2G4 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



and pai'allel to the first, so that even his eyelids 

 were thus coloured. The other two men were or- 

 namented by streaks of black powder made of 

 charcoal. The party altogether closely resembled 

 the devils which come on the stage in plays like 

 Der Freischutz. 



Their very attitudes were abject, and the ex- 

 pression of their countenances distrustful, surprised, 

 and startled. After we had presented them wdth 

 some scarlet cloth, which they immediately tied 

 round their necks, they became good friends. This 

 was shovel! by the old man patting our breasts, and 

 making a chuckling kind of noise, as people do 

 when feeding chickens. I walked with the old 

 man, and this demonstration of friendship was re- 

 peated several times ; it was concluded by three 

 hard slaps, which were given me on the breast and 

 back at the same time. He then bared his bosom 

 for me to return the compliment, which being done, 

 he seemed highly pleased. The language of these 

 people, according to our notions, scarcely deserves 

 to be called articulate. Captain Cook has com- 

 pared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly 

 no European ever cleared his throat with so many 

 hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds. 



They are excellent mimics : as often as we cough- 

 ed or yawned, or made any odd motion, they im- 

 mediately imitated us. Some of our party began 

 to squint and look awry ; but one of the young Fu- 

 egians (whose whole face was painted black, ex- 

 cepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded in 

 making far more hideous giimaces. They could 

 repeat with perfect coiTectness each word in any 

 sentence we addressed them, and they remember- 

 ed such words for some time. Yet we Europeans 

 all know how difficult it is to distinguish apart the 

 sounds in a foreign language, Which of us. for 



