suspect the winter may be rigorous, being bounded on the west by an
immense ocean, without any land to screen it from the cold moist vapours
brought thither by the tempestuous westerly winds, which generally reign
in these latitudes, and which must render it uncomfortable in the winter
months, as the parallels of latitude to the south of the equator are
much colder than those in the same degrees to the northwards.

In this island they have abundance of very handsome middle-sized horses,
which the natives are said to manage with great dexterity. They have
also an animal, called _guanaco_ or _carneso de tierra_, that is, sheep
of the country, which very much resembles a camel, but not nearly so
large. They have long necks, and I have seen one of them between five
and six feet high. Their wool or soft hair is very fine. They smell very
rank, and move with a very slow majestic pace, which hardly any violence
can make them quicken; yet they are of great service at the mines in
Peru, where they are employed in carrying the ore and other things.
Their flesh is very coarse, as we experienced, having salted some of
them for our future use. Besides these, the inhabitants have European
sheep and great numbers of hogs, but not many black cattle. The island
has plenty of fowls, both wild and tame. Among the former is a small
species of goose, found on the banks of the rivers, which are
beautifully white, and of an excellent taste. The tame poultry are of
the same kinds with our own.

The natives are almost in all respects the same with those on the
continent of Chili, of moderate stature, with deep olive complexions,
and coarse shaggy black hair, some of them having by no means
disagreeable features. They seem naturally of fierce and warlike
dispositions; but the oppressions of the Spaniards, and the artifices of
the jesuits, who are the missionaries in these parts, have curbed and
broken their spirits. Frezier says, that the Indians on the continent,
to the southward of this island, are called _Chonos_, who go quite
naked; and that there is a race of men of extraordinary size in the
inland parts of the country, called _Cacahues_,[261] who are in amity
with the _Chonos_, and sometimes accompany them to the Spanish
settlements in Chiloe. Frezier says, that he has been credibly informed
by eye-witnesses, that some of these were about nine or ten feet high. I
had sight of two of these Indians, who came from the southward of St
Doming