Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

136 SOUTHERN ABOniGINES. addition of a half petticoat, made of skins, if they cannot pro- cure foreign coarse cloth. They clean their hair, and divide it into two tails, which are platted, and hang down, one on each side. Ornaments of beads, bits of brass, or silver, or any similar trifles, are much prized, and worn in necklaces, or as bracelets ; sometimes also as ear-rings, or round their ankles. Mounted upon horses of an inferior size, averaging only about fourteen hands and a half in height, though rather well-bred, the Patagonians seem to be carried no better than the full- accoutred dragoons, who rode eighteen stone upon horses equal to twelve ; yet those horses, so slight in comparison with their masters, carry them at full speed in chase of ostriches or guana- coes; and we all know what our dragoon horses have done under tlieir heavily-weighted, but determined riders. With bridles of hide tied to the lower jaw, when there is not a Spanish bit, and a light saddle of wood, covered with some skins and placed upon others, a Patagonian rides hard when there is occasion but frequently changes his horse. Many large dogs, of a rough, lurcher-like breed, assist them in hunting, and keep an excellent watch at night. (Note at end of Chapter VIII.) The toldos (huts) of these wanderers are in shape not unlike gipsy tents. Poles are stuck in the ground, to which others are fastened, and skins of animals, sewed together, form the covering, so that an irregular tilt-shaped hut is thus made. Three sides and the top are covered ; but the front, turned towards the east,'; is open. These toldos are about seven feet high, and ten or twelve feet square ; they are lower at the back, or western side, than in front, by several feet. These are their ordinary dwellings ; of other rather larger construc- tions a description will be given hereafter. The country inhabited by these Patagonians is open and, generally speaking, rather level, but with occasional hills and some extensive ranges of level-topped heights (steppes). There are very few trees, and water is scarce. The eye wanders over an apparently boundless extent of parched, yellow-looking semi-desert, where rain* seldom falls, and the sky is almost • Except during a few days in each year, or perhaps at intervals of two or three years, when it pours down in torrents.