Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/241

 nations. – Horses and guanacoes appear to afford them all the necessaries of life. They subsist entirely on the flesh, and the skins are used both for clothing and shelter. In hunting they make use of two or three balls, attached to thongs of hide, which, after having been swung several times round the head, to acquire a sufficient impetus, are thrown with unerring certainty at the animal’s legs, and entangle them in such a manner, that it is utterly impossible for the creature to extricate itself, and it consequently falls an easy prey.

“We also met with several families of Fuegian Indians, who form a striking contrast with the Patagonians, being in every respect a very inferior race of people. They derive their subsistence entirely from the sea, the flesh of the seal affording them food, whilst their skins are converted into clothing. They appear to drag on a miserable existence in their cold and inhospitable climate, strangers to every comfort, and their condition is certainly the lowest on the scale of human degradation.

“The only unfortunate circumstance that occurred during the cruise, was the loss of a boat in crossing the Straits near Port Antonia. By this unhappy event the master and two seamen were drowned. In the death of poor Ainsworth the service has lost a valuable officer, and his fate will be long and sincerely deplored by every one attached to the expedition. It is curious that humming birds and parrots should be found so far south as the Straits of Magellan; but such is the fact. The existence of the latter has been noticed by most of the previous voyagers; but we are not aware of humming birds having been observed. Several were seen by the Beagle at Port Gallant, one of which was shot, and is in the possession of Captain King. Two curious documents were also found at that place, on the summit of a mountain – one the copy of a paper left by Cordova, the other a paper deposited by Bougainville, both in Latin, and descriptive of the objects of their several voyages.”

The only other information which we are at present enabled to promulgate respecting this very interesting voyage, is derived from the Literary Gazette, Oct. 30th, 1830:–

“The particular object of the survey appears to have been to obtain an accurate account of the straits of Magalhaens, with the view of ascertaining how far that navigation might be adopted, instead of the passage round Cape Horn. And the result of this investigation proves, that the name of Cabo Tormentoso, bestowed by the first discoverers on the Cape of Good Hope, may be with much more reason applied to its corresponding point on our globe, the bleak and barren termination of the new world. Of the continent of South America, the southern part is justly described as a region of storms, cold, and rain.

“The Spanish surveys have been found by Captain King to be very near the truth; a remark which is, we believe, generally applicable to the