540 



FOOD. 



rl 

 Mm 



shown to Low, which was marked with blood two-thirds of 

 its length in wounding a guanaco, afterwards caught by dogs. 

 Low held out his jacket, making signs that the arrow FIQ 226 

 would not penetrate it ; upon which the native pointed 

 to his eye."* Fig. 226 represents the head of a 

 Fuegian harpoon, which closely resembles the ancient 

 Danish specimen figured in p. 110. 



Of vegetable food they have very little: a few 

 berries, cranberries, those which grow on the arbutus, 

 and a kind of fungus which is found on the beech, 

 being the only sorts used. The wretched Fuegians 

 often suffer greatly from famine. On one occasion, 

 when the Chonos were in great distress on this ac- 

 count, a small party went away, and the natives said 

 that in four sleeps they would return with food. On 

 the fifth day they came back almost dead with 

 fatigue, and "each man having two or three great 

 pieces of whale-blubber, shaped like a poncho with a 

 hole in the middle, on his shoulders. The blubber 

 was half putrid, and looked as if it had been buried 

 underground." Notwithstanding this, it was cut into 

 slices, broiled, and eaten. On another occasion, masses 

 of blubber were found in sand, doubtless laid in store 

 for a season of want. Their principal food, however, 

 consists of limpets, mussels, and other shell-fish. 



Admiral Fitzroy entertains no doubt that the Fue- 

 gians are cannibals. " Almost )* always at war with 

 adjoining tribes, they seldom meet but a hostile 

 encounter is the result ; and then those who are van- 

 quished and taken, if not already dead, are killed and 

 eaten by the conquerors. The arms and breast are 

 eaten by the women, the men eat the legs, and the Harpoon - 

 trunk is thrown into the sea." Again, in severe winters, when 

 * Fitzroy, 1. c. p. 17. f 1- c. p. 183. 



i "-Win 



snlll 



