Tierra del Fuego, first arrival--Good Success Bay--An Account of the
Fuegians on board--Interview With the Savages--Scenery of the
Forests--Cape Horn--Wigwam Cove--Miserable Condition of the
Savages--Famines--Cannibals--Matricide--Religious Feelings--Great
Gale--Beagle Channel--Ponsonby Sound--Build Wigwams and settle the
Fuegians--Bifurcation of the Beagle Channel--Glaciers--Return to the
Ship--Second Visit in the Ship to the Settlement--Equality of Condition
amongst the Natives.
DECEMBER 17th, 1832.--Having now finished with Patagonia and the
Falkland Islands, I will describe our first arrival in Tierra del
Fuego. A little after noon we doubled Cape St. Diego, and entered the
famous strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the Fuegian shore, but the
outline of the rugged, inhospitable Statenland was visible amidst the
clouds. In the afternoon we anchored in the Bay of Good Success. While
entering we were saluted in a manner becoming the inhabitants of this
savage land. A group of Fuegians partly concealed by the entangled
forest, were perched on a wild point overhanging the sea; and as we
passed by, they sprang up and waving their tattered cloaks sent forth a
loud and sonorous shout. The savages followed the ship, and just
before dark we saw their fire, and again heard their wild cry. The
harbour consists of a fine piece of water half surrounded by low
rounded mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to the water's edge
by one dense gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was
sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything I had
ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and heavy squalls from
the mountains swept past us. It would have been a bad time out at sea,
and we, as well as others, may call this Good Success Bay.
In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with the
Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four natives who were
present advanced to receive us, and began to shout most vehemently,
wishing to direct us where to land. When we were on shore the party
looked rather alarmed, but continued talking and making gestures with
great rapidity. It was without exception the most curious and
interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide
was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than
between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a
193