804 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [chap. x. 



CHAPTER X. 



rierra del Fuego, first arrival— Good Success Bay — An account of the 

 Fuegians on board — Interview -with the savages — Scenery of the forests — 

 Cape Horn— Wigwam Cove — Miserable condition of the savages — Famines 

 — Cannibals — Matricide— Religious feelings— Great gale— Beagle Channel 

 — Ponsonby Sound — Build wigwams and settle the Fuegians — Bifurcation 

 of the Beagle Channel — Glaciers— Return to the ship — Second visit in 

 the Ship to the Settlement — Equality of condition amongst the natives. 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



December 11 fh, 1832. — Having now finished with "^atagonia 

 and the Falkland Islands, 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, inhos- 

 pitable Staten-land was visible amidst the clouds. In the after- 

 noon we anchored in the Bay of Good Success. While entering 

 we were saluted in a manner becominof the inhabitants of this 

 savage land. A group of Fuegians partly concealed by the en- 

 tangled 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 sonoro' "^ shout. The 

 savages followed the ship, and just before dark we saw their fire, 

 and again heard their wild cry. The harbour 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 suflficient 

 to show me how widely different it was from any thing 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 Gootl 

 Success Bay. 



In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with 

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

 natives who were present avivanced to receive us, and began to 



