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)
I durst not take
the least notice of this at the time; for had I made any disturbance,
I should have been knocked on the head. This kind lady immediately
after mixed with the crowd, and I never could find out who had done
me that favour. I have seen fifty or sixty penitents following these
processions; they wear a long white garment with a long train to it,
and high caps of the same, which fall down before, and cover all their
faces, having only two small holes for their eyes; so that they are
never known. Their backs are bare, and they lash themselves with a
cat-o'-nine-tails till the long train behind is covered all over with
blood. Others follow them with great heavy crosses upon their backs;
so that they groan under the weight as they walk barefooted, and often
faint away. The streets swarm with friars of all the different orders.
The president has always a guard at his palace regularly clothed. The
rest of their forces consists of militia, who are numerous.
All European goods are very dear. English cloth, of fourteen or fifteen
shillings a yard, sells there for ten or eleven dollars; and every
other article in proportion. We found many Spaniards here that had
been taken by Commodore Anson, and had been for some time prisoners on
board the Centurion. They all spoke in the highest terms of the kind
treatment they had received; and it is natural to imagine, that it was
chiefly owing to that laudable example of humanity, our reception here
was so good. They had never had anything but privateers and buccaneers
amongst them before, who handled their prisoners very roughly; so that
the Spaniards in general, both of Peru and Chili, had the greatest
dread of being taken by the English; but some of them told us, that
they were so happy on board the Centurion, that they should not have
been sorry if the Commodore had taken them with him to England. After
we had been here some time, Mr. Campbell changed his religion, and of
course left us. At the end of two years, the president sent for us,
and informed us a French ship from Lima, bound to Spain, had put into
Valparaiso, and that we should embark in her. After taking leave of our
good friend Mr. Gedd, and all our acquaintance at St. Jago, we set out
for Valparaiso, mules and a guide being provided for us. I had forgot
to say before, that Captain Cheap had been allowed by the president
six reals a day, and we had four for our maintenance the whole time we
were at St. Jago, which money we took up as we wanted it. Our journey
back was much pleasanter than we found it when we were first brought
hither, as we had now no mules to drive. The first person I met, upon
our entrance into Valparaiso, was the poor soldier whom I mentioned to
have been so kind to us when we were imprisoned in the fort. I now made
him a little present, which, as it came quite unexpected, made him very
happy. We took lodgings till the ship was ready to sail, and diverted
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