YAGHANS 
59 
Island, to take some goods to a settler, a Sicilian 1 living here 
with a Yaghan wife and a little Yaghan boy. Sequestered 
little cove with beech forest right down to water’s edge, 
golden and russet-brown and purple woods, with patches of 
green liana dura , on which sheep can be fed during winter 
months. Small hut and outhouses. 
Then on to Ponsonby Sound, with huge cliffs on east side 
of channel, and on across channel with Pasche Island to 
south. Entered Douglas River; 2 Estancia Rio Douglas on 
site of old Mission Station (Plate VIII) under the Rev. J. 
Williams. Arrived at Jetty in dark at 7.30 p.m., and found 
Norwegian barque there with crew at Estancia in search of 
furs. Met Ken Williams. Everything under light snow. 
May jo, Friday . Quiet day at Rio Douglas. Norwegian 
barque left early in morning. 
May jj, Saturday . Ken Williams went off in cutter in 
search of George and his wife, Yaghans who were camped 
on Hoste Island about fifteen miles further south down the 
sound. Spent afternoon searching on kitchen middens 
beside the Rio Douglas, and found large black somewhat 
coarsely chipped arrow, or spear head (?), lying among big 
cobble stones on river bank, and scrapers. Present-day 
Yaghans do not use these. Middens evidently very old, 
with enormous mass of shells, mainly mussels with limpets, 
barnacles, volutes, &c., seal and whale bones; of damp black 
earth, with beech trees, some quite twenty feet high, which 
have grown on top of these middens since they were made 
and used; all middens overgrown by grass. 
Afterwards walked over hills behind station. 
May 12 , Sunday . Ken returned in morning towing 
George and his wife and four dogs and cats and belongings 
in flat-bottomed boat that natives now build. Had caught 
1 Spencer meant to write Chilean.—Letter from Miss Hamilton. 
2 Running into Douglas Bay. 
