Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. Fitzroy Robert
or 'Harbour of Mercy,' being of prior date, ought doubtless to be retained.
64
Called the Scilly Isles.
65
'Anas Rafflesii,' Zool. Journ., vol. iv., and Tab. Supp., xxix.
66
Of these a species of mactra (
67
Burney, i. 35 and 37.
68
Falkner's Patagonia, pp. 110, 111.
69
It is good to be drunk, it is pleasant to be drunk.
70
Two Portuguese seamen, however, who had resided some months with them, having been left behind by a sealing vessel, and taken off by us at a subsequent period of the voyage at their own request, informed us that Maria is not the leader of religious ceremonies. Each family possesses its own household god, a small wooden image, about three inches in length, the rough imitation of a man's head and shoulders, which they consider as the representative of a superior being, attributing to it all the good or evil that happens to them.
71
Burney, i. p. 33.
72
Ibid. p. 135.
73
Burney, i. 318.
74
Ibid, i. 324.
75
Sarmiento, p. 244.
76
Sarmiento's Appendix, xxix.
77
Purchas, iv. ch. 6 and 7.
78
Burney, ii. p. 106.
79
The tribes described by this boy are the
80
Burney, ii, 215.
81
Ibid. ii. 334.
82
Hawksworth's Coll. i 28.
83
Ibid.
84
See a letter from Mr. Charles Clarke, an officer on board the Dolphin, to Mr. Maly, M.D., secretary of the Royal Society, dated Nov. 3, 1766, read before the Royal Society on 12th April 1767, and published in the fifty-seventh volume of the Phil. Trans., part i. p. 75, in which an exaggerated account is given of this meeting. The men are described to be eight feet high, and the women seven and a half to eight feet. "They are prodigious stout, and as well and proportionably made as ever I saw people in my life." This communication was probably intended to corroborate the commodore's account.
85
Ultimo Viage, p. 21.
86
Falkner, according to Dean Funes, was originally engaged in the slave trade at Buenos Ayres; but afterwards became a Jesuit, and studied in the college at Cordova, where, to an eminent knowledge of medicine, he added that of theology. He is the author of a description of Patagonia, published in London after the expulsion of the Jesuits. – (
87
See Dean Funes's account of Buenos Ayres, and of the Indian tribes, vol. ii. 394.
88
We left Gregory Bay in the morning, and passed Cape Virgins in the evening of the same day.
89
On our passage from Santos to St. Catherine's, in latitude 28° south, we caught a 'dolphin' (
90
Nodales, p. 48.
91
Falkner says, in his account of the burial ceremonies of the southern Patagonians – that, after a certain interval, the bodies are taken out of the tomb, and skeletons are made of them by the women – the flesh and entrails having been burnt. It is possible that in this case the body had been so treated, and that the fire near it was for the purpose of burning the flesh, and perhaps with it all the flags and ornaments of the tomb.
92
He was a great favourite with them.
93
The medicinal property of this intestinal concretion is well known wherever the animal is found. Marcgrave, in his "Tractatus topographicus et meteorologicus Brasiliæ," folio, p. 36, says: – "Hæc animalia (guanacoes) generant lapides Bezoares in sinu quodam ventriculi, qui maximi æstimantur contra venena et febres malignos ad roborandum et refocillandum cor, aliosque affectus. Materia è qua generantur sunt herbæ insignis virtutis, quibus vescuntur naturæ instinctu ad sanitatem tuendum, aut morbos et venena superandum. Hi lapides inveniuntur in adultioribus hisce animalibus atque interdum tam grandes, ut unum in Italiam attulerim qui pendet uncias duas supra triginta." – Mr. Thompson, on Intestinal Concretions. See his Syn. of Chemistry, iv. 576.
94
95
Weddell's Voyage.
96
I cannot avoid noticing here the considerate conduct of the Commander-in-chief (Sir George Eyre) with respect to this appointment. By the tenor of my instructions the Adventure and Beagle were placed under the Admiral's orders; and the vacancy, had he wished to exercise his prerogative, might have been filled by one of his own followers. It was, however, given, at my request, to Mr. Sholl, as being more conversant with the duties of this peculiar service than any of the midshipmen of the flag-ship. The Admiral's conduct, on this occasion, calls for my warmest thanks.
97
Relacion del Viage, &c. que hicieron los Capitanes B. G. de Nodales y Gonzalo de Nodales, p. 59.
98
Falkner describes the Indians who inhabit the eastern islands of Tierra del Fuego, to be 'Yacana-cunnees,' and as he designates those who inhabit the Patagonian shore of the Strait by the same name, it might be inferred that they are of the same race; but however closely connected they may have been formerly, they certainly are not so now, for Maria (the Patagonian) spoke very contemptuously of them, and disclaimed their alliance; calling them 'zapallios,' which means slaves.
99
Berberis ilicifolia. – Banks and Solander MSS.
100
The specimen that was found at Port Gallant was sent by me to Mr. Vigors, who considering it, although well known to ornithologists, as never having yet been named, describes it in the Zoological Journal (vol. iii. p. 432, Aug. 1827), as Mellisuga Kingii. Shortly afterwards M. Lesson published it in his Manuel d'Ornithologie (vol. ii. p. 80.), as
101
Sarmiento, p. 213.
102
Este monte es el que llaman las Relaciones antiguas la Campana de Roldan. – Sarmiento.
103
Here we obtained a second species of the Steamer-duck, which is described in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, as '