74 8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



assume the marked features of Tierra del Fuego. On the east 

 coast, south of the strait, broken, park-like scenery in a like man- 

 ner connects these two countries, which are opposed to each other 

 in almost every feature. It is truly surprising to find in a space 

 of twenty miles such a change in the landscape. If we take a 

 rather greater distance, as between Port Famine and Gregory 

 Bay, that is about sixty miles, the difference is still more wonder- 

 ful. At the former place we have rounded mountains 

 concealed by impervious forests, which are drenched 

 with the rain brought by an endless succession of 

 gales ; while at Cape Gregory there is a clear and 

 bright blue sky over the dry and sterile plains. The 

 atmospheric currents, although rapid, turbulent, and 

 unconfined by any apparent limits, yet seem to fol- 

 low, like a river in its bed, a regularly determined 

 course. 



During our previous visit (in January), we had an 

 interview at Cape Gregory with the famous so-called 

 gigantic Patagonians, who gave us a cordial reception. 

 Their height appears greater than it really is, from 

 their large guanaco mantles, their long, flowing hair, 

 and general figure ; on an average their height is 

 about six feet, with some men taller and only a few 

 shorter ; and the women are also tall ; altogether, they 

 are certainly the tallest race which we anywhere saw. 

 In features they strikingly resemble the more north- 

 ern Indians whom I saw with Rosas, but they have a 

 wilder and more formidable appearance : their faces 

 were much painted with red and black, and one man 

 was ringed and dotted with white like a Fuegian. 

 Captain Fitz Roy offered to take any three of them on 

 board, and all seemed determined to be of the three. 

 It was long before we could clear the boat ; at last we 

 got on board with our three giants, who dined with 

 the captain, and behaved quite like gentlemen, helping 

 themselves with knives, forks, and spoons: nothing 

 was so much relished as sugar. This tribe has had so 

 much communication with sealers and whalers that 

 most of the men can speak a little English and Span- 

 fig. 4. -PATA- ish ; and they are half civilized, and proportionally de- 

 gonian bolas. moralized. 



The next morning a large party went on shore, to 

 barter for skins and ostrich-feathers ; firearms being refused, to- 

 bacco was in greatest request, far more so than axes or tools. The 

 whole population of the toldos, men, women, and children, were ar- 

 ranged on a bank. It was an amusing scene, and it was impossible 



