There was a shoal of small fish about, and the whales,
most of which were about fifty or sixty feet in length, constantly
opened their huge pink whalebone-fringed mouths so wide that we could
see right down their capacious throats. The children were especially
delighted with this performance, and baby has learned quite a new
trick. When asked, 'What do the whales do?' she opens her mouth as
wide as she can, stretches out her arms to their fullest extent, then
blows, and finishes up with a look round for applause.
Soon after 8 p.m. the wind completely died away, and, fearing further
detention, we once more got up steam.
_Sunday, October 15th_.--Still calm. We had the litany and hymns at 11
a.m.; prayers and hymns and a sermon at 5 p.m. In the course of the
afternoon we were again surrounded by a shoal of whales. We passed the
island of Chiloe to-day, where it always rains, and where the
vegetation is proportionately dense and luxuriant. It is inhabited by
a tribe of peculiarly gentle Indians, who till the ground, and who are
said to be kind to strangers thrown amongst them. Darwin and Byron
speak well of the island and its inhabitants, who are probably more
civilised since their time, for a steamer now runs regularly once a
week from Valparaiso to San Carlos and back for garden produce.
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