At Home with the Patagonians
A Year's Wanderings over Untrodden Ground from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio Negro

This instructive 1871 work records a year spent among native Patagonians, covering the customs of the Tehuelche people in particular.

George Chaworth Musters (Author)

9781108066792, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2013

368 pages, 8 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

Orphaned by the age of four, George Chaworth Musters (1841–79) joined the Royal Navy at thirteen, served with distinction during the Crimean War, and reached the rank of commander. Having been stationed on the coast of South America, during which time he read up on Darwin's voyage in the Beagle, he pursued in 1869 his aim of travelling through the south of the continent. In this 1871 publication, which earned him the nickname 'the king of Patagonia', Musters records the year he spent among native Patagonians, covering almost 1,400 miles. He gives a detailed account of their customs and daily life, particularly the manners, dress, hunting practices and methods of battle of the Tehuelche people. Featuring a number of vivid engravings, the book did much to reveal this land to Europeans. It remains an instructive text in the history of South American exploration and anthropology.

Preface
1. From the straits to Santa Cruz
2. Santa Cruz
3. The Rio Chico
4. Hennokaik to Teckel
5. Manners and customs of the Tehuelches
6. Teckel to Geylum
7. Las Manzanas
8. Geylum to Patagones
9. The Rio Negro settlements
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]