V 



x 



288 



R E M A R K S 



O N 



THE 



PROGRESS 

 OF SA- 

 VAGES. 



y 



into this belief, from the flate in which we found the inhabi- 



^ 



tants of Tierra del Fuego and New Zeeland, and by comparing 



w 



M 



their fituatign, with that of their neighbours. 



L 



The .people on Tierra del Fuego, about Chriftmas Bay, 



(I 



were not num^erous 3 and if we are to judge from the general ap^ 

 pearance of the country, and from the numbers feen by other navi- 



L 



L 



ojators, there cannot be a ^reat population m thefe inhofpitable cli- 



mates. 



Thefe were the Southernmofl lands, wherein we 



found 



human creatures, who not only appeared to us to be wretched. 



b 



b 



(a 



themfelves confcious of their own mifery, and fo 



oituation^ feveral boats, with natives, came to our fhip, and none 

 of them had any other garment than a piece of Sealikin, 



which did 



not reach fo far as 



half their buttocks, and came barely 



over the flioulders ^ their head and feet, and whole body, were ex- 

 pofed to a degree of cold in the midfl of fummer, which appeared 

 to us Iharp, though we were well clad, having found the tempe- 



of the 



a 



lly from 46° to 5 



of Fahrenheits 



mometer; neither the men nor the women, had any thing to cover 

 their privities ; their bodies fmelled highly offenflve from the rancid 

 train oil which they frequently ufe, and the rotten feals fieOi which 

 they eat ; and I am of opinion, their wdiole frame of body is 

 thoroughly penetrated with this difagreeable fmell. Their habi- 

 tations confiil of a few flicks, tied together, fo as to form a kind of 



fhelL 



/ 



