Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/344

306 cove, they were received in silence, and with a solemn countenance, by our first friends. They walked up to the wigwam, and seated themselves in a circle round the fire, without speaking a word or manifesting any expression of satisfaction or otherwise, at meeting. The women, as usual, remained in charge of the canoe, and in about an hour they all left the harbour. They had come from one of the neighbouring islands, and were in a more filthy state than any we had before seen; their bodies and heads being smeared with red ochre, mixed with oil or grease of intolerable smell.

The Fuegian men are of smaller stature than their northern prototypes, the Esquimaux. The average height of six of them scarcely exceeded five feet. They are an indolent race, throwing the labour of paddling the canoes and collecting shell-fish upon the women. Their conduct throughout the whole period of our stay was peaceable and inoffensive, and their cheerfulness and good temper rendered their presence agreeable to us rather than otherwise; and, from the number of useful presents they received in the shape of knives, axes, saws, and all kinds of carpenters' tools, fishing-lines, hooks, and a great variety of other articles, I trust our visit will not have been without considerable benefit to them.

Their language is most difficult and unpronounceable, so that we could only communicate with each other by signs, and of course could not gain any knowledge of their religious ideas;