TERRA DEL FUEGO. 41 



and barren, but that to the northward abounds in wood and 

 water. The trees grow nearly down to the water's edge, and 

 some are from sixty to seventy feet in height, having all their 

 tops bent to the northeast by the prevailing southwest winds. 

 The beach was covered with rocks of trap formation ; it also 

 abounded in shells, especially in the muscle and petela. 



On the morning after our arrival, a canoe with six natives, 

 five men and one woman, came off to the ship, bringing with 

 them spear-heads and necklaces made of shells, which they 

 readily exchanged for cotton handkerchiefs and pieces of iron. 

 They were invited to come on board, but at first only one 

 would venture ; this was a young man about nineteen years of 

 age, and rather good-looking. They were evidently of the 

 same race as those we had seen at Relief Harbor ; they spoke 

 the same language, and resembled them in their features and 

 dress. The woman was old and extremely ugly, and as mas- 

 culine in her appearance as any of the men. She declined 

 coming on board. Her face was painted black and red in 

 vertical lines, and she wore a necklace made of shells ; her 

 posture while she remained in the boat was that of a squat. 

 Their canoe was made of strips of bark sewed together, and 

 strengthened by ribs and gunwale pieces, and was about 

 twenty-five feet long and three feet wide. The blades of the 

 paddles were so narrow as to be of very little use in a sea way. 

 The bottom of the canoe was covered with a layer of clay, 

 upon which a fire was kept burning. It would seem from the 

 great care they appear to take of their fire, that, when extin- 

 guished, it is no easy matter for them to rekindle it. 



When this party left the ship, they employed themselves for 

 several hours in fishing amongst the kelp, and then they pulled 

 up towards the head of the bay where their hut was located, 

 *md which was found to be quite differently constructed from 



