They never wash, but daub their bodies with paint and
grease, especially the women. Their only weapons are knives and bolas,
the latter of which they throw with unerring precision. During their
visits to the Sandy Point settlement their arms are always taken from
them, for they are extremely quarrelsome, particularly when drunk.
Nobody has been able to ascertain that they possess any form of sacred
belief, or that they perform any religious ceremonies. Their food
consists principally of the flesh of mares, troops of which animals
always accompany them on their excursions. They also eat
ostrich-flesh, which is considered a great delicacy, as well as the
fish the women catch, and the birds' eggs they find. Vegetable food is
almost unknown to them, and bread is never used, though they do
sometimes purchase a little flour, rice, and a few biscuits, on the
occasion of their visits to the colony.
[Illustration: Pin for fastening Cloak, made from a Dollar, beaten
out.]
The Fuegians, or Canoe Indians, as they are generally called, from
their living so much on the water, and having no settled habitations
on shore, are a much smaller race of savages, inhabiting Tierra del
Fuego--literally Land of Fire--so called from the custom the
inhabitants have of lighting fires on prominent points as signals of
assembly.
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