HEALTH — ILLNESS — DEATH. 155 



. Education, and the beneficial effects of the opinions of others, 

 an influence fully felt only in civilized society, have so tamed 

 and diminished the naturally strong passion of anger, with its 

 sequel, immediate violence, or hatred and revenge, that ima- 

 gination must be called to the assistance of those who, hap- 

 pily, have never seen a furious savage. 



Who can read that instance of child murder, related so well 

 by Byron, in his narrative of the Wager's wreck, without a 

 shudder ? yet the man who, in a moment of passion, dashed 

 his own child against the rocks, would, at any other time, 

 have been the most daring, the most enduring, and the most 

 self-devoted in its support and defence ! (Appendix No. 14.) 

 Generally speaking, the Patagonians are extremely healthy. 

 Their constitutions are so good that wounds heal rapidly : but 

 they are not ignorant of the healing properties of some herbs ; 

 nor of the purgative qualities of others. They know the effect 

 of bleeding, and can adroitly open a vein with a sharp piece 

 of shell or flinty stone. 



When sick, the chalas root, pounded and mixed with water, 

 is a favourite specific. Should this, or the few other remedies 

 which they think they know, fail, the wizard (who is also 

 doctor) performs some absurd ceremonies, and then rattles toge- 

 ther two pieces of dry bladder, in which are some loose stones, 

 in order to frighten away the ' Valichu,' or evil spirits, who are 

 opposing their art, and tormenting the unlucky patient. The 

 diabolical noise caused by rattling these dried bladders, is con- 

 tinued until the disease takes a favourable turn, or the sufferer 

 dies. If death ends the scene, the body is wrapped in the best 

 mantle of the deceased, placed on his favourite horse, and car- 

 ried to the burying-place of the tribe. The wizard rattles, 

 and the other people howl over the corpse as it is carried to the 

 sepulchre. In a square pit, about six feet deep, and two or 

 three feet wide, where many others have been deposited, 

 the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, adorned with mantles, 

 plumes of feathers, and beads. The spurs, sword, balls, and 

 other such property belonging to the deceased, are laid 

 beside him ; and the pit is then covered over with branches of 



