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Abstract: The writer characterises this article as a "geographical chat", but it is mainly devoted to a description of the canoe nomads of Tierra del Fuego. The source of his information is said to be an article written by a survivor of a wrecked ship who spent two months there before being rescued.

Assessment: This article appeared in a regular column of the "Otago Witness" newspaper. The description of the natives is uniformly disparaging. They are "apologies for human beings", "hideously ugly and grossly stupid"; their cannibalism extends to the "oldest woman in the company", while "white folk" are a "special dish only procurable on occasions". All in all, his words and ideas are chosen to shock and revolt the sensitivity of the reader, while enhancing his/her sense of racial superiority. The ship whose survivors were "reduced to the last straits" may possibly be the Golden Hind, wrecked in 1872. A comparison of the text suggests that the article mentioned by the author was either one published in the January 1893 edition of the "Fortnightly Review", under the title of "The Land of Fire. A Visit to Tierra del Fuego", or a commentary on the same by the "Review of Reviews".

[For Rev. Thomas Bridges's opinion on the alleged strangulation of old women,
see http://patlibros.org/tdf/doc.php#strangulation]