378 VOYAGE OF THE CHANTICLEER. 



expecting to find some one in need of assistance ; however, he 

 found nothing, and returned to bed. He very soon heard the 

 noise repeated, and got up a second time, but still saw nothing. 

 Conceiving, however, the possibility of a boat being upset, and 

 that some of the crew might be clinging to some detached 

 rocks, he walked along the beach, and presently heard the 

 noise more distinctly than before, but now in a musical strain. 

 On searching round, he saw an object lying on a rock about a 

 dozen yards from the shore, at which he was somewhat fright- 

 ened. The face and shoulders were of human form, and of a 

 reddish colour ; over the shoulders hung long green hair ; the 

 tail resembled that of a seal, but the extremities of the arms he 

 could not see distinctly. The creature continued to make a 

 musical noise while he was gazing, for about two minutes, but, 

 on perceiving him, disappeared in an instant. Immediately the 

 man saw his officer, he told this wild tale, which was of course 

 doubted; but to add to the weight of his testimony, (being a 

 Catholic,) he made a cross on the sand, which he kissed, in 

 form of making oath to the truth of the statement. Captain 

 Weddell afterwards swore him to the facts, on the Gospels, 

 with a paper cross under his hand. 



Captain Weddell's observations on the native Fuegians are 

 highly interesting. He appears to have taken great delight 

 in closely observing their economy ; for that word seems best 

 to express the usages of these poor savages. But we are for- 

 getting the Chanticleer. 



Captain Henry Foster, commander of the Chanticleer, hav- 

 ing completed the observations entrusted to him, and being about 

 to return to his native land, accidentally fell from a canoe, 

 in the river Chargres, in the Gulf of Mexico, and was 

 thus lost, as the monument erected to his memory expresses 

 it, " to his country and his friends." The objects of the voyage 

 were entirely scientific; the principal one was to discover, by 

 pendulum observations made at various places in the northern 

 and southern hemispheres, the true figure of the earth. It is, 

 however, solely for the sake of transferring to our pages some 

 of Mr. Webster's observations in Natural History, that we 

 have introduced his narrative to the readers of the Entomolo- 

 gical Magazine. We shall take these memoranda as they 

 occur, without attempting any thing like a classified arrange- 

 ment. 



