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December,

1764. and they all readily complied: there were among them many women, who feemed to be proportionably large, and few of the men were lefs than the Chief who had come forward to meet me. I had heard their voices very loud at a distance, and when I came near, I perceived a good number of very old men, who were chanting fome unintelligible words in the most doleful cadence I ever heard, with an air of ferious folemnity, which inclined me to think that it was a religious ceremony: they were all painted and cloathed nearly in the fame manner; the circles round the two eyes were in no inftance of one colour, but they were not univerfally black and white, fome being white and red, and fome red and black; their teeth were as white as ivory, remarkably even and well fet; but except the skins, which they wore with the hair inwards, moft of them were naked, a few only having upon their legs a kind of boot, with a fhort pointed stick faftened to each heel, which ferved as a fpur. Having looked round upon these enormous goblins with no small aftonishment, and with fome difficulty made thofe that were still galloping up fit down with the reft, I took out a quantity of yellow and white beads, which I diftributed among them, and which they received with very ftrong expreffions of pleasure I then took out a whole piece of green filk riband, and giving the end of it into the hands of one of them, I made the perfon that fat next take hold of it, and fo on as far as it would reach : all this while they fat very quietly, nor did any of those that held the riband attempt to pull it from the reft, though I perceived that they were still more delighted with it than with the beads. While the riband was thus extended, I took out a pair of fciffars, and cut it between each two of the Indians that held it, fo that I left about a yard in the poffeffion of every one, which I afterwards tied about their heads, where they fuffered it to remain without fo much as touching it while I was with them. Their peaceable and orderly behaviour on this occafion certainly did them honour, efpe cially as my prefents could not extend to the whole company neither impatience to share the new finery, nor curiofity to gain a nearer view of me and what I was doing, brought any one of them from the station

that

that I had allotted him. It would be very natural for
those who have read Gay's Fables, if they form an idea
of an Indian almost naked returning to his fellows in
the woods adorned with European trinkets, to think of
the monkey that had feen the world; yet before we def
pife their fondness for glass, beads, ribands, and other
things, which among us are held in no eftimation, we
fhould confider that, in themselves, the ornaments of
favage and civil life are equal, and that thofe, who live
nearly in a state of nature, have nothing that resembles
glafs, fo much as glafs refembles a diamond; the va-
Jue which we fet upon a diamond, therefore, is more
capricious than the value which they fet upon glass.
'The love of ornament feems to be an univerfal principle
in human nature, and the fplendid transparency of
glafs, and the regular figure of a bead, are among the
qualities that by the conftitution of our nature excite
pleafing ideas; and although in one of thefe qualities
the diamond excels glafs, its value is much more than
in proportion to the difference: the pleasure which it
gives among us is, principally, by conferring dif-
tinction, and gratifying vanity, which is independent
of natural tafte, that is gratified by certain hues and
figures, to which for that reason we give the name of
beauty it must be remembered also, that an Indian
is more diftinguished by a glass button or a bead, than
any individual among us by a diamond, though per-
haps the fame facrifice is not made to his vanity, as the
poffeffion of his finery is rather a testimony of his good
fortune, than of his influence or power in confequence
of his having what, as the common medium of all
earthly poffeffions, is fuppofed to confer virtual fupc-
riority, and intrinfic advantage. The people, how-
ever, whom I had now adorned, were not wholly
ftrangers to European commodities; for upon a clofer
attention, I perceived among them one woman who
had bracelets either of brafs, or very pale gold, upon
her arms, and fome beads of blue glafs, ftrung upon
two long queues of hair, which being parted at the
top, hung down over each fhoulder before her: fhe
was of a most enormous fize, and her face was, if
poffible, more frightfully painted than the reft. I
had a great
defire to learn where fhe got her beads

and

1764. December.

1764. and bracelets, and enquired by all the figns I could December devife, but found it impoffible to make myself under

ftood. One of the men fhewed me the bowl of a tobacco pipe, which was made of red earth, but I foon found that they had no tobacco among them; and this perfon made me understand that he wanted fome : upon this I beckoned to my people, who remained upon the beach, drawn up as I had left them, and three or four of them ran forward, imagining that I wanted them. The Indians, who, as I had obferved, kept their eyes almost continually upon them, no fooner faw some of them advance, than they all rofe up with a great clamour, and were leaving the place as I fuppofed to get their arms, which were probably left at a little distance: to prevent mischief, therefore, and put an end to the alarm, which had thus accidentally been spread among them, I ran to meet the people who were in confequence of my fignal coming from the beach, and as foon as I was within hearing I hallowed to them, and told them that I would have only one come up with all the tobacco that he could collect from the reft. As foon as the Indians faw this, they recovered from their surprise, and every one returned to his ftation except a very old man, who came up to me, and fung a long fong, which I much regretted my not being able to understand: before the fong was well finished, Mr. Cumming came up with the tobacco, and I could not but fmile at the aftonifhent which I faw expreffed in his countenance, upon perceiving himself, though fix feet two inches high, become at once a pigmy among giants; for thefe people may indeed more properly be called giants than tall men of the few among us who are full fix feet high, fcarcely any are broad and muscular in proportion to their stature, but look rather like men of the common bulk, run up accidentally to an unusual height; and a man who should measure only fix feet two inches, and equally exceed a stout well-fet man of the common ftature in breadth and muscle, would strike us rather as being of gigantic race, than as an individual accidentally anomalous; our fenfations therefore, upon feeing five hundred people, the fhorteft of whom were at least four inches taller, and bulky in proportion, may be eafily imagined. After I

had

had prefented the tobacco, four or five of the chief men came up to me, and, as I understood by the figns they made, wanted me to mount one of the horses, and go with them to their habitations, but as it would upon every account have been imprudent to comply, I made signs in return that I must go back to the thip; at this they expreffed great concern, and fat down in their stations again: During our pantomimical conference, an old man often laid his head down upon the ftones, and fhutting his eyes for about half a minute, afterwards pointed first to his mouth, and then to the hills, meaning, as I imagined, that if I would stay with them till the morning, they would furnish me with fome provifions, but this offer I was obliged to decline. When I left them, not one of them offered to follow us, but as long as I could fee them, continued to fit quietly in their places. I obferved that they had with them a great number of dogs, with which I suppose they chase the wild animals which serve them for food. The horses were not large, nor in good cafe, yet they appeared to be nimble and well broken. The bridle was a leathern thong, with a small piece of wood that served for a bit, and the faddles refembled the pads that are in ufe among the country people in England. The women rode aftride, and both men and women without stirrups; yet they galloped fearlessly over the spit upon which we landed, the ftones of which were large, loose, and flippery.

CHA P. IV.

Paffage up the Streight of Magellan, to Port Famine; with fome Account of that Harbour, and the adjacent Coaft.

So

1764.

December.

OON after I returned on board, I got under way, and worked up the ftreight, which is here about nine leagues broad, with the flood, not with a view to pass through it, but in fearch of fome place where I might get a fupply of wood and water, not chufing to truft wholly to the finding of Falkland's Iflands, which I determined afterwards to feek. About eight in the evening, the tide of ebb beginning to make, I anchored

in

1764. December.

Satur. 22.

in five and twenty fathom. Point Poffeffion bore N.N. E. at about three miles diftance, and fome remarkable hummocks on the north, which Bulkeley, from their appearance, has called the Affes Ears, W. N.

At three in the morning, of the 22d, we weighed with the wind at E. and steered S. W. by W. about twelve miles. During this course we went over a bank, of which no notice has hitherto been taken at one time we had but fix fathom and a half, but in two or three cafts we had thirteen. When our water was fhallowest, the Affes Ears bore N. W. by W. W. diftant three leagues, and the north point of the first Narrow W. by S. diftant between five and fix miles. We then steered S. W. by S. near fix miles to the entrance of the firft Narrow, and afterwards S. S. W. about fix miles, which brought us through: the tide here was fo ftrong, that the paffage was very rapid. During this courfe we faw a fingle Indian upon the fouth fhore, who kept waving to us as long as we were in fight: we alfo faw fome guanicoes, upon the hills, though Wood, in the account of his voyage, fays there were none upon that shore. As foon as we had paffed the first Narrow, we entered a little fea, for we did not come in fight of the entrance of the fecond Narrow till we had run two leagues. The diftance from the first to the fecond Narrow is about eight leagues, and the courfe S. W. by W. The land is very high on the north fide of the fecond Narrow, which continues for about five leagues, and we fteered through it S. W. W. with foundings from twenty to five and twenty fathom we went out of the west end of this Narrow about noon, and steered fouth about three leagues for Elizabeth's Ifland; but the wind then coming right against us, we anchored in feven fathom. The island bore S. S. E. diftant about a mile, and Bartholomew's Inland bore E. S. E. In the evening, fix Indians upon the Inland came down to the water fide, and continued waving and hallooing to us for a long time; but as my people wanted reft, I was unwilling to employ them in hoifting out a boat, and the Indians feeing their labour fruitless, at length went away. While we were fteering from Point Poffeffion to the firft Narrow, the flood fet to the fouthward, but as foon as we entered

the

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