Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746Byron, John
History
Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746
Byron, John
Chiloé (Chile); Patagonia (Argentina and Chile); Wager (Ship)
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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