od is
almost unknown to them, and bread is never used, though they do
sometimes purchase a little flour, rice, and a few biscuits, on the
occasion of their visits to the colony.

[Illustration: Pin for fastening Cloak, made from a Dollar, beaten
out.]

The Fuegians, or Canoe Indians, as they are generally called, from
their living so much on the water, and having no settled habitations
on shore, are a much smaller race of savages, inhabiting Tierra del
Fuego--literally Land of Fire--so called from the custom the
inhabitants have of lighting fires on prominent points as signals of
assembly. The English residents here invariably call it Fireland--a
name I had never heard before, and which rather puzzled me at first.
Whenever it is observed that a ship is in distress, or that
shipwrecked mariners have been cast ashore, the signal-fires appear as
if by magic, and the natives flock together like vultures round a
carcase. On the other hand, if all goes well, vessels often pass
through the Straits without seeing a single human being, the savages
and their canoes lying concealed beneath the overhanging branches of
trees on the shore. They are cannibals, and are placed by Darwin in
the lowest scale of humanity. An old author describes them as 'magpies
in chatter, baboons in countenance, and imps in treachery.' Those
frequenting the eastern end of the Straits wear--if they wear anything
at all--a deerskin mantle, descending to the waist: those at the
western end wear cloaks made from the skin of the sea-otter. But most
of them are quite naked. Their food is of the most meagre description,
and consists mainly of shell-fish, sea-eggs, for which the women dive
with much dexterity, and fish, which they train their dogs to assist
them in catching. These dogs are sent into the water at the entrance
to a narrow creek or small bay, and they then bark and flounder about
and drive the fish before them into shallow water, where they are
caught.

[Illustration: Fuegian Boat and Oars.]

Bishop Stirling, of the Falkland Islands, has been cruising about
these parts in a small schooner, and visiting the natives, for the
last twelve years, and the Governor here tells us that he has done
much good in promoting their civilisation; while the hardships he has
endured, and the difficulties and dangers he has surmounted, have
required almost superhuman energy and fortitude on his part. The
Fuegians, as far as is known, have no religion of their o