202 TIEKBA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x. 



plants, which invariably 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 hay- 

 cock. 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 ba the work of an hour, 

 and it is only used for a few days. At Goeree Koads I saw a place 

 where one of these naked men had slept, which absolutely offered 

 no more cover than the form 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 better, for they are covered with 

 seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the bad weather. 

 The climate is certainly wretched : the summer solstice was now 

 passed, yet every day snow fell on the hills, and in the valleys 

 there was rain, accompanied 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 atmosphere, 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 Fuegiaus. These were the most abject 

 and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On the cast coast the 

 natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they 

 possess seal-skins. Amongst these central tribes the men generally 

 have an otter-skin, or some small scrap about as large as a pocket- 

 handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low 

 down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and 

 according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But 

 these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full- 

 grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the 

 fresh water, together with the spray, trickled down her body. In 

 another harbour not far distant, a woman, who was suckling a 

 recently-born child, came one day alongside the vessel, and remained 

 there out of mere curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed on her 

 naked bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby ! These poor 

 wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed 

 with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, 

 their voices discordant, and their gestures violent. Viewing such 



