IX 
ART IN MAKING A FIRE 
205 
Within a very few years after these islands shall have become 
regularly settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with 
the dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of 
the earth. 
At night (17th) we slept on the neck of land at the head of 
Choiseul Sound, which forms the south-west peninsula. The 
valley was pretty well sheltered from the cold wind ; but there 
was very little brushwood for fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon 
found what, to my great surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as 
coals ; this was the skeleton of a bullock lately killed, from which 
the flesh had been picked by the carrion-hawks. They told me 
that in winter they often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the 
bones with their knives, and then with these same bones roasted 
the meat for their suppers. 
1 8 tk .—It rained during nearly the whole day. At night we 
managed, however, with our saddle-cloths to keep ourselves 
pretty well dry and warm ; but the ground on which we slept 
was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog, and there was 
not a dry spot to sit down on after our day’s ride. I have in 
another part stated how singular it is that there should be abso¬ 
lutely no trees on these islands, although Tierra del Fuego is 
covered by one large forest. The largest bush in the island 
(belonging to the family of Compositae) is scarcely so tall as our 
gorse. The best fuel is afforded by a green little bush about 
the size of common heath, which has the useful property of 
burning while fresh and green. It was very surprising to see 
the Gauchos, in the midst of rain and everything soaking wet, 
with nothing more than a tinder-box and piece of rag, immedi¬ 
ately make a fire. They sought beneath the tufts of grass and 
bushes for a few dry twigs, and these they rubbed into fibres ; 
then surrounding them with coarser twigs, something like a 
bird’s nest, they put the rag with its spark of fire in the middle 
and covered it up. The nest being then held up to the wind, by 
degrees it smoked more and more, and at last burst out in flames. 
I do not think any other method would have had a chance of 
succeeding with such damp materials. 
1 gt/i ,—Each morning, from not having ridden for some 
time previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hear the 
