228 



CHARLES DARWIN 



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 sum- 

 mer 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 0 or 40 0 . From the damp and boisterous 

 state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sun- 

 shine, one fancied the climate even worse than it really was. 



While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, we 

 pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the 

 most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On 

 the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco 

 cloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins. Amongst 

 these central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin,^ or 

 some small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief, 

 which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down 

 as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and 

 according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. 

 But these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even 

 one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining 

 heavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray , trickled 

 down her body. In another harbour not far distant, a 

 woman, who was suckling a recently-born child, came one 

 day alongside the vessel, and remained there out of mere 

 curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed on her naked 

 bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby! These poor 

 wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces 

 bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, 

 their hair entangled, their voices discordant, and their ges- 

 tures violent. Viewing such men, one can hardly make one's 

 self believe that they are fellow-creatures, and inhabitants 

 of the same world. It is a common subject of conjecture 

 what pleasure in life some of the lower animals can enjoy: 

 how much more reasonably the same question may be asked 

 with respect to these barbarians! At night, five or six 

 human beings, naked and scarcely protected from the wind 

 and rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet 



