112 A V O Y A G E T O 



J777- With refpe^t to perfonal activity or genius, we can fay 



January. ^ ^ ■' ° . ■' 



but little of either. They do not feem to pofTefs the firfl: in 

 any remarkable degree ; and as for the lad, they have, to 

 appearance, lefs than even the half-animated inhabitants 

 t)f Terra del Fuego, who have not invention fufHcient to 

 make clothing for defending themfelves from the rigor of 

 their climate, though furniflied with the materials. The 

 fmall ftick, rudely pointed, which one of them carried in 

 his hand, was the only thing we faw that required any me- 

 chanical exertion, if we except the fixing on the feet of fome 

 of them pieces of /^fl«^o5r(jo Ikin, tied with thongs; though 

 it could not be learnt whether thefe were in ufe as flioes, or 

 only to defend fome fore. It muft be owned, however, they 

 are mailers of fome contrivance, in the manner of cutting 

 their arms and bodies in lines of different lengths and direc- 

 tions, which are raifed confiderably above the furface of the 

 fldn, fo that it is difficult to guefs the method they ufe in 

 executing this embroidery of their perfons. Their not ex- 

 preffing that furprize which one might have expelled from 

 their feeing men fo much unlike themfelves, and things, 

 to which, we were well aflured, they had been hitherto utter 

 fuangers ; their indifference for our prefents ; and their ge- 

 neral inattention ; were fufficient proofs of their not poffeff- 

 ing any acutenefs of underflanding. 



Their colour is a dull black, and not quite fo deep as that 

 of the African Negroes. It fhould feem alfo, that they fome- 

 times heightened their black colour, by fmutting their bo- 

 dies ; as a mark was left behind on any clean fubftance, 

 fuch as white paper, when they handled it. Their hair, 

 however, is perfectly woolly, and it is clotted or divided 

 into fmall parcels, like that of the Hottentots, with the ufe 



of 



