APPENDIX. 



143 



I consider that this man was about the average stature of the 

 Fuegians : they are generally short and broad. 



The Fuegian, like a Cetaceous animal which circulates red blood 

 in a cold medium, has in his covering an admirable non-conductor of 

 heat ; the corpus adiposum envelopes the body to preserve that tem- 

 perature necessary to continue the vital functions and circulation of the 

 fluids. In this individual it was particularly thick over the abdomen 

 and dorsum ; on the hips it formed a perfect cushion, and filled 

 up the interstices between the muscles in general. Unlike the limbs 

 of porters, smiths, and other athletse in Europe, where the form and 

 size of each muscle may be traced while in action, the limbs of these 

 people are round and smooth, like the female sex, or the child 

 in infancy. The quantity of fat is to be imputed to their diet ; their 

 food is shell-fish and birds, but the greatest dainty is fat of all kinds, 

 that of the seal and penguin in particular ; as for vegetable ahment 

 they have none,* nor any taste for it. The muscles were soft, and 

 the viscera (in particular the heart, liver, and lungs,) in good order, 

 — a circumstance which but rarely occurs : the bones were well- 

 formed, with their processes, foramina, and sutures complete. 



The complexion of this man was dark ; his skin of a copper colour, 

 the native hue of the Fuegian tribes ; the eyes and hair black (this 

 is universal, as far as I have seen, and predominates throughout all 

 the aborigines of America, from the Fuegians to the Esquimaux) ; 

 the epidermis is thicker than in white men ; but in the rete mucosum 

 I saw no difference, the copper hue arising from the vessels of the 

 cutis, shining through a thickened scarf-skin, and from its incorpo- 

 rating the particles of smoke and ochre with which their bodies are 

 continually covered. 



The hair on this man's head was jet-black, straight, long, and 

 luxuriant, but scanty on other parts of the body. The Fuegians 

 have little beard and no whiskers. 



The features of this individual were rounder than they generally 

 are among those of his nation; the form of whose countenance 

 resembles that of the Laplanders and Esquimaux ; they have broad 

 faces with projecting cheek-bones ; the eyes of an oval form, and 

 drawn towards the temples ; the tunica sclerotica of a yellow-white, 

 and the iris deep black; the cartilage of the nose broad and de- 



* Mr. Wilson was not aware that they eat birch excrescences, and 

 berries. — R. F. 



