Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836
"To their dwellings have been given, in various books of voyages, the names of huts, wigwams, &c.; but, with reference to their structure, I think old Sir John Narborough's term for them will convey the best idea to an English reader; he calls them 'arbours.' They are formed of about a couple of dozen branches, pointed at the larger ends, and stuck into the ground round a circular or elliptical space, about ten feet by six; the upper ends are brought together, and secured by tyers of grass, over which is thrown a thatching of grass and seal-skins, a hole being left at the side as a door, and another at the top as a vent for the smoke. A fire is kept burning within, over which the natives are constantly cowering; hence, when seen abroad, instead of appearing to be hardy savages, inured to wet and cold, you see wretched creatures shivering at every breeze. I never met people so sensible of cold as these Fuegian Indians.
"The nature of their domestic ties we had no opportunity of discovering; their manner towards their children is affectionate and caressing. I often witnessed the tenderness with which they tried to quiet the alarms our presence at first occasioned, and the pleasure which they showed when we bestowed upon the little ones any trifling trinkets. It appeared that they allow their children to possess property, and consult their little whims and wishes, with respect to its disposal; for being in a boat, alongside one of the canoes, bargaining for various articles, spears, arrows, baskets, &c., I took a fancy to a dog lying near one of the women, and offered a price for it; one of my seamen, supposing the bargain concluded, laid hands on the dog, at which the woman set up a dismal yell; so bidding him desist, I increased my offers. She declined to part with it, but would give two others. At last, my offers became so considerable, that she called a little boy out of the thick jungle (into which he had fled at our approach), who was the owner of the dog. The goods were shown to him, and all his party urged him to sell it, but the little urchin would not consent. He offered to let me have his necklace, and what he received in exchange was put away in his own little basket.
"These people never evinced any thankfulness for our presents. Whatever was offered they 'clutched at,' doubtful of getting it, although held out to them; and when in their own hand, it was instantly stowed away, as if they feared it would be recalled.
"I sometimes tried to discover whether they preferred any particular colour, and for that purpose held out three strings of beads, black, white, and red; they clutched at all three, in their usual manner, without showing any preference.
"Their pronunciation is exceedingly harsh and guttural; not more than two words, whose signification was at all ascertained, could be made out, 'sherroo,' a ship, boat, or canoe, and 'peteet,' a child. They have a wonderful aptitude for imitating the sounds of strange languages: let a sentence, of even a dozen words, be distinctly pronounced, and they will repeat it with the utmost precision.
"Their only articles of traffic, besides such implements and weapons as they use, are seal and otter skins; and I should say that the quantity of peltry to be procured from them would be insignificant towards completing the cargo of a sealing vessel."
During the next few days the Beagle was employed in the most exposed, the least known, and the most dangerous part of the Strait. Fortunately, she was favoured by weather, and effected her purpose without injury or loss; but I never reflect upon this piece of service without an inward tribute of admiration to the daring, skill, and seamanship of Captain Stokes, Lieutenant Skyring, and Mr. Flinn.
In his journal Captain Stokes says:
"Incessant rain and thick clouds prevented my completing, until this day (19th), the observations necessary for making an island, just outside the Harbour of Mercy, the southern end of my base, for the trigonometrical connection of the coasts and islands near the western entrance of this weather-beaten Strait.
"On the 20th, I weighed and beat to windward, intending to search for anchorage on the north shore, where I might land and fix the northern end of our base line. In the evening we anchored in an archipelago of islands, the real danger of whose vicinity was much increased to the eye by rocks, scattered in every direction, and high breakers, occasioned doubtless by reefs under water. We observed that most of the larger islands have small banks of sand at their eastern sides, on which anchorage may be found; but for ordinary purposes of navigation, this cluster of islands64 need only be pointed out to be avoided. The number and contiguity of the rocks, below as well as above water, render it a most hazardous place for any square-rigged vessel: nothing but the particular duty on which I was ordered would have induced me to venture among them. Fore-and-aft vessels might work with far less risk; and as the rocks are frequented by vast numbers of fur seal, a season or two might be profitably passed here by a sealing vessel so rigged.
"This morning (21st) I landed on one of the larger islands, with Lieutenant Skyring, and having ascended an eminence (Observation Mount) with the necessary instruments, fixed its position, and made it the northern end of our base.
"It was a beautiful, and clear day; the Isles of Direction (or Evangelists), as well as every point of importance on the adjacent coast, were seen distinctly during several hours.
"My next object was to fix the position of Cape Victory, and ascertain whether anchorage could be found in its neighbourhood. Accordingly, we weighed early next morning (22d,) and after extricating ourselves from this labyrinth (not without much difficulty and danger), we beat to the westward. Violent squalls, a heavy sea, and thick weather, which came on about noon, obliged me to choose the least evil, and run for the Harbour of Mercy.
"On the 23d, we went out again, and beat towards the Isles of Direction, off which we passed a night under sail.
"The morning of the 24th was very fine, and the wind moderate. Leaving the Beagle to sound about the Isles of Direction, I set out in my boat, with two days' provisions, towards Cape Victory. As we rowed along these rocky shores, threading the mazes of the labyrinth of islets which fringe them, we saw vast numbers of black whales, and the rocks were quite covered with fur seal and brant geese.
"After pulling, in earnest, for six hours, we landed upon Cape Victory, the north-western limit of the Strait of Magalhaens, and there, with a sextant, artificial horizon, and chronometer, ascertained the position of this remarkable promontory. From an eminence, eight hundred feet above the sea, we had a commanding view of the adjacent coasts, as well as of the vast Pacific, which enabled us to rectify former material errors. Late in the evening we were fortunate enough to get safely on board again, which, considering the usual weather here and the heavy sea, was unexpected success. This night was passed under sail in the Pacific, and next morning we commenced our return to Port Famine.
"When within four or five miles of Cape Pillar, and to the westward of it, a current was found to set southward, at about two knots an hour. As we neared the Cape the wind fell, and the Beagle was set rapidly towards those dangerous rocks, called the Apostles. Fortunately, a commanding breeze sprung up, and we extricated ourselves from the difficulty. While passing Cape Pillar, I landed in a cove near it, and determined its position. By sunset we had arrived near the Harbour of Mercy; and being becalmed, towed the ship in, with her boats, until an anchor was dropped at the proper place.
"On the 26th, we went to Tuesday Bay, and on the 27th crossed the Strait, and anchored under Cape Parker. I have rarely witnessed such a high, cross, and irregular sea as we this day passed through, near the strange mass of rock, called by Narborough, 'Westminster Hall.' The coast about our unsafe anchorage was as barren and dismal-looking as any part of this country, which, as the old navigator above-mentioned said, is 'so desolate land to behold.'
"Next day (March 1st) we ran down to Cape Upright, and there remained until the 3d, collecting the required data for our survey.
"While standing towards the bay called Playa Parda (on the 3d), a boat under sail was seen making towards us from the southern coast. I fired several guns, to show our position, before we became shut in by the land, and soon after anchoring a whale-boat came alongside, with the second mate and five men belonging to the sealing-vessel Prince of Saxe Cobourg.
"Anxious not to lose a moment in hastening to the relief of our shipwrecked countrymen, I ran down next day to Port Gallant, and thence proceeded with two ten-oared boats (on the 5th) through the Barbara Channel, and the following evening reached Fury Harbour."
Having already given a short account of the Saxe Cobourg's loss, and the rescue of her crew by Captain Stokes, I will not repeat the story by extracting more from his journal.
Mr. Graves returned from his cruize in the Hope on the 17th, after suffering much from stormy weather and incessant rain; but having made a survey of the openings in the land to the west of Magdalen Channel as far as the Sugar Loaf Point, at the west head of Lyell Sound, which he found to be deep inlets, affording no anchorages of value to navigation.
The time having arrived for our return to Monte Video, preparations were made for sailing, and in the mean time I went to the northward, in the Hope, to survey the coast between Port Famine and Elizabeth Island, including Shoal Haven.
At the bottom of Shoal Haven we were stopped by the water shoaling to five feet, so that we were obliged to haul out till we could anchor in more than two fathoms. During the night the wind shifted to N.E., and blew right in, obliging us to weigh, and work under the S.W. end of Elizabeth Island into a bay close to that shore. From the summit of the S.W. point I afterwards took angles, among which the most important gave Mount Sarmiento bearing S. 1½° W. (true). Its distance must have been (by recent observations) ninety-four miles.
Elizabeth Island is a long, low strip of land, lying parallel to the shores of the Strait, which here take a N.N.E. direction. Compared with the land to the southward it is very low, no part being more than two or three hundred feet high. It is composed of narrow ranges of hills, extending in ridges in the direction of its length, over which are strewed boulders of the various rocks, which have been noticed before as forming the shingle beaches of Point St. Mary and Point St. Anna; two kinds of rock, greenstone and hornblende, being the most common. The vallies which divide the hilly ridges were well clothed with grass, and in many places were seen hollows, that had contained fresh water, but now were entirely dried up. These spots were marked by a white crust, apparently caused by the saline quality of the soil.
Geese and wild ducks, and the red-bill (Hæmatopus), seem to be the only inhabitants of this island. The Indians sometimes visit it, for at the S.W. end we found remains of wigwams and shell-fish. Perhaps it is a place whence they communicate with the Patagonian natives, or they may in the season frequent it for eggs.
We anchored in Laredo Bay, and visited a lake about a mile from the beach, distinguished on the chart by the name of Duck Lagoon: it is very extensive, and covered with large flights of gulls, ducks, and widgeons. We shot one widgeon, which was a most beautiful bird, and of a species we had not before seen.65
Here the country begins to be clothed with the deciduous leaved Beech tree (Fagus Antarctica), which is stunted in growth, but very convenient for fuel. Though the hardiest tree of this region, it is never found of large size, the larger trees being the evergreen Beech (Fagus betuloides). We also met with several small plants common to Cape Gregory. One may consider Cape Negro to be the boundary of two countries, as entirely different from each other in geological structure and appearance, as they are in climate, to which last difference may be attributed the dissimilarity of their botanical productions.
Hence we returned to Port Famine. In our absence, a boat from the Beagle had crossed the Strait to Lomas Bay, where a party of natives had kindled fires of invitation.
The weather, since the sun crossed the equator, had been unusually fine; and, with the exception of one day's heavy rain, the sky was so clear (the wind being moderate from the N.E.) that all the heights were exposed to our view, and amongst them Mount Sarmiento stood pre-eminent.
Our preparations for sailing being nearly completed, the Hope was unrigged and hoisted in, and our temporary settlement on shore abandoned. It consisted of a marquee and a large bell tent. In the former was Mr. Harrison (mate), who had charge of the party, and of the meteorological instruments: the bell tent held the crew. Near them were the observatory, a sawpit, and a cooking place, where a cheerful fire was always blazing. The carpenter's shop, cooper's bench, and armourer's forge had each its place, as well as a rope-walk, close to which our rigging was refitted, and the sails were repaired. After working-hours the shore party roamed about the woods with guns, or at low water picked up shell fish,66 by which they usually procured a fresh meal twice, but always once, a week. Meanwhile the ship was kept carefully clean and in order. The officers not immediately employed in active duty made excursions with their guns; and although the immediate vicinity of our tents was pretty well thinned of game, yet a walk of a few miles was always rewarded by ample sport. When opportunities offered, some of the men were permitted to amuse themselves on shore with their guns, for which many had provided themselves with powder and shot. Every Sunday, after divine service, which was performed as regularly as possible under our circumstances, such of the ship's company as desired permission to land obtained it. On one occasion, however, we had nearly suffered for this indulgence, which was conducive to the men's health, and seldom abused: for one of them having made a fire at a little distance from the tents, the flames spread, and the exertions of all hands, for three hours, only just prevented it from communicating to the tents. On another occasion, two men set out on a shooting excursion, intending to cross the river Sedger, against doing which there had been no particular orders, as such a proceeding was scarcely contemplated. Having reached the bank near its mouth, and searched for a fordable place unsuccessfully, they launched a log of wood, and sitting astride, without providing themselves with a pole or paddle, pushed off from the shore, supposing it would go across; but, on reaching the middle of the stream, it was soon carried, by the current, out of the river, into the bay. One man, Gilly, seeing that the log was still floating away with the ebb tide, plunged in, and just reached the shore south of the river, in a very exhausted state; the other, Rix, unable to swim, kept his place, and was carried out to sea on a voyage that might have been fatal, had he not been seen from the ship, and saved by a boat.
Before leaving Port Famine we hauled one of our boats ashore, and left her (as we thought) securely hidden among the trees.
Being now ready to sail, and only waiting for wind, the officers of both ships, twenty-seven in number, dined together on shore.
CHAPTER VI
Trees – Leave Port Famine – Patagonians – Gregory Bay – Bysante – Maria – Falkner's account of the Natives – Indians seen on the borders of the Otway Water, in 1829 – Maria visits the Adventure – Religious Ceremony – Patagonian Encampment – Tomb of a Child – Women's employment – Children – Gratitude of a Native – Size of Patagonians – Former accounts of their gigantic height – Character – Articles for barter – Fuegians living with Patagonians – Ships sail – Arrive at Monte Video and Rio de Janeiro.
While detained by northerly winds, the carpenter and a party of people were employed in the woods selecting and cutting down trees to be ready for our next visit. After felling thirteen trees, from twenty-four to thirty-six inches in diameter, eight were found to be rotten at the heart; but by afterwards taking the precaution of boring the trees with an augur, while standing, much trouble was saved, and fifteen sound sticks of considerable diameter were cut down. We found one tree, an evergreen beech, too large for any of our saws: it measured twenty-one feet in girth at the base, and from the height of six feet to twenty it was seventeen feet in circumference; above this height, three large arms (each from thirty to forty inches in diameter), branched off from the trunk. It is, perhaps, the very tree described by Byron in his account of this place. We only once saw it equalled in size, and that was by a prostrate trunk, very much decayed.
In this interval of fine weather and northerly wind, we had the thermometer as high as 58°, and the barometer ranging between 29.80 and 30.00; but for two days before the wind shifted, the alteration was predicted by a gradual descent of the mercurial column, and a considerable increase of cold. On the 7th May, as there was some appearance of a change, we got under weigh; but were hardly outside the port, when a northerly wind again set in, and prevented our going farther than Freshwater Bay, where we passed the night. At last, on the 8th, accompanied by the Beagle, we proceeded on our course with a strong south-westerly breeze, which carried us quickly up to Cape Negro, when it blew so hard that I anchored off Laredo Bay. At this anchorage we certainly felt the air much colder and sharper than at Port Famine, arising from our being in a more exposed situation, and from the approach of winter, as well as from the severe south-west gale which was blowing.
After the gale had abated, we proceeded with fair weather and a light breeze to the Second Narrow, when the wind fell; but the tide being in our favour, we passed rapidly through. On a hill near us we observed three or four Patagonian Indians standing together, and their horses feeding close to them. A fire was soon kindled, to attract our notice, to which signal we replied by showing our colours; and had we not already communicated with these people, we should certainly have thought them giants, for they "loomed very large" as they stood on the summit of the hill. This optical deception must doubtless have been caused by mirage: the haze has always been observed to be very great during fine weather and a hot day arising from rapid evaporation of the moisture so abundantly deposited, on the surface of the ground, in all parts of the Strait.
As soon as the Patagonians found they were noticed, they mounted and rode along the shore abreast of us, being joined by other parties, until the whole number could not have been less than forty. Several foals and dogs were with them. Having anchored in Gregory Bay, where I intended remaining for two days to communicate with them, I sent up a rocket, burnt a blue-light, and despatched Lieutenant Cooke on shore to ask for a large supply of guanaco meat, for which we would pay in knives and beads. The boat returned on board immediately, bringing off four natives, three men and 'Maria.' This rather remarkable woman must have been, judging by her appearance, about forty years old: she is said to have been born at Assuncion, in Paraguay, but I think the place of her birth was nearer Buenos Ayres. She spoke broken, but intelligible, Spanish, and stated herself to be sister of Bysante, the cacique of a tribe near the Santa Cruz River, who is an important personage, on account of his size (which Maria described to be immense), and his riches. In speaking of him, she said he was very rich; he had many mantles, and also many hides ("muy rico, tiene muchas mantas y tambien muchos cueros"). One of Maria's companions, a brother of Bysante, was the tallest and largest man of this tribe; and though he only measured six feet in height, his body was large enough for a much taller man. He was in great affliction: his daughter had died only two days before our arrival; but, notwithstanding his sad story, which soon found him friends, it was not long before he became quite intoxicated, and began to sing and roar on the subject of his misfortunes, with a sound more like the bellowing of a bull than the voice of a human being. Upon applying to Maria, who was not quite so tipsy as her brother, to prevent him from making such hideous noises, she laughed and said, "Oh, never mind, he's drunk; poor fellow, his daughter is dead" (Es boracho, povrecito, muriò su hija); and then, assuming a serious tone, she looked towards the sky, and muttered in her own language a sort of prayer or invocation to their chief demon, or ruling spirit, whom Pigafetta, the companion and historian of Magalhaens, called Setebos, which Admiral Burney supposes to have been the original of one of Shakspeare's names in the "Tempest" —
" – his art is of such power
He would controul my dam's god Setebos.67"
Maria's dress was similar to that of other females of the tribe; but she wore ear-rings, made of medals stamped with a figure of the Virgin Mary, which, with the brass-pin that secured her mantle across her breast, were given to her by one Lewis, who had passed by in an American sealing-vessel, and who, we understood from her, had made them "Christians." The Jesuit Falkner, who lived among them for many years, has written a long and, apparently, a very authentic account of the inhabitants of the countries south of the River Plata, and he describes those who inhabit the borders of the Strait and sea-coast to be, "Yacana-cunnees, which signifies foot-people, for they have no horses in their country; to the north they border on the Sehuau-cunnees, to the west on the Key-yus, or Key-yuhues, from whom they are divided by a ridge of mountains; to the east they are bounded by the ocean; and to the south by the islands of Tierra del Fuego, or the South Sea. These Indians live near the sea on both sides of the Strait, and often make war with one another. They make use of light floats, like those of Chilóe, in order to pass the Straits, and are sometimes attacked by the Huilliches and other Tehuelhets, who carry them away for slaves, as they have nothing to lose but their liberty and their lives. They subsist chiefly on fish, which they catch either by diving, or striking them with their darts. They are very nimble afoot, and catch guanacoes and ostriches with their bowls. Their stature is much the same as that of the other Tehuelhets, rarely exceeding seven feet, and oftentimes not six feet. They are an innocent, harmless people."68
To the north of this race, Falkner describes "the Sehuau-cunnees, the most southern Indians who travel on horseback; Sehuau signifies in the Tehuel dialect a species of black rabbit, about the size of a field rat; and as their country abounds in these animals, their name may be derived from thence: cunnee signifying 'people.'"
With the exception of their mode of killing the guanaco by bowls, or balls, the description of the Key-yus would apply better to the Fuegian Indians; and if so, they have been driven across the Strait, and confined to the Fuegian shores by the Sehuau-cunnees, who must be no other than Maria's tribe. The Key-yus, who are described to inhabit the northern shore of the Strait, between Peckett's Harbour and Madre de Dios, are probably the tribe found about the south-western islands, and now called Alikhoolip; whilst the eastern Fuegians, or Yacana-cunnees, who have also been turned off the continent by their powerful neighbours, are now called Tekeenikas. Our knowledge of the names of these two tribes, Alikhoolip and Tekeenika, results from Captain Fitz-Roy's subsequent examination of the outer coast of Tierra del Fuego in the Beagle (1830). A Cacique, belonging to the nation of the Key-yus, told Falkner that he had been in a house made of wood, that travelled on the water. A party of the Indians, in four canoes, were met on the borders of the Otway Water by Captain Fitz-Roy in 1829, whose arms, implements, and every thing they had, were precisely like the Fuegian Indians, excepting that they had a quiver made from the skin of a deer, and were in form a superior race, being both stronger and stouter.