Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746Byron, John
History
Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746
Byron, John
Chiloé (Chile); Patagonia (Argentina and Chile); Wager (Ship)
off than we, as there was no wood here to make their wigwams; so that
all they could do was to prop up the bark they carry in the bottom
of their canoes with their oars, and shelter themselves as well as
they could to leeward of it. They, knowing the difficulties that were
to be encountered here, had provided themselves with some seal; but
we had not the least morsel to eat, after the heavy fatigues of the
day, excepting a sort of root we saw some of the Indians make use of,
which was very disagreeable to the taste. We laboured all the next
day against the stream, and fared as we had done the day before. The
next day brought us to the carrying-place. Here was plenty of wood;
but nothing to be got for sustenance. The first thing the Indians did
was to take every thing out of their canoes; and after hauling them
ashore, they made their wigwams. We passed this night, as generally we
had done, under a tree; but what we suffered at this time is not easily
to be expressed. I had been three days at the oar without any kind of
nourishment, but the wretched root I mentioned before. I had no shirt,
as mine was rotted off by bits, and we were devoured by vermin. All
my clothes consisted of an old short grieko, which is something like
a bearskin, with a piece of a waistcoat under it, which once had been
of red cloth, both which I had on when I was cast away; I had a ragged
pair of trowsers, without either shoe or stocking. The first thing
the Indians did in the morning was to take their canoes to pieces:
and here, for the information of the reader, it will be necessary
to describe the structure of these boats, which are extremely well
calculated for the use of these Indians, as they are frequently obliged
to carry them over land a long way together, through thick woods, to
avoid doubling capes and headlands in seas where no open boat could
live. They generally consist of five pieces, or planks; one for the
bottom, and two for each side; and as these people have no iron tools,
the labour must be great in hacking a single plank out of a large tree
with shells and flints, though with the help of fire. Along the edges
of the plank they make small holes, at about an inch from one to the
other, and sew them together with the supple-jack, or woodbine; but as
these holes are not filled up by the substance of the woodbine, their
boats would be immediately full of water if they had not a method of
preventing it. They do this very effectually by the bark of a tree,
which they first steep in water for some time, and then beat it between
two stones till it answers the use of oakum, and then chinse each hole
so well, that they do not admit of the least water coming through,
and are easily taken asunder and put together again. When they have
occasion to go over land, as at this time, each man or woman carries a
plank; whereas it would be impossible for them to drag a heavy boat
entire. Every body had something to carry except Captain Cheap; and he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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