Indians. They separated our little company entirely, not putting any
two of us together in the same canoe. The oar was my lot, as usual,
as also Mr. Campbell's; Mr. Hamilton could not row, and Captain Cheap
was out of the question; our surgeon was more dead than alive at the
time, and lay at the bottom of the canoe he was in. The weather coming
on too bad for their canoes to keep the sea, we landed again, without
making great progress that day. Here Mr. Elliot, our surgeon, died. At
our first setting out, he promised the fairest for holding out, being
a very strong, active young man: he had gone through an infinite deal
of fatigue, as Mr. Hamilton and he were the best shots amongst us, and
whilst our ammunition lasted never spared themselves, and in a great
measure provided for the rest; but he died the death many others had
done before him, being quite starved. We scraped a hole for him in the
sand, and buried him in the best manner we could. Here I must relate a
little anecdote of our Christian cacique. He and his wife had gone off,
at some distance from the shore, in their canoe, when she dived for
sea-eggs; but not meeting with great success, they returned a good deal
out of humour. A little boy of theirs, about three years old, whom they
appeared to be dotingly fond of, watching for his father and mother's
return, ran into the surf to meet them: the father handed a basket of
sea-eggs to the child, which being too heavy for him to carry, he let
it fall; upon which the father jumped out of the canoe, and catching
the boy up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost violence against
the stones. The poor little creature lay motionless and bleeding, and
in that condition was taken up by the mother; but died soon after. She
appeared inconsolable for some time; but the brute his father shewed
little concern about it. A day or two after we put to sea again, and
crossed the great bay I mentioned we had been to the bottom of, when
we first hauled away to the westward. The land here was very low and
sandy, with something like the mouth of a river which discharged itself
into the sea; and which had been taken no notice of by us before, as
it was so shallow that the Indians were obliged to take every thing
out of their canoes, and carry it over the neck of land, and then haul
the boats over into a river, which at this part of it was very broad,
more resembling a lake than a river. We rowed up it for four or five
leagues, and then took into a branch of it, that ran first to the
eastward, and then to the northward: here it became much narrower, and
the stream excessively rapid, so that we made but little way, though
we worked very hard. At night we landed upon its banks, and had a most
uncomfortable lodging, it being a perfect swamp; and we had nothing to
cover us, though it rained very hard. The Indians were little better
off than we, as there was no wood here to make their wigwams; so that
all they could do was to prop up the bark they carry in the bottom
of their canoes with their oars, and shelter themselves as well as
they could to leeward of it. They, knowing the difficulties that were
to be encountered here, had provided themselves with some seal; but
we had not the least morsel to eat, after the heavy fatigues of the
day, excepting a sort of root we saw some of the Indians make use of,
which was very disagreeable to the taste. We laboured all the next
day against the stream, and fared as we had done the day before. The
next day brought us to the carrying-place. Here was plenty of wood;
but nothing to be got for sustenance. The first thing the Indians did
was to take every thing out of their canoes; and after hauling them
ashore, they made their wigwams. We passed this night, as generally we
had done, under a tree; but what we suffered at this time is not easily
to be expressed. I had been three days at the oar without any kind of
nourishment, but the wretched root I mentioned before. I had no shirt,
as mine was rotted off by bits, and we were devoured by vermin. All
my clothes consisted of an old short grieko, which is something like
a bearskin, with a piece of a waistcoat under it, which once had been
of red cloth, both which I had on when I was cast away; I had a ragged
pair of trowsers, without either shoe or stocking. The first thing
the Indians did in the morning was to take their canoes to pieces:
and here, for the information of the reader, it will be necessary
to describe the structure of these boats, which are extremely well
calculated for the use of these Indians, as they are frequently obliged
to carry them over land a long way together, through thick woods, to
avoid doubling capes and headlands in seas where no open boat could
live. They generally consist of five pieces, or planks; one for the
bottom, and two for each side; and as these people have no iron tools,
the labour must be great in hacking a single plank out of a large tree
with shells and flints, though with the help of fire. Along the edges
of the plank they make small holes, at about an inch from one to the
other, and sew them together with the supple-jack, or woodbine; but as
these holes are not filled up by the substance of the woodbine, their
boats would be immediately full of water if they had not a method of
preventing it. They do this very effectually by the bark of a tree,
which they first steep in water for some time, and then beat it between
two stones till it answers the use of oakum, and then chinse each hole
so well, that they do not admit of the least water coming through,
and are easily taken asunder and put together again. When they have
occasion to go over land, as at this time, each man or woman carries a
plank; whereas it would be impossible for them to drag a heavy boat
entire. Every body had something to carry except Captain Cheap; and he
was obliged to be assisted, or never would have got over this march;
for a worse than this, I believe, never was made. He, with the others,
set out some time before me. I waited for two Indians, who belonged to
the canoe I came in; and who remained to carry over the last of the
things from the side we were on. I had a piece of wet heavy canvas,
which belonged to Captain Cheap, with a bit of stinking seal wrapped
in it (which had been given him that morning by some of the Indians)
to carry upon my head, which was a sufficient weight for a strong man
in health, through such roads, and a grievous burthen to one in my
condition. Our way was through a thick wood, the bottom of which was
a mere quagmire, most part of it up to our knees, and often to our
middle; and every now and then we had a large tree to get over, for
they often lay directly in our road. Besides this, we were continually
treading upon the stumps of trees, which were not to be avoided, as
they were covered with water; and having neither shoe nor stocking, my
feet and legs were frequently torn and wounded. Before I had got half
a mile, the two Indians had left me; and making the best of my way,
lest they should be all gone before I got to the other side, I fell
off a tree that crossed the road, into a very deep swamp, where I very
narrowly escaped drowning, by the weight of the burthen I had on my
head. It was a long while before I could extricate myself from this
difficulty; and when I did my strength was quite exhausted. I sat down
under a tree, and there gave way to melancholy reflections. However,
as I was sensible these reflections would answer no end, they did not
last long. I got up, and marking a great tree, I there deposited my
load, not being able to carry it any farther, and set out to join my
company. It was some hours before I reached my companions. I found them
sitting under a tree, and sat myself down by them without speaking a
word; nor did they speak to me, as I remember, for some time; when
Captain Cheap, breaking silence, began to ask after the seal and piece
of canvas. I told him the disaster I had met with, which he might have
easily guessed by the condition the rags I had on were in, as well as
having my feet and ancles cut to pieces: but instead of compassion
for my sufferings, I heard nothing but grumbling from every one, for
the irreparable loss they had sustained by me. I made no answer; but
after resting myself a little, I got up and struck into the wood, and
walked back at least five miles to the tree I had marked, and returned
just time enough to deliver it before my companions embarked, with the
Indians, upon a great lake, the opposite part of which seemed to wash
the foot of the Cordilleras. I wanted to embark with them; but was
given to understand I was to wait for some other Indians that were to
follow them. I knew not where these Indians were to come from: I was
left alone upon the beach, and night was at hand. They left me not
even a morsel of the stinking seal that I had suffered so much about.
I kept my eyes upon the boats as long as I could distinguish them;
and then returned into the wood, and sat myself down upon the root
of a tree, having eat nothing the whole day but the stem of a plant
which resembles that of an artichoke, which is of a juicy consistence,
and acid taste. Quite worn out with fatigue, I soon fell asleep;
and awaking before day, I thought I heard some voices at no great
distance from me. As the day appeared, looking further into the wood, I
perceived a wigwam, and immediately made towards it; but the reception
I met with was not at all agreeable; for stooping to get into it, I
presently received two or three kicks in my face, and at the same time
heard the sound of voices seemingly in anger; which made me retire, and
wait at the foot of a tree, where I remained till an old woman peeped
out, and made signs to me to draw near. I obeyed very readily, and
went into the wigwam: in it were three men and two women; one young
man seemed to have great respect shewn to him by the rest, though he
was the most miserable object I ever saw. He was a perfect skeleton,
and covered with sores from head to foot. I was happy to sit a moment
by their fire, as I was quite benumbed with cold. The old woman took
out a piece of seal, holding one part of it between her feet, and the
other end in her teeth, and then cut off some thin slices with a sharp
shell, and distributed them about to the other Indians. She then put
a bit on the fire, taking a piece of fat in her mouth, which she kept
chewing, every now and then spirting some of it on the piece that was
warming upon the fire; for they never do more with it than warm it
through. When it was ready, she gave me a little bit, which I swallowed
whole, being almost starved. As these Indians were all strangers to me,
I did not know which way they were going; and indeed it was now become
quite indifferent to me which way I went, whether to the northward
or southward, so that they would but take me with them, and give me
something to eat. However, to make them comprehend me, I pointed first
to the southward, and after to the lake, and I soon understood they
were going to the northward. They all went out together, excepting the
sick Indian, and took up the plank of the canoe, which lay near the
wigwam, and carried it to the beach, and presently put it together;
and getting every thing into it, they put me to the oar. We rowed
across the lake to the mouth of a very rapid river, where we put
ashore for that night, not daring to get any way down in the dark;
as it required the greatest skill, even in the day, to avoid running
foul of the stumps and roots of trees, of which this river was full.
I passed a melancholy night, as they would not suffer me to come near
the wigwam they had made; nor did they give me the least bit of any
one thing to eat since we embarked. In the morning we set off again.
The weather proved extremely bad the whole day. We went down the river
at an amazing rate; and just before night they put ashore upon a stony
beach. They hauled the canoe up, and all disappeared in a moment, and
I was left quite alone: it rained violently, and was very dark. I
thought it was as well to lay down upon the beach, half side in water,
as to get into a swamp under a dropping tree. In this dismal situation
I fell asleep, and awaked three or four hours after in such agonies
with the cramp, that I thought I must die upon the spot. I attempted
several times to raise myself upon my legs, but could not. At last I
made shift to get upon my knees, and looking towards the wood I saw
a great fire at some distance from me. I was a long time crawling to
it; and when I reached it, I threw myself almost into it, in hopes of
finding some relief from the pain I suffered. This intrusion gave great
offence to the Indians, who immediately got up, kicking and beating me
till they drove me some distance from it; however I contrived a little
after to place myself so as to receive some warmth from it, by which I
got rid of the cramp. In the morning we left this place, and were soon
after out of the river. Being now at sea again, the Indians intended
putting ashore at the first convenient place, to look for shell-fish,
their stock of provisions having been quite exhausted for some time.
At low water we landed upon a spot that seemed to promise well; and
here we found plenty of limpets. Though at this time starving, I did
not attempt to eat one, lest I should lose a moment in gathering them;
not knowing how soon the Indians might be going again. I had almost
filled my hat when I saw them returning to the canoe. I made what haste
I could to her; for I believe they would have made no conscience of
leaving me behind. I sat down to my oar again, placing my hat close to
me, every now and then eating a limpet. The Indians were employed the
same way, when one of them, seeing me throw the shells overboard, spoke
to the rest in a violent passion; and getting up, fell upon me, and
seizing me by an old ragged handkerchief I had about my neck, almost
throttled me; whilst another took me by the legs, and was going to
throw me overboard, if the old woman had not prevented them. I was all
this time entirely ignorant by what means I had given offence, till I
observed that the Indians, after eating the limpets, carefully put the
shells in a heap at the bottom of the canoe. I then concluded there
was some superstition about throwing these shells into the sea, my
ignorance of which had very nearly cost me my life. I was resolved to
eat no more limpets till we landed, which we did some time after upon
an island. I then took notice that the Indians brought all their shells
ashore, and laid them above high water mark. Here, as I was going to
eat a large bunch of berries I had gathered from a tree, for they
looked very tempting, one of the Indians snatched them out of my hand
and threw them away, making me to understand that they were poisonous.
Thus, in all probability, did these people now save my life, who, a few
hours before, were going to take it from me for throwing away a shell.
In two days after, I joined my companions again; but do not remember
that there was the least joy shewn on either side at meeting. At
this place was a very large canoe belonging to our guide, which would
have required at least six men to the oar to have made any kind of
expedition: instead of that, there was only Campbell and myself,
besides the Indian, his companion, or servant, to row, the cacique
himself never touching an oar, but sitting with his wife all the time
much at his ease. Mr. Hamilton continued in the same canoe he had
been in all along, and which still was to keep us company some way
further, though many of the others had left us. This was dreadful hard
work to such poor starved wretches as we were, to be slaving at the
oar all day long in such a heavy boat; and this inhuman fellow would
never give us a scrap to eat, excepting when he took so much seal that
he could not contrive to carry it all away with him, which happened
very seldom. After working like galley-slaves all day, towards night,
when we landed, instead of taking any rest, Mr. Campbell and I were
sometimes obliged to go miles along shore to get a few shell-fish;
and just as we had made a little fire in order to dress them, he has
commanded us into the boat again, and kept us rowing the whole night
without ever landing. It is impossible for me to describe the miserable
state we were reduced to: our bodies were so emaciated, that we hardly
appeared the figures of men. It has often happened to me in the coldest
night, both in hail and snow, where we had nothing but an open beach
to lie down upon, in order to procure a little rest, that I have been
obliged to pull off the few rags I had on, as it was impossible to get
a moment's sleep with them on for the vermin that swarmed about them;
though I used, as often as I had time, to take my clothes off, and
putting them upon a large stone, beat them with another, in hopes of
killing hundreds at once; for it was endless work to pick them off.
What we suffered from this, was ten times worse even than hunger. But
we were clean in comparison to Captain Cheap; for I could compare
his body to nothing but an ant-hill, with thousands of those insects
crawling over it; for he was now past attempting to rid himself in the
least from this torment, as he had quite lost himself, not recollecting
our names that were about him, or even his own. His beard was as long
as a hermit's: that and his face being covered with train-oil and dirt,
from having long accustomed himself to sleep upon a bag, by the way of
a pillow, in which he kept the pieces of stinking seal. This prudent
method he took to prevent our getting at it whilst he slept. His legs
were as big as mill-posts, though his body appeared nothing but skin
and bone.
One day we fell in with about forty Indians, who came down to the beach
we landed on, curiously painted. Our cacique seemed to understand but
little of their language, and it sounded to us very different from
what we had heard before. However, they made us comprehend that a ship
had been upon the coast not far from where we then were, and that she
had a red flag: this we understood some time after to have been the
Anne pink, whose adventures are particularly related in Lord Anson's
voyage; and we passed through the very harbour she had lain in.
As there was but one small canoe that intended to accompany us any
longer, and that in which Mr. Hamilton had been to this time, intended
to proceed no farther to the northward, our cacique proposed to him to
come into our canoe, which he refused, as the insolence of this fellow
was to him insupportable; he therefore rather chose to remain where he
was, till chance should throw in his way some other means of getting
forward: so here we left him; and it was some months before we saw him
again.
We now got on, by very slow degrees, to the northward; and as the
difficulties and hardships we daily went through would only be a
repetition of those already mentioned, I shall say no more, but that
at last we reached an island, about thirty leagues to the southward
of Chiloe. Here we remained two days for a favourable opportunity to
cross the bay, the very thoughts of which seemed to frighten our
cacique out of his senses; and, indeed, there was great reason for his
apprehensions; for there ran a most dreadful hollow sea, dangerous,
indeed, for any open boat whatever, but a thousand times more for such
a crazy vessel as we were in. He at length mustered up resolution
enough to attempt it, first having crossed himself for an hour
together, and made a kind of lug-sail out of the bits of blankets they
wore about them, sewed together with split supple jacks. We then put
off, and a terrible passage we had. The bottom plank of the canoe was
split, which opened upon every sea; and the water continually rushing
over the gunnel, I may say that we were in a manner full the whole
way over, though all hands were employed in baling without ceasing
a moment. As we drew near the shore, the cacique was eager to land,
having been terrified to that degree with this run, that if it had not
been for us, every soul must have perished; for he had very near got
in amongst the breakers, where the sea drove with such violence upon
the rocks, that not even an Indian could have escaped, especially as
it was in the night. We kept off till we got into smooth water, and
landed upon the island of Chiloe; though in a part of it that was
not inhabited. Here we staid all the next day, in a very heavy snow,
to recover ourselves a little after our fatigue; but the cold was so
excessive, having neither shoe nor stocking, we thought we should have
lost our feet; and Captain Cheap was so ill, that if he had had but a
few leagues further to have gone without relief, he could not have held
out. It pleased God now that our sufferings, in a great measure, were
drawing to an end.
What things our cacique had brought with him from the wreck, he here
buried under ground, in order to conceal them from the Spaniards, who
would not have left him a rusty nail if they had known of it. Towards
evening, we set off again; and about nine the same night, to our great
joy, we observed something that had the appearance of a house. It
belonged to an acquaintance of our cacique; and as he was possessed of
my fowling-piece, and we had preserved about one charge of powder, he
made us load it for him, and desired we would show him how to discharge
it; upon which, standing up, and holding his head from it as far as
possible, he fired, and fell back into the bottom of the canoe. The
Indians belonging to the house, not in the least used to fire-arms,
ran out and hid themselves in the woods. But after some time, one
of them, bolder than the rest, got upon a hill, and hollowed to us,
asking who and what we were. Our cacique now made himself known, and
they presently came down to the boat, bringing with them some fish,
and plenty of potatoes. This was the most comfortable meal we had made
for many long months; and as soon as this was over, we rowed about two
miles farther to a little village, where we landed. Here our cacique
presently awoke all the inhabitants by the noise he made, and obliged
one of them to open his door to us, and immediately to make a large
fire; for the weather was very severe, this being the month of June,
the depth of winter in this part of the world. The Indians now flocked
thick about us, and seemed to have great compassion for us, as our
cacique related to them what part he knew of our history. They knew not
what countrymen we were, nor could our guide inform them; for he had
often asked us if we were French, Dutch, or English, the only nations
he had ever heard of besides the Spaniards. We always answered we were
from Grande Bretagne, which he could make nothing of; for we were
afraid, if he knew us to be English, as he had heard that nation was at
war with the Spaniards, he never would have conducted us to Chiloe.