INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES. 2G3 



aiiything I had ever beheld. At night it blew a 

 gale of mnd, and heavy squalls from the mountaias 

 swept past us. It would have been a bad time out 

 at sea, and we, as well as others, may call this 

 Good Success Bay. 



In the morning the Captain sent a party to com- 

 municate \vith the Fuegians. When we came 

 within hail, one of the four natives who were pres- 

 ent advanced to receive us, and began to shout 

 most vehemently, wishing to direct us where to 

 land. When we were on shore the party looked 

 rather alarmed, but continued talking and making 

 gestures with great rapidity. It was, Avithout ex- 

 ception, the most curious and interesting spectacle 

 I ever beheld : I could not have believed how wide 

 was the difference between savage and civilized 

 man : it is greater than between a wild and do- 

 mesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a 

 greater power of improvement. The chief spokes- 

 man was old, and appeared to be the head of the 

 family ; the three others were powerful young men, 

 about six feet high. The women and children had 

 been sent away. These Fuegians are a very dif- 

 ferent race from the stunted, miserable wretches 

 farther westward ; and they seem closely allied to 

 the famous Patagonians of the Strait of Magellan. 

 Their only gannent consists of a mantle made of 

 guanaco skin, with the wool outside : this they wear 

 just thrown over their shoulders, leaving their per- 

 sons as often exposed as covered. Their skin is 

 of a dirty, coppeiy red colour. 



The old man had a fillet of white feathers tied 

 round his head, which partly confined his black, 

 coarse, and entangled hair. His face was crossed 

 by two bi'oad transverse bars ; one, painted bright 

 red, reached from ear to ear, and included the up- 

 per lip ; the other, white like chalk, extended above 



