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

523 ANECDOTES — CURIOUS RELICS. NoV. mountains, in a manner astonishing, if not impossible, to Euro- peans. IVIr. Darwin, who made a three days' excursion among the wildest parts of the mountains, was quite enthusiastic in his account of the strength, activity, and above all, the excel- lent disposition and good conduct of the two natives who were his companions and guides. At the door of one house I saw the owner reading a book attentively. It was the New Testament translated into his na- tive language. His wife was rolling up some of the large green leaves which they use as substitutes for plates ; and two merry little children had been running after me, singing, in hopes of a present of some trifle. The superior expression of that man's countenance, and his unaffected employment (for I came upon him suddenly, and unperceived till the children spoke), made an impression upon my mind, which, I hope, will not be for- gotten. In my way back, passing some tall palm trees, I asked a native to get me some cocoa-nuts. Putting a strip of bark be- tween his feet, he threw off his shirt, and jumped ' at' the tree, catching the trunk with his feet and hands at the same moment; then moving his hands alternately, and his feet by short jumps, the band of bark assistinff their hold on the slender trunk, in a few seconds he was at the top of a tree seventy feet in height, quite straight and perpendicular, and tapering in size from a foot to six inches in diameter. Some curious relics of former times were found for me, which had long remained in dusty quiet ; among them were tortoise- shell masks, and head pieces surmounted by feathers of the tropic bird ; also an apron, ingeniously, or rather laboriously made of small pieces of mother of pearl. So long was it since they had been used, that a native about thirty years of age did not know what they were for: but from the signs and expres- sions of the old man to whom they belonged, I think they formed part of the dress of a priest, used when sacrificing a (perhaps human) victim.* Two English sixpences also found their way to me, bearing the date 1 T87 ; memorials of the ill-fated Bounty. • A whole dress may be seen at the British Museum, brought to England by Cook in 1771.