TERRA DEL FUEGO. 129 
it impossible for them to overcome or contend with these difficulties. 
They appear to live in families, and not in tribes, and do not seem 
to acknowledge any chief. 
On the 11th of March three bark canoes arrived, containing four 
men, four women, and a girl about sixteen years old, four little boys 
and four infants, one of the latter about a week old, and quite naked. 
The thermometer was at 46° Fahrenheit. They had rude weapons, 
viz., slings to throw stones, three rude spears, pointed at the end with 
bone, and notched on one side with barbed teeth. With this they 
catch their fish, which are in great quantities among the kelp. Two 
of the natives were induced to come on board, after they had been 
alongside for upwards of an hour, and received many presents, for 
which they gave their spears, a dog, and some of their rude native 
trinkets. They did not show or express surprise at any thing on 
board, except when seeing one of the carpenters engaged in boring a 
hole with a screw-auger through a plank, which would have been a 
long task for them. They were very talkative, smiling when spoken 
to, and often bursting into loud laughter, but instantly settling into 
their natural serious and sober cast. 
They were found to be great mimics, both in gesture and sound, 
and would repeat any word of our language, with great correctness of 
pronunciation. Their imitations of sounds were truly astonishing. 
One of them ascended and descended the octave perfectly, following 
the sounds of the violin correctly. It Avas then found he could sound 
the common chords, and follow through the semitone scale, with 
scarcely an error. They all have musical voices, speak in the note 
G sharp, ending with the semitone A when asking for presents, and 
were continually singing, 
czn^n 
=^33=3£S3-^=3 
EH^F 
Yah mass scoo nah Yah mass scoo nah. 
Their mimickry became annoying, and precluded our getting at any 
of their words or ideas. It not only extended to w T ords or sounds, but 
actions also, and was at times truly ridiculous. The usual manner of 
interrogating for names was quite unsuccessful. On pointing to the 
nose, for instance, they did the same. Any thing they saw done they 
would mimic, and with an extraordinary degree of accuracy. On 
these canoes approaching the ship, the principal one of the family, or 
chief, standing up in his canoe, made a harangue. He spoke in G 
vol. i. 33 
