II2 MISS HAMILTON’S JOURNAL 
men the more bothersome duties like housework. Having 
freed themselves from this servitude, all the women who 
knew the secrets were killed by the men, and girls growing 
up were condemned to the humbler duties again. The 
initiation of the young men is supposed to prevent women 
from taking their dominion over men and making them 
again lead a dog’s life. The Professor has no faith in these 
half-civilized young Yaghans, and will accept nothing until 
he has talked with some of the old men. We were glad to 
leave their camp, the smoke from the fire and their smoking 
were awful. 
July 2, Tuesday . Heavy snow fell during the night, and the 
cove looks very beautiful in the fresh fall. The distant snow 
mountains and the water in the Narrows are a wonderful 
deep blue. All the ice has gone from the cove! The Indian 
(Yaghan) called Clements with his Alakaluf wife and four 
children came in at 3.30 p.m. He was one of the old men to 
get in touch with whom the Professor, advised by Mr. William 
Bridges, had originally come south to Ushuaia. But on 
arrival we had found that both he and another old man we 
hoped to see were away otter hunting, and exactly when 
these wandering nomads would return no one could quite 
say. It was therefore a very pleasant surprise when these 
wanderers appeared in their rather battered looking chillana. 
For the past two months they had been roaming the solitary 
bays near Ponsonby Sound, building their branch huts and 
existing on shell-fish and anything else they were lucky 
enough to kill for food, fighting the bleak hostility of snow 
mountains and treacherous icy winds, in order to get a few 
otter skins which they sell for food or preferably drink. The 
expedition from a worldly point of view could not exactly be 
called a grand success. They had two otter skins and two 
small red foxes. They had no food and were hungry. They 
covered the frame of the deserted toldo, which consisted 
