ywhere."

"Wal, _it_ ain't on a warlike bender, whether Ailikoleep or no, seein'
as thar's weemen an' childer in 't. So I reck'n thar's nothin' to be
skeart about jest yet, though you niver kin tell for sartin what the
critters air up to till they show it themselves."

By this, the Fuegians have approached near enough for hailing, which,
however, they have been doing all along, shouting in high-pitched
voices, and frantically gesticulating.

They cry, "Ho-say! ho-say!" in quick repetition, two of them standing up
and waving skins of some sort above their heads.

"Thet means to hold palaver, an' hev a dicker wi' 'em," says Seagriff.
"They want to trade off thar pelts an' sech-like for what we can give
them in exchange."

"All right," assents the Captain. "Be it so; and we may as well douse
the sail and heave to--we're making no way, any how." At this the sail
is lowered, and the boat lies motionless on the water, awaiting the
approach of the canoe.

In a few seconds the native craft comes paddling up, but for a time
keeps beyond grappling distance--a superfluous precaution on the part of
the Fuegians, but very agreeable to those in the gig. Especially so now
that they have a nearer view of the occupants of the native craft.
There are, in all, thirteen of them; three men, four women, and the rest
girls and boys of different ages, one of the women having an infant tied
to her by a scarf fastened over one of her shoulders. Nearly a dozen
dogs are in the canoe also--diminutive, fox-like animals with short
ears, resembling the Esquimaux breed, but smaller. Of the human
element--if human it can be called--all are savages of the lowest type
and wildest aspect, their coarse shaggy hair hanging like loose thatch
over low foreheads, and partially shading their little, bleary red eyes.
Hideous are they to very deformity. Nor is their ugliness diminished,
but rather heightened, by a variety of pigments--ochre, charcoal, and
chalk--laid thick upon their faces and bodies with an admixture of
seal-oil or blubber. The men are scantily clothed, with only one kind
of garment, a piece of skin hung over their shoulders and lashed across
the chest, and all the women wearing a sort of apron skirt of
penguin-skins.

The canoe is a rough, primitive structure: several breadths of bark
stitched together with sinews of the seal, and gathered up at the ends.
Along each side a pole is lashed joining the gunwale-rail, while several
s