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

HEALTH — ILLNESS — DEATH. 155 . Education, and the beneficial effects of the opinions of others, an influence fully felt only in civilized society, have so tamed and diminished the naturally strong passion of anger, with its sequel, immediate violence, or hatred and revenge, that ima- gination must be called to the assistance of those who, hap- pily, have never seen a furious savage. Who can read that instance of child murder, related so well by Byron, in his narrative of the Wager's wreck, without a shudder ? yet the man who, in a moment of passion, dashed his own child against the rocks, would, at any other time, have been the most daring, the most enduring, and the most self-devoted in its support and defence ! (Appendix No. 14.) Generally speaking, the Patagonians are extremely healthy. Their constitutions are so good that wounds heal rapidly : but they are not ignorant of the healing properties of some herbs nor of the purgative qualities of others. They know the effect of bleeding, and can adroitly open a vein with a sharp piece of shell or flinty stone. When sick, the chalas root, pounded and mixed with water, is a favourite specific. Should this, or the few other remedies which they think they know, fail, the wizard (who is also doctor) performs some absurd ceremonies, and then rattles toge- ther two pieces of dry bladder, in which are some loose stones, in order to frighten away the ' Valichu,' or evil spirits, who are opposing their art, and tormenting the unlucky patient. The diabolical noise caused by rattling these dried bladders, is con- tinued until the disease takes a favourable turn, or the sufferer dies. If death ends the scene, the body is wrapped in the best mantle of the deceased, placed on his favourite horse, and car- ried to the burying-place of the tribe. The wizard rattles, and the other people howl over the corpse as it is carried to the sepulchre. In a square pit, about six feet deep, and two or three feet wide, where many others have been deposited, the corpse is placed in a sitting posture, adorned with mantles, plumes of feathers, and beads. The spurs, sword, balls, and other such property belonging to the deceased, are laid beside him ; and the pit is then covered over with branches of