JUANNA hi 
her face was broad, with wide flat nose, her eyes small and 
wide apart; she had huge lips and large brownish yellow 
horse-like teeth. Her face was quite free from sinister ex¬ 
pression, and when she laughed as she was always doing, one 
forgot one’s first feeling of repulsion. 
The sight of the old woman after she had finished her 
meal, cutting from a piece of firewood an enormous splinter 
which for the space of nearly twenty minutes she would 
vigorously use as a tooth-pick, never failed to hypnotize us. 
The Professor, after his first quick shudder of horror, would 
quietly extract pencil and notebook, the latter always in and 
out of his pocket, and unknown to the all-absorbed Juanna, 
he would endeavour to make pencil sketches of her. 
July J, Monday . Dull cold day. The Professor as usual up 
very early putting breadcrumbs on all the ledges for the 
Dush-ush birds; their gay plumage looks very beautiful 
against the snow, and they are becoming most friendly, and 
unperturbedly hop all round him picking up bits of food. 
We are eager to get away whilst the weather is calm, but the 
old man is difficult and we want Juanna very much. This 
afternoon all the Yaghans worked very hard cutting the ice 
free from the cove. In the evening we went over to their 
camp and listened to their singing. Twelve of them, men, 
women, and children, squatted round their fire chanting low 
dirges; very simple repetition of wai-a-wai-a-re-re , &c. The 
words, they say, have no meaning to them, and have been 
handed down in parrot form from their ancestors, and all their 
songs originally came from the Alakaluf tribe. Many of the 
songs can only be sung in the ‘Yak-house’, a special house at 
the settlement (Mejilliones) amongst the others, supported 
by poles painted red. In this sacred tent boys of 14—15 are 
initiated into the secrets of men. This ceremony of puberty 
has to do with the old belief that in ancient times women used 
to rule. They were the hunters and fishers, reserving for the 
