Adventures in Patagonia; a missionary's exploring trip.

Introduction

The writer of the following narrative is one of the most venerable of living missionaries, and a noble type of the “high caste” to which he belongs. With the strong religious conviction which comes from Puritan birth and training, with a faith that never doubts, and a zeal that inspires courage and devotion, he unites a practical turn of mind, a natural sagacity, and a quickness of adaptation to all vicissitudes of experience which may come to him in strange lands and among strange peoples — qualities which, combined, have made the American missionary a marked character in many parts of the world, and given him great success.

The Rev. Titus Coan is a native of New England, born in Killingworth, Conn., where his life began with the century, February ist, 1801. He was the son of a farmer, and had no advantages but such as were afforded by the common schools. He developed a stalwart and rugged frame, and became noted for his physical strength. In manly sports vi

INTRODUCTION.

he was an athlete, performing with ease the feat of lifting a barrel of flour to his shoulders. He joined a military company, in which his strength and courage gave him precedence, and he soon rose to be a captain. This military training was not lost upon him, and the endurance thus developed did him good service in the privations, hardships, and exposures of his after-life.

One could not live in Connecticut in those days without having his religious impressions and experiences. The famous evangelist, Asahel Nettleton, a native of Killingvvorth, was then setting New England aflame by his fervid eloquence. Whereever he went he was followed by crowds, to whom he preached with an earnestness and solemnity that filled them with awe. Young Coan was a cousin of Nettleton, and could not but be moved by the tide of religious feeling that swept over the country, though it was not till he had grown to manhood that he took the decided stand implied in making a “profession” of his faith. When religion takes hold of a strong character, it takes the stamp of the man, and stands out pronounced and positive. One who had been the athlete of his native town, foremost among his comrades, was not likely to be afraid of letting them see the new stand that he had taken. Prompt and bold in everything he did, no sooner

INTRODUCTION.

vii had he come out on the Lord’s side, than he “ wheeled into line” with the precision of a soldier, and taking Christ for his Captain, marched in the van under his great Leader.

Hardly had he taken this stand, before his thoughts turned to the profession of the ministry. He was then living in Western New York, near Rochester, and the nearness of Auburn Seminary offered him a place for theological study. Preparing himself with such opportunities as he had (without the delay of going through college), he entered the Seminary in the fall of 1831. Looking forward to his future career, he had already decided to devote himself to the work of foreign missions, when the American Board (being assured by a sea captain lately returned from South America that a hopeful field might be* found among the tribes of Patagonia) was looking around for a couple of intrepid soldiers of the Cross, to undertake an exploring expedition, and fixed upon young Coan, who had at once the physical strength and the fervent spirit. Reports were conflicting about the country and its people, and the expedition promised to be one of a good deal of adventure, if not of personal danger. It might be too much to say that the adventure and the danger were an attraction to the late captain of the militia but they certainly did

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not intimidate him. After due deliberation, taking counsel with his teachers, and with one whose voice might be more potent still, since she was to share his life and his fortunes in any quarter of the globe, he accepted the appointment, and with a fellowstudent set out for the extreme point of the continent. The following pages contain the narrative of his adventures in Patagonia, which were certainly full enough of excitement and of danger to satisfy the most ardent spirit. A fe^- months’ experience of the wild country and its untamable inhabitants showed him that the field was not so promising as he had been told, and he returned to the United States for further orders He then married, and accompanied by his bride, set sail for the Hawaiian Islands, which through the voyages of whaling ships had become somewhat known to the American public. There was then no overland route, nor short cut across the Isthmus of Panama. They took the long course around Cape Horn, and were just six months on the voyage, when they came in sight of the beautiful islands which were to be their home for the rest of their days

Then began that long course of service which has few parallels in the annals of missionary life — few in the display of fidelity and devotion, “enduring hardship as a good soldier,” and fewer still in

INTRODUCTION.

IX its marvellous successes. Cast almost like a shipwrecked voyager on a distant shore, among a strange people, with whom at first he could only communicate through signs or by an interpreter, he set himself at once to master the language, and so quickly did he catch the words and inflections, that in three months he preached his first sermon to the natives in their own tongue. In his intercourse with this simple people, of whom he sought to gain the affection and confidence, he showed a tact which was his birthright as a son of New England. He had a great deal of mother wit and natural shrewdness and pleasant humor, which gave a charm to his conversation even with these untutored children of nature, while his overflowing kindness soon opened to him the door of every native’s hut and heart. Desiring only to do them good, he tried to aid them in every way. He was a little of a doctor, knowing the remedies for the more common diseases, and, having a chest of medicines, prescribed for the poor people who were suffering. Often the natives stood in great numbers on the porch of his dwelling, with dusky arms outstretched, waiting for vaccination, or for his lancet to open a vein, that by bleeding they might be relieved of a burning fever. He even performed graver surgical opera-

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tions. Those who had domestics troubles of any kind — wives who had shiftless husbands, or husbands who had termagant wives — alike sought the counsel of Father Coan, who was the general peacemaker. Thus he seemed to unite in himself the duties of preacher, pastor, and magistrate, and to be at once the teacher, guide, and friend of the whole population.

Nor were his labors confined to the spot where he lived. He made missionary tours to other parts of the island, now sailing in a canoe along the coast, and landing at the different places where he had made appointments to preach, and now climbing the slopes, which ascend in a series of ridges towards the mountains which make the centre of the island. In these journeys he encountered every sort of hardship. The tropical rains often came down in floods, converting in a few hours a rocky gorge into a foaming torrent, which no boat could cross and no swimmer could stem. But here his ready contrivance did not desert him. Calling to the natives on the other bank to throw him a rope, such as they make of the bark of the hibiscus, he seized it with his strong hands, and tying it around his body, was dragged across.

Thus the fame of this man of God spread abroad, and wherever he went the people “thronged him.”

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XI

When he could not go to them they came to him. From all parts of the island they flocked to Hilo. “ Whole villages gathered from many miles away, and made their homes near the mission house. Within the radius of a mile the little cabins clustered thick as they could stand. Hilo, the village of ten hundred, saw its population suddenly swelled to ten thousand, and here was held, literally, a camp meeting of two years. At any hour of the day or night a tap of the bell would bring together a congregation of from three to six thousand. Meetings for prayer and preaching were held daily.”

Congregations so vast and so long continued have not often been assembled since Apostolic times, and the Spirit came down upon them as on the day of Pentecost. The preacher himself was thrilled by the scene, and catching an inspiration from the thousands of eager eyes and listening ears, felt lifted up with a strange power. “ There was a fire in his bones.” Were the congregation ever so large and tumultuous, it hushed at the sound of his voice. He said: “I would rise before the restless, noisy crowd and begin. It wasn’t long before I felt that I had got hold of them. There seemed. to be a chord of electricity binding them to me. I knew that I had them, that they would not go away. The Spirit would hush them by the truth till they would

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sob and cry ‘ What shall we do ? ’ and the noise of the weeping would be so great that I could not go on.”

As the fruit of these remarkable scenes a large part of the population abandoned heathenism, and professed to be converted to the Christian faith, insomuch, that when they came to be baptized, the good man was obliged to perform the sacred rite for them en masse. Seizing a brush like an aspersarium , and passing to and fro among the crowded rows of the candidates, he sprinkled them by scores and hundreds, pronouncing over them the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Strange as it may seem to us, the service did not thereby lose any of its solemnity, but was rather more impressive from being done in this grand, majestic way, whereas on a smaller scale it might have lost by the endless repetition. By these immense additions the church at Hilo grew till it numbered over five thousand members, making the largest Protestant church in the world.

Mr. Coan and his wife remained on the islands thirty-five years before revisiting their native country. When they came back in 1870, they found another world than that which they had left. All things had become new. They had made their outward voyage in a small sailing vessel. They re-

INTRODUCTION.

Xlll turned in a steamship. When they landed in San Francisco they had scarcely seen a railroad. Now they were whirled in fire-drawn cars up the mountains and over the plains, across the whole breadth of the continent. The fame of the missionary had gone before him, and wherever he came among the churches he was welcomed with an enthusiasm such as had not been manifested since the heroic Judson came back from Burmah, years before. When they visited New York they were guests in the house of the writer, where we were charmed alike by the intelligence, sprightliness, and animation of the veteran missionary, and the sweetness of her who had been his faithful companion during his long exile. It was then that, as we sat in the library, he talked freely, though very simply and modestly, of all the way in which God had led him. Among other things he related his early experiences in Patagonia, and it was perhaps in response to our suggestion and that of others that he prepared the narrative which follows.

They returned the following year, and when they reached the Islands were received by the natives with great demonstrations. Here was to be their home for the rest of their days. Two years after the wife and mother died, while the father still lives in his eightieth year — a hale and hearty old man, xiv

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happy in the recollection of the past, happy in the good which he has done to the people to whom he has given his life, and happy in their tender and affectionate veneration. He cannot be expected to continue long. In a few more years he will be laid beside her whom he so much loved. Though they sleep far from their native land, it is not unmeet that they should be laid to rest in the island for which they had done so much ; on those beautiful shores where the waters of the Pacific come rippling and murmuring up the beach. Nor will their memory depart. As long as the generation that knew them shall remain, the simple natives will often visit their graves, and recall their virtues with tears of love and gratitude.

New York, March, 1880.

H. M. F.

Preface

The following notes of a visit to Patagonia and the Falkland Islands are offered to the public in response to the call of many friends who desire to see the simple narrative in print.

These sketches of daily life at sea and among the wild savages of Patagonia were written for friends, and to assist personal recollections, and are now offered with diffidence simply as a plain record of facts and experiences.

The Supplement is added because the published narratives of visitors and missionary toilers among the Patagonian and Fuegian tribes have furnished new facts concerning those dark realms since the earlier part of the book was written. I have therefore taken the liberty to quote from the voyages of Admiral Fitzroy, Prof. Charles Darwin, Mr. Bourne, and from “ The Story of Allen Gardiner,” to all of which I am indebted for important information, as I am also to very many

PREFACE.

shipmasters, officers, and private friends, whose sympathy, unaffected courtesy, and generous aid were so liberally extended to my companion and to myself during that memorable year of our lives.

May Heaven’s blessings rest upon them all in this life and throughout the future ; and may the day be hastened when from every mountain-top and from the shining hills of heaven no “ dark places shall be seen on earth” and no “ habitations of cruelty” !

Hilo, Hawaii, 1879.

T. C.

>iAAAAA j, 1

^OPERTToT IT C E TON

MISSION TO PATAGONIA.

Chapter I. Preparation To Send A Missionary Explor- Ing Expedition To Patagonia

WHILE in the Theological Seminary at Auburn, N. Y., the following letter came to me one day in June, 1833 :

“Missionary Rooms, Boston, June 19, 1833.

“ Mr. Titus Coan,

“ Theological Seminary, Auburn .

“ My DEAR Sir : An exploring mission has

been resolved upon by the Committee, Providence permitting, on the western coast of Patagonia. The vessel in which the mission must go, if it goes during the present year, is expected to sail on the last of July, and two missionaries can have a free passage. Two men ought by all means to go, and not one alone. One — Mr. Arms, of the Theological Seminary of Andover — has been engaged for the enterprise, and another is wanted. It occurred to us that perhaps you were the man. We received your testimonials, and made inquiries, and the result is that the question has been brought before the Committee, and they have unanimously appointed you a missionary of the Board, with special reference to this important expedition. Mr. Arms, the bearer of this letter, will explain to you the nature of the mission.

“ The plan is, in brief, that two men, willing to endure hardship, be landed on the coast, at a place which is resorted to by sealing vessels, and spend a suitable time, probably a year or more, in travelling among the tribes of that coast ; that they shall ascertain what can be done for them — where a mission had better be located, what should be the nature of the mission, etc. — and at the same time make arrangements for a mission, and then come home and report to the Committee. As this subject comes before you unawares, and you have but little time to reflect upon it, we do not ask you to decide now whether you will ultimately be a member of the Patagonian mission.

THE PREPARATION .

II

“ The Committee will cheerfully leave this question to be determined at a future time, in view of Providential indications. The question now before you is, whether you will accompany Mr. Arms to the Patagonian coast and spend a couple of years, if necessary, among the Indian tribes of that coast? Of course you will both have to go unmarried. Mr. Arms leaves an intended wife behind him, and we understand that your circumstances are similar to his. The expedition now proposed to you is one full of privations ; but it opens a prospect of bringing the Gospel to the minds and hearts of the poor degraded natives of Patagonia.

“ Should you consent to go, you will come on to Boston by the 15th or 20th of July with all the necessary credentials for ordination, unless the Presbytery with which you are connected prefer to ordain you themselves, and can do it in season for you to be here at the time mentioned.

“ I beg you to take this important subject into immediate and prayerful consideration. Let me hear from you as soon as possible. I earnestly hope you will go. If you do not, I see not how the mission can go during the present year.

“ On your arrival in Boston we will confer with

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you fully on the subject. The Lord be with you, my dear brother.

“ Most truly yours,

“ R. Anderson,

“ Sec. A. B.C. F. M."

In connection with the foregoing earnest letter, Secretary Anderson sent me copies of a correspondence with Captain Benjamin Morrell, then in the city of New York. Captain Morrell had recently published a very attractive narrative of a cruise along the eastern coast of Patagonia, also through the Magellan Strait and up the Pacific coast as far as the island of Chiloe. In this journal he had given a glowing description of the harbors, the forests, the climate, soil, clover-meadows, a^l the numerous and peaceful inhabitants of the western coast of Patagonia. He had also taken occasion to hint that this coast would be a favorable field for missionary enterprise.

On reading this fascinating narrative, the Secretary opened a correspondence with Captain Morrell in order to elicit more definitely the important facts which would warrant sending an expedition with the view of establishing a mission on that coast.

*3

The following is a copy of two letters of Captain Morrell to Secretary Anderson in answer to letters of inquiry from the Secretary.

4(4 R. Anderson Esq.

44 Dear Sir: Your favor of the r/th inst. is now before me, and it is with no ordinary degree of pleasure that I hasten to answer it.

44 The interest you have taken in the temporal and eternal welfare of the now wretched and degraded natives of an unexplored region on the western coast of South America, between the Strait of Magellan and the Archipelago of Chiloe, has been highly gratifying to my feelings ; and not the less so, I assure you, from your having derived the idea from the humble narrative I have just laid before the public. The harmless and inoffensive race of beings here alluded to are the migratory inhabitants of a country which is blessed with the most temperate climate, the richest soil, and the finest harbors on the face of the globe. It is true that at present these natives are more ignorant and debased than any other I have ever visited ; but it is equally true that they are entirely free from many of the sensualities of the more enlightened, and are characterized by a mildness

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of disposition and a child-like simplicity of manners which in my humble opinion renders them fit subjects for missionary labor. They are ignorant of the simplest rudiments of agriculture, never dreaming that the luxuriant soil of their beautiful country would grant new favors to their slightest solicitation. Should heaven so far sanction the benevolent feelings which originated this correspondence as to enable your Society to establish a Christian mission among these children of nature, I have no hesitation in saying that a very few years would change their idle habits and wretched condition to those of comparative usefulness and happiness ; while such a result would richly and amply reward me for all the time, labor, and personal hazards I have encountered in collecting the information I have published respecting them.

“ In answering the series of questions you have done me the honor to propose, I shall beg leave to take them up in my own homely way and dispatch them in numerical order.

“The peninsula of Tres Montes, in my opinion, is not the most eligible location on this coast for the establishment of a Protestant mission, on account of its proximity to the Catholic missions further north.

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r5

“ For reasons which will presently appear, I would in preference designate the Guanaco Islands, or that section of the continent near which they lie, say lat. 4 y° south.

“ The locating a similar establishment in any part of Magellan’s Strait ought to depend on the success or failure of the project under consideration.

“ I think that the Spanish States of South America would rather protect than seek to disturb a mission at the Guanaco Islands, because neither they nor the mother-country have ever conquered or asserted any claim to territories south of Chiloe.

“ The natives I believe would treat the missionaries with the greatest kindness and respect.

“ The Guanaco Islands, you are aware, are situated a short distance from the mainland, the northern island being in lat. 4 y° 31' S., Ion. 750 4' W. The most of these islands are of considerable extent, with spacious harbors between them. Their surface is low and level, partly covered with heavy timber, and on many of them there are beautiful plains of sufficient extent to raise produce the first season for several thousand natives ; nothing more being required than to run a plough through a i6

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rich, mellow soil and cover the seed with the furrows. These plains are now covered with fine long grass, heavy clover, and extensive patches of celery, surrounded by lofty forests of various kinds of excellent ship timber.

“ The waters abound with a great variety of the finest scale-fish, which may be taken in any quantities either with a seine or hook and line. Numerous kinds of shell-fish are found on the shores, as well as sea-otters and seals.

“ The forests are teeming with a great variety of beautiful birds, and the mainland abounds in lions, guanacos, deer, hare, foxes, otter and many other valuable animals. Minerals, drugs, etc., are doubtless to be found in the interior.

“A few black cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and poultry, turned out on those islands that were not to be immediately devoted to tillage, would increase and multiply and soon replenish them.

“ The natives that inhabit the sea-coast are all travelling tribes, subsisting entirely on fish and such wild animals as they can procure, having no substitute for bread.

“Yours truly,

“ Benj. Morrell.”

THE PREPARATION.

R. Anders on, Esq.

“ Dear SIR: Yours of the 21st inst. came duly to hand and is now before me.

“ In reply to your first question, I can state from my own personal and frequent experience that the climate south of the equator in any given degree of latitude between 30° and 550 is neither so cold in winter nor so warm in summer as in the same degrees of N. lat. Inlat. 47° there is seldom any snow in the valleys. The storms are not more frequent nor more severe than in New England.

“ The number of natives between lat. 470 and 50° I take to be about 20,000. They sojourn in one place till they have exhausted the shell-fish, and then remove to another. They have no tame animals except dogs. Interpreters can be obtained at Chiloe who understand their language and will translate it into Spanish.

“ The natives are honest and will respect private property. The coast can be traversed with safety in canoes ; but to penetrate into the interior horses will be necessary, which must be taken from the United States.

“ In closing this hasty communication I beg leave to express the satisfaction I feel in yourhav-

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ing taken this interesting subject into consideration, and trust that your exertions in behalf of the benighted heathen will meet a due reward. Under such a hope, I subscribe myself,

“Yours truly,

“ Benj. Morrell.”

It will be seen that these letters of Captain Morrell embrace answers to many specific questions addressed to him by the Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

In order to increase information on the subject which now engaged the earnest attention of the Prudential Committee of the Board, the Secretary addressed a letter of inquiry to Silas E. Burrows, Esq., of New York City, as Mr. Burrows was the owner of several vessels engaged in sealing along the coasts of Patagonia and among the islands of Tierra del Fuego, and as Captain Morrell had been engaged in his service. Mr. Burrows had also been on the Pacific coast as far as Chili, and it was hoped that he might know something of the country and tribes described by Captain Morrell. This letter Mr. Burrows answered promptly, and with characteristic enthusiasm ; and although he was unable to add any information to that of his

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Captain, yet he fully endorsed his high character and assured the Secretary that the Missionary Board might place implicit confidence in his statements.

Mr. Burrows furthermore stated that he was then fitting out a sealing schooner, the Mary Jane, to sail from New York City in July, and that he would be most happy to give a free passage in said schooner to two young gentlemen who might desire to explore on the western coast of Patagonia. He also stated that he would instruct the master of the Mary Jane, Captain William Clift, to look well to the missionaries, to land them at any points on the coast where they desired to explore, and to return them to the United States at the end of the voyage.

Up to this point all things looked favorable, and the voice of Providence seemed to say, “ Go forward .” With these letters and testimonials

Mr. Arms was sent by the Committee from Boston to Auburn, to converse with me, and to urge, if necessary, my acceptance of the appointment as an exploring missionary to Patagonia.

I had just returned from Rochester, where I had supplied the pulpit of one of the pastors during vacation. About nine o’clock in the morning

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these communications were put into my hands for consideration. I was then entering on my last term in the Theological Seminary. At its close I was engaged to marry Miss Fidelia Church, and I hoped to go with her as a missionary to some foreign land. We had been betrothed for years, and this call, if accepted, would throw a cloud over the prospects of our union for a long time at least, perhaps forever.

But the question must be met, and met immediately. It was now late in June, and the vessel bound to Patagonia was to sail before the close of July; and if I failed, the expedition must fail for that year at least, as it was deemed impossible to find another man to take the place in due season.

Chapter II. The Decision

I CALLED on Dr. Richards, President of the Seminary, put the papers into his hands, and requested him to confer with Drs. Perrine and Mills, the other members of the Faculty, and give me advice.

The Professors met by call, and soon the venerable Dr. Richards, with brimming eyes, reported that, as the voice of God seemed to call me* to this service, they could not object to my going ; that, while they did not feel at liberty to give me positive advice, they approved of the proposed Patagonian mission, and that, should I decide to go, their prayers should go with me, and that I should have an honorable release from the further duties of the Seminary.

Thus another door was opened and another voice seemed to say, “ Go."

News of this call spread quickly through the Seminary, and many of the students rushed to

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f

my room to inquire. Some with tears entreated me not to go, with language like this : “ The

Patagonians are ferocious cannibals ; they will kill and eat you. You have no right to throw away your life, as you are now just prepared to labor in the vineyard.”

Others said, “ Go, brother; the Lord will go with you, and nothing shall harm you ; for Jesus has said, ‘ Lo, I am with you alway.’ ” As I was then busy in preparing to leave Auburn, the brethren were requested to come to my room at 5 P. M., when I would be ready and happy to see all who would do me the favor to call. Dqring that hour the room was crowded, conversation was free, prayer was offered, and tearful farewells and benedictions uttered.