Page 56

Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere, Vols. II - III

Table of Contents On this day ... 21 January 1769 Endeavour Voyage Maps James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia Transcript of Cook's Journal Joseph Banks's Journal Sydney Parkinson's Journal The Streight of Le Maire and the Inhabitants of Terra del Fuego Index Search Contact us

The Streight of Le Maire and the Inhabitants of Terra del Fuego (continued) The inhabitants of this town were a small tribe, not more than fifty in number, of both sexes and of every age. Their colour resembles that of the rust of iron mixed with oil, and they have long black hair: the men are large, but clumsily built; their stature is from five feet eight to five feet ten; the women are much less, few of them being more than five feet high. Their whole apparel consists of the skin of a guanicoe, or seal, which is thrown over their shoulders, exactly in the state in which it came from the animal’s back; a piece of the same skin, which is drawn over their feet, and gathered about the ancles like a purse, and a small flap, which is worn by the women as a succedaneum for a figleaf. The men wear their cloak open, the women tie it about their waist with a thong. But although they are content to be naked, they are very ambitious to be fine. Their faces were painted in various forms: the region of the eye was in general white, and the rest of the face adorned with horizontal streaks of red and black; yet scarcely any two were exactly alike. This decoration seems to be more profuse and elaborate upon particular occasions, for the two Gentlemen who introduced Mr. Banks and the Doctor into the town, were almost covered with streaks of black in all directions, so as to make a very striking appearance. Both men and women wore bracelets of such beads as they could make themselves of small shells or bones; the women both upon their wrists and ancles, the men upon their wrists only; but to compensate for the want of bracelets on their legs, they wore a kind of fillet of brown worsted round their heads. They seemed to set a particular value upon any thing that was red, and preferred beads even to a knife or a hatchet. Voyaging Accounts © Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 55 - 56, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/056.html