62 



I went as usual to the highest accessible part of the 

 vessel to enjoy the view and this time also to skin my 

 Steamer Duck. 



I was not busy very long when my attention was drawn 

 by a small vessel which as it came nearer proved to be 

 a wooden canoe full of Indians. These people who stand 

 on a very low stage of civilisation belonged to the tribe 

 of the Canoe Indians^ so called because they pass their 

 lives in their canoe's, which they make out of a giant tree 

 which they hollow out. They live in these frail embar- 

 cation with their wives, their dogs and their very primitive 

 belongings, and are said to have no habitations whatever. 



At night they land and form a sort of hut by binding 

 some young trees together, cover these with guanaco or 

 other skins and huddle together in this misirable shelter 

 to do the same thing next evening, probably in quite 

 another place. 



Except a sort of loose jacket of some dark material, 

 probably otterskins they were perfectly naked and it made 

 one cold to see them sitting thus exposed to the icy cold 

 wind with nothing to protect their naked skin. Their hair 

 looked black and matted like the skin of a string poodle 

 and they made all sort of frantic movements as they passed 

 near the vessel. 



About half an hour later we passed another canoe full 

 of these same people and soon after we had passed the 

 English narrows; a beautiful Kingfisher (Ceryle stellata 

 Meyen^ flew right over me so that I could well see it. 

 Antarctic Geese were also fairly numerous on this second 

 day of our voyage through the channels. They were mostly 

 seen in pairs and always near the waters edge, sometimes 

 on rocks that projected out of the water. These geese are 

 entirely confined to the sea, shore but they are never seen 

 on a sandy beach. They want the rocks and the stones on 

 which a peculiar edible kind of seaiceed grows which the 

 natives call lutche and on which they may be seen feeding 

 when the tide is low. They probably also feed on marine 

 animals which they find in these same places. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XXXV. 



