e icy heights of a
mountain chain. Here was, indeed, a strange country for a human
habitation; and strange, indeed, were the human beings whom we saw.

"Shall we land?" said Agnew.

"Oh no," said I. "Don't be hasty. The elements are sometimes kinder
than men, and I feel safer here, even in this river of death, than
ashore with such creatures as those."

Agnew made no reply. We watched the figures on the shore. We saw them
coming down, staring and gesticulating. We drew on nearer to them till
we were able to see them better. A nearer view did not improve them.
They were human beings, certainly, but of such an appalling aspect
that they could only be likened to animated mummies. They were small,
thin, shrivelled, black, with long matted hair and hideous faces. They
all had long spears, and wore about the waist short skirts that seemed
to be made of the skin of some sea-fowl.

We could not imagine how these creatures lived, or where. There were
no signs of vegetation of any kind--not a tree or a shrub. There were
no animals; but there were great flocks of birds, some of which seemed
different from anything that we had ever seen before. The long spears
which the natives carried might possibly be used for catching these,
or for fishing purposes. This thought made them seem less formidable,
since they would thus be instruments of food rather than weapons of
war. Meanwhile we drifted on as before, and the natives watched us,
running along the shore abreast of us, so as to keep up with the boat.
There seemed over a hundred of them. We could see no signs of any
habitations--no huts, however humble; but we concluded that their
abodes were farther inland. As for the natives themselves, the longer
we looked at them the more abhorrent they grew. Even the wretched
aborigines of Van Dieman's Land, who have been classed lowest in the
scale of humanity, were pleasing and congenial when compared with
these, and the land looked worse than Tierra del Fuego. It looked like
a land of iron, and its inhabitants like fiends.

Agnew again proposed to land, but I refused.

"No," I said; "I'd rather starve for a week, and live on hope. Let us
drift on. If we go on we may have hope if we choose, but if we land
here we shall lose even that. Can we hope for anything from such
things as these? Even if they prove friendly, can we live among them?
To stay here is worse than death; our only hope is to go on."

Agnew made no reply, and we drifted