have no doubt it is a peculiar species, and confined to this archipelago
; because many sealers, Gauchos, and Indians, who
have visited these islands, all maintain that no such animal is
found in any part of South America. Molina, from a similarity
in habits, thought this was the same with his “ cul-
peu but I have seen both, and they are quite distinct.
These wolves are well known, from Byron’s account of their
tameness and curiosity; which the sailors, who ran into the
water to avoid them, mistook for fierceness. To this day
their manners remain the same. They have been observed
to enter a tent, and actually pull some meat from beneath the
head of a sleeping seaman. The Gauchos, also, have frequently
killed them in the evening, by holding out a piece of
meat in one hand, and in the other a knife ready to stick them.
As far as I am aware, there is no other instance in any part
of the world, of so small a mass of broken land, distant from
a continent, possessing so large a quadruped peculiar to itself.
Their numbers have rapidly decreased; they are already banished
from that half of the island which lies to the eastward
of the neck of land between St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley
Sound. Within a verj' few years after these islands shaU have
become regularly settled, in all probability this fox wiU be
classed with the dodo, as an animal which has perished from
the face of the earth. Mr. Lowe, an intelligent person who
has long been acquainted with these islands, assured me,
that all the foxes from the western island were smaller and of
a redder colour than those from the eastern. In the four
specimens which were brought to England in the Beaglef
there was some variation, but the difference with respect to
m o n E u r o p e a n r a t a n d m o u se h a v e ro am e d from th e h a b ita tio n s , a n d h av e
s e tt le d th em se lv e s a t v a rio u s p o in ts . T h e com m o n h o g h a s a lso ru n
w ild .
* T h e “ c u lp e u ” is th e Vul-pes Magellanicus b ro u g h t h om e b y C a p ta in
K in g from th e S t r a i t o f M a g e llan . I t is com m o n in C h ile .
f C a p ta in F i tz R o y h a s p r e s e n te d tw o o f th e s e fo x es to th e B r itish
M u s eum , w h e re M r . G r a y h a d th e k in d n e s s to c om p a re th em in my
p re se n c e .
the islands could not be perceived. At the same time the
fact is far from improbable.
At night (1 7 th) we slept on the neck of land which forms the
south-west peninsula. The valley was pretty well sheltered
from the cold wind; but there was very little brushwood for
fuel. The Gauchos, however, soon found what, to my great
surprise, made nearly as hot a fire as coals; this was the
skeleton of a buUock lately killed, from which the flesh had
been picked by the Caracaras. They told me that in winter
they had often killed a beast, cleaned the flesh from the
bones with their knives, and then with these same bones
roasted the meat for their suppers.
1 8 t h .— It rained during nearly the whole day. At night we
managed, however, with our saddle-cloths, to keep ourselves
pretty well dry and warm; but the ground on which we slept
was on each occasion nearly in the state of a bog, and there
was not a dry spot to sit down on after our day’s ride. I have
in another part stated how singular it is that trees should
be entirely absent from these islands, while they cover the
whole surface of Tierra del Fuego. The largest bush in the
island (belonging to the family of Compositse) is scarcely so
tall as our gorze. The best fuel is afforded by a green little
bush, about the size of common heath, which has the useful
property of burning while fresh and green. It was very surprising
to see the Gauchos, in the midst of rain, and every
thing soaking wet, with nothing more than a tinder-box and
piece of rag, immediately make a fire. They sought beneath
the tufts of grass and bushes for a few dry twigs, and
these they rubbed into fibres ; then surrounding them with
coarser twigs, something like a bird’s nest, they put the rag
with its spark of fire in the middle, and covered it up. The
nest being then held up to the wind, by degrees it smoked
more and more, and at last burst out in flames. I do not
think any other method would have had a chance of succeeding
with such damp materials.
19th.—E ach morning, from not having ridden for some
time previously, I was very stiff. I was surprised to hear
L