusing themselves by firing random
shots in all directions, during which pastime not a few of their own
number were accidentally killed. About this time they commenced a
wholesale pillage of the shops, at which task they were assisted by
the women and the Chilian colonists generally. I do not think the
latter actually took part in any of the acts of violence subsequently
committed, but at the commencement of the revolt they certainly
fraternised with the mutineers, and, in company with the latter,
plundered and drank freely. Some colonists who lived opposite Pedro's
house were busy all day long in carrying loads of wearing apparel and
goods of all descriptions from the various shops into their dwellings.
What they were ultimately to do with all their spoils, I suppose they
hardly knew themselves, though, if they had not been too drunk, they
might have reflected that so soon as order had been restored to the
colony, a general search would be made, and they would not only be
compelled to disgorge their plunder, but the fact of stolen goods
being found in their possession would necessarily implicate them as
having taken part in the mutiny. But the whole uprising was marked by
the same utter absence of forethought, and the same incomprehensible
indifference to inevitable consequences. If any pre-concerted plan of
action had originally existed, it was certainly not acted upon, and to
this fortunate circumstance it is owing that all their intended
victims escaped with the exception of the captain of the garrison.
Towards three o'clock I was agreeably surprised by the sudden
appearance of the German steamer in the offing, and I immediately
began to make preparations for leaving by her, as I supposed that the
mutineers would offer no objection to my taking my departure. My
hopes were doomed to be disappointed, however. When the steamer
arrived abreast of the English consul's house, which is situated about
five miles further up the straits, a little cutter put off from the
shore, evidently with the intention of acquainting the people on board
the steamer of the mutiny. I watched with anxious eyes to see what the
steamer would do. Having parleyed for a while with the people in the
cutter, she moved slowly on again towards the colony. Presently the
boat of the captain of the port put off from shore and went out to
meet her. She had hardly got alongside, when a sudden report was
heard, and a cannon-ball, fired from the fort, struck the water just
under the steamer's bows. It was quickly followed by another, which
fell rather wide of the mark. In the meanwhile, the steamer got out of
range as quickly as she was able, and keeping well on the opposite
side of the straits, she soon passed the colony, and gradually
disappeared from sight, taking the boat of the captain of the port
with her.
It appeared that the latter had been manned by several mutineers, who,
disregarding the maxim anent honour among thieves, had made off with
their own and their companions' share of certain moneys which had been
plundered from the military chest. They had hoped to palm themselves
off on the authorities on board as peaceful citizens, who had made
good their escape from the dangers of the revolt, but the captain
took the liberty of doubting their representations, and put them all
into irons. They were eventually brought back to Sandy Point by an
American man-of-war, which met the German steamer a few days
afterwards.
Partly from rage at having been duped by their comrades, and partly
from pure love of mischief, the mutineers had endeavoured to shell the
steamer, and their first shot was very nearly attended with disastrous
success.
I consoled myself for the disappointment I had just experienced, by
the thought that the Pacific steamer for Monte Video, the _Cotopaxi_,
was due on the following day, and I was determined that I would not
miss her in the same way. There was no other steamer after her for
another fortnight, and it would indeed be a fatality if, after all the
efforts I had made in order to reach Sandy Point in time to take her,
she should actually pass by before my very eyes, without my being able
to go on board.
As it was possible that she might arrive at any moment, I resolved to
go immediately to the English consul's house, in order to go on board
with him, for I did not doubt that he would put off to warn her not to
approach the colony.
Without losing any time, therefore, I started off with Guillaume. On
the way we met several bands of mutineers, who were in a very
advanced state of intoxication. They told us that they were going to
set fire to the town, and leave that night for the pampas; but though
they were always threatening to shoot one another, they did not molest
us in any way. I noticed that they were all dressed in new clothes,
and some even had as many as three waistcoats on.
When I arrived at the English consul's house, I found there was no one
in it except the foreman of the sawmill, a Scotchman, who had but
recently arrived at the colony, and who was by no means tranquil in
his mind as to the turn events had taken. He told me that Dr.
Dunsmuir, the consul, had gone off in his cutter to meet the German
steamer, but that he had not yet returned, probably owing to a strong
head-wind which was then blowing. I remained, therefore, to await his
coming, and Guillaume went back to the colony, to see how matters were
going.