The yawl at this place was anchored some way from the shore, and we
had fears for her safety from robbers during the night. Our pilot,
Mr. Douglas, accordingly told the constable of the district that we
always placed sentinels with loaded arms, and not understanding
Spanish, if we saw any person in the dark, we should assuredly
shoot him. The constable, with much humility, agreed to the perfect
propriety of this arrangement, and promised us that no one should
stir out of his house during that night.
During the four succeeding days we continued sailing southward. The
general features of the country remained the same, but it was much
less thickly inhabited. On the large island of Tanqui there was
scarcely one cleared spot, the trees on every side extending their
branches over the sea-beach. I one day noticed, growing on the
sandstone cliffs, some very fine plants of the panke (Gunnera
scabra), which somewhat resembles the rhubarb on a gigantic scale.
The inhabitants eat the stalks, which are subacid, and tan leather
with the roots, and prepare a black dye from them. The leaf is
nearly circular, but deeply indented on its margin. I measured one
which was nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no less than
twenty-four in circumference! The stalk is rather more than a yard
high, and each plant sends out four or five of these enormous
leaves, presenting together a very noble appearance.
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