They Were
Very Eager To Get Tobacco, For Which They Gave Shells, Fruits, Etc.
Knives Also Were In Demand, But
We were forbidden by the governor
to let any one have them, as he told us that all the people
There,
except the soldiers and a few officers, were convicts sent from
Valparaiso, and that it was necessary to keep all weapons from
their hands. The island, it seems, belongs to Chili, and had been
used by the government as a sort of Botany Bay for nearly two years;
and the governor - an Englishman who had entered the Chilian navy -
with a priest, half a dozen task-masters, and a body of soldiers,
were stationed there to keep them in order. This was no easy task;
and only a few months before our arrival, a few of them had stolen a
boat at night, boarded a brig lying in the harbor, sent the captain
and crew ashore in their boat, and gone off to sea. We were informed
of this, and loaded our arms and kept strict watch on board through
the night, and were careful not to let the convicts get our knives
from us when on shore. The worst part of the convicts, I found, were
locked up under sentry in caves dug into the side of the mountain,
nearly halfway up, with mule-tracks leading to them, whence they
were taken by day and set to work under task-masters upon building
an aqueduct, a wharf, and other public works; while the rest lived
in the houses which they put up for themselves, had their families
with them, and seemed to me to be the laziest people on the face
of the earth.
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