Dec. 1833. 



PORT ST. JULIAN. 



199 



secluded from the rest of the world, than this rocky crevice 

 in the wide plain. 



The second day after our return to the anchorage, a party 

 of officers and myself went to ransack an old Indian grave, 

 which I had found on the summit of a neighbouring hill. 

 Two immense stones, each probably weighing at least a 

 couple of tons, had been placed in front of a ledge of rock, 

 about six feet high. At the bottom of the grave on the hard 

 rock, there was a layer of earth about a foot deep, which must 

 have been brought up from the plain below. Above it a 

 pavement of flat stones' was placed, on which others were 

 piled, so as to fill up the space between the ledge and the 

 two great blocks. To complete the grave, the Indians had 

 contrived to detach from the same ledge a huge fragment, 

 and to throw it over the pile so as to rest on the two 

 blocks. We undermined the grave on both sides, but could 

 not find any relics, or even bones. The latter probably 

 had decayed long since (in which case the grave must have 

 been of extreme antiquity), for I found in another place some 

 smaller heaps, beneath which a very few crumbling frag- 

 ments could yet be distinguished, as having belonged to a 

 man. Falconer states, that where an Indian dies he is buried, 

 but that subsequently his bones are carefully taken up and 

 carried, let the distance be ever so great, to be deposited near 

 the sea-coast. This custom, I think, may be accounted for, 

 by recollecting that before the introduction of horses, these 

 Indians must have led nearly the same life as the Fuegians, 

 and therefore generally resided in the neighbourhood of the 

 sea. The common prejudice of lying where one^s ancestors have 

 lain, would make the now roaming Indians bring the less 

 perishable part of their dead to their ancient burial-grounds. 



January 9th, 1834. — Before it was dark the Beagle an- 

 chored in the fine spacious harbour of Port St. Julian, 

 situated about one hundred and ten miles to the south of 

 Port Desire. We remained here eight days. The country 

 is nearly similar to that of Port Desire, but, perhaps, rather 

 more sterile. One day a party accompanied Captain Fitz- 



