the muscles of the . leg appear almost wanting, and possess
very little strength. This want of developement in the mus-
cles of the legs is owing to their constant sitting posture,
both in their huts and canoes. Their skin is sensibly colder
than ours. It is impossible to fancy any thing in human
nature more filthy. They are an ill-shapen and ugly race.”
I shall-conclude these accounts of the natives of Tierra del
Fuego with a part of the description .of their physical char
racters, drawn up, as i t . appears, with great care by Mr.
Wilson, surgeon to the expedition of the Adventure and the
Beagle, printed in the'Appendix to the Narrative.
He remarks a, general resemblance of t-jte; Magellanic
islanders to the Esquimaux in their form and in the fatness
anchsmoothness of their bodies. Tbe|r, is,shell-fish, and;
birds, but the greatest dainty is f^t of all kinds, and that '-of
the seal and penguin in particular.
The complexion of a man who was minutely examined byj
Mr. Wilson was .dark 5, his skin of a eopper?calour, the general |
hue of the race; the eyes and hair black, the latter straight,
long, and luxuriant, though with little beard .and no w h isk y ,,
The features of this individual were rounder than they
generally are among his nation, the form of .whpsgrppnoterN
nance resembles that of the Esquimaux and Laplander : they,*
have broad faces with projecting cheek-bones: th@ .eyes of? an
oval form and drawn towards the tem p le s th e tuinea: sf
tica of a yellow white,, and the iris deep black f the cartilngq j
of the nose, broad and depressed; the mouth large j when
shut, forming a straight line, when open, an .ellipse; the
facial angle 74°. In another skull the. facial angle was
CHAPTER XI.
THE SEEOiNfii C JlN NATIONS, VIZ.
s E A S T E R N T H A T CONTINENT.
Ifp StitirtbH l .— &ënJerâl O b è e rva tió ris/
iSofith Ahaefïcâ,' 1 mean to
inel0d4ThesNative1 faefeb èf tifè Banda Oriental or the countries
to the northward of the Rio de la Plkta nto^ig^fhefodast
o?thè‘Attöfitiè fofhe Rivhr of Amàïôns’hnd thé Orihokbyand
thêhëè%ldif^ ilie dcraîf öï Terra Firma, which is Hnd nörthérn
side of the bdntinènt facing the Gnlf of Mexibo. The1 western
of inland bbthidaiy of tbiê' fogiouf or rather of the'%fbupe of
nations whb are' its inhabitants',1 is not’sb well deéüe'd. In
the:lStithde b f tfie Maragnbh i t flhchel¥ almost tb th# Cordillera,
1 but further to the south it leaves' the interior dduntries óf
th# Chiqmtos and Moxos^ a;nd thé plaidé of thé Great Chacbi
as'well as the basins of the Paraguay and Uruguay rivers, to
be included in the. third or inland department.
Thé cbfintries included within thèse limits are very similar
in their gênerai description. They contain neither very elevated
mountains or table-lands comparable to those of the
Peruvian Andes, nor vast open sterile plains, similar to the
Pampas or the plains bordering on the Paraguay. The surface
is everywhere undulated, traversed by small hills or
inferior mountain-ridges covered with interminable forests,
which seem to be as ancient as the world : vegetation is here
Vigorous and luxuriant on a soil fertilised by innumerable
streams and intersected by great rivers. In the midst of
these forests are small open spaces cleared by art or left
uncovered by the hand of nature, where scattered hordes of
the native races live on the fruits of the earth and the pro-
v o l . v. 2 k