SOUTHERN ABORIGINES. 



137 



always clear. The heats of summer are very great ; but in 

 winter, though the days are not cold, the frosts at night are 

 severe ; and at all times of the year, in the day-time, strong 

 winds sweep over the plains. 



The Yacana-kunny, natives of the north-eastern part of 

 Tierra del Fuego, resemble the Patagonians in colour, stature, 

 and clothing.* They seem to be now much in the condition in 

 which the Patagonians must have been before they had horses.-|- 

 With their dogs, with bows and arrows, balls (bolas), slings, 

 lances, and clubs, they kill guanacoes, ostriches, birds, and seals. 



The north-eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego is a better 

 country than Patagonia. The woody mountains of the south- 

 western islands are succeeded, towards this north-east district, 

 by hills of moderate height, partially wooded ; northward of 

 which are level expanses, almost free from wood, but covered 

 with herbage adapted to the pasturage of cattle. 



The climate is a mean between the extremes of wetness and 

 drought, which are so much felt by the neighbouring regions ; 

 and when a settlement is made, at some future day, in that 

 part of the world, San Sebastian Bay, in the Yacana country, 

 called by Narborough, King Charles South Land, would be 

 an advantageous position for its site.| 



The Tekeenica, natives of the south-eastern portion of 

 Tierra del Fuego, are low in stature, ill-looking, and badly 

 proportioned. Their colour is that of very old mahogany, 

 or rather between dark copper, and bronze. The trunk of 

 the body is large, in proportion to their cramped and rather 

 crooked limbs. Their rough, coarse, and extremely dirty black 

 hair half hides yet heightens a villanous expression of the 

 worst description of savage features. 



Passing so much time in low wigwams, or cramped in small 

 * Excepting boots. 



t See Magalhaens' first interview. Burney, vol. i. p. 34. 



J Falkner says (p. 93, speaking- of this country), " It is evident that this 

 place has the conveniences of wood, water, and soil ; and, if there could 

 be found a tolerable harbour, it would be much more convenient for a 

 colony, and have a better command of the passage to the South Sea than 

 Falkland's Islands." 



