_EXPERIENCES IN PATAGONIA._
We left the Falkland Islands on the evening of the 27th, and sailed to
the westward. On the morning of the 1st of January, 1879, we entered
the eastern entrance of the Straits of Magellan, passing within easy
sight of Cape Virgins and Dungeness Point. As we approached the latter,
we noticed a herd of guanacos browsing quietly near the beach, as if
a passing ship were an object familiar to their eyes. This, our first
impression of the famous Straits, was certainly favourable. A winding
channel, the glassy smoothness of whose surface was only broken by the
splashing of cormorants, steamer-ducks, and other sea-birds, stretched
away to the westward. On the north side were the low undulating plains
of Patagonia, covered with their summer mantle of greenish-yellow
vegetation; while to the southward a few widely separated wreaths of
blue smoke, ascending from the gloomy shores of Tierra del Fuego,
marked out the dwelling-place of one of the most remarkable varieties
of the human species. Favoured by the tide, we passed rapidly through
the first Narrows, and at 6.30 in the evening had got as far as Cape
Gregory. Here the flood-tide setting strongly to the westward, fairly
brought us to a standstill, so we steamed in towards the north shore,
and anchored close under Cape Gregory. A party of us who were bent on
exploring soon landed, and proceeded in various directions in quest
of game, and in the few remaining hours of daylight we succeeded in
getting several ducks, some small birds, and a young fox. The ground
was for the most part covered with a sort of rank grass, through which
bushes of the Berberry, _Empetrum rubrum_, and _Myrtus nummularia_,
grew luxuriantly. A very pretty dwarf calceolaria was also abundant.
The only quadruped seen was a fox, but the tucutucos (_Ctenomys_) must
have been very numerous, for the ground was riddled in all directions
by their burrows. Some of our party, who strolled along the beach
towards Gregory Bay, found a small settlement of Frenchmen, who, it
seemed, had recently come out here to try their hands at farming.
After our arrival on board, one of the men brought me a specimen of a
_Myxine_, which had come up on his fishing line, not attached to the
hook, but adhering by its viscid secretion to the line at some distance
above the hook. Of this curious fish I subsequently obtained many
specimens in the western Patagonian channels.
[Illustration: FUEGIAN IMPLEMENTS 1-7.--AUSTRALIAN "WOOMERAHS" 8-11.
1. Stone Axe-head. 2. Bark Bucket. 3. Bone harpoon head. 4. Glass
Spear-head. 5. Bone Spear-head used in fishing. 6. Glass-tipped Arrow.
7. Bow. 8. "Woomerah" or Throwing-stick, used by natives of Torres
Straits. 9, 10. 11. "Woomerahs" used by Aborigines of North-West
Australia. _To face p. 34._]
We got under way again before daylight, and about eight in the morning
we arrived at Sandy Point. This interesting little Chilian settlement
was established in the year 1843, and although a great portion of it
was burnt to the ground during the mutiny of 1877, it yet shows signs
of ultimately becoming a place of considerable importance. Great credit
is due to the Chilian Government for their perseverance in maintaining
a settlement in this wild region, notwithstanding the sad fate of
the colony which was established by Sarmiento in 1580, at a bay to
the westward of Sandy Point, which he named "Bahia de la Gente." On
Sarmiento's return, eight years subsequently, it was discovered that
nearly all the colonists had perished of starvation. That bay has
since been called Port Famine. Of late years the Straits of Magellan
have been largely availed of by men-of-war and merchant-steamers.
Two lines of mail-steamers, viz., the P.S.N.C. and the Kosmos line,
now run bi-monthly through the Straits; and as all these vessels
touch regularly at Sandy Point, the colonists are kept in frequent
communication with the rest of the civilized world. For some years
after its foundation the population consisted mainly of convicts,
undergoing penal servitude, who were kept in control by a small
garrison; but since the mutiny of November 1877, the importation of
convicts has ceased, and as a consequence labour has become scarce.
At the time of our visit there were 1,100 inhabitants, including the
garrison, which now consists of 120 men, rank and file, all of whom are
armed with the Winchester repeating rifle.
The country possesses at least two great sources of mineral wealth,
viz., gold and coal. When the coal mines were first established,
sanguine ideas were entertained of their successful working. But
commercial difficulties arose. The company who were working the mines
became involved in a lawsuit, which, whatever may have been the rights
of the case, has at all events put a stop to mining operations; and
at the time of our visit the railway leading to the mine seemed to be
going to decay; and the rolling stock, in a disjointed state, scattered
about the wharf and line, testified to the stagnant condition of
affairs.
I was here fortunate in finding a friend in the Government (Chilian)
surgeon of the settlement--Dr. Fenton--with whose assistance and
guidance I made some pleasant trips into the country adjoining Sandy
Point. On our first day there he kindly provided horses, and took me
for a ride into the forest, to the end of the settlement. There I saw
for the first time the evergreen and deciduous beeches, the winter's
bark as well as the berberry, diddle-dee, and other plants, of which
we saw a great deal subsequently, during our Patagonian surveys. As we
crossed a flat dreary plain which lay between the margin of the forest
and the sea coast, we encountered a great number of very bold hawks,
which alighted on the big thistles near our bridle path, and coolly
stared at us as we went by. We also saw flocks of Bandurria, a species
of black and white ibis, which is common in these parts, but being
sought after by the Chilians as an article of food, has naturally
become distrustful of the ways of man, and is difficult to approach. On
returning to the settlement, we found some excitement prevailing, for
two of the inhabitants had just been drowned by the capsizing of a boat
near the landing-place. With southerly winds, heavy rollers break along
the beach; and as there is no protection in the shape of a breakwater
(for boats), communication with the shore is dangerous while these
winds continue. It appeared that a party of five were returning from a
hulk in the roadstead, where an auction was being held, and on nearing
the shore the boat got broadside on to the rollers, and capsized. Two
were drowned. The other three narrowly escaped a similar fate, and owed
their preservation to the gallant conduct of two of our bluejackets,
who, happening to be on shore near the scene of the disaster, plunged
boldly in at the risk of their lives, and brought the survivors to land.
On the following day two of us rode along the shore to the southward
of the town for a distance of about six miles, when we struck into the
woods, following a cart track which led us to a sawmill in the heart of
the forest, belonging to Mr. Dunsmuir, the British Vice-consul. Here we
shot a small owl, specimens of the Magellan thrush, and a diminutive
bird of a general black colour, with a rusty-red collar, the _Centrites
niger_. The beach was in places covered with dense clusters of mussels,
and strewn with the dead shells of Volutes, Arcas, and Patellas, the
tests of crabs, and the calcareous remains of a small Cidaris. We
were greatly struck with the sagacity of our little horses--requiring
little or no management, going for the most part at an easy canter,
and climbing over logs, trunks of fallen trees, and banks, with the
agility of goats. On our dismounting, and leaving the bridles trailing
on the ground, they remained quite patiently, without showing the least
inclination to make off, although we several times discharged our guns
close to their heads.
We left Sandy Point on the afternoon of the 4th, and proceeded under
steam to Peckett Harbour, an anchorage about twenty-five miles to the
north-east of the colony. Arriving about four p.m., all of us who
could, landed, and set off in pursuit of game. Even here, so little to
the eastward of Sandy Point, the aspect of the country was completely
different. The land was entirely devoid of trees, and the only plants
of any size were the barberry and balsam bog, the latter growing as
luxuriantly as at the Falklands. Walking was laborious, for the ground
was everywhere riddled with the burrows of the tucutuco, a curious
rodent (_Ctenomys_), which the Chilians call _carouru_. There was
a fresh breeze blowing, and the birds were consequently very wild,
and by no means numerous. We obtained specimens of the crested duck
(_Anas cristata_), upland goose (_Chloephaga magellanica_), grebe,
plover, soldier starling, snipe, sandpiper, and _Centrites niger_. The
tucutucos here evidently differ in their habits from those described by
Mr. Darwin, for they come out of their burrows occasionally (I believe
at dusk), and one was caught by Lieut. Vereker, and given to me.
The next day we were again under way, and having taken on board some
horses belonging to Mr. Dunsmuir, the British Vice-consul of Sandy
Point, proceeded towards Elizabeth Island, a few miles off. This island
has recently been rented from the Chilian Government by Mr. Dunsmuir,
and proves of value for stock farming. Tucutucos have not yet succeeded
in reaching it, a matter of no small importance as regards the value
of the land, for their mining operations are almost ruinous to the
pasturage. The island is about six miles long and four miles broad, and
consists of an elevated plateau of undulating grass-land, terminating
at its margin in cliffs three hundred feet high, which front the sea.
Mr. Dunsmuir has stocked it with four hundred sheep, who are left
usually in charge of a shepherd and his family; and he has also, for
commercial purposes, adopted measures for the protection of the upland
geese, which breed in large numbers on the island. The object of our
visit was to bring over for him some horses, which were required for
the working of the island. As we steamed round its eastern end, myriads
of terns rose in a cloud from the low sandy pits, where they had their
breeding place.
After getting out the horses, and letting them swim on shore, we
dropped our anchor, and soon afterwards many of us landed to explore.
It was the breeding time of the upland geese, and the birds were
consequently very tame, and afforded little sport in shooting.
Along the beach below the cliffs a variety of birds were to be
seen, including oyster-catchers, steamer-ducks, and a species of
Cinclodes. As I walked by the foot of the cliffs, a steamer-duck
would occasionally rush out from its retreat, and make for the water,
cackling vigorously as it waddled over the shingle. As these birds
steamed out seaward, they seemed undoubtedly to flap their wings in
unison; but there was a sort of wabble in their swimming motion,
arising probably from the alternate paddling of the feet. On the
heights above, I shot several military starlings, and others of our
party obtained some brown ducks (_Anas cristata_) and snipe.
The cliff was apparently breaking away in many places, exposing fresh
sections of its face, and exhibiting pebbles, rounded stones, and
rocks imbedded in the clayey mass, a feature which is characteristic
of this part of the coast. Lines of stratification, of varying degrees
of fineness, were to be seen; and in several places, at about fifty
feet from the summit of the cliff, streams of water oozed out from the
seams. I could detect no trace of a fossil. Along the beach lay many
dead shells of the genera _Voluta_, _Arca_, _Patella_, _Mytilus_, and
_Trophon_. During this walk I noticed about six different species of
butterflies and a few beetles.
The dredge had been laid out from the ship on anchoring, so that it
might profit by the swinging of the ship; and when we hauled it up in
the evening, it contained a quantity of dead barnacles covered with
ophiurids, and also shells of the genera _Trochus_ and _Trophon_,
Amphipod Crustaceans, Annelids, and some red, jelly-like Gephyreans.
These were all entangled in a mass of red seaweed, interlaced with
stalks of the Macrocystis.
Early next morning (January 7th) we steamed back to Sandy Point. As we
approached the anchorage, we noticed dense clouds of smoke rising from
the woods some distance inland, and it soon transpired that the forest
in the vicinity of the Consul's sawmills was on fire. In the afternoon
I rode out with Dr. Fenton to the scene, and we found the troops of
the garrison employed in felling trees, so as to make a sort of lane
through the woods to leeward of the fire, in order, if possible, to
limit its ravages. Dr. Fenton afterwards came on board, and gave us an
interesting account of the mutiny of 1877, in which he and his wife
narrowly escaped being shot. His house, like most others, was burnt
down on that occasion. Sixty of the peaceable inhabitants were shot
by the mutineers, and nine of the latter were subsequently executed.
Those of the population who escaped had fled to the woods, and there
fortified themselves against an attack. Eventually the mutiny was
quelled by the arrival of the Chilian gunboat _Magellanes_, at whose
approach the mutineers fled away into the pampas.
At two o'clock in the afternoon of the following day we weighed anchor
and proceeded to the westward. We had scarcely left Sandy Point a few
miles behind us, when the character of the scenery underwent a marked
change. The straits narrowed, its shores rose in lofty hills, whose
lightly inclined slopes were clothed with forest from the summits to
the water's edge, and we exchanged the clear blue sky of Patagonia for
an atmosphere of mists and rain squalls. As we passed by Port Famine,
two Fuegian canoes pulled off to us from the southern shores, the
natives hailing us vociferously for "_galleta tabac_" (biscuit and
tobacco). However, we could not spare time to interview them, and they
turned back disappointed, and moreover evidencing signs of indignation.
When abreast of Borja Bay, we experienced such a succession of heavy
squalls from the westward, that we were compelled to put in for
shelter, and accordingly anchored. On landing, we found the trees
placarded in various places with wooden records of ships that had
called there; and on pushing our way through the bushes adjoining the
beach, we were not a little surprised at stumbling across a coffin,
which from its position seemed to have been hurriedly deposited there
by a passing ship. It bore an inscription stating that it contained
the remains of some person who had belonged to the Chilian man-of-war
_Almirante Cochrane_. Animal life was at a discount; only a few
moths, a Cinclodes, a brace of duck, and a few gulls being seen. The
vegetation was luxuriant, and the Philesia, berberry, and diddle-dee
plants were in full bloom. We stopped for only a few hours; for on
the wind lulling we again proceeded on our course. Passing through
the "Long Reach," the scenery became of a most imposing character;
several straggling, highly inclined glaciers creeping down on either
side through the deep mountain gorges, their dazzling whiteness
contrasting strikingly with the richly verdured hillsides, and the
lofty snow-covered mountain summits beyond fading away imperceptibly
into a hazy sky. Later in the evening we anchored in Playa Parda Cove,
a beautiful little land-locked basin, and most of us landed at once, to
spend the last few remaining hours of daylight. A solitary steamer-duck
was seen, but for the rest animal life was unrepresented. As at Borja
Bay, several little billets of wood, attached conspicuously to trees
bordering the shore, recorded the visits of previous explorers to these
outlandish regions.
On the morning of the 10th we left Playa Parda, and steamed northward
through the Sarmiento Channels. In the afternoon, as we were passing
by Fortune Bay, we sighted and exchanged signals with the Chilian
man-of-war _Chacabuco_, a vessel which was now employed in surveying
certain portions of the Straits. Our halting-place for this evening was
at Isthmus Bay, where we anchored about six p.m. At the head of this
bay, where a narrow neck of lowland separated us from the waters of
Oracion Sound, was the remains of a Fuegian encampment, which, to judge
from the appearance of the shell heaps, could not have been left for
more than a year uninhabited. Across the isthmus was a "portage" for
boats, consisting of rudely-cut stakes laid on the ground parallel to
each other, and a few yards apart, like railway sleepers. The aspect
of the green forest encircling this charming little bay was variegated
with a luxuriant display of really beautiful flowers, among which
were conspicuous the _Philesia buxifolia_, _Fuchsia magellanica_,
_Gaultheria antarctica_, _Berberis ilicifolia_, and a number of
composites of different species. A kind of cedar, the _Libocedrus
tetragonus_ ("cipres" of the Chilotes), was here also very abundant,
furnishing good straight poles suitable for various purposes. Its
four-sided arrangement of leaves at once attracts attention.
We got under way early in the morning, and proceeded up the Sarmiento
Channels, passing by the Chilian ship _Chacabuco_ in the midst of a
rain squall. No natives were to be seen. The channel here narrowed, and
the scenery of the opposing shores became of a grand yet rather sombre
character, the round-topped granite mountains which seemed to overhang
us, with their streaky patches of forest creeping up the gullies, being
enveloped in a hazy mist, and presenting a sort of draggled appearance,
as if rain had been falling over their rocky faces for ages.
About five in the evening we entered Mayne Harbour, a few cormorants
and steamer-ducks sheering off with much splashing, as we slipped
between the islets that almost block up the entrance.
So we continued to wend our way through these desolate channels,
looking into nearly every anchorage on the way, and usually anchoring
for the night, until the 14th of January, when we reached "Tom Bay,"
which was to be our base of operations for the ensuing survey of the
Trinidad Channel. Some hours after we had anchored, a native boat
suddenly emerged from a narrow channel opening into the bay, and
paddled towards the ship, displaying a green branch in the bows
of the boat, while one individual standing up waved a small white
cloth, no doubt intended as a flag of truce. Our people on board made
amicable demonstrations in response, by waving handkerchiefs and
so forth, and then slowly and warily the natives approached. This
was our first experience of representatives of the Channel tribe of
Fuegians. There were altogether eight of them. But I must not omit to
mention the dogs, five in number, as the latter formed by far the most
respectable portion of the community; for it would indeed be difficult
to imagine a more diabolical cast of countenance than that presented
by these savages. Their clothing consisted of a squarish scrap of
sealskin looped round the neck, sometimes hanging over the back,
sometimes resting on the shoulders, but apparently worn more by way of
ornament than for any protection which it afforded; and a very narrow
waistcloth, which simple garment was sometimes deemed superfluous. An
elderly lady of a saturnine cast of countenance sat on a wisp of grass
in the stern of the canoe, and manœuvred the steering oar. They
could not be induced to come on board the ship, and from their guarded
demeanour would seem to have had rather unfavourable experiences of
civilized man. After bartering their bits of seal and other skins,
and getting some biscuit, tobacco, and knives, they paddled away,
and established themselves on an islet about half a mile from the
ship, where we saw that the skeleton frameworks of some old huts were
standing.
On the following day a small party, consisting of North (the
paymaster), three seamen, and myself, pulled over to the native camp.
We were received on landing by four men with bludgeons in their hands,
who did not seem at all glad to see us, and who seemed apprehensive
of our approaching the hut, where the women had been jealously shut
up. However, by a few presents of tobacco and biscuit, we established
tolerably amicable relations, and were permitted to examine the canoe,
which lay hauled half out of the water. It was composed of five planks,
of which one, about twenty feet long and two and a half feet wide,
formed the bottom, while the other four, each one and a half foot in
width, formed the sides. The bottom plank was turned up at the ends,
so as to form a flat bow and stern of nearly similar shape; and to
this plank, as well as to each other, the side pieces were secured
by a lacing passed through rude square shaped holes about an inch in
area, which were made in an even row close to the edges of the planks.
The lacing used for this purpose is the tough stem of a bignoniaceous
creeper (the _Campsidium chilense_), which is commonly seen twining
round the tall forest trees, forming festoons from branch to branch,
and again extending from the horizontal branches vertically downwards
like the cordage of a ship. Caulking was effected by stuffing the
seams with moss and strips of the winter's bark (bark of the _Drimys
winteri_), over which the lacing was carried; and the square-shaped
holes were plugged with some pulpy vegetable matter, of which moss
seemed to be the chief constituent. The oars were made of young
stems of the _Libocedrus tetragonus_, to one end of which elliptical
pieces of wood were lashed by way of blades. These oars were used in
the ordinary way, the loom resting on crescentic-shaped crutches,
fashioned out of a single piece of wood, and lashed to the gunwale.
The everlasting Fuegian fire, from which Tierra del Fuego derives its
name, burned in the middle of the boat, resting on a bed of clay; and
the half-decomposed head of a seal, which either the natives or the
dogs had recently been gnawing, completed the furniture of this crazy
vessel. The hut in which the women were shut up was a haycock-shaped
arrangement, composed of a skeleton framework of boughs, over which
were thrown several old skins of the sea lion (_Otaria jubata_). The
chief of this party, who was, by the way, the tallest Fuegian ever seen
by us, we found by measurement to be five feet four inches in height.
One hut accommodated the entire party, consisting, as I have said, of
four men, four women, and five dogs.
The greater part of the subsequent four months was spent in the
vicinity of the Trinidad Channel, which it was our special duty to
survey; and as our movements during this period were most erratic, and
we frequently paid five or six different visits to the same parts, I
shall for a time abandon all chronological order, and speak of events
according to the places in which they occurred.
But in the first place, in order to render my narrative more
intelligible, I shall here give a brief general description of this
region, referring to its climate, natural features, and inhabitants.
The weather is peculiar, for the rainfall is excessive, and as a rule
there is not more than one moderately dry day out of the seven.
The peaks and ridges of the broken-up range of mountains, of which the
islands and coast are formed, intercept the moisture-laden clouds which
are being continually wafted from seaward by the prevailing westerly
winds, frequent and long-continued downpours being the result. From
observations taken with the rain gauge, we estimate the average daily
rainfall to be 0·41 inch, and that of the wettest month of which we
have had experience, viz., the month of April, 0·522 inch. The annual
rainfall, estimated from the mean of eight months' observations, we
find to be 149·65 inches. The mean annual temperature, estimated
similarly from observations extending over the months of January,
February, March, April, May, (nine days of) October, November, and
December, we found to be 49·2, the extremes of temperature being 36°
and 60°. When we reflect that the annual rainfall in London is about
23·5 inches, while the yearly average of temperature is 46·9 Fahr., we
can realize the extent to which rainy weather prevails in this land,
and the comparative coldness of its nevertheless equable climate. We
were told by the master of a sealing schooner that the climate of
Western Fuegia varied but little throughout the year, and that in his
opinion the finest weather was to be found in mid-winter; and, indeed,
on entering the channels in the month of October--that is, in the
early spring--we ourselves found the appearance of the country but
little different from our recollections of the previous midsummer.
There was, perhaps, more snow on the hill-tops, but there was none at
all on the lower slopes of the hills, and the evergreen vegetation
seemed almost as luxuriant as during midsummer.
As might be expected from the large rainfall and comparatively
equable temperature, this climate is very favourable to the growth of
cryptogamous plants; ferns, mosses, and Hepaticæ abound, clothing the
stems of dead and living trees, and occupying every shady nook and
crevice. Among the ferns most commonly seen were several beautiful
species of the genus _Hymenophyllum_. Of flowering plants there
were also some of great beauty, the most attractive of which were
the _Philesia buxifolia_, the _Desfontainea hookeri_, the _Berberis
ilicifolia_, the _B. empetrifolia_, and the _Embothrium coccineum_.
The former is a sort of under-shrub, of creeping habit, and is most
commonly seen twining round the stem of the evergreen and antarctic
beeches, to a height of six or eight feet from the ground, its lovely,
rose-coloured, bell-shaped flowers showing to great advantage against
the delicate background of ferns and mosses, which, growing from the
bark of the tree, display the flowers, but almost conceal the branches
of the twining Philesia. There is another beautiful plant, of the same
natural order, met with in Southern Chili, which the people take great
pride in, showing to strangers as the glory of their gardens. It is
called the "Copigue" (_Lapageria rosea_). The only trees which attain
to any reasonable size as such are the evergreen and antarctic beeches
(_Fagus antarctica_ and _F. betuloides_), the winter's bark (_Drimys
winteri_), and the cypress (_Libocedrus tetragonus_). The bark of the
_Drimys winteri_ was formerly employed in medicine, but has latterly
fallen into disuse, partly from the difficulty of obtaining the genuine
article in Europe. It has tonic and stimulant properties. The infusion
of the dried bark is so hot and peppery as to burn the tongue and
throat; but, strangely enough, the spirit tincture extracts the tonic
bitter with but very little of the peppery principle.
The summits of the low hills, which are usually bare of trees or
brushwood, are covered with a sort of swamp formed of astelias,
gaimardias, and calthas, whose interlacing roots form a more or less
compact sod, which, as one walks on it, shakes from the fluctuation of
the bog water beneath.
The rock of the district is a cross-grained syenite, intersected with
dykes of greenstone, of very variable thickness. This is the prevalent
rock; but about Port Rosario, on the north side of "Madre de Dios"
island, there is an outcrop of limestone. The latter is of a pale-blue
colour, in some cases assuming the character of marble; and when much
exposed to the weather, presents a curious honeycombed appearance, due
to the solvent action of the rain. This rock is unfossiliferous. The
disintegration of the syenite from the usual atmospheric agencies is
rapid enough; but the resulting detritus does not contribute to form a
good clay.
If an artificial section be made of the soilcap, or if advantage be
taken of a landslip to examine it carefully, it will be seen to be
composed of a dense network of interlacing roots, containing in its
interstices a small quantity of black mould, the latter increasing in
proportion as the basement rock is reached. This spongy mass of tangled
vegetation, ever saturated with moisture, is the soil on which the
trees clothing the hillsides take root. On the little plateaus about
the hill-tops, however, it only contains the roots of the marsh plants
above mentioned, and those of an odd stunted bush. On first coming to
this region, I was much struck on seeing that the forest approaches so
close to the water's edge, and that the banks overhang so much that
frequently the branches of the trees dip into the salt water; and in
some places a black snag projecting above the surface of the inshore
water tells the fate of a tree that had perished from immersion. These
phenomena, among others to be hereafter alluded to, are, I think, to
be attributed to a slow but steady sliding motion of the soilcap over
its rocky foundation on the sloping hillsides, a motion which is in
many respects analogous to the flow of a glacier.
Of the natives inhabiting the Patagonian channels between the Gulf of
Peñas and Smyth's channels, very little is known; and I am the more
inclined to attempt a description of their physical characteristics
and habits of life, because of all the savage tribes of whom I have
had experience--including the Australian aborigines, who are generally
credited with being of the lowest order--I believe that the people
whom I am about to describe bear away the palm as the most primitive
among all the varieties of the human species. They are certainly
closely related to the Fuegians who live south of the main Straits
of Magellan, from whom, however, they differ sufficiently to show a
tribal distinction. Fitzroy, in enumerating six tribes of Fuegians,
denominates those of whom I speak as "the Channel or Chonos tribe."
They lead a wandering life, constantly shifting in their canoes from
place to place, and travelling in families of about twelve individuals,
all of whom stow in the same canoe, and sleep in the same hut. We have
never been able to ascertain the precise relationship existing between
the different members of these families; but a party of twelve would
probably consist of three men, five women, and four children.
For the greater part of the year they live almost entirely on mussels
and limpets, this simple fare being only varied occasionally by the
capture of a seal, a small otter, or of an equally small coypu. That
they get this kind of fresh meat but rarely is evident from our
inspection of their midden heaps, hillocks of refuse in the vicinity
of the huts, consisting mainly of shells. I must not omit to mention,
however, that bones of the steamer-duck and cormorant are also found
about the huts, but not in any quantity. During the months of December
and January, the Magellan seals "haul up" to breed on the rocks of the
outer coasts, and during this season there is a great gathering of
natives about the "rookeries," as the sealers call them, so that for a
short portion of the year these unfortunate wretches can luxuriate upon
a diet of fresh meat.
They are of low stature, the men averaging 5 ft. 1 in. in height,
while the women are still shorter. Of eight men whom I measured
carefully, the extremes were 4 ft. 10 in. and 5 ft. 3 in.; so that
there is a strong contrast between them and their neighbours in the
same latitude, the Patagonians, whose average stature (I speak of the
men only) is 5 ft. 10 in. Their complexion is of an ochrey copper
colour; the eyes are dark, and placed close together; the upper eyelid
curving downwards abruptly as it approaches the nasal side, or inner
canthus, in such a way as to give an appearance of obliquity in the
eye, which reminds one of that feature in the face of a Japanese. The
sclerotics, or so-called "white" of the eye, have a yellow tinge,
and in the adults the conjunctiva is injected or bloodshot, probably
from their habit of sitting over a smoky wood fire. The upper lip is
thin and curved; and when a grimace is made, it tightly embraces the
teeth, so as to communicate a peculiarly wicked expression to the
countenance. The maxillæ are broad, and the teeth are of glistening
whiteness. In the female the front teeth present an even regular line;
but in the male adult there is usually a front tooth missing, as if
knocked out designedly. The hair is long, black, and coarse, and
is peculiar in growing sometimes from the temples, as well as from
the scalp, a circumstance from which the forehead acquires a narrow
pyramidal appearance. There are no whiskers, but on the lips and chin
a few scattered hairs are seen. The upper extremities and trunk are
well formed, but the legs are very poorly developed, so much so as to
seem out of proportion to the rest of the body. The skin overlying
the kneecaps is particularly loose, baggy, and wrinkled when the
native stands erect, a circumstance which, in the case of the southern
Fuegian, is very justly attributed (_vide_ Voyage of _Adventure_ and
_Beagle_, p. 176) to the practice of frequently sitting on the heels,
with the legs flexed to a maximum.
Some of the emotions are expressed by very decided contortions of
the features and limbs. Delight, when intense, is shown by a display
of the closed teeth, accompanied by a clucking sound, and a curious
up and down bobbing motion of the body. Eagerness is expressed by a
clucking sound and a frothing of the lips. Anger is characterised by a
tightening of the upper lip, a protrusion of the lower jaw or mandible,
and a slight display of the upper incisors.
The men are almost entirely naked, sometimes wearing a square piece of
sealskin suspended from the neck, and hanging over either shoulder.
This seems to be intended as a sort of weather screen; but, strangely
enough, it is one of the first things parted with when a chance of
bartering occurs. Although so careless about protecting their bodies
against the rigour of the weather, it was nevertheless evident that
they were keenly sensible to the cold; for they were frequently to be
seen with their teeth chattering, and trembling from head to foot,
as the rain, wind, and spray swept over their unprotected skins. The
women generally have a large skin mantle, which they wear with the hair
turned outwards. Those with infants carry the child in a pouch between
the shoulders; but those not so burdened readily part with their only
covering for a plug of tobacco. That these people should attach any
value to tobacco is difficult to understand; for not only are they
unprovided with native pipes in which to smoke it, but, as far as we
could judge, they had never enjoyed sufficient opportunities of doing
so to render the _process_ anything but highly unpleasant, although its
_anticipation_ undoubtedly afforded them great pleasure. In fact, one
or two whiffs of smoke were sufficient to put a man into the nauseated
and giddy condition familiar to every schoolboy when he makes his first
trial of tobacco.
Although the dress of the women is, as I have mentioned, far from
elaborate, they otherwise evinced the usual love of their sex for
articles intended to be ornamental. They commonly wore round their
throats necklaces composed of margarita shells, porpoise teeth, or
fragments of calcareous worm-tubes, strung together. Their faces, as
well as those of the men, were sometimes daubed with black charcoal,
and sometimes with a paste composed of white wood-ashes, but with what
precise object we did not ascertain.
[Illustration: CANOE OF "CHANNEL FUEGIANS" HAULED UP ON BEACH. _To face
p. 50._]
The affection of these savages for their children does not seem to be
of a very stable character; for, by all accounts, they are willing to
part with them for a trifling consideration. A Fuegian boy, christened
Tom Picton, whom we took on board in the Trinidad Channel, quitted his
relations without any manifestation of reluctance; and they, on their
part, were readily conciliated by the gift of a few necklaces and
some biscuit. In Byron's narrative of the loss of the _Wager_, there
is a most interesting account of his wanderings among the natives of
the Gulf of Peñas. He mentions that, on one occasion, a savage was so
exasperated with his son, a child of three years, who had accidentally
dropped into the water a basket containing some sea-eggs (_Echini_),
that he "caught the boy up in his arms, and dashed him with the utmost
violence against the stones," the child dying soon afterwards.
Their hunting appliances are few and simple; the canoe is a rude
structure, but answers its purpose well enough. It is constructed of
five planks, of which one, about 20 ft. by 2-1/2 in width, forms the
bottom, and the other four, each 1-1/2 ft. wide, form the sides. The
bottom plank is turned up at the ends, so as to form a flat bow and
stern of nearly similar shape; and to this, as well as to each other,
the side planks are laced by the long flexible stem of a creeping
plant, which is passed through rude squarish holes, about one inch
in area, which are made in an even row close to the edges of the
planks. The material used for the lacing appeared to be the stem of
the _Campsidium chilense_, a creeper which grows to a great length, is
very abundant, and is remarkable for its exceeding toughness. Caulking
is effected by stuffing the seams with bark, over which a lacing is
carried, and the squarish holes are finally plugged with some vegetable
pulpy matter, of which moss is the chief constituent. Two oars, with
very large broad blades, are used for propelling the boat, and not
paddles, as in the case of the southern Fuegians. A young woman, seated
in the stern sheets, steers very dexterously with a short paddle. Such
rude boats leak, of course, a good deal, and hence require constant
baling out. This office is performed by the _old_ woman of the party,
who, crouching amidships, bales out the water with a bark bucket.
Spears of two kinds are used, one for fishing, the other for sealing.
The one for sealing, which is rather a harpoon than a spear, has
an arrow-shaped bone head, which is movable, and is attached by a
slack line of hide to the spear shaft. The use of the loose line
is probably to facilitate the capture of the seal, into which the
movable arrow-head has been driven by the impetus conveyed through
the detachable shaft. A harpoon similarly constructed is used by the
Eskimo hunters for a like purpose. The fish spear is a formidable
weapon, having a long bone head securely fixed to the shaft, and with
many deep serrations along one side. The shafts of both are about eight
feet long, and are made of the young stems of a coniferous tree, the
_Libocedrus tetragonus_.
Every party that we met with was provided with an iron axe of some
kind. The axes are usually made of bits of scrap iron which have been
picked up from wrecks, or obtained by barter from passing vessels.
Sometimes, though rarely, an axe of civilization pattern is seen.
In other cases the piece of iron, having been ground into a rude
triangular shape, is fitted into a wooden handle, as some of the old
stone celts are supposed to have been; that is to say, the small end of
the axehead is jammed into a hole made near the end of a stout piece of
stick. I may here mention that, in spite of a most diligent search, I
have once, but only once, succeeded in finding a STONE axehead. It was
of very primitive shape--being only in part ground--and was found lying
among the shells of a very old abandoned kitchen-midden.
For holding drinking water they use large cylindrical buckets,
which are made from the bark of the _Drimys winteri_; the single
scroll-shaped piece which forms the cylinder and the disc-shaped bottom
being sewn together with rushes. From this same kind of rush plant,
which they use so frequently for making temporary hitches, they make
three-plaited ropes for mooring the canoes, and also baskets to hold
shell fish. The kind of plait used in fashioning their baskets is a
simple network, which must, however, be tedious to construct, owing to
the necessity for frequently splicing the rushes.
Their huts somewhat resemble small haycocks in general shape, but are
rather oblong, the floor (which is never excavated, as in the case of
some of the southern Fuegians) usually measuring ten by twelve feet;
the height in the centre is six feet, so that one of us could always
stand upright when in the middle of the hut. A skeleton framework is
made of boughs, whose thicker ends are stuck in the ground, while the
terminal twigs are made to interlace, and are moreover secured to each
other by rush lashings. The required amount of shelter is obtained by
placing leafy boughs and dried sealskins over the framework of the hut.
A fire is kept burning in the centre; and when the boat is about to be
used, a few burning sticks are transferred to it, and kept alight on a
clay flooring amidships.
I have never seen their appliances for striking a light, but I have no
doubt they use iron pyrites, with dried moss or down for tinder, as
do the southern Fuegians, from whom I have obtained these appliances.
These materials for obtaining fire are very judiciously guarded, and
are the only articles among the properties of a canoe which are not
submitted for barter. The "Pecheray" Fuegians keep their stock of
tinder in water-tight pouches, made of the dried intestine of the
seal.(?)
Neither stone slings, bows and arrows, nor bolas, are used by the
Channel Fuegians, so that altogether, with respect to hunting
appliances, they are in a more primitive state than any of the southern
tribes.
The remains of the deceased, so far as we have known, are deposited in
caves in out-of-the-way localities. During the voyage of Sarmiento,
towards the latter end of the 16th century, a cave containing human
remains was found in a small island called the "Roca Partida," or cleft
rock; and subsequently, when the shipwrecked crew of the _Wager_, one
of Commodore Anson's ships, were wandering about the Gulf of Peñas,
Mr. Wilson, the surgeon, discovered near the seashore a large cave
which contained the skeletons of several human beings (_vide_ Byron's
narrative of the loss of the _Wager_; Burney's Voyages). During the
surveying cruise of H.M.S. _Nassau_, in 1866-9, a diligent search was
made for such burial places, but without success; but, on the other
hand, no signs were observed of any other method of disposing of the
dead, either by fire, as in the case of some of the southern tribes, or
by covering the bodies with branches of trees, as described by Fitzroy.
However, during our late survey of the Trinidad Channel, we found a
small cave containing portions of two skeletons in a limestone islet,
near Port Rosario, on the north side of Madre de Dios Island; and this
would seem to have been used as a burial-place, at some very remote
period. The remains have been deposited in the British Museum.
It has been stated by the late Admiral Fitzroy, on the authority of
Mr. Low, a sealing captain, that during times of great scarcity of
food, these savages do not scruple to resort to cannibalism, and that
for this purpose they select as victims the old women of the party,
killing them by squeezing their throats, while holding their heads over
the smoke of a green wood fire. Mr. Low's evidence on this point is so
circumstantial, being derived from a native interpreter who served on
board his ship for fourteen months, that it can hardly be doubted.
On this subject I can only add that we noticed a singularly small
proportion of old people, whether male or female, among the parties
of natives with whom we met. This circumstance may support Mr. Low's
opinion, or it may be the natural consequence of the short span of life
which is allotted to these wretched people.
Regarding the treachery of these savages, there can be no doubt. Their
faces alone indicate it, but unfortunately further evidence is not
wanting. We recently met with a small sealing schooner, the _Annita_,
of Sandy Point, the master of which--a Frenchman, named Lamire--gave us
a detailed account of an attack made upon his vessel about two years
ago, when he was "sealing" at the north end of Picton Channel. He lay
at anchor one night in fancied security, when he was surprised by a
large party of natives who came alongside in seven canoes. A dreadful
struggle ensued, in which his crew defended themselves with their
guns against the axes, spears, sticks, and stones, of their savage
assailants. The natives were eventually driven off, but not before five
of the sealers had lost their lives. The sealers are now well aware of
the anxiety of the natives to gain possession of their vessels, and
consequently put no trust in their overtures of friendship. A white man
is feared only so long as his party is known to be the strongest.
Fitzroy has described six tribes of Fuegians who speak different
dialects, and also differ somewhat in their habits. These are (1) the
Yacanas, or inhabitants of the north portion of King Charles's South
Land; (2) the Tekeenicas, who live in south-eastern Fuegia; (3) the
Alikhoolips, who inhabit the South-Western Islands; (4) the Pecherays,
a small tribe of savages who hover about the middle and western part of
the Straits of Magellan; (5) the Huemuls, so called from the Chilian
name of a deer which has been found about Skyring Water and Obstruction
Sound, the head-quarters of this tribe; and (6) the Fuegians who
inhabit the shores and islands of western Patagonia, between the
parallels of 47° and 52°, and whom Fitzroy denominates the Chonos or
Channel Fuegians. In Fitzroy's account of the Fuegians, he naturally
selected as his type the people with whom he was best acquainted, viz.,
the Tekeenicas, who inhabit the shores of the Beagle Channel. These
people build conical wigwams, which are made of large poles leaning to
from a circular base, with their upper ends meeting in a point. Their
canoes are built of bark, and are small and skiff-shaped. They also use
bows and arrows, and stone slings, and in this respect are considerably
in advance of the Channel Fuegians.
In their methods of disposing of the dead, the Fuegian tribes differ
somewhat strangely. Fitzroy tells us that among the Tekeenicas,
Alikhoolips, and Pecherays, the bodies of the dead are carried a
long way into the interior of the forest, where they are placed upon
broken timber, and then covered up with branches. On this subject
some information has recently been obtained from the missionaries,
who have now for some years maintained a settlement at a place called
Ushuwia, in the Beagle Channel. We heard, on the authority of these
gentlemen, that a form of cremation is now commonly practised among the
Tekeenicas, and that charred human bones may often be found among the
embers of the funeral pyre. The Fuegians of the Western Channels, as I
have mentioned already, deposit their dead in caves.
To continue with Tom Bay. The month of January is here the breeding
season with most of the water birds. About the middle of the month the
steamer-ducks (_Tachyeres cinereus_) and the kelp geese (_Bernicla
antarctica_) were paddling about with their young ones; and the
oyster-catchers (_Hæmatopus leucopus_, and _ater_), with their young
broods, occupied the small low rocky islets, where they made themselves
conspicuous by their shrill piping cry. We remarked that the kelp
geese, which, as a rule, never wet their feet, except with the damp
seaweed of the foreshore, take to the water as soon as the young are
hatched, being probably induced to do so in order the better to protect
their goslings from the hawks and rats. The male and female adult
birds differ remarkably in plumage; that of the female being almost
black, with a few white dots and dashes, whereas the feathers of the
male are perfectly white. The sombre colour of the female is probably
intended as a protection during the hatching time, when she remains
almost continuously on the eggs, while the gander does sentry in some
conspicuous position adjacent. Whenever at this time of the year a
solitary gander is seen standing on a projecting point or headland,
it may safely be inferred that his faithful consort is on her nest
somewhere within sixty yards. Even under these circumstances it is by
no means an easy matter to find the nest; for the black plumage of the
female assimilates with the dark wind-blown seaweed and rank grass in
which her nest is made, and she lies so close that she will not stir
until almost walked on. While the birds are immature (_i.e._, less than
one year old) the sexes are scarcely distinguishable, the plumage of
both male and female being an almost equal mixture of white and black
colours.
The ashy-headed Brent goose (_Chloephaga poliocephala_), remarkable for
the splendid chestnut colour of its breast, is the only other goose
met with in these western channels. The common Magellan and Falkland
Islands goose (_C. magellanica_) does not, as a rule, extend its range
to the damp western regions.
About the islets adjacent to the Tom Bay anchorage were great numbers
of abandoned huts, and at some the size of the shell mounds and the
compactness of the bottom layers indicated considerable antiquity.
These mounds are principally composed of mussel and limpet shells, the
latter predominating; and among the interstices were great numbers of
insects and worms. There was one very old grass-covered mound near
our anchorage, of which we made a thorough examination by digging
cross-section trenches. Besides the usual shells, there were a few
seal bones and sterna of birds, and at a depth of four feet from the
surface we found a partly disintegrated bone spear-head, which was
different in shape from any which we saw among the natives either
before or subsequently. Instead of being rounded, it was flattened from
side to side, like a very large arrow-head. In most of the other shell
heaps which we examined, bones of the nutria (_Myopotamus coypu_) and
of the otter (_Lutra felina_) were observed.
To the westward of our anchorage (_i.e._, in the large island of Madre
de Dios) was a long narrow inlet, partly overhung with trees, which
communicated by a shallow bar with a brackish lagoon of about thirty
acres in extent. At low water there was only about three feet of water
on the bar, and we could then see that the bottom was covered with huge
white sessile barnacles (the "picos" of the Chilians), growing closely
together. During the ebb and flood tides the current ran fiercely
over this bar, so as to render it an exceedingly difficult matter to
pull through the channel when the tide was adverse. This lagoon was a
favourite haunt of the Magellan sea otter (_Lutra felina_), which is
abundant in all these waters, but is very difficult to kill without
the aid of dogs. Its "runs" are generally strewn with the shells of a
large spiny crab (the _Lithodes antarctica_), which appears to form
its principal food. I have seen an otter rise to the surface with
one of these hideous crabs in its mouth, as unpalatable a morsel,
one would think--for it is armed all over with strong spines--as a
"knuckleduster." In the _Alert_, the great feat of sportsmanship was to
shoot and bag an otter; for if the animal be not struck in the head,
and killed outright at the first shot, it is almost certain to make a
long dive, crawl up the beach in the shade of the overhanging bushes,
and escape.
When exploring in a small boat the winding shores of this lagoon,
we one day came upon a little sequestered cove, where there was a
luxuriant growth of _Desfontainea_ bushes, and on landing on the
shingly beach we saw, by the way in which the larger stones had
been moved aside, that the place had been used by the natives for
hauling up their canoes. On walking through the long rank grass, which
encroached on the beach, we tripped over some logs which seemed to have
been arranged artificially, and we then discovered that we were at the
extremity of a "portage," intended for conveying boats overland. On
tracing it up, we found a sort of causeway leading into the forest; and
after following it for about three hundred yards, we ascertained that
we had crossed a narrow isthmus, of whose existence we were previously
unaware, and had reached the shore of an arm of the sea (probably
Delgado Bay), which communicates with the Trinidad Channel not many
miles to the eastward of Port Henry. It was evident that by means
of this "portage" the natives were able to proceed from Concepcion
Channel, _viâ_ Tom Bay, towards the outer coasts, without undertaking
the much longer and more hazardous journey through the main channels
round Point Brazo. The logs forming the "portage" were partly imbedded
in the ground, and were arranged parallel to each other, like the
sleepers of a railway, and at a distance of about two feet apart. There
was, however, no appearance of the natives having recently visited the
place. We had reason to believe that these "portages" were of frequent
occurrence, and were largely used by the natives, and that it was
owing to the facilities thus afforded them for crossing isthmuses and
the necks of promontories that they were enabled to surprise sailing
vessels at anchor, approaching them unobserved from the land-locked
side of bays and inlets at a time when the attention of the sailors
on "look-out" was naturally only directed towards the entrance of
the harbour which had previously seemed to them to be untenanted.
The "portages" are so concealed by a luxuriant growth of grass and
brushwood that they readily escape observation.
The brackish lagoons, which are fed continuously by fresh-water
streams, and receive an influx of sea-water while the flood tide is
making, are a peculiar feature of this Patagonian archipelago, and
we usually found that the outlets were excellent places for catching
fish. Our fishing parties were in the habit of placing a "trammel" net
across the outlet while the tide was ebbing, and in this way entrapped
great quantities of mullet and mackerel; sometimes upwards of eighty,
ranging in weight from two to eleven pounds per fish, being taken at
one haul.
I collected some green flocculent matter from the surface of one of
these lagoons, and found it to consist almost entirely of diatoms.
One fine day in April we noticed a great concourse of gulls and
shags, attracted by a shoal of fish, in the pursuit of which they
ventured unusually close to the ship. This gave us an opportunity of
observing that the common brown gull of the channels, the female of
_L. dominicanus_, behaves towards the male bird in many respects like
a skua. No sooner would one of the "black-backed" (male) birds capture
a fish, and rise from the surface, than he would be attacked by one of
the brown birds, and chased vigorously about the harbour; the predatory
bird not desisting from the pursuit until the coveted prize had been
dropped by its rightful owner. This I noticed on more occasions than
one. As a rule, however, the female was content to fish for herself.
Several Dominican gulls in immature plumage were seen amongst the
crowd, and were easily distinguished from the adults by the mottled
brown plumage, and by the colour of the mandibles being green instead
of orange, as in the males, and black as in the females. Now and then
the whole flock of gulls and shags would rise on the wing, as they
lost the run of the shoal of fish. They would then be directed to the
new position of the shoal by the success of some straggling bird, when
a general rush would be made to the new hunting ground. It was most
amusing to witness the widely different fishing powers of the shags
and gulls, and the consequently unequal competition in the struggle
for food. The shag in flight, on observing a fish beneath him, at once
checks himself by presenting the concave side of his wings to the
direction in which he has been moving, and then, flapping legs foremost
into the water, turns and dives; whereas the gull has first to
settle himself carefully as he alights on the water, and has then to
trust to the chance of some unsophisticated fish coming within reach of
his bill. It was impossible to avoid noticing the mortified appearance
of the poor gulls as they looked eagerly about, but yet caught only
an odd fish, whilst their comrades, the shags, were enjoying abundant
sport.
[Illustration: FUEGIAN "PORTAGE" FOR TRANSPORTING CANOES OVERLAND. _To
face p. 60._]
It is odd that the silly gull manages at all to survive in the struggle
for existence. Here is another instance of his incapacity. A piece of
meat, weighing a few ounces, drifted astern of the ship one day, and
for its possession a struggle took place between a dominican gull and
a brown hawk. The gull had picked up the meat, and was flying away
with it in his bill, when he was pursued by the hawk--a much smaller
bird--who made him drop it. Again the gull picked it up, and for a
second time was compelled by the hawk to relinquish it. The latter now
swooped down upon the tempting morsel, as it floated on the water, and
seizing it with his claws, flew off rapidly into an adjoining thicket,
to the edge of which he was followed by the disappointed gull.
Steamer-ducks (_Tachyeres cinereus_) are very abundant at Tom Bay, as
indeed they are throughout all the western channels. Their English
name, "steamer-duck," has reference to their habit of moving rapidly
along the surface of the water by means of a paddling motion of the
wings, and leaving a wake of foam which resembles, on a small scale,
that of a paddle-steamer. A great deal has been written about these
remarkable birds, and I shall not therefore attempt any general
description, which at the best would only involve useless repetition.
There are a few remarks about them, however, which I should like
to make. Although aware of the careful investigations made by Dr.
Cunningham in 1866-9, and his conclusion as to their being but one
species, I have yet some reason to believe that the fliers and the
non-flying birds which I have seen belong to two distinct species,
and my impression is--though I am by no means sure--that the volant
species frequents the fresh waters in the interior of Patagonia, and in
the western channels is only represented by an odd straggler. Mr. Cox,
of Talcahuano, who has travelled in Araucania and central Patagonia,
mentions in his narrative, that in the fresh-water lakes of the latter
district there are two different species of steamer-ducks, one of
which possesses the power of flight. Immature specimens, although
differing in the colour of the bill, and somewhat in plumage, from
the adult birds, need not be confounded with a second species. The
largest steamer-duck which I have come across weighed only 14 lbs., and
although text books assign a much greater weight as the extreme limit,
I think I am right in saying that few heavier birds are met with either
in the Straits of Magellan or in the western channels. The female forms
a low, oval-shaped nest of twigs, lined with a thick coating of down,
and deposits therein six large cream-coloured eggs, 3-3/8 in. long, by
2-1/4 in. width. The nest is usually placed on the ground, at the foot
of an old tree, some few yards from the beach, but in a place where the
bush is almost impenetrable to a human being.
Land-shells must be exceedingly scarce. I met with representatives
of only four species, of which one, a specimen of _Helix_, I found
on the frond of a _Hymenophyllum_ at Tom Bay. Two others of the same
genus were taken from the rotten trunk of a tree in the same locality.
At Port Henry, in the Trinidad Channel, and other parts in the
neighbourhood, I collected several specimens of a species of _Succinea_
which clings to dead leaves and decayed pieces of driftwood lying on
the shore just above high-water mark. These four species of shells have
since been described by Mr. Edgar Smith, of the British Museum, as new
to science. In a fresh-water lake, where I made some casts of a light
dredge, I obtained from the bottom of stinking mud several examples of
a large _Unio_ shell, and some small shells of the genus _Chilinia_. I
afterwards found species of _Unio_ in a stream issuing from the lake.
North of the English Narrows many pond snails of the genus _Chilinia_
were also found abundantly in the stream beds.
I have found only two species of fresh-water fish, _Aplochiton zebra_,
and a small _Galaxias_; and they inhabit most of the upland lakes which
are of any considerable extent. The former is a smooth-skinned fish,
with the general shape and fin arrangement of a grayling, but with a
dark scaleless skin. It averages half a pound in weight, ranging up
to three-quarters; and although it rose like a trout, we could not
succeed in making it take the artificial fly, but caught it readily
with worm-bait. These fish were also met with in mountain lakes far
removed from the sea, whither their ova were probably, in the first
instance, conveyed by cormorants. On one occasion Sir George Nares
caught a specimen of this fish in a brackish lagoon, which communicated
with the sea at high tide, so that it may have been derived from a
marine progenitor which possessed the power of adapting itself to a
fresh-water existence.
In the course of our survey of Concepcion Strait, we stopped for six
days, in the month of March, at Portland Bay, an anchorage on the east
side of the strait, and nearly opposite to Tom Bay. On the forenoon of
our third day, a party of natives pulled in from the westward, with
their canoe well-provisioned with shell-fish, as if they were about
making a long voyage. There were three men, four women, three children,
and four dogs. They were provided with a good iron axe, bone-pointed
spears, a boat-rope made of plaited rushes, and other rude implements.
It was evident that this party had previously met with some friendly
vessel, for they readily came on board, and poked about the ship. Two
of us went on a visit to their camp on the following day, but were
received very ungraciously by a villainous-looking old hag armed with a
club, who deprecated any attempt at landing on our part. We could only
examine the canoe, which we found to be twenty-two feet long, four feet
in beam amidships, and in other respects of the usual construction. On
the next day we pulled over again, but only to find the hut deserted,
and the party gone. We inferred, from various circumstances connected
with their disappearance, that they must have penetrated up the Bay to
the eastward, where there are unexplored channels which are supposed to
extend towards the base of the Cordillera.
On the next day (March 24), a strong westerly breeze, with occasional
rain-squalls, induced most of us to remain on board, and we were
not a little surprised when, about 10 a.m., a boat under sail was
reported standing across the Strait towards our anchorage. On nearer
approach it turned out to be a native canoe, with a large sealskin
hoisted in the forepart of the boat, so as to form a sort of square
sail. As the natives came alongside to beg for biscuit and tobacco, we
found that the wretched-looking boat contained three men, five women,
eleven children (mostly very young), and five dogs. They had shipped
a good deal of water on the passage, as might be expected, and all
the wretched creatures looked as wet as fishes; indeed, to say that
they were wet to the skin would be simply a truism in the case of the
Fuegians. We had not previously noticed so prolific a family, the
proportion of children being usually one for each woman. I use the word
"family," because each of these canoe parties appears to constitute
a sort of complicated family. One young mother did not appear to be
more than sixteen years of age. I now inclined to the opinion, which
subsequent experience gave me no reason to alter, that the Channel
Fuegians are a migratory tribe, passing the summer months about the
outer islands, where at that time of the year they may get seals, and
the eggs and young of sea-birds, and in the autumn migrating up some
of the fiords of the mainland, when the deer, driven down the hills
by the winter snows, would be within their reach. There is no doubt
that deer (probably the _Cervus chilensis_) have been seen from time
to time on this coast. A few years ago the officers of one of the
German steamers of the "Kosmos" line, stopping at Puerto Bueno about
mid-winter, captured three or four in the immediate vicinity of the
anchorage. We ourselves never met with any, although we saw doubtful
indications of their presence; but further south we obtained portions
of a deer from a native canoe. I was led to form the above-mentioned
idea from comparing the great number of deserted wigwams which we
encountered in our wanderings about these channels, with the small
number of natives actually seen. The huts alluded to, moreover, bore
indications of having been in use not many months previously, when they
were probably inhabited temporarily by parties of natives on their way
to the outer coasts. Fitzroy would seem to have entertained the same
belief with reference to tribes about Smyth's Channel, from the fact
that a party of men from his ship, when surveying Obstruction Sound in
the _summer-time_, discovered a large deserted encampment containing
many huts and canoes, and showing signs of its being the site of a
great periodical gathering of the clans.
[Illustration: FUEGIANS OFFERING THEIR CHILDREN FOR BARTER (_p. 74_).]