THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 351 



Drizzling rain fell during the forenoon of the 29th, but 

 the afternoon was fair, though cloudy, and four of us pulled 

 up to the head of a cove, where the otters had been seen on 

 the previous day. Here I found some specimens of a rather 

 large Chiton, the C, granosus, which is not uncommon in the 

 Messier Channel, as well as at Chiloe. Later in the day we 

 went outside the harbour to the islands, to look for a party of 

 Indians who had come alongside the vessel in their canoe in 

 the forenoon. On firing at some kelp- geese on a small islet, 

 the Indians revealed themselves for a moment close to the 

 beach of a neighbouring larger island, which we just then 

 came in sight of, and, apparently frightened by the reports of 

 the guns, ran up the steep wooded bank, accompanied by 

 their dogs, and concealed themselves among the bushes, 

 leaving their canoe deserted. We then pulled up to the 

 shore, opposite one of the beehive-shaped wigwams which 

 are so common throughout the Channels, being used as tem- 

 porary habitations by the Indians in their wanderings from 

 place to place, and which, in this instance, was covered with 

 sheets of bark, and then lay on our oars, waiting till they 

 should have recovered from their alarm. Presently, an 

 elderly man appeared, attired in the usual cloak of otter-skins, 

 ' and walked down to the boat, chattering something, which 

 of course was utterly unintelligible to us. One of the party 

 then gave him some tobacco, and made signs that he wanted 

 skins, which the man appeared to understand, as he went off 

 into the woods, and gave vent to some wild shouts for the 

 purpose of summoning the rest of the party. In a short 

 time, a woman leading a child, and accompanied by three 

 dogs, emerged from the trees, and soon after, a young man 

 with a sinister scowling expression, and with his counte- 

 nance decorated with two stripes of white paint, came out of 



