on board. We
accordingly shook hands and made our way towards the boat. The people,
however, began to assemble round us in considerable numbers. The
captain therefore ordered us all to keep together and to hurry on,
without, however, showing any signs of fear. I was very thankful, for
Ellen's sake, when at last we reached the boat in safety. Whether the
natives had thought of attempting to stop us or not, I do not know.
Perhaps they only purposed to do us honour by thus accompanying us to
the beach. We agreed that though the men at first looked gigantic, yet
this was owing probably to their style of dress; and the captain was of
opinion that very few of them were much above six feet. He told me that
they live chiefly on flesh--that of horses, or emus, or guanacoes (a
species of llama), and any other animal they can catch. We did not
venture on shore again; and after waiting a few days, once more put to
sea. I thought that these natives were about as savage in appearance as
any people could be. I discovered, however, shortly afterwards, that
there are other people sunk still lower in the scale of humanity.

Captain Byles purposed running through the Straits of Magellan. Just,
however, as we were entering them, a strong south westerly gale sprang
up, which prevented us from making the attempt. We accordingly stood
into a sheltered bay in Terra del Fuego. The shore looked very
inhospitable--dark rocks rose up at a little distance from the water and
seemed to form a barrier between the sea and the interior. There were a
few trees, all stunted and bending one way as if forced thus by the
wind. Still, John and Arthur and I had a fancy for visiting the shore,
in the hope of obtaining some wild fowl. Having landed with one of the
mates and True, we took our way along the shores of the bay till we
arrived at some high rocks. Over these we climbed. On descending, we
found ourselves on the side of an inlet. We had reached the shore, when
heavy showers of snow began to fall, driven against our faces by the
sharp wind. We were about, therefore, to turn back, when we saw several
figures moving at a little distance. Curious to see the natives, which
we concluded these were, in spite of the snow we pushed on. We advanced
cautiously, keeping a much as possible behind the rocks till we were at
a short distance from them. We were thus able to observe them before we
were discovered. They were wild-looking savages.