WRETCHED STATE OF THE NATIVES. 273 



evident from the piles of old shells, which must 

 often amount to many tons in weight. These 

 heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by 

 the bright green colour of certain plants which in- 

 variably grow on them. Among these may be 

 enumerated the wild celery and scurvy-grass, two 

 very serviceable plants, the use of which has not 

 been discovered by the natives. 



The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and 

 dimensions, a haycock. It merely consists of a 

 few broken branches stuck in the ground, and very 

 imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts 

 of grass and rushes. The whole cannot be the 

 work of an hour, and it is only used for a few 

 days. At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one 

 of these naked men had slept, which absolutely 

 offered no more cover than the fonn of a hare. 

 The man was evidently living by himself, and 

 York Minster said he was "very bad man," and 

 that probably he had stolen something. On the 

 west coast, however, the wigwams are rather bet- 

 ter, for they are covered with seal-skins. We were 

 detained here several days by the bad weather. 

 The climate is certainly wi-etched : the summer 

 solstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell 

 on the hills, and in the valleys there was rain, ac- 

 companied by sleet. The thermometer generally 

 stood about 45°, but in the night fell to 38^ or 40^ 

 From the damp and boisterous state of the atmo- 

 sphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine, one 

 fancied the climate even worse than it really was. 



While going one day on shore near Wollaston 

 Island, we pulled alongside a canoe with six Fue- 

 gians. These were the most abject and miserable 

 creatures I anyv/here beheld. On the east coast 

 the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, 

 and on the west they possess seal-skins. Amongst 



Vol.. I—IS 



