Jan. 1828. traffic with natives. 113 



of having been disturbed for burial.* As we hourly expected 

 the Indians would arrive (the place being in the direct line of 

 their journey to the ships), and were unwilling to let them 

 know we had disturbed the sanctuaries of their dead, we restored 

 the former appearance of the tomb ; and it was fortunate we 

 did so, for three women on horseback, carrying their children 

 in cradles, with a quantity of skins, provisions, and other 

 merchandise, evidently the harbingers of the tribe, made their 

 appearance, and immediately began to erect their tents. 



When we next went on shore we found several Indians 

 arrived, and divided into three groups, with mantles, ostrich- 

 feathers, skins, and joints of guanaco meat displayed for sale. 



As the meat appeared fresh, it is probable that, on seeing 

 us, the women were despatched to place the toldos, while the 

 men set out to provide guanaco meat, for they knew our par- 

 tiality for this excellent food. When we landed, an active 

 barter began. 



From the haste and avidity shown in offering their goods, 

 and closing the bargains, it seemed as if they were anxious 

 to monopolize our articles of barter before the rest of their 

 party, or tribe arrived. One old man attempted to cheat ; but 

 my interdiction of ail farther traffic with him brought him to 

 a sense of his error, and I then made him a present of some 

 tobacco and allowed him to trade, which he afterwards did, 

 with cheerfulness and honesty. 



One of the party was the Fuegian chief, whom I previously 

 noticed, as a squalid, meagre-looking man ; but he was now 

 enlarged to Patagonian dimensions, by his improved diet and 

 more cheerful mode of life. The appearance of bad weather 

 obliged us to suspend the barter and get on board. After we 

 had reached the ship, successive parties of the tribe arrived, 



* Falkner says, in his account of the burial ceremonies of the southern 

 Patagonians — that, after a certain interval, the bodies are taken out of 

 the tomb, and skeletons are made of them by the women — the flesh and 

 entrails having- been burnt. It is possible that in this case the body had 

 been so treated, and that the fire near it was for the purpose of burning 

 the flesh, and perhaps with it all the flags and ornaments of the tomb. 

 VOL. I. I 



