74 MODE OF LIFE. [1839. 



side to side, according as the wind blows. It is by no means 



uncommon, however, to see them entirely naked. They ap- 



ar stunted in their growth ; their dark copper colored skins 



re filthy and greasy ; and their hideous faces are generally 



laubed with ashes or paint. Their voices are discordant, 



id their gestures, in conversation, animated and even vio- 



:llt. 



Their wigwams are sometimes built of the trunks of trees, 

 ;irranged in a circle and leaning against each other at the 

 top, like a cone ; the interstices are chinked in with earth, 

 leaves, and wild grass. Another kind of wigwam is made 

 ot boughs or small branches bound together at the top with 

 sedge or twigs ; other branches are interlaced with these so 

 as to form wicker-work, and the whole is covered with grass, 

 peat or bark. They subsist almost wholly on fish, seals, sea- 

 eggs, and testacea. A few tasteless berries and fungi are the 

 only productions of the moist soil which they make use of to 

 satisfy hunger. The only habitable land is directly on the 

 coast, and in summer and winter, through the endless mists, 

 and storms, parties of them may be seen wandering along the 

 beach in quest of food. Their only mode of conveyance is a 

 canoe drawn through the water by the kelp, or propelled by 

 a rude paddle ; it is made of strips of bark sewed together, 

 and is usually about twenty-five feet long and three feet 

 wide. The bottom of the canoe is covered with a layer of 

 clay a foot thick, on which a fire is always kept burning. 

 Sea-eggs are obtained by diving, and small fish are caught 

 by a baited hair-line, without any hook. Larger fish are 

 speared. Shell-fish are picked from the rocks whenever it is 

 low water, be it night or day, in storm or sunshine. 



Seasons of famine are frequent among the Fuegians, and 

 at such times they often kill and eat the old women, before 

 they devour their dogs. They are divided into different 

 tribes, and when at war they are also cannibals. It is rarely 

 the case that they object to any kind of food ; and if the car- 

 cass of a putrid whale is discovered, it is hailed as a special 

 blessing. Traces of superstition exist among them, and each 



