THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 155 



meat, which the Indians had exchanged for sugar, tobacco, 

 etc. ; and that day we had a characteristically Patagonian 

 dinner, consisting of guanaco-steaks, roast leg of ostrich, and 

 mussels. The ostrich, which we then tasted for the first 

 time, was highly approved of by all of us (the flesh somewhat 

 resembling roast mutton in flavour and colour), and the 

 mussels were very popular with some of the party. Two 

 species of the genus Mytilus, I may here remark, are abun- 

 dant in the Strait — one with a shell possessed of a smooth 

 surface (Mytilus Chilensis), which is also common on the 

 coast of Chili ; and the other, in which the shell is marked 

 with longitudinal ribs (M. Magellanicus). Small pearls are 

 not unfrequently to be met with in both — a circumstance 

 noted by Sir Eichard Hawkins, who observes, in the course 

 of his narrative of his passage through the Strait towards the 

 close of the sixteenth century — " Otherwhiles we entertained 

 ourselves in gathering Pearles out of Muscles, whereof there 

 are abundance in all places, from Cape Frovmrd to the end 

 of the Straits. The Pearles are but of a bad colour, and 

 small, but it may be that in the great Muscles in deeper 

 water, the Pearles are bigger, and of greater value : of the 

 small seed Pearle, there was great quantitie, and the Muscles 

 were a great refreshing unto us ; for they were exceeding 

 good, and in great plenty." Most of the Patagonians 

 encountered on this occasion were tall in stature, one mea- 

 suring six feet two, and few of them being less than five feet 

 eleven inches. At night their fires cast up a brilliant red 

 glare against the sky. 



The 15th was a miserable day, blowing hard, with 

 torrents of rain, so that we were prevented from making a 

 move ; and the only event that occurred was the appearance 

 of a Bolivian steamer, commanded by an English captain. 



