distributed the putrid blubber to his famished party, may be of this
nature. Each family or tribe has a wizard or conjuring doctor, whose
office we could never clearly ascertain. Jemmy believed in dreams,
though not, as I have said, in the devil: I do not think that our
Fuegians were much more superstitious than some of the sailors; for an
old quartermaster firmly believed that the successive heavy gales,
which we encountered off Cape Horn, were caused by our having the
Fuegians on board. The nearest approach to a religious feeling which I
heard of, was shown by York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very
young ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn manner, "Oh,
Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much." This was evidently a
retributive punishment for wasting human food. In a wild and excited
manner he also related, that his brother, one day whilst returning to
pick up some dead birds which he had left on the coast, observed some
feathers blown by the wind. His brother said (York imitating his
manner), "What that?" and crawling onwards, he peeped over the cliff,
and saw "wild man" picking his birds; he crawled a little nearer, and
then hurled down a great stone and killed him. York declared for a
long time afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell. As far
as we could make out, he seemed to consider the elements themselves as
the avenging agents: it is evident in this case, how naturally, in a
race a little more advanced in culture, the elements would become
personified. What the "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me
most mysterious: from what York said, when we found the place like the
form of a hare, where a single man had slept the night before, I should
have thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their
tribes; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes
imagined that the most probable explanation was that they were insane.
The different tribes have no government or chief; yet each is
surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different dialects, and
separated from each other only by a deserted border or neutral
territory: the cause of their warfare appears to be the means of
subsistence. Their country is a broken mass of wild rocks, lofty
hills, and useless forests: and these are viewed through mists and
endless storms. The habitable land is reduced to the stones on the
beach; in search of food they are compelled unceasingly to wander from
spot to spot, and so steep is the coast, that they can only move about
in their wretched canoes. They cannot know the feeling of having a
home, and still less that of domestic affection; for the husband is to
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