X RELIGION OF THE FUEGIANS izi 



though not, as I have said, in the devil : I do not think that 

 our Fuegians were much more superstitious than some of the 

 sailors ; for an old quartermaster firmly believed that the suc- 

 cessive heavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, were 

 caused by our having the Fuegians on board. The nearest 

 approach to a religious feeling which I heard of, was shown 

 by York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very young 

 ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn manner, 

 " Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much." This was 

 evidently a retributive punishment for wasting human food. In 

 a wild and excited manner he also related that his brother one 

 day, whilst returning to pick up some dead birds which he had 

 left on the coast, observed some feathers blown by the wind. 

 His brother said (York imitating his manner), " What that ?" 

 and crawling onwards, he peeped over the cliff, and saw " wild 

 man " picking his birds ; he crawled a little nearer, and then 

 hurled down a great stone and killed him. York declared for a 

 long time afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell. 

 As far as we could make out, he seemed to consider the elements 

 themselves as the avenging agents ; it is evident in this case, 

 how naturally, in a race a little more advanced in culture, the 

 elements would become personified. What the " bad wild men " 

 were has alwa)^s appeared to me most mysterious ; from what 

 York said, when we fou'nd the place like the form of a hare, 

 where a single man had slept the night before, I should have 

 thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their 

 tribes ; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this ; I have 

 sometimes imagined that the most probable explanation was 

 that they were insane. 



The different tribes have no government or chief; yet each 

 is surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different dialects, 

 and separated from each other only by a deserted border or 

 neutral territory : the cause of their warfare appears to be the 

 means of subsistence. Their country is a broken mass of wild 

 rocks, lofty hills, and useless forests ; and these are viewed 

 through mists and endless storms. The habitable land is 

 reduced to the stones on the beach ; in search of food they are 

 compelled unceasingly to wander from spot to spot, and so steep 

 is the coast, that they can only move about in their wretched 

 canoes. They cannot know the feeling of having a home, and 



