The forests are so impenetrable that the land is nowhere cultivated except near the coast and on the adjoining islets.

Even where paths exist, they are scarcely passable from the soft and swampy state of the soil.

The inhabitants, like those of Tierra del Fuego, move about chiefly on the beach or in boats.

Although with plenty to eat, the people are very poor: there is no demand for labour, and consequently the lower orders cannot scrape together money sufficient to purchase even the smallest luxuries.

There is also a great deficiency of a circulating medium.