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)
even a morsel of the stinking seal that I had suffered so much about.
I kept my eyes upon the boats as long as I could distinguish them;
and then returned into the wood, and sat myself down upon the root
of a tree, having eat nothing the whole day but the stem of a plant
which resembles that of an artichoke, which is of a juicy consistence,
and acid taste. Quite worn out with fatigue, I soon fell asleep;
and awaking before day, I thought I heard some voices at no great
distance from me. As the day appeared, looking further into the wood, I
perceived a wigwam, and immediately made towards it; but the reception
I met with was not at all agreeable; for stooping to get into it, I
presently received two or three kicks in my face, and at the same time
heard the sound of voices seemingly in anger; which made me retire, and
wait at the foot of a tree, where I remained till an old woman peeped
out, and made signs to me to draw near. I obeyed very readily, and
went into the wigwam: in it were three men and two women; one young
man seemed to have great respect shewn to him by the rest, though he
was the most miserable object I ever saw. He was a perfect skeleton,
and covered with sores from head to foot. I was happy to sit a moment
by their fire, as I was quite benumbed with cold. The old woman took
out a piece of seal, holding one part of it between her feet, and the
other end in her teeth, and then cut off some thin slices with a sharp
shell, and distributed them about to the other Indians. She then put
a bit on the fire, taking a piece of fat in her mouth, which she kept
chewing, every now and then spirting some of it on the piece that was
warming upon the fire; for they never do more with it than warm it
through. When it was ready, she gave me a little bit, which I swallowed
whole, being almost starved. As these Indians were all strangers to me,
I did not know which way they were going; and indeed it was now become
quite indifferent to me which way I went, whether to the northward
or southward, so that they would but take me with them, and give me
something to eat. However, to make them comprehend me, I pointed first
to the southward, and after to the lake, and I soon understood they
were going to the northward. They all went out together, excepting the
sick Indian, and took up the plank of the canoe, which lay near the
wigwam, and carried it to the beach, and presently put it together;
and getting every thing into it, they put me to the oar. We rowed
across the lake to the mouth of a very rapid river, where we put
ashore for that night, not daring to get any way down in the dark;
as it required the greatest skill, even in the day, to avoid running
foul of the stumps and roots of trees, of which this river was full.
I passed a melancholy night, as they would not suffer me to come near
the wigwam they had made; nor did they give me the least bit of any
one thing to eat since we embarked. In the morning we set off again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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