246 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



resemble the more northern Indians whom I saw with Rosas, 

 but they have a wilder and more formidable appearance : their 

 faces were much painted with red and black, and one man was 

 ringed and dotted with white like a Fuegian. Capt. Fitz Roy 

 offered to take any three of them on board, and all seemed 

 determined to be of the three. It was long before we could clear 

 the boat ; at last we got on board with our three giants, who 

 dined with the Captain, and behaved quite like gentlemen, help- 



PORT FAMINE, MAGELLAN. 



ing themselves with knives, forks, and spoons : nothing was so 

 much relished as sugar. This tribe has had so much com- 

 munication with sealers and whalers, that most of the men can 

 speak a little English and Spanish ; and they are half civilised, 

 and proportionally demoralised. 



The next morning a large party went on shore, to barter for 

 skins and ostrich-feathers ; firearms being refused, tobacco was 

 in greatest request, far more so than axes or tools. The whole 

 population of the toldos, men, women, and children, were arranged 

 on a bank. It was an amusing scene, and it was impossible not to 



