The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-02-23

ded among the islets, and, wcdged in
among the ice, dies. Then, wheh the
Fuecians smell the animal, no matter
how rotten it is, fleet of canoes at
once makes for the spot. II the car
cass is upon the beach you IL see whoie
villages move towards the spot men,
women and children, and IN le"
hours they will return with huge rings
of blubber, rotten and greasy, arouhu
their necks. Then follows great
feast and general rejoicing. They eat
the blubber raw, apparently knowing
nothing of cookery Fish they s"aiio"
whole, Just as "A bird does, ms Scales
mead, tail and all
But they have fires and cou.d
.Oh. YES; and the singular part OF it
i their mode of kindling fire. 1t Is
ORIGINAL as unique. On the high noun
tain side is found kind of iron lrltcs
which, when struck with a pebble pro-
duccs sparks. These he catches upon
a piece of punk, or dead tree or piece
of moss. Then having round BAN OF
dried grass, he ignites this, ana by
WAVING il in the air he produces coal,
which united TO bundle OF sticks,
soon produces IA flame, and the lire Is
complete. -,
But the work is laborious oneE
"Yes. and for that reason the tuegl-
an is very careful of his hre' ana
wherever he goes, and he is compciIeu
bv the necessities of life to continually
change his abode, he carries his hre
carefully about with him. go,
.,The country is well wooded?
eyes. but the woods are of worth
lass character. They are for the most
mart a species OF birch and beech,
which GROW to great size, and the Pc
culiariiy about them is that they may
be called evergreen, for they are al
WAYS clad in species of unchanging
yellow. The surface of the country Is
most peculiar doubt if there IS any
thing like il to be found on another
quarter of the globe. There are I'M
mense ravincs, so deep that they appear
% be arms or inlcts OF the sea- ana o'h,
ers are filed with solid mountains OF
ice that rise perpcndicularly perhaps
thousand feet. Sometimes these laii
into the water beneath, or vast over
hanging cliffs drop off, producing a
roar to which Niagara is but chlia
play, and awakening echoes III TINS ae-
serted country that make the scene as
terrible as it is dcSoIatc. There are
narrow channels that run between
these cliffs from ocean to ocean solhe
of them large enough to admit the
MASSAGE of the largest vessels, others
narrow, so that the smallest boat could
scarce crawl through. y
'ln doubling the cape, as YOU say
YOU pass through these straits!
"Alwa,s. They were named from
the celebrated navigator OF that nainc'
Sneni.h or Portuguese, fofSet Wh'cil,
and run something like the letter v,
wide enough to admit of the passage OF
the LARGEST vessels. On the south is
the Land of Fire; on the north Patago-
mia. The vcrteX of this angle forming
the straits is the most southern point
| of the American continent, aud seamen
know it as Cape Forward. ~
Are the PatagonianS allied to these
| fueglanS!
Not at all. 1t is doubtful if there
are any two people on the face of the
earth living so close together who are
so totally dissimiar, both in habits and
personal appearance. While the rata
gonian is the tallest race in the world,
brave, athletic and fond of wild sports,
the Fuegian is the shortest, cowardly.
and most treacherous. What freak OF
nature it was that placed these two ma
tons of people at the extreme end OF
the southern hemisphere so totally dii-
ferent cannot say, unless it was to
show what nature could do by way OF
! contrast