Several thousand Indians dwell on this large island. They have been semi-civilized for two or three centuries. They seem to have been less warlike than the Araucanians on the mainland. Their clothing is modelled somewhat after that of the _rotos_, for nearly all sport a white cotton or linen shirt, which is oftentimes worn under the gaily-coloured indigo-dyed _poncho_. The shoes are generally simply made of a piece of raw oxhide fastened to the feet with thongs of leather. Their houses are the very simplest of contrivances. The family that starves does so only through indifference. Land is cheap and nature productive. Most of them live near the seacoast or rivers, where fish are very abundant, and edible wild-fowl of many kinds, including ducks, geese and pigeons, are easy to capture. The forests yield a number of wild fruits and vegetables. Among the wild fruits may be mentioned strawberries of a delicious flavour, and a species of myrtle which bears a palatable berry. The fruit of the luma, or kow-chow, is very abundant, and is used in making a fermented liquor much used by the natives. They have remained as poor as when the Spaniards came, and the population has actually decreased in the last century. This island, as well as others, was a feudal holding and the tyranny of the proprietors and abuses of the merchants account for that. Justice and humanity were frequently unknown terms. Churches are not wanting, for at one place nineteen can be counted on islands and mainland when the weather is clear. The church is always an important and conspicuous building in every community. A few colonists, German, French and British, have located on this island, and have succeeded in carving a home out of the wilderness if sufficiently industrious. Nevertheless many of them have endured great hardships. The Chilean government brought them over but had neglected to provide the necessary roads.