50 RIO TO TERRA DEL FUEGO CHAP, III 
and at which they seemed mightily pleased, so much so that 
when we embarked again on our boat three of them came 
with us and went aboard the ship. One seemed to be a 
priest or conjuror, at least we thought so by the noises he 
made, possibly exorcising every part of the ship he came 
into, for when anything new caught his attention, he shouted 
as loud as he could for some minutes, without directing his 
speech either to us or to any one of his countrymen. They 
ate bread and beef which we gave them, though not heartily, 
but carried the largest part away with them. They would 
not drink either wine or spirits, but returned the glass, 
though not before they had put it to their mouths and 
tasted a drop. We conducted them over the greater part 
of the ship, and they looked at everything without any 
remarks of extraordinary admiration, unless the noise which 
our conjuror did not fail to repeat at every new object he 
saw might be reckoned as such. 
After having been aboard about two hours, they expressed 
a desire to go ashore, and a boat was ordered to carry them. 
I went with them, and landed them among their countrymen, 
but I cannot say that I observed either the one party curious 
to ask questions, or the other to relate what they had seen, 
or what usage they had met with; so after having stayed 
ashore about half an hour, I returned to the ship, and the 
Indians immediately marched off from the shore. 
16th. This morning very early Dr. Solander and I, 
with our servants and two seamen to assist in carrying 
baggage, and accompanied by Messrs. Monkhouse and Green, 
set out from the ship to try to penetrate as far as we could 
into the country, and, if possible, gain the tops of the hills, 
which alone were not overgrown with trees. We entered 
the woods at a small sandy beach a little to the westward of 
the watering-place, and continued pressing through pathless 
thickets, always going uphill, until three o’clock, before we 
gained even a near view of the places we intended to go to. 
The weather had all this time been vastly fine, much like a 
sunshiny day in May, so that neither heat nor cold was 
troublesome to us, nor were there any insects to molest us, 
