Description of Channel Fuegians. 49 



coasts, and during this season there is a great gathering of natives 

 about the " rookeries," as the sealers call them, so that for a 

 short portion of the year these unfortunate wretches can luxuriate 

 upon a diet of fresh meat. 



They are of low stature, the men averaging 5 ft. I in. in height, 

 while the women are still shorter. Of eight men whom I measured 

 carefully, the extremes were 4 ft. 10 in. and 5 ft. 3 in.; so that 

 there is a strong contrast between them and their neighbours 

 in the same latitude, the Patagonians, whose average stature (I 

 speak of the men only) is 5 ft. 10 in. Their complexion is 

 of an ochrey copper colour ; the eyes are dark, and placed close 

 together ; the upper eyelid curving downwards abruptly as it 

 approaches the nasal side, or inner canthus, in such a way as 

 to give an appearance of obliquity in the eye, which reminds 

 one of that feature in the face of a Japanese. The sclerotics, 

 or so-called "white" of the eye, have a yellow tinge, and in 

 the adults the conjunctiva is injected or bloodshot, probably from 

 their habit of sitting over a smoky wood fire. The upper lip is 

 thin and curved ; and when a grimace is made, it tightly embraces 

 the teeth, so as to communicate a peculiarly wicked expression to 

 the countenance. The maxillae are broad, and the teeth are of 

 glistening whiteness. In the female the front teeth present an 

 even regular line ; but in the male adult there is usually a front 

 tooth missing, as if knocked out designedly. The hair is long, 

 black, and coarse, and is peculiar in growing sometimes from the 

 temples, as well as from the scalp, a circumstance from which the 

 forehead acquires a narrow pyramidal appearance. There are no 

 whiskers, but on the lips and chin a few scattered hairs are seen. 

 The upper extremities and trunk are well formed, but the legs 

 are very poorly developed, so much so as to seem out of pro- 

 portion to the rest of the body. The skin overlying the kneecaps 

 is particularly loose, baggy, and wrinkled when the native stands 

 erect, a circumstance which, in the case of the southern Fuegian, 

 is very justly attributed (vide Voyage of Adventure and Beagle, 



4 



