1 833.] FUEGIANS. 243 



We at last ran into harbour, and in the boats got to the 

 west by the inland channels. As I was one of this party I 

 was very glad of it. With two boats we went about 300 

 miles, and thus I had an excellent opportunity of geologising 

 and seeing much of the savages. The Fuegians are in a more 

 miserable state of barbarism than I had expected ever to 

 have seen a human being. In this inclement country they 

 are absolutely naked, and their temporary houses are like what 

 children make in summer with boughs of trees. I do not think 

 any spectacle can be more interesting than the first sight of man 

 in his primitive wildness. It is an interest which cannot well 

 be imagined until it is experienced. I shall never forget this 

 when entering Good Success Bay the yell with which a 

 party received us. They were seated on a rocky point, sur- 

 rounded by the dark forest of beech ; as they threw their 

 arms wildly round their heads, and their long hair streaming, 

 they seemed the troubled spirits of another world. The 

 climate in some respects is a curious mixture of severity and 

 mildness ; as far as regards the animal kingdom, the former 

 character prevails ; I have in consequence not added much to 

 my collections. 



The Geology of this part of Tierra del Fuego was, as 

 indeed every place is, to me very interesting. The country 

 is non-fossiliferous, and a common-place succession of granitic 

 rocks and slates ; attempting to make out the relation of 

 cleavage, strata, &c., &c., was my chief amusement. The 

 mineralogy, however, of some of the rocks will, I think, be 



curious from their resemblance to those of volcanic origin. 



***** 



After leaving Tierra del Fuego we sailed to the Falklands. 

 I forgot to mention the fate of the Fuegians whom we took 

 back to their country. They had become entirely European 

 in their habits and wishes, so much so that the younger one 

 had forgotten his own language, and their countrymen paid 

 but very little attention to them. We built houses for them 



VOL. I. S 



