' sr'
I"'-'
7 ;4 4 4 li'lS L ;L '^ -
■ ”
- .
: • . { / l i g a i i S t e i s a i - M
. .-■ 'U. 4 4 4 » 4 /'U -;4 7 ';:w :7 ;:.a® -v ■
'Uia
Ml ,
those of the Fuegians, who, excepting in the fight and chace,
do every thing. They paddle the canoes, dive for shells and
sea-eggs, build their wigwams, and keep up the fire; and if
they neglect any of these duties, or incur the displeasure of their
husbands in any way, they are struck or kicked most severely.
Byron, in his narrative of the loss of the Wager, describes the
brutal conduct of one of these Indians, who actually killed his
child for a most trifling offence. The Patagonians are devotedly
attached to their offspring. In infancy they are carried
behind the saddle of the mother, within a sort of cradle, in
which they are securely fixed. The cradle is made of wickerwork,
about four feet long and one foot wide, roofed over with
twigs like the frame of a tilted waggon. The child is swaddled
up in skins, with the fur inwards or outwards according
to the weather. At night, or when it rains, the cradle is
covered with a skin that effectually keeps out the cold or rain.
Seeing one of these cradles near a woman, I began to make a
sketch of it, upon which the mother called the father, who
watched me most attentively, and held the cradle in the position
which I considered most advantageous for my sketch.
The completion of the drawing gave them both great pleasure,
and during the afternoon the father reminded me repeatedly
of having painted his child (“ pintado su hijo.”)
One circumstance deserves to be noticed, as a proof of their
good feeling towai-ds us. It will be recollected that three
Indians, of the party with whom we first communicated, accompanied
us as far as Cape Negro, where they landed. Upon our
arrival on this occasion, I was met, on landing, by one of them,
who asked for my son, to whom they had taken a great fancy ;
upon my saying he was on board, the native presented me with
a bunch of nine ostrich feathers, and then gave a similar present
to every one in the boat. He still carried a large quantity
under his arm, tied up in bunches, containing nine feathers
in each; and soon afterwards, when a boat from the Beagle
landed with Captain Stokes and others, he went to meet them;
but finding strangers, he withdrew without making them any
present.
I I
J-|!i
"j uM ■