PATAGONIA, TERRA DEL FUEGO, &c. 



476 



all the laborious oflices of the family. Tlie Patagoiiiaii female sits at home grinding jDaint. 

 stretching or drying skins, making and painting mantles. The Fuegans paddle the ca- 

 noes, dive for shells and sea-eggs, build their wigwams, and keep up the fire. If they 

 neglect any of these duties, to incur the displeasure of their husbands, they are struck or 

 kicked. The Patagonians are devotedly attached to their ofi'spring. The cradle is niade oi' 

 wicker work, about 4 feet long, and 1 loot high, roofed over with twigs like the frame of a tilt- 

 ed wagon. The child is swaddled up in skins, wilh the fur inwards or outwards, according to 

 the weather. Seeing one of these cradles near a woman, I began to make a sketch, upon 

 which the mother called the father, who watched me attentively, and, during the afternoon, 

 both frequently reminded me, that I had drawn their child. 



" Size of the Patagonians. At this visit there were 50 Patagonian men assembled. They 

 are generally from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 10 inches in height. One man only exceeded 6 

 feet. I had before remarked the disproportionate largeness of head and length of body of 

 these people, as compared with the diminutive size of their extremities ; and on this visit my 

 opinion was further confirmed, for such appeared to be the general character of the whole tribe. 

 To this, perhaps, may be attributed the mistakes of former navigators. IMagalhaens described 

 the inhabitants of the southern extremity of America as giants. Herrera said, that the smallest 

 man among them was larger than the tallest man in Castile ; and Transylvannen said they were 

 7 feet 6 inches on an average. Taking all the evidence together, the medium height of the 

 males may be considered 5 feet 8 inches. The women are not so tall, but are, in general, 

 broader and stouter ; they are generally plain featured. The head is long, broad, and fiat, and 

 the forehead low, with the hair growing within an inch of the eyebrows, which are bare ; the 

 eyes are often placed obliquely, and have but little expression ; the nose is generally rather 

 flat and turned up ; but we noticed several with that feature straight or rather aqueline. The 

 mouth is wide, with prominent lip, and the chin is rather large, — the jaws are broad and give 

 the face a square appearance, — the neck is short and thick, — the shoulders are bread, — the 

 chest is very broad and very full, — but the arm, particularly the fore arm, is small, as are 

 also the feet and legs ; the body long, large, and fat, but not corpulent. Such was the appear- 

 ance of those who came under my observation." 



6. Terra del Fuego. This name, signifying the " Land of Fire," was given to the region 

 on the south of the Straits of Magellan, by the first navigators of that channel, from the nume- 

 rous fires seen on the coasts, supposed to be the flames of volcanic mountains. Subsequent 



explorations have shown, that the Terra 

 del Fuego consists of a large archipelago, 

 containing numerous small islands, divid- 

 ed by narrow straits, and 3 larger masses 

 of land, of which the most eastern and 

 largest is called King Charles Southland, 

 the middle and smallest, Clarence Island, 

 and the most westerly, Desolation Land.* 

 Among the numerous islands south of 

 these larger ones, are Iloste and Navarino, 

 separated from the former by a long, nar- 

 row channel, named, from Captain King's 

 ship, the Beagle ; still farther south is the 

 little island called L'llerrnite, remarkable 

 as containing Cape Horn, the most south- 

 erly prominent point of America, although 

 the little inlands of Diego Ramirez lie some 

 distance further south. Cape Horn is in 

 55*-^ 5S' south latitude, and, facing directly 

 the great ocean wastes which surround 

 the Antarctic Pole, it was long deemed 

 tamous for tempests ; but although a stormy and exposed point, it may be passed without 



Vessel going around Cape Horn. 



* " Wldrlwinds in Terra del Fuego. On the norlli shore 

 we noticed some extraordinary effects of the wliirlwinds 

 which so frequently occur in Terra del Fuego. The crews of 

 Bailing vessels call them vvilliwaws, or hurricane squalls. 



The southwest gales, which blew upon the coast with ex 

 trerne fury, are pent up and impeded in passinii' over the 

 highlands, when, inoreasing in power, they rush violent- 

 ly over the edges of precipices, expand, as it were, and, 



