744 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



principle is an element of advance toward social perfection. The 

 progress may be largely external, and change of heart does not 

 always accompany conformity to rule ; nevertheless, long-contin- 

 ued habit is almost sure to produce change in men's conception 

 of life. 



DARWIN ON THE FUEGIANS AND PATAGONIANS.* 



HAVING now finished with Patagonia and the Falkland Isl- 

 ands, I will describe our first arrival in Tierra del Fuego. 

 A little after noon we doubled Cape St. Diego and entered the 

 famous Strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the Fuegian shore, 

 but the outline of the rugged, inhospitable Staten-land was visible 

 amid the clouds. In the afternoon we anchored in the Bay of 

 Good Success. While entering we were saluted in a manner be- 

 coming the inhabitants of this savage land. A group of Fue- 

 gians, partly concealed by the entangled forest, were perched on a 

 wild point overhanging the sea ; and, as we passed by, they sprang 

 up and waving their tattered cloaks sent forth a loud and sono- 

 rous shout. The savages followed the ship, and just before dark 

 we saw their fire, and again heard their wild cry. The harbor 

 consists of a fine piece of water half surrounded by low, rounded 

 mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to the water's edge by 

 one dense, gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was 

 sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything 

 I had ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and heavy 

 squalls from the mountains swept past us. It would have been a 

 bad time out at sea, and we, as well as others, may call this Good 

 Success Bay. 



In the morning the captain sent a party to communicate with 

 the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four natives 

 who were present advanced to receive us, and began to shout most 

 vehemently, wishing to direct us where to land. When we were 

 on shore the party looked rather alarmed, but continued talking 

 and making gestures with great rapidity. It was without excep- 

 tion the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld : I 

 could not have believed how wide was the difference between sav- 

 age and civilized man : it is greater than between a wild and do- 

 mesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power 

 of improvement. The chief spokesman was old, and appeared to 

 be the head of the family ; the three others were powerful young 

 men, about six feet high. The women and children had been sent 



* From advance sheets of a new edition, illustrated by R. T. Pritehett, of Darwin's 

 " Journal of Researches " made during the voyage round the world of H. M. S. Beagle, 

 in preparation by D. Appleton & Co. 



