1769. from himself; for they appeared rather to be a travelling January. hord, than to have any fixed habitation. Their houses are built to ftand but for a short time; they have no utenfit or furniture but the basket and fatchel, which have been mentioned before, and which have handles adapted to the carrying them about, in the hand and upon the back; the only cloathing they had here was scarcely fufficient to prevent their perishing with cold in the fummer of this country, much lefs in the extreme feverity of winter; the fhell-fish which feems to be their only food must foon be exhausted at any one place; and we had seen houses upon what appeared to be a deferted ftation in St. Vincent's bay.

It is alfo probable that the place where we found them was only a temporary refidence, from their having here nothing like a boat or canoe, of which it can fcarcely be fupposed that they were wholly deftitute, efpecially as they were not fea-fick, or particularly affected, either in our boat or on board the ship. We conjectured that there might be a streight or inlet, running from the fea through great part of this island, from the Streight of Magellan, whence these people might come, leaving their canoes where fuch inlet terminated.

They did not appear to have among them any government or fubordination: none was more respected than another; yet they seemed to live together in the utmost harmony and good fellowship. Neither did we discover any appearance of religion among them, except the noises which have been mentioned, and which we fuppofed to be a fuperftitious ceremony, merely becaufe we could refer them to nothing elfe: they were used only by one of those who came on board the ship, and the two who conducted Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander to the town, whom we therefore conjectured to be

priests.

priests. Upon the whole, thefe people appeared to be the most destitute and forlorn, as well as the most stupid of all human beings; the outcafts of Nature, who spent their lives in wandering about the dreary waftes, where two of our people perished with cold in the midst of summer; with no dwelling but a wretched hovel of sticks and grafs, which would not only admit the wind, but the fnow and the rain; almost naked; and deftitute of every convenience that is furnished by the rudeft art, having no implement even to drefs their food: yet they were content. They feemed to have no wish for any thing more than they poffeffed, nor did any thing that we offered them appear acceptable but beads, as an ornamental superfluity of life. What bodily pain they might suffer from the feverities of their winter we could not know; but it is certain, that they suffered nothing from the want of the innumerable articles which we confider, not as the luxuries and conveniencies only, but the neceffaries of life: as their defires are few, they probably enjoy them all; and how much they may be gainers by an exemption from the care, labour and folicitude, which arife from a perpetual and unsuccessful effort to gratify that infinite variety of defires which the refinements of artificial life have produced among us, is not very easy to determine: poffibly this may counterbalance all the real disadvantages of their situation in comparison with ours, and make the scales by which good and evil are diftributed to man, hang even between us.

In this place we faw no quadruped except feals, fea-lions, and dogs; of the dogs it is remarkable that they bark, which those that are originally bred in America do not. And this is a further proof, that the people we saw here had, either immediately or remotely, communicated with the inhabitants of Europe. There are, however, other quadrupeds in this part of the country; for when Mr. Banks was at the top VOL. II.

I

of

1769.

January.

59

1769. January.

of the highest hill that he afcended in his expedition through the woods, he faw the footsteps of a large beast imprinted upon the furface of a bog, though he could not with any probability guess of what kind it might be.

Of land-birds there are but few; Mr. Banks faw none larger than an English blackbird, except fome hawks and a vulture; but of water-fowl there is great plenty, particularly ducks. Of fifh we faw fcarce any, and with our hooks could catch none that was fit to eat; but fhell-fish, limpets, clams, and muscles were to be found in abundance.

Among the infects, which were not numerous, there was neither gnat nor mufquito, nor any other fpecies that was either hurtful or troublesome, which perhaps is more than can be faid of any other uncleared country. During the fnow-blasts, which happened every day while we were here, they hide themselves; and the moment it is fair they appear again, as nimble and vigorous as the warmest weather could make them.

Of plants, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found a vast variety; the far greater part wholly different from any that have been hitherto defcribed. Befides the birch, and winter's bark, which have been mentioned already, there is the beach, Fagus antarcticus, which, as well as the birch, may be fed for timber. The plants cannot be enumerated here; but as the fcurvy-grafs, Cardamine antifcorbutica, and the wild celery, Apium antarcticum, probably contain antifcorbutic qualities, which may be of great benefit to the crews of fuch fhips as fhall hereafter touch at this place, the following fhort defcription is inferted:

The fcurvy-grafs will be found in plenty in damp places, near springs of water, and in general in all places that lie near the beach, especially at the watering place in the Bay

of

of Good Success: when it is young, the state of its greatest perfection, it lies flat upon the ground, having many leaves of a bright green, ftanding in pairs oppofite to each other, with a single one at the end, which generally makes the fifth upon a foot stalk: the plant, paffing from this state, shoots up in ftalks that are fometimes two feet high, at the top of which are small white blossoms, and these are fucceeded by long pods: the whole plant greatly resembles that which in England is called Lady's fmock, or Cuckow-flower. The wild celery is very like the celery in our gardens, the flowers are white, and ftand in the fame manner, in small tufts at the top of the branches, but the leaves are of a deeper green. It grows in great abundance near the beach, and generally upon the foil that lies next above the spring tides. It may indeed easily be known by the taste, which is between that of celery and parley. We used the celery in large quantities, particularly in our foup, which, thus medicated, produced the fame good effects which feamen generally derive from a vegetable diet, after having been long confined to falt provifions.

1769.

January.

On Sunday the 22d of January, about two o'clock in the Sunday 22. morning, having got our wood and water on board, we failed

out of the Bay, and continued our courfe through the Streight.

1769. January.

CHAP. VI.

A general Defcription of the S. E. Part of Terra del Fuego, and the Streight of Le Maire; with Some Remarks on Lord Anfon's Account of them, and Directions for the Paffage Weftward, round this Part of America, into the South Seas.

A

LMOST all writers who have mentioned the island of Terra del Fuego, describe it as destitute of wood, and covered with fnow. In the winter it may poffibly be covered with fnow, and those who saw it at that feafon might perhaps be easily deceived, by its appearance, into an opinion that it was deftitute of wood. Lord Anson was there in the beginning of March, which answers to our September; and we were there the beginning of January, which answers to our July, which may account for the difference of his defcription of it from ours. We fell in with it about twentyone leagues to the weftward of the Streight of Le Maire, and from the time that we first saw it, trees were plainly to be distinguished with our glaffes; and as we came nearer, though here and there we discovered patches of fnow, the fides of the hills and the fea-coaft appeared to be covered with a beautiful verdure. The hills are lofty, but not mountainous, though the fummits of them are quite naked. The foil in the valleys is rich, and of a confiderable depth; and at the foot of almost every hill there is a brook, the water of which has a reddish hue, like that which runs through our turf bogs in England, but it is by no means ill tafted, and upon