The Fuegian Wigwam Resembles, In Size And Dimensions,
A Haycock.
It merely consists of a few broken branches
stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one
side with a few tufts of grass and rushes.
The whole cannot
be the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days.
At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one of these naked
men had slept, which absolutely offered no more cover than
the form of a hare. The man was evidently living by himself,
and York Minster said he was "very bad man," and
that probably he had stolen something. On the west coast,
however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered
with seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the
bad weather. The climate is certainly wretched: the summer
solstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell on the
hills, and in the valleys there was rain, accompanied by
sleet. The thermometer generally stood about 45 degs., but in
the night fell to 38 or 40 degs. From the damp and boisterous
state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine,
one fancied the climate even worse than it really was.
While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, we
pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the
most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On
the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco
cloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins.
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