truth and sometimes misled the navigators. Indeed, the Chonos managed to keep Spanish explorers away from Presidente Ríos Lake so effectively that it became officially known to Chileans only in 1945. As a consequence of the proximity to the Spanish settlements in Chiloé the Chonos were the canoe-faring peoples of Patagonia with the most intense contact with the Spanish. Anecdotal evidence shows that the Chonos became increasingly acculturated into Spanish culture over the 17th and 18th centuries. For example Cristóbal Talcapillán who was interviewed by the Spanish authorities in the 1670s understood the difference between the Spanish and the English. In the 1740s Martín Olleta was able to understand the importance of the wreckage of HMS Wager and profited from it by handing over the survivors to the Spanish authorities while keeping valuable metal objects obtained from the wreck. The proficiency in Spanish of the Chonos led by Martín Olleta was good enough to communicate with the Spanish-speaking surgeon of the British party. Demise The Chonos largely disappear from the historical record after the 18th century, but sporadic references remained. Thomas Bridges reported having met Chonos in the late 19th century. Alberto Achacaz Walakial, himself a Kawésqar born around 1929, claimed to have met Chonos when young. Writer Benjamín Subercaseaux visited Taitao Peninsula in 1946 reporting having seen footsteps and fresh human feces he thought indicated that nomadic Chonos, as known from the historical record, still existed. Ricardo Vásquez led an expedition in 2006 to remote parts of Taitao Peninsula partly motivated by possible indications that Chonos were still living in isolation there. In 1743 members of the cabildo of Castro explained the decline of the Chonos that had settled in Jesuit missions as caused by a shortage of women. Historian Rodolfo Urbina Burgos follows up on this thought and argues the Chonos as a whole went extinct as a distinctive group because of a chronic shortage of women. Urbina Burgos argues this meant Chonos were being married to indigenous women of Veliche, Caucahué or Payo stock. Thus the Chono miscegenated and assimilated into the indigenous cultures of Chiloé by replacement of women. Chono women were responsible for diving in cold waters for shellfish, and this may have been the cause of a short life expectancy among them. Chonos who fled south of Taitao Peninsula in the 18th century may have ended up being miscegenated into the Kawésqar. Inhabitants in