CHAPTER XL 



Tierra del Fuego, first arrival— Good Success Bay— Interview with sa- 

 vages — Scenery of the forests — Sir J. Banlcs's hill — Cape Horn— Wig- 

 wam Cove— Miserable condition of savages — Beagle channel— Fuegians 

 — Ponsonby Sound— Equality of condition among natives — Bifurcation 

 of Beagle channel — Glaciers — Return to ship. 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



December 17th^ 1832. — Having now finished with Pa- 

 tagonia, I will describe our first arrival in Tierra del Faego. 

 A little after noon we doubled Cape St. Diego^ and entered 

 the famous strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the 

 Fuegian shore, but the outline of the rugged, inhospitable 

 Staten land was visible amidst the clouds. In the afternoon 

 we anchored in the bay of Good Success. While entering 

 we were saluted in a maimer becoming the inhabitants of 

 this savage land. A group of Fuegians partly concealed by 

 the entangled forest, were perched on a wild point over- 

 hanging the sea; and as we passed by, they sprang up, 

 and waving their tattered cloaks sent forth a loud and 

 sonorous shout. The savages followed the ship, and just 

 before dark we saw their fire, and again heard their wild cry. 

 The harbour consists of a fine piece of water half surrounded 

 by low rounded mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to 

 the water's edge by one dense gloomy forest. A single glance 

 at the landscape was sufficient to show me, how widely dif- 

 ferent it was from any thing I had ever beheld. At night 

 it blew a gale of wind, and heavy squalls from the mountains 

 swept past us. It would have been a bad time out at sea, and 

 we, as well as others, may call this Good Success Bay. 



In the morning, the Captain sent a party to communicate 

 with the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the 

 four natives who were present advanced to receive us, and 



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