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. They did nothing but take a paseo into the woods,
a paseo among the houses, a paseo at the landing-place, looking at
us and our vessel, and too lazy to speak fast; while the others were
driving--or rather, driven--about, at a rapid trot, in single file,
with burdens on their shoulders, and followed up by their task-masters,
with long rods in their hands, and broadbrimmed straw hats upon their
heads. Upon what precise grounds this great distinction was made,
I do not know, and I could not very well know, for the governor was the
only man who spoke English upon the island, and he was out of my walk.

Having filled our casks, we returned on board, and soon after,