THE FUEGIANS. 



429 



and equally thick at both ends. At one of the extremities is a fissure, into which 

 a pointed bone with a barbed hook is inserted and tightly bound with a thread. 

 With this weapon they most probably attack the seals ; they also use it to de- 

 tach the shell-fish from the rocks below the surface of the water. A second 

 spear, longer and lighter than the first, with a barbed point, serves most likely 

 as a weapon of war ; and a third one, much shorter and comparatively thin, 

 may perhaps be destined for the birds. The females know how to make 



A FUEGIAN AND HIS FOOD. 



pretty necklaces of colored shells and baskets of grass stalks. Here, as with 

 all other races of mankind, we find the germs of improvement, which only 

 require for their development the external impulse of more favorable circum- 

 stances. 



If it be asked whether they feel themselves as miserable as their wretched 

 appearance would lead us to believe them, it must be replied that most travel- 

 lers describe them as a cheerful, good-humored, contented people ; and as Mr. 

 Darwin finely remarks, " Nature, by making habit omnipotent and its effects 



