1839.J SOUTHERN CRUISE. 75 



tribe has a conjuring doctor ; yet it has been found impossi- 

 ble clearly to ascertain his duties. They exhibit a dread of 

 some mysterious and invisible superior powers, but have no 

 definite idea of a future life. Bows and arrows, spears, and, 

 in the northern part of the island, the bolas of the Patago- 

 nians, are their only weapons. The arrow and spear heads 

 are made of bone, or iron where it can be procured. The 

 different tribes have no particular head or chief, nor any form 

 of government ; but they speak different dialects — all of 

 which have many affinities with the Araucanian — and reside 

 in different districts. 



For three hundred years, notwithstanding they have been 

 frequently visited by navigators and the crews of whalers and 

 sealing vessels, the Fuegians have made little or no advance 

 in intelligence. According to Drake, they travelled in the 

 same canoe, and slept in the same wigwam, two hundred 

 and fifty years ago, which they now do. In some respects 

 they are even more sunken and degraded than the Aus- 

 tralians, who have generally been considered the lowest, in 

 the scale of humanity. Their skill and sagacity are like the 

 instinct of animals, and they manifest still less invention and 

 foresight in providing the means of comfort and subsistence. 



(9.) On the 25th of February, Captain Wilkes left Orange 

 Harbor in the brig Porpoise, accompanied by the Sea Gull 

 under Lieutenant Johnson, for a short cruise in the Southern 

 Polar regions. Captain Hudson sailed on the same day with 

 the Peacock and the Flying-Fish — the latter in charge of 

 Lieutenant Walker — in the direction of Cook's Ne Plus 

 Ultra, under instructions to penetrate as far south of that 

 point as the season and other circumstances would permit. 

 Lieutenant Craven remained at Orange Harbor in command 

 of the Vincennes ; and the Relief was ordered to the straits 

 of Magellan, for scientific duty — the corps of scientific gentle- 

 men being temporarily transferred to that vessel. 



The Sea Gull returned to Orange Harbor on the 22d of 

 March, having separated from her consort during the cruise, 

 and the Porpoise arrived on the 30th. No new discoveries 



