IX ART IN MAKING A FIRE 205 



Within a very few years after these islands shall have become 

 regularly settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with 

 the dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of 

 the earth. 



At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the head of 

 Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula. The 

 valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind ; but there 

 was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon 

 found what, to my great surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as 

 coals ; this was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which 

 the flesh had been picked by the carrion -hawks. They told me 

 that in winter they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the 

 bones with their knives, and then with these same bones roasted 

 the meat for their suppers. 



I ^tJi. — It rained during nearly the whole day. At night we 

 managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves 

 pretty well dry and warm ; but the ground on which we slept 

 was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog, and there Was 

 not a dry spot to sit down on after our day's ride. I have in 

 another part stated how singular it is that there should be abso- 

 lutely no trees on these islands, although Tierra del Fuego is 

 covered by one large forest. The largest bush in the island 

 (belonging to the family of Compositae) is scarcely so tall as our 

 gorse. The best fuel is afforded by a green little bush about 

 the size of common heath, which has the useful property of 

 burning while fresh and green. It was very surprising to see 

 the Gauchos, in the midst of rain and everything soaking wet, 

 with nothing more than a tinder-box and piece of rag, immedi- 

 ately make a fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass and 

 bushes for a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres ; 

 then surrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a 

 bird's nest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middle 

 and covered it up. The nest being then held up to the wind, by 

 degrees it smoked more and more, and at last burst out in flames. 

 I do not think any other method would have had a chance of 

 succeeding with such damp materials. 



\gtJi. — Each morning, from not having ridden for some 

 time previously, I was very stiff I was surprised to hear the 



