204 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [cHaP. x. 
CHAPTER X. 
Tierra del Fuego, first arrival—Good Success Bay—An account of the 
Fuegians on board—Interview with the savages—Scenery of the forests— 
Cape Horn—Wigwam Cove—Miserable condition of the savages—Famines 
—Cannibals—Matricide—Religious feelings—Great gale—Beagle Channel 
—Ponsonby Sound—Build wigwams and settle the Fuegians—Bifurcation 
of the Beagle Channel—Glaciers—Return to the ship—Second visit in 
the Ship to the Settlement—Equality of condition amongst the natives. 
TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 
December 17th, 1832.—Having now finished with Patagonia 
and the Falkland Islands, I will describe our. first arrival in 
Tierra del Fuego. A little after noon we doubled Cape St. 
Diego, and entered the famous strait of Le Maire. We kept 
close to the Fuegian shore, but the outline of the rugged, inhos- 
pitable Staten-land was visible amidst the clouds. In the after- 
noon we anchored in the Bay of Good Success. While entering 
we were saluted ina manner becoming the inhabitants of this 
savage land. A group of Fuegians partly concealed by the en- 
tangled forest, were perched on a wild point overhanging the 
sea; and as we passed by, they sprang up and waving their 
tattered cloaks sent forth a loud and sonorous shout. The 
savages followed the ship, and just before dark we saw their fire,. 
and again heard their wild cry. The harbour consists of a fine 
piece of water half surrounded by low rounded mountains of 
clay-slate, which are covered to the water’s edge by one dense 
gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was sufficient 
to show me how widely different it was from any thing I had 
ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and heavy squalls 
from the mountains swept past us. It would have been a bad 
time out at sea, and we, as well as others, may call this Good 
Success Bay. 
In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with 
the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four 
natives who were present advanced to receive us, and began to 
