X 
RELIGION OF THE FEE GIANS 
227 
though not, as I have said, in the devil : I do not think that 
our Fuegians were much more superstitious than some of the 
sailors ; for an old quartermaster firmly believed that the suc¬ 
cessive heavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, were 
caused by our having the Fuegians on board. The nearest 
approach to a religious feeling which I heard of, was shown 
by York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very young 
ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn manner, 
“ Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much.” This was 
evidently a retributive punishment for wasting human food. In 
a'wild and excited manner he also related that his brother one 
day, whilst returning to pick up some dead birds which he had 
left on the coast, observed some feathers blown by the wind. 
His brother said (York imitating his manner), “What that?” 
and crawling onwards, he peeped over the cliff, and saw “ wild 
man ” picking his birds ; he crawled a little nearer, and then 
hurled down a great stone and killed him. York declared for a 
long time afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell. 
As far as we could make out, he seemed to consider the elements 
themselves as the avenging agents ; it is evident in this case, 
how naturally, in a race a little more advanced in culture, the 
elements would become personified. What the “ bad wild men ” 
were has always appeared to me most mysterious ; from what 
York said, when we found the place like the form of a hare, 
where a single man had slept the night before, I should have 
thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their 
tribes ; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this ; I have 
sometimes imagined that the most probable explanation was 
that they were insane. 
The different tribes have no government or chief; yet each 
is surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different dialects, 
and separated from each other only by a deserted border or 
neutral territory : the cause of their warfare appears to be the 
means of subsistence. Their country is a broken mass of wild 
rocks, lofty hills, and useless forests ; and these are viewed 
through mists and endless storms. The habitable land is 
reduced to the stones on the beach ; in search of food they are 
compelled unceasingly to wander from spot to spot, and so steep 
is the coast, that they can only move about in their wretched 
canoes. They cannot know the feeling of having a home, and 
