O4 TOMB—WOMEN. _ May 1827. 
mantles for sale, the father of the deceased conducted me and 
a few other officers. 
It was a conical pile of dried twigs and branches of bushes, 
about ten feet high and twenty-five in circumference at the 
base, the whole bound round with thongs of hide, and the top 
covered with a piece of red cloth, ornamented with brass studs, 
and surmounted by two poles, bearing red flags and a string 
of bells, which, moved by the wind, kept up a continual 
tinkling. 
A ditch, about two feet wide and one foot deep, was dug 
round the tomb, except at the entrance, which had been filled 
up with bushes. In front of this entrance stood the stuffed 
skins of two horses, recently killed, each placed upon four poles 
for legs. ‘The horses’ heads were ornamented with brass studs, 
* similar to those on the top of the tomb; and on the outer 
margin of the ditch were six poles, each carrying two flags, 
one over the other. 
The father, who wept much when he visited the tomb, with 
the party of officers who first went with him, although now 
evidently distressed, entered into, what we supposed to be, 
a long account of the illness of his child, and explained to us 
that her death was caused by a bad cough. No watch was 
kept over the tomb; but it was in sight of, and not very far 
from their toldos, so that the feeech of any one could imme- 
diately be known. . They evidently placed extreme confidence 
in us, and therefore it would have been as unjust as impolitic 
to attempt an examination of its contents, or to ascertain what 
had been done with the body. 
The Patagonian women are treated far more kindly by their 
husbands than the Fuegian ; who are little better than slaves, 
subject to be beaten, and obliged to perform all the laborious 
offices of the family. 'The Patagonian females sit at home, 
grinding paint, drying and stretching skins, making and paint- 
ing mantles. In travelling, however, they have the baggage 
and provisions in their charge, and, of course, their ohidalaiae 
These women probably have employments of a more laborious 
nature than what we saw ; but they cannot be compared with 
