Chap, xxi.] WILD GEESE. 479 



Mission schooner at the Falkland Islands did not show any 

 ruddy colour, but were of a uniform light-yellowish brown. 



The girls and the boy slept huddled together in a heap 

 and ended up for warmth. The girls were photographed by 

 the " Challenger " photographer. They were very shy and 

 suspicious, and both put one of their fingers in their mouths 

 during the process, on three successive occasions, that being 

 evidently with them the natural mode of expressing shyness. 



There were no Patagonians at the Sandy Point settlement at 

 the time of the ship's visit. We were told that they visit the 

 settlement at intervals to sell their Guanaco robes. When 

 the tribe arrives at a short distance from the settlement, a 

 messenger is sent forward to tell the Chilian Governor that the 

 tribe is coming on a certain day, and expects a salute to be 

 fired. As they approach accordingly, a salute is fired from the 

 fort, and they ride in, making their horses caper, and showing 

 off their horsemanship. 



When they have stayed some time in the settlement, and 

 have sold their robes and spent the money, mostly in drink, 

 they send word that they are going, and require another salute ; 

 and as every one is very glad to get rid of them, and they will 

 not go without it, they are once more saluted, and depart to 

 hunt the Guanaco again. 



After leaving Punta Arenas we landed at Elizabeth Island, 

 which is without trees, but covered with grass, and is likely 

 soon to be occupied as a sheep-run. The island is the breed- 

 ing-place of large numbers of ^Vild Geese {Chloe/'haga pata- 

 gonicha). The geese were very abundant, and a wild-goose 

 chase in Elizabeth Island is a very different matter from one at 

 home. When I had shot nine geese I found that I had no 

 light task before me in carrying them to the boat at the end of 

 the island, over the soft and yielding soil. Goose-shooting in 

 the Falkland Islands similarly soon satiates the sportsman, who 

 finds himself early in the day with a heavier bag than he can 

 stagger under. 



The geese at Elizabeth Island showed some wariness, and 

 some little trouble had to be taken in order to get within shot 

 of them, unless they were met with in long grass. When on 

 the alert, they settled on the summits of the hillocks and ridges, 

 in order to have a wide view of the enemy. One had to creep 

 up under cover of the hill-slopes, and make a final rush forwards 

 towards the flock. The birds are startled by this, and it is 

 some time before they make up their minds to fly. 



No doubt the wariness of these geese is due to their pro- 

 genitors having been hunted for generations by natives in old 

 times. Elizabeth Island is fringed with Kitchen Middens of 



