Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/107

Rh  butica), both which are as pleasant to the taste as any herbs of the kind found in Europe, and, I believe, possess as much virtue in curing the scurvy.

The trees here are chiefly of one sort, a kind of birch, Betula antarctica, with very small leaves. It has a light white wood, and cleaves very straight. The trees are sometimes between two and three feet in diameter, and run thirty or forty feet in the bole; possibly they might, in cases of necessity, supply top-masts. There are also great quantities of cranberries, both white and red (Arbutus rigida). Inhabitants I saw none, but found their huts in two places, once in a thick wood, and again close by the beach. They are most unartificially made, conical, but open on one side, where were marks of fire, which last probably served them instead of a door.

15th. By dinner we came to an anchor in the Bay of Good Success [Terra del Fuego]: several Indians were in sight near the shore.

After dinner, went ashore on the starboard side of the bay, near some rocks, which made the water smooth and the landing good. Before we had walked a hundred yards, many Indians made their appearance on the other side of the bay, at the end of a sandy beach which forms the bottom of the bay, but on seeing our numbers to be ten or twelve they retreated. Dr. Solander and I then walked forward a hundred yards before the rest, and two of the Indians advanced also, and sat down about fifty yards from their companions. As soon as we came up they rose, and each of them threw a stick he had in his hand away from him and us: a token, no doubt, of peace. They then walked briskly towards the others, and waved to us to follow, which we did, and were received with many uncouth signs of friendship. We distributed among them a number of beads and ribbons, which we had brought ashore for that purpose,