The Diggers have been given that name in consequence of it being their custom to live chiefly upon roots, or whatever other food they can obtain by digging. They also find a scanty support from grass, seeds and locusts. They have been occasionally met wandering in Utah in a naked and half-starved condition. It is not possible to imagine human beings to be in a lower or more harsh state of existence. Misery and want do not however appear to influence the natural buoyancy and cheerfulness of these nomads. Possibly their freedom, the constant occupation of searching the hills and deserts for subsistence, and their unconstrained life, give them compensation for the hardships that they are forced to endure. There is only one other race that I have seen living under similar conditions of continuous want and wretchedness, with whom the struggles for bare existence are equally severe. That unfortunate people are the Fuegians, who wander in search of food upon the rugged coasts of Tierra del Fuego. When passing through the Straits of Magellan in H.M.S. Pearl in January, 1877, we saw several families of the natives in Churruca Bay occupying wretched wigwams, placed close to the water’s edge. Some of them embarked in their canoes and came alongside to ask for food and tobacco. They appeared to be in a half-starved and emaciated state, and were sustaining life upon mussel and edible roots. The medical officers of the ship measured the men, as I wished to ascertain their size and weight as compared with the Patagonians dwelling upon the opposite shores of the Straits. It was found that the height of these Fuegians was between four feet nine inches and five feet two inches. The average stature was under five feet. The measurements round the chest were comparatively large, being thirty-four to thirty-five inches. We afterwards anchored in Gregory Bay, Patagonia. As soon as we were observed, a numerous tribe of Patagonians rode down to the beach, and pitched their tents opposite the ship. Several of the chiefs came on board and subsequently allowed themselves to be weighed and measured. It was ascertained that their average height was five feet eleven inches, and their chest measurements averaged forty-four inches. Their weights averaged two hundred and thirty-two pounds. The contrast in the physical condition between the Patagonians and Fuegians is extraordinary when it is considered that only a narrow channel of water, easily traversed by canoes, separates them. It is probable that the Utes, Shoshones and Fuegians may have been forced by adverse circumstances to retreat to the inhospitable regions in which they live. No race would willingly accept or undergo such unchangeable hardships. CHAPTER VIII.