Native canoes and huts. 

 Arnval of three bark canoes. 



TERRA DEL FUEGO. 



Natives on board. 



Their mimicry. Their music. 



The children were quite small, and nestled in 

 the bottom of the canoe on some dry grass. The 

 woman and eldest boy paddled the canoe, the man 

 being employed to bail out the water and attend to 

 the fire, which is always carried in the bottom of 

 the canoe, on a few stones and ashes, which the 

 water surrounds. 



Their canoes are constructed of bark, are very 

 frail, and sewed with shreds of whalebone, seal- 

 skin, and twigs. They are sharp at both ends, and 

 are kept in shape as well as strengthened by a 

 number of stretchers lashed to the gunwale. 



These Indians seldom venture outside the kelp, 

 by the aid of which they pull themselves along; and 

 their paddles are so small as to be of little use in 

 propelling their canoes, unless it is calm. Some of 

 the officers thought they recognised a party on the 

 Hermit Islands that had been on board ship at 

 Orange Harbour. If this was the case, they must 

 have ventured across the Bay of Nassau, a distance 

 of some ten or twelve miles. This, if correct, 

 would go to prove that there is more intercourse 

 among them than their frail barks would lead one 

 to expect. 



Their huts are generally found built close to the 

 shore, at the head of some small bay, in a secluded 

 spot, and sheltered from the prevailing winds. 

 They are built of boughs or small trees, stuck in 

 the earth, and brought together at the top, where 

 they are firmly bound by bark, sedge, and twigs. 

 Smaller branches are then interlaced, forming a 

 tolerably compact wicker-work, and on this, grass, 

 turf, and bark are laid, making the hut quite 

 warm, and impervious to the wind and snow, 

 though not quite so to the rain. The usual dimen- 

 sions of these huts are seven or eight feet in dia- 

 meter, and about four or five feet in height. They 

 have an oval hole to creep in at. The fire is built 

 in a small excavation in the middle of the hut. 

 The floor is of clay, which has the appearance of 

 having been well kneaded. The usual accom- 

 paniment of a hut is a conical pile of mussel and 

 limpet shells opposite the door, nearly as large as 

 the hut itself. 



These natives are never seen but in their huts or 

 canoes. The impediments to their communication 

 by land are great, growing out of the mountainous 

 and rocky character of the country, intersected with 

 inlets deep and impassable, and in most places 

 bounded by abrupt precipices, together with a soil 

 which may be termed a quagmire, on which it is 

 difficult to walk. This prevails on the hills as well 

 as in the plains and valleys. The impenetrable 

 nature of the forest, with the dense undergrowth 

 of thorny bushes, renders it impossible for them to 

 overcome or contend with these difficulties. They 

 appear to live in families, and not in tribes, and do 

 not seem to acknowledge any chief. 



On the llth of March three bark canoes arrived, 

 containing four men, four women, and a girl about 

 sixteen years old, four little boys and four infants, 

 one of the latter about a week old, and quite naked. 

 The thermometer was at 46 Fahrenheit. They 

 had rude weapons, viz. slings to throw stones, 

 three rude spears, pointed at the end with bone, 

 and notched on one side with barbed teeth. With 

 this they catch their fish, which are in great quan- 

 tities among the kelp. Two of the natives were 

 induced to come on board, after they had been 

 alongside for upwards of an hour, and received 



many presents, for which they gave their spears, a 

 dog, and some of their rude native trinkets. They 

 did not show or express surprise at any thing on 

 board, except when seeing one of the carpenters 

 engaged in boring a hole with a screw-auger 

 through a plank, which would have been a long 

 task for them. They were very talkative, smiling 

 when spoken to, and often bursting into loud 

 laughter, but instantly settling into their natural 

 serious and sober cast. 



They were found to be great mimics, both in 

 gesture and sound, and would repeat any word of 

 our language, with great correctness of pronuncia- 

 tion. Their imitations of sounds were truly asto- 

 nishing. One of them ascended and descended the 

 octave perfectly, following the sounds of the violin 

 correctly. It was then found he could sound 

 the common chords, and follow through the semi- 

 tone scale, with scarcely an error. They have all 

 musical voices, speak in the note Gr sharp, ending 

 with the semitone A, when asking for presents, and 

 were continually singing. 



Their mimicry became at length annoying, and 

 precluded our getting at any of their words or ideas. 

 It not only extended to words or sounds, but ac- 

 tions also, and was at times truly ridiculous. The 

 usual manner of interrogating for names was quite 

 unsuccessful. On pointing to the nose, for in- 

 stance, they did the same. Any thing they saw 

 done they would mimic, and with an extraordinary 

 degree of accuracy. On these canoes approaching 

 the ship, the principal one of the family, or chief, 

 standing up in his canoe, made a harangue. Al- 

 though they have been heard to shout quite loud, 

 yet they cannot endure a noise, and when the drum 

 beat, or a gun was fired, they invariably stopped 

 their ears. They always speak to each other in a 

 whisper. The men are exceedingly jealous of their 

 women, and will not allow any one, if they can help 

 it, to enter their huts, particularly boys. 



The women were never suffered to come on 

 board. They appeared modest in the presence 

 of strangers. They never move from a sitting 

 posture, or rather a squat, with their knees close 

 together, reaching to their chin, their feet in con- 

 tact, and touching the lower part of the body. 

 They are extremely ugly. Their hands and feet 

 were small and well-shaped, and from appearance 

 they are not accustomed to do any hard work. 

 They appear very fond and seem careful of their 

 young children, though on several occasions they 

 offered them for sale for a trifle. They have their 

 faces smutted all over, and it was thought, from the 

 hideous appearance of the females, produced in 

 part by their being painted and smutted, that they 

 had been disfigured by the men previous to coming 

 alongside. It was remarked that when one of 

 them saw herself in a looking-glass, she burst 

 into tears, as Jack thought from pure mortifica- 

 tion. 



The men are employed in building the huts, 

 obtaining food, and providing for their other wants. 

 The women were generally seen paddling their 

 canoes. 



When this party of natives left the ship and 

 reached the shore, the women remained in their 

 canoes, and the men began building their temporary 

 huts; the little children were seen capering quite 

 naked on the beach, although the thermometer was 

 at 40. On the hut being finished, which occupied 



