The Streight of Magellan
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hook and line, gave one of them a fish, somewhat bigger than a herring, alive, just as it came out of the water. The Indian took it hastily, as a dog would take a bone, and instantly killed it, by giving it a bite near the gills: he then proceeded to eat it, beginning with the head, and going on to the tail, without rejecting either the bones, fins, scales, or entrails. They eat every thing that was given them, indifferently, whether salt or fresh, dressed or raw, but would drink nothing but water. They shivered with cold, yet had nothing to cover them but a seal skin, thrown loosely over their shoulders, which did not reach to their middle; and we observed, that when they were rowing, they threw even this by, and sat stark naked. They had with them some javelins, rudely pointed with bone, which they used to strike seals, fish, and penguins, and we observed that one of them had a piece of iron, about the size of a common chissel, which was fastened to a piece of wood, and seemed to be intended rather for a tool than a weapon. They had all sore eyes, which we imputed to their sitting over the smoke of their fires, and they smelt more offensively than a fox, which perhaps was in part owing to their diet, and in part to their nastiness. Their canoes were about fifteen foot long, three broad, and nearly three deep: they were made of the bark of trees, sewn together, either with the sinews of some beast, or thongs cut out of a hide. Some kind of rush was laid into the seams, and the outside was smeared with a resin, or gum, which prevented the water from soaking into the bark. Fifteen slender branches, bent into an arch, were sewed transversely to the bottom and sides, and some strait pieces were placed cross the top, from gunwale to gunwale, and securely lashed at each end: upon the whole, however, it was poorly made, nor had these people any thing among them in which there was the least appearance of ingenuity.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 404, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/404.html