Thursday, November 02, 2006
Darwin in Cucao, 1835
Darwin on arriving, noted that “the district of Cucao is the only inhabited part on the whole west coast of Chiloe.” He found it painful to watch how humble the thirty or forty families of Indians that made up the inhabitants. They were treated bad by the rulers, the relative upper-class on Chiloë. Darwins companions treated the Indians as if they were slaves.
Today, the descendants appear to live by renting cabins and camping sites in summer to (mostly) Chilean tourists. The small village was full of little kiosks and bars.
On January 25, Darwin and his company "…rode a few miles northward to Punta Huantamó. The road lay along a very broad beach, on which, even after so many fine days, a terrible surf was breaking. “
He found a strange plant, “…allied, I believe, to Bromelia, and called by the inhabitants Chepones….This plant bears a fruit, in shape like an artichoke, in which a number of seed-vessels are packed: these contain a pleasant sweet pulp…I saw…the Chilotans making chichi, or cider, with this fruit: so true is it, as Humboldt remarks, that almost everywhere man finds means of preparing some kind of beverage from the vegetable kingdom.”
The next day he took the periagua again over the lake, rode back to Castro, and then on to San Carlos de Ancud. He had a great view over the great forest of Chiloë and over the chain of volcanoes on the mainland. “I hope it will be long before I forget this farewell view of the magnificent cordillera fronting Chiloe”, he wrote.
// posted by The beaver @ 5:52 PM 
