of the branches of trees, and with mud and
stones heaped over them. The people were the ugliest I had ever seen,
being more like baboons than men and women. They were dwarfish in
stature, the tallest of the party not exceeding five feet in height, and
the majority of the others quite a foot shorter. I noticed also, as the
skipper had told me, that their apparel was of the very scantiest
possible, consisting only of a piece of sealskin, which was movable, so
that it could be placed on the most convenient side for protecting them
against the weather.

They were not able to help us much, looking miserably off; but they were
hospitable enough, offering us some mussels and fish, and berries
similar to those we had seen on the arbutus trees on our own island.

If they could not assist us materially, they put us up to one thing, and
that was how to catch fish; for, although we had seen many of them
jumping in the water, and swimming about the beach in front of our
encampment, we had been unable to capture any, owing to there not being
a single hook brought in the boats; and, sailors not being accustomed to
use pins about their garments, we could not make use of these for a
substitute.

The Tierra del Fuegans had a rare dodge to supply the deficiency. They
fastened a limpet to the end of their lines, and, heaving it into deep
water, the fish readily gorges it; when, before he can bring it up
again, they pull him out, and thus they get their fish without losing
their mussel.

"They're just like Turks!" cried Captain Billings, with a broad grin on
his face.

"Why?" asked I, knowing that something funny was coming.

"Because they're regular musselmen!" said the skipper, laughing out
loudly at the old joke, Jorrocks and I, of course, joining in.

The natives spoke some sort of gibberish of a language which we could
not understand; nor could we make them comprehend what we wished to
learn with reference to the sealing schooners, although the skipper
shouted out the word "ship" to them as loudly as he could bawl, thinking
thereby to make himself more intelligible.

Seeing, therefore, that we could do no good by remaining here, we
started back for Herschel Island to rejoin our companions, getting there
before it was dark--much to our own relief and to that of Mr
Macdougall, who was anxiously looking out for us.

For another fortnight we remained here, experiencing the utmost
privation, for our stock of provisions gradua