Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

March 1830. habits of the natives. 343 stay all niglit with him. We then gave him some bread, whicli he smelt, and afterwards eat. He offered us some sea-elephant blubber, about two inches and a-half thick ; we took it, and making signs it was not eood, flung; it on the fire. As soon as it began to melt, he took it from the fire, put one part in his mouth, and holding the other drew it back again, squeezing out the oil with his teeth, which were nearly shut. He put the same piece on the fire again, and, after an addition to it, too off'ensive to mention, again sucked it. Several more pieces were served the same way, and the women and children partook of them. They drank large draughts of water as soon as they Imd done eating. As it grew dark at about eight oVlock, the man began to talk to the women about our * sherroo' or boat, and oiu- men, who he thou^it were near. They seemed to be alanned, for the women shortly after left the wigwam, and did not return. They were quite naked. The man took the youngest child in his arms, squatted down with the rest, and snaking signs that he was going to sleep, stretched himself by the fire, the children lying between him and the side of the wigwam. Soon afterwards another man came in, who seemed to be about twenty-two years of age, younger by ten years than the first we saw. He had a piece of platted grass round his head, in the form of a band. After talking some time with his companion, he talked and laughed with us, ate some bread, and would have eaten all we had, if we had not kept it from him. He ate about two pounds of blubber, broiling and squeezing it, as the other had done, and drank three or four pints of water. We had only one case knife, which he was very fond of borrowing now and then, to cut the blubber, pretending that the muscle shells, which he broke for the purpose, were not sharp enough. He examined all our clothes, felt our limbs and breasts, and would have taken our clothes off*, if we had let him. He wanted a knife, and was continually feeling about us for one, as we did not let him know that we had only on€. He opened a rush basket, and took out several trifles, such as ^re-stone,* feathers, spear-heads, a sailor's old mitten, pail of • Iron pyrites.