174 AN INDIAN GRAVE. [chap. viii. 



piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledge and the 

 two great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had 

 contrived to detach from the ledge a huge fragment, and to 

 throw it over the pile so as to rest on the two blocks. We 

 undermined the grave on both sides, but could not find any 

 relics, or even bones. The latter probably had decayed long 

 since (in which case the grave must have been of extreme 

 antiquity), for I found in another place some smaller heaps, 

 beneath which a very few crumbling fragments could yet be 

 distinguished as havmg belonged to a man. Falconer states, 

 that where an Indian dies he is buried, but that subsequently 

 his bones are carefully taken up and carried, let the distance 

 be ever so great, to be deposited near the sea-coast. This 

 custom, I think, may be accounted for by recollecting, that 

 before the introduction of horses, these Indians must have 

 led nearly the same life as the Fuegians now do, and there- 

 fore generally have resided in the neighbourhood of the sea. 

 The common prejudice of lying where one's ancestors have 

 lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less 

 perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-ground 

 on the coast. 



January <^th^ 1834. — Before it was dark the Beagle 

 anchored in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, 

 situated about one hundred and ten miles to the south of 

 Port Desire. We remained here eight days. The country 

 is nearly similar to that of Port Desire, but perhaps rather 

 more sterile. One day a party accompanied Captain Fitz 

 Roy on a long walk round the head of the harbour. We 

 were eleven hours without tasting any water, and some of 

 the party were quite exhausted. From the summit of a hill 

 (since well named Thirsty Hill) a fine lake was spied, and 

 two of the party proceeded with concerted signals to show 

 whether it was fresh water. What was our disappointment 

 to find a snow-white expanse of salt, crystallized in great 

 cubes ! We attributed our extreme thirst to the dryness of 

 the atmosphere ; but whatever the cause might be, we were 

 exceedingly glad late in the evening to get back to the boats. 

 Although we could nowhere find, during our whole visit, a 

 single drop of fresh water, yet some must exist ; for by an 

 odd chance I found on the surface of the salt water, near the 

 head of the bay, a colymbetes not quite dead, which must 

 have lived in some not far-distant pool. Three other insects 

 (a cincindela, like hyhrida^ a cymindis, and a harpalus, 

 which all live on muddy flats, occasionally overflowed by the 



