{"id":"01KG6YH8ZFY54MBD38H4BKYSM3","cid":"bafkreiax56o7hqft2leffalvfx5qf4drlt2gp6vbeucnrtvcxirnswbqg4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6450,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.413Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":6400,"text":"pulling close up in his boat under their grim cliffs is, that surely he\r\nmust be their first discoverer, such, for the most part, is the\r\nunimpaired ... silence and solitude. And here, by the way, the mode in\r\nwhich these isles were really first lighted upon by Europeans is not\r\nunworthy of mention, especially as what is about to be said, likewise\r\napplies to the original discovery of our Encantadas.\r\n\r\nPrior to the year 1563, the voyages made by Spanish ships from Peru to\r\nChili, were full of difficulty. Along this coast, the winds from the\r\nSouth most generally prevail; and it had been an invariable custom to\r\nkeep close in with the land, from a superstitious conceit on the part\r\nof the Spaniards, that were they to lose sight of it, the eternal\r\ntrade-wind would waft them into unending waters, from whence would be\r\nno return. Here, involved among tortuous capes and headlands, shoals\r\nand reefs, beating, too, against a continual head wind, often light,\r\nand sometimes for days and weeks sunk into utter calm, the provincial\r\nvessels, in many cases, suffered the extremest hardships, in passages,\r\nwhich at the present day seem to have been incredibly protracted. There\r\nis on record in some collections of nautical disasters, an account of\r\none of these ships, which, starting on a voyage whose duration was\r\nestimated at ten days, spent four months at sea, and indeed never again\r\nentered harbor, for in the end she was cast away. Singular to tell,\r\nthis craft never encountered a gale, but was the vexed sport of\r\nmalicious calms and currents. Thrice, out of provisions, she put back\r\nto an intermediate port, and started afresh, but only yet again to\r\nreturn. Frequent fogs enveloped her; so that no observation could be\r\nhad of her place, and once, when all hands were joyously anticipating\r\nsight of their destination, lo! the vapors lifted and disclosed the\r\nmountains from which they had taken their first departure. In the like\r\ndeceptive vapors she at last struck upon a reef, whence ensued a long\r\nseries of calamities too sad to detail.\r\n\r\nIt was the famous pilot, Juan Fernandez, immortalized by the island\r\nnamed after him, who put an end to these coasting tribulations, by\r\nboldly venturing the experiment—as De Gama did before him with respect\r\nto Europe—of standing broad out from land. Here he found the winds\r\nfavorable for getting to the South, and by running westward till beyond\r\nthe influences of the trades, he regained the coast without difficulty;\r\nmaking the passage which, though in a high degree circuitous, proved\r\nfar more expeditious than the nominally direct one. Now it was upon\r\nthese new tracks, and about the year 1670, or thereabouts, that the\r\nEnchanted Isles, and the rest of the sentinel groups, as they may be\r\ncalled, were discovered. Though I know of no account as to whether any\r\nof them were found inhabited or no, it may be reasonably concluded that\r\nthey have been immemorial solitudes. But let us return to Redondo.\r\n\r\nSouthwest from our tower lies all Polynesia, hundreds of leagues away;\r\nbut straight west, on the precise line of his parallel, no land rises\r\ntill your keel is beached upon the Kingsmills, a nice little sail of,\r\nsay 5000 miles.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGBW6TDDHGY5MJRJDQ5QF","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH8ZFWKHHSEK844HXHQF6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH8ZF4R8R2BX2PT693WHP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:56.079Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:06.647Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}