234 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



Dec. 1832. 



and altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra del Fuego may be 

 considered as the extremity of the submerged chain of moun- 

 tains already alluded to. The cove takes its name of Wig- 

 wam from some of the Fuegian habitations ; but every bay 

 in the neighbourhood might be so called with equal propriety. 

 The inhabitants living chiefly upon shell-fish^ are obliged 

 constantly to change their place of residence ; but they re- 

 turn at intervals to the same spots, as is evident from the 

 pile of old shells, which must often amount to some tons in 

 weight. These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance 

 by the bright green colour of certain plants, which invariably 

 grow on them. Among these may be enumerated the wild 

 celery and scurvy grass, two very serviceable plants, the use 

 of which has not been discovered by the natives. 



The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a 

 haycock. It merely consists of a few broken branches stuck 

 in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one side with 

 a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannot be so much 

 as the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days. 

 At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one of these naked 

 men had slept, which absolutely offered no more cover than 

 the form of a hare. The man was evidently living by him- 

 self, and York Minster said he was ^^very bad man,^^ and 

 that probably he had stolen something. On the west coast, 

 however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered 

 with seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the 

 bad weather. The climate is certainly wretched ; the summer 

 solstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell on the hills, 

 and in the valleys there was rain, accompanied by sleet. The 

 thermometer generally stood about 45°, but in the night fell 

 to 38° or 40°. From the damp and boisterous state of the 

 atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine, one fancied 

 the climate even worse than it really was. 



At a subsequent period the Beagle anchored for a couple 

 of days under Wollaston Island, which is a short way to the 

 northward. While going on shore we pulled alongside a 



