Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. Fitzroy Robert
as high as 58°, and the barometer ranging between 29.80 and 30.00; but for two days before the wind shifted, the alteration was predicted by a gradual descent of the mercurial column, and a considerable increase of cold. On the 7th May, as there was some appearance of a change, we got under weigh; but were hardly outside the port, when a northerly wind again set in, and prevented our going farther than Freshwater Bay, where we passed the night. At last, on the 8th, accompanied by the Beagle, we proceeded on our course with a strong south-westerly breeze, which carried us quickly up to Cape Negro, when it blew so hard that I anchored off Laredo Bay. At this anchorage we certainly felt the air much colder and sharper than at Port Famine, arising from our being in a more exposed situation, and from the approach of winter, as well as from the severe south-west gale which was blowing.
After the gale had abated, we proceeded with fair weather and a light breeze to the Second Narrow, when the wind fell; but the tide being in our favour, we passed rapidly through. On a hill near us we observed three or four Patagonian Indians standing together, and their horses feeding close to them. A fire was soon kindled, to attract our notice, to which signal we replied by showing our colours; and had we not already communicated with these people, we should certainly have thought them giants, for they "loomed very large" as they stood on the summit of the hill. This optical deception must doubtless have been caused by mirage: the haze has always been observed to be very great during fine weather and a hot day arising from rapid evaporation of the moisture so abundantly deposited, on the surface of the ground, in all parts of the Strait.
As soon as the Patagonians found they were noticed, they mounted and rode along the shore abreast of us, being joined by other parties, until the whole number could not have been less than forty. Several foals and dogs were with them. Having anchored in Gregory Bay, where I intended remaining for two days to communicate with them, I sent up a rocket, burnt a blue-light, and despatched Lieutenant Cooke on shore to ask for a large supply of guanaco meat, for which we would pay in knives and beads. The boat returned on board immediately, bringing off four natives, three men and 'Maria.' This rather remarkable woman must have been, judging by her appearance, about forty years old: she is said to have been born at Assuncion, in Paraguay, but I think the place of her birth was nearer Buenos Ayres. She spoke broken, but intelligible, Spanish, and stated herself to be sister of Bysante, the cacique of a tribe near the Santa Cruz River, who is an important personage, on account of his size (which Maria described to be immense), and his riches. In speaking of him, she said he was very rich; he had many mantles, and also many hides ("muy rico, tiene muchas mantas y tambien muchos cueros"). One of Maria's companions, a brother of Bysante, was the tallest and largest man of this tribe; and though he only measured six feet in height, his body was large enough for a much taller man. He was in great affliction: his daughter had died only two days before our arrival; but, notwithstanding his sad story, which soon found him friends, it was not long before he became quite intoxicated, and began to sing and roar on the subject of his misfortunes, with a sound more like the bellowing of a bull than the voice of a human being. Upon applying to Maria, who was not quite so tipsy as her brother, to prevent him from making such hideous noises, she laughed and said, "Oh, never mind, he's drunk; poor fellow, his daughter is dead" (Es boracho, povrecito, muriò su hija); and then, assuming a serious tone, she looked towards the sky, and muttered in her own language a sort of prayer or invocation to their chief demon, or ruling spirit, whom Pigafetta, the companion and historian of Magalhaens, called Setebos, which Admiral Burney supposes to have been the original of one of Shakspeare's names in the "Tempest" —
" – his art is of such power
He would controul my dam's god Setebos.67"
Maria's dress was similar to that of other females of the tribe; but she wore ear-rings, made of medals stamped with a figure of the Virgin Mary, which, with the brass-pin that secured her mantle across her breast, were given to her by one Lewis, who had passed by in an American sealing-vessel, and who, we understood from her, had made them "Christians." The Jesuit Falkner, who lived among them for many years, has written a long and, apparently, a very authentic account of the inhabitants of the countries south of the River Plata, and he describes those who inhabit the borders of the Strait and sea-coast to be, "Yacana-cunnees, which signifies foot-people, for they have no horses in their country; to the north they border on the Sehuau-cunnees, to the west on the Key-yus, or Key-yuhues, from whom they are divided by a ridge of mountains; to the east they are bounded by the ocean; and to the south by the islands of Tierra del Fuego, or the South Sea. These Indians live near the sea on both sides of the Strait, and often make war with one another. They make use of light floats, like those of Chilóe, in order to pass the Straits, and are sometimes attacked by the Huilliches and other Tehuelhets, who carry them away for slaves, as they have nothing to lose but their liberty and their lives. They subsist chiefly on fish, which they catch either by diving, or striking them with their darts. They are very nimble afoot, and catch guanacoes and ostriches with their bowls. Their stature is much the same as that of the other Tehuelhets, rarely exceeding seven feet, and oftentimes not six feet. They are an innocent, harmless people."68
To the north of this race, Falkner describes "the Sehuau-cunnees, the most southern Indians who travel on horseback; Sehuau signifies in the Tehuel dialect a species of black rabbit, about the size of a field rat; and as their country abounds in these animals, their name may be derived from thence: cunnee signifying 'people.'"
With the exception of their mode of killing the guanaco by bowls, or balls, the description of the Key-yus would apply better to the Fuegian Indians; and if so, they have been driven across the Strait, and confined to the Fuegian shores by the Sehuau-cunnees, who must be no other than Maria's tribe. The Key-yus, who are described to inhabit the northern shore of the Strait, between Peckett's Harbour and Madre de Dios, are probably the tribe found about the south-western islands, and now called Alikhoolip; whilst the eastern Fuegians, or Yacana-cunnees, who have also been turned off the continent by their powerful neighbours, are now called Tekeenikas. Our knowledge of the names of these two tribes, Alikhoolip and Tekeenika, results from Captain Fitz-Roy's subsequent examination of the outer coast of Tierra del Fuego in the Beagle (1830). A Cacique, belonging to the nation of the Key-yus, told Falkner that he had been in a house made of wood, that travelled on the water. A party of the Indians, in four canoes, were met on the borders of the Otway Water by Captain Fitz-Roy in 1829, whose arms, implements, and every thing they had, were precisely like the Fuegian Indians, excepting that they had a quiver made from the skin of a deer, and were in form a superior race, being both stronger and stouter.
For want of better information upon the subject, we must be content to separate the natives into Patagonians and Fuegians. The sealing vessels' crews distinguish them as Horse Indians, and Canoe Indians.
These people have had considerable communication with the sealers who frequent this neighbourhood, bartering their guanaco skins and meat, their mantles, and furs, for beads, knives, brass ornaments, and other articles; but they are equally anxious to get sugar, flour, and, more than all, "aqua ardiente," or spirits. Upon the arrival of a boat from any vessel, Maria, with as many as she can persuade the boat's crew to take, goes on board, and, if permitted, passes the night. As soon as our boat landed, Maria and her friends took their seats as if it had been sent purposely for them. Not expecting such a visit, I had given no order to the contrary, and the novelty of such companions overcame the scruples of the officer, who was sent on shore to communicate with them. Their noisy behaviour becoming disagreeable, they were soon conducted from below to the deck, where they passed the night. Maria slept with her head on the windlass; and was so intoxicated, that the noise and concussion produced by veering eighty fathoms of cable round it did not awake her. The following morning, whilst I was at breakfast, she very unceremoniously introduced herself, with one of her companions, and seating herself at table, asked for tea and bread, and made a hearty meal. I took the precaution of having all the knives, and articles that I thought likely to be stolen, removed from the table; but neither then, nor at any time, did I detect Maria in trying to steal, although her companions never lost an opportunity of pilfering.
After breakfast the Indians were landed, and as many of the officers as could be spared went on shore, and passed the whole day with the tribe, during which a very active trade was carried on. There were about one
Burney, i. 35 and 37.
Falkner's Patagonia, pp. 110, 111.