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

Al'PENDIX. 343 I consider that this man was about the average stature of the Fuegians : they are generally short and broad. The Fuegian, like a Cetaceous animal which circulates red blood in a cold medium, has in his covering an admirable non-conductor of heat ; the corpus adiposum envelopes the body to preserve that tem- perature necessary to continue the vital functions and circulation of the fluids. In this individual it was particularly tliick over the abdomen and dorsum ; on the hips it formed a perfect cushion, and fiUed up the interstices between the muscles in general. Unlike the limbs of porters, smiths, and other athletae in Europe, where the form and size of each muscle may be traced while in action, the limbs of these people are round and smooth, like the female sex, or the child in infancy. The quantity of fat is to be imputed to their diet ; their food is shell-fish and birds, but the greatest dainty is fat of all kinds, that of the seal and penguin in particular ; as for vegetable aUment they have none,* nor any taste for it. The muscles were soft, and the viscera (in particular the heart, Uver, and lungs,) in good order, — a circumstance which but rarely occurs : the bones were well- formed, with their processes, foramina, and sutures complete. The complexion of this man was dark ; his skin of a copper colour, the native hue of the Fuegian tribes ; the eyes and hair black (this is imiversal, as far as I have seen, and predominates throughout all the aborigines of America, from the Fuegians to the Esquimaux) the epidermis is thicker than in white men ; but in the rete mucosum I saw no difference, the copper hue arising from the vessels of the cutis, shining through a thickened scarf-skin, and from its incorpo- rating the particles of smoke and ochre with which their bodies are continually covered. The hair on this man's head was jet-black, straight, long, and luxuriant, but scanty on other parts of the body. The Fuegians have httle beard and no whiskers. The features of this individual were rounder than they generally are among those of his nation ; the form of whose countenance resembles that of the Laplanders and Esquimaux ; they have broad faces with projecting cheek-bones ; the eyes of an oval form, and drawn towards the temples ; the tunica sclerotica of a yeUow-white, and the iris deep black ; the cartilage of the nose broad and de- * Mr. Wilson \vas not aware that thuy eat birch excrescences, and berries. — R. F.