1833.] CAUGHT IN A SQUALL. 219 



Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence have 

 they come? What could have tempted, or what change 

 compelled a tribe of men, to leave the fine regions of the 

 north, to travel down the Cordillera or backbone of 

 America, to invent and build canoes, which are not used 

 by the tribes of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and then to 

 enter on one of the most inhospitable countries within 

 the limits of the globe? Although such reflections must 

 at first seize on the mind, yet we may feel sure that they 

 are partly erroneous. There is no reason to believe that 

 the Fuegians decrease in number ; therefore we must 

 suppose that they enjoy a sufficient share of happiness, 

 of whatever kind it may be, to render life worth having. 

 Nature, by making habit omnipotent, and its effects 

 hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the climate and the 

 productions of his miserable country. 



After having been detained six days in Wigwam Cove 

 by very bad weather, we put to sea on the 30th of 

 December. Captain Fitz Roy wished to get westward 

 to land York and Fuegia in their own country. When 

 at sea we had a constant succession of gales, and the 

 current was against us : we drifted to 57° 23' south. 

 On the nth of January, 1833, by carrying a press of 

 sail, we fetched within a few miles of the great rugged 

 mountain of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook, 

 and the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian), when 

 a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and stand 

 out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully on the 

 coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff estimated 

 at two hundred feet in height. On the 12th the gale 

 was very heavy, and we did not know exactly where we 

 were : it was a most unpleasant sound to hear constantly 

 repeated, "Keep a good look-out to leeward." On the 

 13th the storm raged with its full fury ; our horizon was 

 narrowly limited by the sheets of spray borne by th< 

 wind. The sea looked ominous, like a dreary wavin; 

 plain with patches of drifted snow; whilst the shi| 

 laboured heavily, the albatross glided with its expandon 

 wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea brok< 

 over us, and filled one of the whale-boats, which wa 

 obliged to be instantly cut away. The poor Hea^i 

 trembled at the shock, and for a few minutes would no' 

 '»oy her helm; but soon, like a good ship that she was, 



