us at anchor off Pecket's Harbour before we entered the Second Narrow.
Upon our anchoring under Cape Gregory, two or three Patagonians were seen on the beach, and before half an hour had elapsed others joined them. By sunset several toldos, or tents, were erected, and a large party had arrived. When the Adelaide first went to Pecket's Harbour, Mr. Tarn told the Indians that the Adventure would be at Gregory Bay in twenty-five days, and, accidentally, we arrived punctually to the time. The Patagonians must have been on their way to meet us, for they could not have travelled from Pecket's Harbour in the short space of time that we were in sight. To their great mortification, however, we held no communication with them that evening, and the next day the weather was so bad we could not even lower a boat. At noon the wind blew harder than I had ever witnessed; but since we were on good holding-ground, and the water was smooth, no danger was anticipated.
As the snow-squalls cleared off, we looked towards the Patagonians, with the full expectation of seeing their huts blown down:—to our astonishment, they had withstood the storm, although placed in a very exposed situation. We counted twelve or fourteen of them, and judging by our former experience of the number belonging to each, there must have been, at least, one hundred and fifty persons collected. During the gale they kept close; and it was only now and then that a solitary individual was observed to go from one toldo to another.
The weather having moderated, the Beagle and Adelaide joined us on the following day. They rode the gale out, without accident, off the entrance of Pecket's Harbour. The next morning being fine, we prepared to proceed; but previous to weighing I landed, and communicated with our old acquaintances. Maria was with them, and, if possible, dirtier, and more avaricious than ever. We collected the guanaco meat they had brought for us; distributed a few parting presents, and then returned on board.
The Adelaide brought sixteen hundred pounds of meat, which, with what was first obtained, amounted to four thousand
pounds weight; and cost altogether ten pounds of tobacco, forty biscuits, and six pocket-knives. At first a biscuit was considered equivalent to forty or fifty pounds of meat; but as the demand increased, the price rose four or five hundred per cent. With the Patagonians were two of Mr. Low's crew, who had left him. They were Portuguese, in a miserable state, and appeared to be thoroughly ashamed of being the companions of such a dirty set: they could not speak English, and could give us very little information. They had not then assumed the Indian garb, although, from the state of their clothes, they would very soon be obliged to adopt it.
At Pecket's Harbour a few words of the native language were collected, which are very different from those given by Falkner, in his description of the Patagonian natives: he says himself, that the language of the northern Indians differs materially from that of the 'Yacana Cunnees.'
During Lieutenant Graves's communication with the natives, at Pecket's Harbour, he obtained some interesting information respecting these Indians, which will be given in a subsequent part of the work.
The Adelaide brought me a few very gratifying additions to my zoological collection, among which was the Zorillo, or Skunk, of the Pampas; differing in no way whatever from the species found about the River Plata, in such numbers as to impregnate the air with their disagreeable odour for many miles around.
I have frequently found the scent of this offensive little animal distinctly perceptible when I was on board the Adventure, lying at anchor about two miles from Monte Video, with the wind blowing from the land.[[112]]