TIERRA DEL FUEGO
Tierra del Fuego, first arrival--Good Success Bay--An Account of the
Fuegians on board--Interview With the Savages--Scenery of the
Forests--Cape Horn--Wigwam Cove--Miserable Condition of the
Savages--Famines--Cannibals--Matricide--Religious Feelings--Great
Gale--Beagle Channel--Ponsonby Sound--Build Wigwams and settle the
Fuegians--Bifurcation of the Beagle Channel--Glaciers--Return to the
Ship--Second Visit in the Ship to the Settlement--Equality of Condition
amongst the Natives.
DECEMBER 17th, 1832.--Having now finished with Patagonia and the
Falkland Islands, I will describe our first arrival in Tierra del
Fuego. A little after noon we doubled Cape St. Diego, and entered the
famous strait of Le Maire. We kept close to the Fuegian shore, but the
outline of the rugged, inhospitable Statenland was visible amidst the
clouds. In the afternoon we anchored in the Bay of Good Success. While
entering we were saluted in a manner becoming the inhabitants of this
savage land. A group of Fuegians partly concealed by the entangled
forest, were perched on a wild point overhanging the sea; and as we
passed by, they sprang up and waving their tattered cloaks sent forth a
loud and sonorous shout. The savages followed the ship, and just
before dark we saw their fire, and again heard their wild cry. The
harbour consists of a fine piece of water half surrounded by low
rounded mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to the water's edge
by one dense gloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was
sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything I had
ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, and heavy squalls from
the mountains swept past us. It would have been a bad time out at sea,
and we, as well as others, may call this Good Success Bay.
In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with the
Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four natives who were
present advanced to receive us, and began to shout most vehemently,
wishing to direct us where to land. When we were on shore the party
looked rather alarmed, but continued talking and making gestures with
great rapidity. It was without exception the most curious and
interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide
was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than
between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a
greater power of improvement. The chief spokesman was old, and
appeared to be the head of the family; the three others were powerful
young men, about six feet high. The women and children had been sent
away. These Fuegians are a very different race from the stunted,
miserable wretches farther westward; and they seem closely allied to
the famous Patagonians of the Strait of Magellan. Their only garment
consists of a mantle made of guanaco skin, with the wool outside: this
they wear just thrown over their shoulders, leaving their persons as
often exposed as covered. Their skin is of a dirty coppery-red colour.
The old man had a fillet of white feathers tied round his head, which
partly confined his black, coarse, and entangled hair. His face was
crossed by two broad transverse bars; one, painted bright red, reached
from ear to ear and included the upper lip; the other, white like
chalk, extended above and parallel to the first, so that even his
eyelids were thus coloured. The other two men were ornamented by
streaks of black powder, made of charcoal. The party altogether
closely resembled the devils which come on the stage in plays like Der
Freischutz.
Their very attitudes were abject, and the expression of their
countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled. After we had
presented them with some scarlet cloth, which they immediately tied
round their necks, they became good friends. This was shown by the old
man patting our breasts, and making a chuckling kind of noise, as
people do when feeding chickens. I walked with the old man, and this
demonstration of friendship was repeated several times; it was
concluded by three hard slaps, which were given me on the breast and
back at the same time. He then bared his bosom for me to return the
compliment, which being done, he seemed highly pleased. The language
of these people, according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be
called articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his
throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many
hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds.
They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed or yawned, or made
any odd motion, they immediately imitated us. Some of our party began
to squint and look awry; but one of the young Fuegians (whose whole
face was painted black, excepting a white band across his eyes)
succeeded in making far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat with
perfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressed them, and
they remembered such words for some time. Yet we Europeans all know
how difficult it is to distinguish apart the sounds in a foreign
language. Which of us, for instance, could follow an American Indian
through a sentence of more than three words? All savages appear to
possess, to an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told,
almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among the
Caffres; the Australians, likewise, have long been notorious for being
able to imitate and describe the gait of any man, so that he may be
recognized. How can this faculty be explained? is it a consequence of
the more practised habits of perception and keener senses, common to
all men in a savage state, as compared with those long civilized?
When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the Fuegians would
have fallen down with astonishment. With equal surprise they viewed
our dancing; but one of the young men, when asked, had no objection to
a little waltzing. Little accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to
be, yet they knew and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would tempt them
to take a gun in their hands. They begged for knives, calling them by
the Spanish word "cuchilla." They explained also what they wanted, by
acting as if they had a piece of blubber in their mouth, and then
pretending to cut instead of tear it.
I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on board. During
the former voyage of the Adventure and Beagle in 1826 to 1830, Captain
Fitz Roy seized on a party of natives, as hostages for the loss of a
boat, which had been stolen, to the great jeopardy of a party employed
on the survey; and some of these natives, as well as a child whom he
bought for a pearl-button, he took with him to England, determining to
educate them and instruct them in religion at his own expense. To
settle these natives in their own country, was one chief inducement to
Captain Fitz Roy to undertake our present voyage; and before the
Admiralty had resolved to send out this expedition, Captain Fitz Roy
had generously chartered a vessel, and would himself have taken them
back. The natives were accompanied by a missionary, R. Matthews; of
whom and of the natives, Captain Fitz Roy has published a full and
excellent account. Two men, one of whom died in England of the
small-pox, a boy and a little girl, were originally taken; and we had
now on board, York Minster, Jemmy Button (whose name expresses his
purchase-money), and Fuegia Basket. York Minster was a full-grown,
short, thick, powerful man: his disposition was reserved, taciturn,
morose, and when excited violently passionate; his affections were very
strong towards a few friends on board; his intellect good. Jemmy
Button was a universal favourite, but likewise passionate; the
expression of his face at once showed his nice disposition. He was
merry and often laughed, and was remarkably sympathetic with any one in
pain: when the water was rough, I was often a little sea-sick, and he
used to come to me and say in a plaintive voice, "Poor, poor fellow!"
but the notion, after his aquatic life, of a man being sea-sick, was
too ludicrous, and he was generally obliged to turn on one side to hide
a smile or laugh, and then he would repeat his "Poor, poor fellow!" He
was of a patriotic disposition; and he liked to praise his own tribe
and country, in which he truly said there were "plenty of trees," and
he abused all the other tribes: he stoutly declared that there was no
Devil in his land. Jemmy was short, thick, and fat, but vain of his
personal appearance; he used always to wear gloves, his hair was neatly
cut, and he was distressed if his well-polished shoes were dirtied. He
was fond of admiring himself in a looking glass; and a merry-faced
little Indian boy from the Rio Negro, whom we had for some months on
board, soon perceived this, and used to mock him: Jemmy, who was always
rather jealous of the attention paid to this little boy, did not at all
like this, and used to say, with rather a contemptuous twist of his
head, "Too much skylark." It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think
over all his many good qualities that he should have been of the same
race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable,
degraded savages whom we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia Basket was a
nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing but sometimes
sullen expression, and very quick in learning anything, especially
languages. This she showed in picking up some Portuguese and Spanish,
when left on shore for only a short time at Rio de Janeiro and Monte
Video, and in her knowledge of English. York Minster was very jealous
of any attention paid to her; for it was clear he determined to marry
her as soon as they were settled on shore.
Although all three could both speak and understand a good deal of
English, it was singularly difficult to obtain much information from
them, concerning the habits of their countrymen; this was partly owing
to their apparent difficulty in understanding the simplest alternative.
Every one accustomed to very young children, knows how seldom one can
get an answer even to so simple a question as whether a thing is black
or white; the idea of black or white seems alternately to fill their
minds. So it was with these Fuegians, and hence it was generally
impossible to find out, by cross questioning, whether one had rightly
understood anything which they had asserted. Their sight was
remarkably acute; it is well known that sailors, from long practice,
can make out a distant object much better than a landsman; but both
York and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on board: several times
they have declared what some distant object has been, and though
doubted by every one, they have proved right, when it has been examined
through a telescope. They were quite conscious of this power; and
Jemmy, when he had any little quarrel with the officer on watch, would
say, "Me see ship, me no tell."
It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages, when we landed,
towards Jemmy Button: they immediately perceived the difference between
him and ourselves, and held much conversation one with another on the
subject. The old man addressed a long harangue to Jemmy, which it
seems was to invite him to stay with them. But Jemmy understood very
little of their language, and was, moreover, thoroughly ashamed of his
countrymen. When York Minster afterwards came on shore, they noticed
him in the same way, and told him he ought to shave; yet he had not
twenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we all wore our untrimmed
beards. They examined the colour of his skin, and compared it with
ours. One of our arms being bared, they expressed the liveliest
surprise and admiration at its whiteness, just in the same way in which
I have seen the ourangoutang do at the Zoological Gardens. We thought
that they mistook two or three of the officers, who were rather shorter
and fairer, though adorned with large beards, for the ladies of our
party. The tallest amongst the Fuegians was evidently much pleased at
his height being noticed. When placed back to back with the tallest of
the boat's crew, he tried his best to edge on higher ground, and to
stand on tiptoe. He opened his mouth to show his teeth, and turned his
face for a side view; and all this was done with such alacrity, that I
dare say he thought himself the handsomest man in Tierra del Fuego.
After our first feeling of grave astonishment was over, nothing could
be more ludicrous than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which
these savages every moment exhibited.
The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the country. Tierra
del Fuego may be described as a mountainous land, partly submerged in
the sea, so that deep inlets and bays occupy the place where valleys
should exist. The mountain sides, except on the exposed western coast,
are covered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest. The
trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500 feet, and are
succeeded by a band of peat, with minute alpine plants; and this again
is succeeded by the line of perpetual snow, which, according to Captain
King, in the Strait of Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet.
To find an acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare.
I recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, and another of
rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both places, and everywhere
else, the surface is covered by a thick bed of swampy peat. Even within
the forest, the ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying
vegetable matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to the
foot.
Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the wood, I followed
the course of a mountain torrent. At first, from the waterfalls and
number of dead trees, I could hardly crawl along; but the bed of the
stream soon became a little more open, from the floods having swept the
sides. I continued slowly to advance for an hour along the broken and
rocky banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of the scene. The
gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded with the universal signs of
violence. On every side were lying irregular masses of rock and
torn-up trees; other trees, though still erect, were decayed to the
heart and ready to fall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the
fallen reminded me of the forests within the tropics--yet there was a
difference: for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of Life,
seemed the predominant spirit. I followed the water-course till I came
to a spot where a great slip had cleared a straight space down the
mountain side. By this road I ascended to a considerable elevation,
and obtained a good view of the surrounding woods. The trees all
belong to one kind, the Fagus betuloides; for the number of the other
species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quite inconsiderable.
This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year; but its foliage is of
a peculiar brownish-green colour, with a tinge of yellow. As the whole
landscape is thus coloured, it has a sombre, dull appearance; nor is it
often enlivened by the rays of the sun.
December 20th.--One side of the harbour is formed by a hill about 1500
feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called after Sir J. Banks, in
commemoration of his disastrous excursion, which proved fatal to two
men of his party, and nearly so to Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which
was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January,
corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham! I was anxious
to reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants; for
flowers of any kind in the lower parts are few in number. We followed
the same water-course as on the previous day, till it dwindled away,
and we were then compelled to crawl blindly among the trees. These,
from the effects of the elevation and of the impetuous winds, were low,
thick and crooked. At length we reached that which from a distance
appeared like a carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation,
turned out to be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or
five feet high. They were as thick together as box in the border of a
garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but treacherous
surface. After a little more trouble we gained the peat, and then the
bare slate rock.
A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles, and more
lofty, so that patches of snow were lying on it. As the day was not
far advanced, I determined to walk there and collect plants along the
road. It would have been very hard work, had it not been for a
well-beaten and straight path made by the guanacos; for these animals,
like sheep, always follow the same line. When we reached the hill we
found it the highest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters
flowed to the sea in opposite directions. We obtained a wide view over
the surrounding country: to the north a swampy moorland extended, but
to the south we had a scene of savage magnificence, well becoming
Tierra del Fuego. There was a degree of mysterious grandeur in
mountain behind mountain, with the deep intervening valleys, all
covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest. The atmosphere, likewise,
in this climate, where gale succeeds gale, with rain, hail, and sleet,
seems blacker than anywhere else. In the Strait of Magellan looking
due southward from Port Famine, the distant channels between the
mountains appeared from their gloominess to lead beyond the confines of
this world.
December 21st.--The Beagle got under way: and on the succeeding day,
favoured to an uncommon degree by a fine easterly breeze, we closed in
with the Barnevelts, and running past Cape Deceit with its stony peaks,
about three o'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape Horn. The evening
was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of the surrounding
isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, and before night sent
us a gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood out to sea, and on
the second day again made the land, when we saw on our weather-bow this
notorious promontory in its proper form--veiled in a mist, and its dim
outline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. Great black clouds
were rolling across the heavens, and squalls of rain, with hail, swept
by us with such extreme violence, that the Captain determined to run
into Wigwam Cove. This is a snug little harbour, not far from Cape
Horn; and here, at Christmas-eve, we anchored in smooth water. The
only thing which reminded us of the gale outside, was every now and
then a puff from the mountains, which made the ship surge at her
anchors.
December 25th.--Close by the Cove, a pointed hill, called Kater's Peak,
rises to the height of 1700 feet. The surrounding islands all consist
of conical masses of greenstone, associated sometimes with less regular
hills of baked and altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra del Fuego
may be considered as the extremity of the submerged chain of mountains
already alluded to. The cove takes its name of "Wigwam" from some of
the Fuegian habitations; but every bay in the neighbourhood might be so
called with equal propriety. The inhabitants, living chiefly upon
shell-fish, are obliged constantly to change their place of residence;
but they return at intervals to the same spots, as is evident from the
piles of old shells, which must often amount to many tons in freight.
These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by the bright green
colour of certain plants, which invariably grow on them. Among these
may be enumerated the wild celery and scurvy grass, two very
serviceable plants, the use of which has not been discovered by the
natives.
The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a haycock. It
merely consists of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and very
imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts of grass and rushes.
The whole cannot be the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few
days. At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one of these naked men had
slept, which absolutely offered no more cover than the form of a hare.
The man was evidently living by himself, and York Minster said he was
"very bad man," and that probably he had stolen something. On the west
coast, however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are covered
with seal-skins. We were detained here several days by the bad
weather. The climate is certainly wretched: the summer solstice was
now passed, yet every day snow fell on the hills, and in the valleys
there was rain, accompanied by sleet. The thermometer generally stood
about 45 degs., but in the night fell to 38 or 40 degs. From the damp
and boisterous state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of
sunshine, one fancied the climate even worse than it really was.
While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, we pulled alongside
a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the most abject and miserable
creatures I anywhere beheld. On the east coast the natives, as we have
seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins.
Amongst these central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin, or
some small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief, which is
barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins. It
is laced across the breast by strings, and according as the wind blows,
it is shifted from side to side. But these Fuegians in the canoe were
quite naked, and even one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was
raining heavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray, trickled
down her body. In another harbour not far distant, a woman, who was
suckling a recently-born child, came one day alongside the vessel, and
remained there out of mere curiosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed
on her naked bosom, and on the skin of her naked baby! These poor
wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed
with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled,
their voices discordant, and their gestures violent. Viewing such men,
one can hardly make one's self believe that they are fellow-creatures,
and inhabitants of the same world. It is a common subject of
conjecture what pleasure in life some of the lower animals can enjoy:
how much more reasonably the same question may be asked with respect to
these barbarians! At night, five or six human beings, naked and
scarcely protected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous climate,
sleep on the wet ground coiled up like animals. Whenever it is low
water, winter or summer, night or day, they must rise to pick
shell-fish from the rocks; and the women either dive to collect
sea-eggs, or sit patiently in their canoes, and with a baited hair-line
without any hook, jerk out little fish. If a seal is killed, or the
floating carcass of a putrid whale is discovered, it is a feast; and
such miserable food is assisted by a few tasteless berries and fungi.
They often suffer from famine: I heard Mr. Low, a sealing-master
intimately acquainted with the natives of this country, give a curious
account of the state of a party of one hundred and fifty natives on the
west coast, who were very thin and in great distress. A succession of
gales prevented the women from getting shell-fish on the rocks, and
they could not go out in their canoes to catch seal. A small party of
these men one morning set out, and the other Indians explained to him,
that they were going a four days' journey for food: on their return,
Low went to meet them, and he found them excessively tired, each man
carrying a great square piece of putrid whale's-blubber with a hole in
the middle, through which they put their heads, like the Gauchos do
through their ponchos or cloaks. As soon as the blubber was brought
into a wigwam, an old man cut off thin slices, and muttering over them,
broiled them for a minute, and distributed them to the famished party,
who during this time preserved a profound silence. Mr. Low believes
that whenever a whale is cast on shore, the natives bury large pieces
of it in the sand, as a resource in time of famine; and a native boy,
whom he had on board, once found a stock thus buried. The different
tribes when at war are cannibals. From the concurrent, but quite
independent evidence of the boy taken by Mr. Low, and of Jemmy Button,
it is certainly true, that when pressed in winter by hunger, they kill
and devour their old women before they kill their dogs: the boy, being
asked by Mr. Low why they did this, answered, "Doggies catch otters,
old women no." This boy described the manner in which they are killed
by being held over smoke and thus choked; he imitated their screams as
a joke, and described the parts of their bodies which are considered
best to eat. Horrid as such a death by the hands of their friends and
relatives must be, the fears of the old women, when hunger begins to
press, are more painful to think of; we are told that they then often
run away into the mountains, but that they are pursued by the men and
brought back to the slaughter-house at their own firesides!
Captain Fitz Roy could never ascertain that the Fuegians have any
distinct belief in a future life. They sometimes bury their dead in
caves, and sometimes in the mountain forests; we do not know what
ceremonies they perform. Jemmy Button would not eat land-birds, because
"eat dead men": they are unwilling even to mention their dead friends.
We have no reason to believe that they perform any sort of religious
worship; though perhaps the muttering of the old man before he
distributed the putrid blubber to his famished party, may be of this
nature. Each family or tribe has a wizard or conjuring doctor, whose
office we could never clearly ascertain. Jemmy believed in dreams,
though not, as I have said, in the devil: I do not think that our
Fuegians were much more superstitious than some of the sailors; for an
old quartermaster firmly believed that the successive heavy gales,
which we encountered off Cape Horn, were caused by our having the
Fuegians on board. The nearest approach to a religious feeling which I
heard of, was shown by York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some very
young ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemn manner, "Oh,
Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much." This was evidently a
retributive punishment for wasting human food. In a wild and excited
manner he also related, that his brother, one day whilst returning to
pick up some dead birds which he had left on the coast, observed some
feathers blown by the wind. His brother said (York imitating his
manner), "What that?" and crawling onwards, he peeped over the cliff,
and saw "wild man" picking his birds; he crawled a little nearer, and
then hurled down a great stone and killed him. York declared for a
long time afterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell. As far
as we could make out, he seemed to consider the elements themselves as
the avenging agents: it is evident in this case, how naturally, in a
race a little more advanced in culture, the elements would become
personified. What the "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me
most mysterious: from what York said, when we found the place like the
form of a hare, where a single man had slept the night before, I should
have thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their
tribes; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes
imagined that the most probable explanation was that they were insane.
The different tribes have no government or chief; yet each is
surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking different dialects, and
separated from each other only by a deserted border or neutral
territory: the cause of their warfare appears to be the means of
subsistence. Their country is a broken mass of wild rocks, lofty
hills, and useless forests: and these are viewed through mists and
endless storms. The habitable land is reduced to the stones on the
beach; in search of food they are compelled unceasingly to wander from
spot to spot, and so steep is the coast, that they can only move about
in their wretched canoes. They cannot know the feeling of having a
home, and still less that of domestic affection; for the husband is to
the wife a brutal master to a laborious slave. Was a more horrid deed
ever perpetrated, than that witnessed on the west coast by Byron, who
saw a wretched mother pick up her bleeding dying infant-boy, whom her
husband had mercilessly dashed on the stones for dropping a basket of
sea-eggs! How little can the higher powers of the mind be brought into
play: what is there for imagination to picture, for reason to compare,
or judgment to decide upon? to knock a limpet from the rock does not
require even cunning, that lowest power of the mind. Their skill in
some respects may be compared to the instinct of animals; for it is not
improved by experience: the canoe, their most ingenious work, poor as
it is, has remained the same, as we know from Drake, for the last two
hundred and fifty years.
Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence have they come? What
could have tempted, or what change compelled a tribe of men, to leave
the fine regions of the north, to travel down the Cordillera or
backbone of America, to invent and build canoes, which are not used by
the tribes of Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and then to enter on one of the
most inhospitable countries within the limits of the globe? Although
such reflections must at first seize on the mind, yet we may feel sure
that they are partly erroneous. There is no reason to believe that the
Fuegians decrease in number; therefore we must suppose that they enjoy
a sufficient share of happiness, of whatever kind it may be, to render
life worth having. Nature by making habit omnipotent, and its effects
hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the climate and the productions
of his miserable country.
After having been detained six days in Wigwam Cove by very bad weather,
we put to sea on the 30th of December. Captain Fitz Roy wished to get
westward to land York and Fuegia in their own country. When at sea we
had a constant succession of gales, and the current was against us: we
drifted to 57 degs. 23' south. On the 11th of January, 1833, by
carrying a press of sail, we fetched within a few miles of the great
rugged mountain of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook, and the
origin of the name of the elder Fuegian), when a violent squall
compelled us to shorten sail and stand out to sea. The surf was
breaking fearfully on the coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff
estimated to 200 feet in height. On the 12th the gale was very heavy,
and we did not know exactly where we were: it was a most unpleasant
sound to hear constantly repeated, "keep a good look-out to leeward."
On the 13th the storm raged with its full fury: our horizon was
narrowly limited by the sheets of spray borne by the wind. The sea
looked ominous, like a dreary waving plain with patches of drifted
snow: whilst the ship laboured heavily, the albatross glided with its
expanded wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea broke over us,
and filled one of the whale boats, which was obliged to be instantly
cut away. The poor Beagle trembled at the shock, and for a few minutes
would not obey her helm; but soon, like a good ship that she was, she
righted and came up to the wind again. Had another sea followed the
first, our fate would have been decided soon, and for ever. We had now
been twenty-four days trying in vain to get westward; the men were worn
out with fatigue, and they had not had for many nights or days a dry
thing to put on. Captain Fitz Roy gave up the attempt to get westward
by the outside coast. In the evening we ran in behind False Cape Horn,
and dropped our anchor in forty-seven fathoms, fire flashing from the
windlass as the chain rushed round it. How delightful was that still
night, after having been so long involved in the din of the warring
elements!
January 15th, 1833.--The Beagle anchored in Goeree Roads. Captain Fitz
Roy having resolved to settle the Fuegians, according to their wishes,
in Ponsonby Sound, four boats were equipped to carry them there through
the Beagle Channel. This channel, which was discovered by Captain Fitz
Roy during the last voyage, is a most remarkable feature in the
geography of this, or indeed of any other country: it may be compared
to the valley of Lochness in Scotland, with its chain of lakes and
friths. It is about one hundred and twenty miles long, with an average
breadth, not subject to any very great variation, of about two miles;
and is throughout the greater part so perfectly straight, that the
view, bounded on each side by a line of mountains, gradually becomes
indistinct in the long distance. It crosses the southern part of
Tierra del Fuego in an east and west line, and in the middle is joined
at right angles on the south side by an irregular channel, which has
been called Ponsonby Sound. This is the residence of Jemmy Button's
tribe and family.
19th.--Three whale-boats and the yawl, with a party of twenty-eight,
started under the command of Captain Fitz Roy. In the afternoon we
entered the eastern mouth of the channel, and shortly afterwards found
a snug little cove concealed by some surrounding islets. Here we
pitched our tents and lighted our fires. Nothing could look more
comfortable than this scene. The glassy water of the little harbour,
with the branches of the trees hanging over the rocky beach, the boats
at anchor, the tents supported by the crossed oars, and the smoke
curling up the wooded valley, formed a picture of quiet retirement. The
next day (20th) we smoothly glided onwards in our little fleet, and
came to a more inhabited district. Few if any of these natives could
ever have seen a white man; certainly nothing could exceed their
astonishment at the apparition of the four boats. Fires were lighted
on every point (hence the name of Tierra del Fuego, or the land of
fire), both to attract our attention and to spread far and wide the
news. Some of the men ran for miles along the shore. I shall never
forget how wild and savage one group appeared: suddenly four or five
men came to the edge of an overhanging cliff; they were absolutely
naked, and their long hair streamed about their faces; they held rugged
staffs in their hands, and, springing from the ground, they waved their
arms round their heads, and sent forth the most hideous yells.
At dinner-time we landed among a party of Fuegians. At first they were
not inclined to be friendly; for until the Captain pulled in ahead of
the other boats, they kept their slings in their hands. We soon,
however, delighted them by trifling presents, such as tying red tape
round their heads. They liked our biscuit: but one of the savages
touched with his finger some of the meat preserved in tin cases which I
was eating, and feeling it soft and cold, showed as much disgust at it,
as I should have done at putrid blubber. Jemmy was thoroughly ashamed
of his countrymen, and declared his own tribe were quite different, in
which he was wofully mistaken. It was as easy to please as it was
difficult to satisfy these savages. Young and old, men and children,
never ceased repeating the word "yammerschooner," which means "give
me." After pointing to almost every object, one after the other, even
to the buttons on our coats, and saying their favourite word in as many
intonations as possible, they would then use it in a neuter sense, and
vacantly repeat "yammerschooner." After yammerschoonering for any
article very eagerly, they would by a simple artifice point to their
young women or little children, as much as to say, "If you will not
give it me, surely you will to such as these."
At night we endeavoured in vain to find an uninhabited cove; and at
last were obliged to bivouac not far from a party of natives. They
were very inoffensive as long as they were few in numbers, but in the
morning (21st) being joined by others they showed symptoms of
hostility, and we thought that we should have come to a skirmish. An
European labours under great disadvantages when treating with savages
like these, who have not the least idea of the power of fire-arms. In
the very act of levelling his musket he appears to the savage far
inferior to a man armed with a bow and arrow, a spear, or even a sling.
Nor is it easy to teach them our superiority except by striking a fatal
blow. Like wild beasts, they do not appear to compare numbers; for
each individual, if attacked, instead of retiring, will endeavour to
dash your brains out with a stone, as certainly as a tiger under
similar circumstances would tear you. Captain Fitz Roy on one occasion
being very anxious, from good reasons, to frighten away a small party,
first flourished a cutlass near them, at which they only laughed; he
then twice fired his pistol close to a native. The man both times
looked astounded, and carefully but quickly rubbed his head; he then
stared awhile, and gabbled to his companions, but he never seemed to
think of running away. We can hardly put ourselves in the position of
these savages, and understand their actions. In the case of this
Fuegian, the possibility of such a sound as the report of a gun close
to his ear could never have entered his mind. He perhaps literally did
not for a second know whether it was a sound or a blow, and therefore
very naturally rubbed his head. In a similar manner, when a savage
sees a mark struck by a bullet, it may be some time before he is able
at all to understand how it is effected; for the fact of a body being
invisible from its velocity would perhaps be to him an idea totally
inconceivable. Moreover, the extreme force of a bullet, that
penetrates a hard substance without tearing it, may convince the savage
that it has no force at all. Certainly I believe that many savages of
the lowest grade, such as these of Tierra del Fuego, have seen objects
struck, and even small animals killed by the musket, without being in
the least aware how deadly an instrument it is.
22nd.--After having passed an unmolested night, in what would appear to
be neutral territory between Jemmy's tribe and the people whom we saw
yesterday, we sailed pleasantly along. I do not know anything which
shows more clearly the hostile state of the different tribes, than
these wide border or neutral tracts. Although Jemmy Button well knew
the force of our party, he was, at first, unwilling to land amidst the
hostile tribe nearest to his own. He often told us how the savage Oens
men "when the leaf red," crossed the mountains from the eastern coast
of Tierra del Fuego, and made inroads on the natives of this part of
the country. It was most curious to watch him when thus talking, and
see his eyes gleaming and his whole face assume a new and wild
expression. As we proceeded along the Beagle Channel, the scenery
assumed a peculiar and very magnificent character; but the effect was
much lessened from the lowness of the point of view in a boat, and from
looking along the valley, and thus losing all the beauty of a
succession of ridges. The mountains were here about three thousand
feet high, and terminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose in one
unbroken sweep from the water's edge, and were covered to the height of
fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-coloured forest. It was
most curious to observe, as far as the eye could range, how level and
truly horizontal the line on the mountain side was, at which trees
ceased to grow: it precisely resembled the high-water mark of
drift-weed on a sea-beach.
At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound with the
Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, who were living in the
cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soon joined our party round a
blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting close to the
fire were far from too warm; yet these naked savages, though further
off, were observed, to our great surprise, to be streaming with
perspiration at undergoing such a roasting. They seemed, however, very
well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of the seamen's songs: but
the manner in which they were invariably a little behindhand was quite
ludicrous.
During the night the news had spread, and early in the morning (23rd) a
fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika, or Jemmy's tribe.
Several of them had run so fast that their noses were bleeding, and
their mouths frothed from the rapidity with which they talked; and with
their naked bodies all bedaubed with black, white, [1] and red, they
looked like so many demoniacs who had been fighting. We then proceeded
(accompanied by twelve canoes, each holding four or five people) down
Ponsonby Sound to the spot where poor Jemmy expected to find his mother
and relatives. He had already heard that his father was dead; but as
he had had a "dream in his head" to that effect, he did not seem to
care much about it, and repeatedly comforted himself with the very
natural reflection--"Me no help it." He was not able to learn any
particulars regarding his father's death, as his relations would not
speak about it.
Jemmy was now in a district well known to him, and guided the boats to
a quiet pretty cove named Woollya, surrounded by islets, every one of
which and every point had its proper native name. We found here a
family of Jemmy's tribe, but not his relations: we made friends with
them; and in the evening they sent a canoe to inform Jemmy's mother and
brothers. The cove was bordered by some acres of good sloping land,
not covered (as elsewhere) either by peat or by forest-trees. Captain
Fitz Roy originally intended, as before stated, to have taken York
Minster and Fuegia to their own tribe on the west coast; but as they
expressed a wish to remain here, and as the spot was singularly
favourable, Captain Fitz Roy determined to settle here the whole party,
including Matthews, the missionary. Five days were spent in building
for them three large wigwams, in landing their goods, in digging two
gardens, and sowing seeds.
The next morning after our arrival (the 24th) the Fuegians began to
pour in, and Jemmy's mother and brothers arrived. Jemmy recognised the
stentorian voice of one of his brothers at a prodigious distance. The
meeting was less interesting than that between a horse, turned out into
a field, when he joins an old companion. There was no demonstration of
affection; they simply stared for a short time at each other; and the
mother immediately went to look after her canoe. We heard, however,
through York that the mother has been inconsolable for the loss of
Jemmy and had searched everywhere for him, thinking that he might have
been left after having been taken in the boat. The women took much
notice of and were very kind to Fuegia. We had already perceived that
Jemmy had almost forgotten his own language. I should think there was
scarcely another human being with so small a stock of language, for his
English was very imperfect. It was laughable, but almost pitiable, to
hear him speak to his wild brother in English, and then ask him in
Spanish ("no sabe?") whether he did not understand him.
Everything went on peaceably during the three next days whilst the
gardens were digging and wigwams building. We estimated the number of
natives at about one hundred and twenty. The women worked hard, whilst
the men lounged about all day long, watching us. They asked for
everything they saw, and stole what they could. They were delighted at
our dancing and singing, and were particularly interested at seeing us
wash in a neighbouring brook; they did not pay much attention to
anything else, not even to our boats. Of all the things which York
saw, during his absence from his country, nothing seems more to have
astonished him than an ostrich, near Maldonado: breathless with
astonishment he came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was out
walking--"Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse!" Much as our white
skins surprised the natives, by Mr. Low's account a negro-cook to a
sealing vessel, did so more effectually, and the poor fellow was so
mobbed and shouted at that he would never go on shore again.
Everything went on so quietly that some of the officers and myself took
long walks in the surrounding hills and woods. Suddenly, however, on
the 27th, every woman and child disappeared. We were all uneasy at
this, as neither York nor Jemmy could make out the cause. It was
thought by some that they had been frightened by our cleaning and
firing off our muskets on the previous evening; by others, that it was
owing to offence taken by an old savage, who, when told to keep further
off, had coolly spit in the sentry's face, and had then, by gestures
acted over a sleeping Fuegian, plainly showed, as it was said, that he
should like to cut up and eat our man. Captain Fitz Roy, to avoid the
chance of an encounter, which would have been fatal to so many of the
Fuegians, thought it advisable for us to sleep at a cove a few miles
distant. Matthews, with his usual quiet fortitude (remarkable in a man
apparently possessing little energy of character), determined to stay
with the Fuegians, who evinced no alarm for themselves; and so we left
them to pass their first awful night.
On our return in the morning (28th) we were delighted to find all
quiet, and the men employed in their canoes spearing fish. Captain
Fitz Roy determined to send the yawl and one whale-boat back to the
ship; and to proceed with the two other boats, one under his own
command (in which he most kindly allowed me to accompany him), and one
under Mr. Hammond, to survey the western parts of the Beagle Channel,
and afterwards to return and visit the settlement. The day to our
astonishment was overpoweringly hot, so that our skins were scorched:
with this beautiful weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle
Channel was very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object
intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between the
mountains. The circumstance of its being an arm of the sea was
rendered very evident by several huge whales [2] spouting in different
directions. On one occasion I saw two of these monsters, probably male
and female, slowly swimming one after the other, within less than a
stone's throw of the shore, over which the beech-tree extended its
branches. We sailed on till it was dark, and then pitched our tents in
a quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our beds a beach of
pebbles, for they were dry and yielded to the body. Peaty soil is
damp; rock is uneven and hard; sand gets into one's meat, when cooked
and eaten boat-fashion; but when lying in our blanket-bags, on a good
bed of smooth pebbles, we passed most comfortable nights.
It was my watch till one o'clock. There is something very solemn in
these scenes. At no time does the consciousness in what a remote
corner of the world you are then standing, come so strongly before the
mind. Everything tends to this effect; the stillness of the night is
interrupted only by the heavy breathing of the seamen beneath the
tents, and sometimes by the cry of a night-bird. The occasional
barking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds one that it is the
land of the savage.
January 20th.--Early in the morning we arrived at the point where the
Beagle Channel divides into two arms; and we entered the northern one.
The scenery here becomes even grander than before. The lofty mountains
on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country
and boldly rise to a height of between three and four thousand feet,
with one peak above six thousand feet. They are covered by a wide
mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters,
through the woods, into the narrow channel below. In many parts,
magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to the water's edge.
It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the
beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with
the dead white of the upper expanse of snow. The fragments which had
fallen from the glacier into the water were floating away, and the
channel with its icebergs presented, for the space of a mile, a
miniature likeness of the Polar Sea. The boats being hauled on shore
at our dinner-hour, we were admiring from the distance of half a mile a
perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing that some more fragments
would fall. At last, down came a mass with a roaring noise, and
immediately we saw the smooth outline of a wave travelling towards us.
The men ran down as quickly as they could to the boats; for the chance
of their being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the seamen just
caught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker reached it: he was
knocked over and over, but not hurt, and the boats though thrice lifted
on high and let fall again, received no damage. This was most
fortunate for us, for we were a hundred miles distant from the ship,
and we should have been left without provisions or fire-arms. I had
previously observed that some large fragments of rock on the beach had
been lately displaced; but until seeing this wave, I did not understand
the cause. One side of the creek was formed by a spur of mica-slate;
the head by a cliff of ice about forty feet high; and the other side by
a promontory fifty feet high, built up of huge rounded fragments of
granite and mica-slate, out of which old trees were growing. This
promontory was evidently a moraine, heaped up at a period when the
glacier had greater dimensions.
When we reached the western mouth of this northern branch of the Beagle
Channel, we sailed amongst many unknown desolate islands, and the
weather was wretchedly bad. We met with no natives. The coast was
almost everywhere so steep, that we had several times to pull many
miles before we could find space enough to pitch our two tents: one
night we slept on large round boulders, with putrefying sea-weed
between them; and when the tide rose, we had to get up and move our
blanket-bags. The farthest point westward which we reached was Stewart
Island, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles from our ship.
We returned into the Beagle Channel by the southern arm, and thence
proceeded, with no adventure, back to Ponsonby Sound.
February 6th.--We arrived at Woollya. Matthews gave so bad an account
of the conduct of the Fuegians, that Captain Fitz Roy determined to
take him back to the Beagle; and ultimately he was left at New Zealand,
where his brother was a missionary. From the time of our leaving, a
regular system of plunder commenced; fresh parties of the natives kept
arriving: York and Jemmy lost many things, and Matthews almost
everything which had not been concealed underground. Every article
seemed to have been torn up and divided by the natives. Matthews
described the watch he was obliged always to keep as most harassing;
night and day he was surrounded by the natives, who tried to tire him
out by making an incessant noise close to his head. One day an old
man, whom Matthews asked to leave his wigwam, immediately returned with
a large stone in his hand: another day a whole party came armed with
stones and stakes, and some of the younger men and Jemmy's brother were
crying: Matthews met them with presents. Another party showed by signs
that they wished to strip him naked and pluck all the hairs out of his
face and body. I think we arrived just in time to save his life.
Jemmy's relatives had been so vain and foolish, that they had showed to
strangers their plunder, and their manner of obtaining it. It was
quite melancholy leaving the three Fuegians with their savage
countrymen; but it was a great comfort that they had no personal fears.
York, being a powerful resolute man, was pretty sure to get on well,
together with his wife Fuegia. Poor Jemmy looked rather disconsolate,
and would then, I have little doubt, have been glad to have returned
with us. His own brother had stolen many things from him; and as he
remarked, "What fashion call that:" he abused his countrymen, "all bad
men, no sabe (know) nothing" and, though I never heard him swear
before, "damned fools." Our three Fuegians, though they had been only
three years with civilized men, would, I am sure, have been glad to
have retained their new habits; but this was obviously impossible. I
fear it is more than doubtful, whether their visit will have been of
any use to them.
In the evening, with Matthews on board, we made sail back to the ship,
not by the Beagle Channel, but by the southern coast. The boats were
heavily laden and the sea rough, and we had a dangerous passage. By
the evening of the 7th we were on board the Beagle after an absence of
twenty days, during which time we had gone three hundred miles in the
open boats. On the 11th, Captain Fitz Roy paid a visit by himself to
the Fuegians and found them going on well; and that they had lost very
few more things.
On the last day of February in the succeeding year (1834) the Beagle
anchored in a beautiful little cove at the eastern entrance of the
Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Roy determined on the bold, and as it
proved successful, attempt to beat against the westerly winds by the
same route, which we had followed in the boats to the settlement at
Woollya. We did not see many natives until we were near Ponsonby Sound,
where we were followed by ten or twelve canoes. The natives did not at
all understand the reason of our tacking, and, instead of meeting us at
each tack, vainly strove to follow us in our zigzag course. I was
amused at finding what a difference the circumstance of being quite
superior in force made, in the interest of beholding these savages.
While in the boats I got to hate the very sound of their voices, so
much trouble did they give us. The first and last word was
"yammerschooner." When, entering some quiet little cove, we have looked
round and thought to pass a quiet night, the odious word
"yammerschooner" has shrilly sounded from some gloomy nook, and then
the little signal-smoke has curled up to spread the news far and wide.
On leaving some place we have said to each other, "Thank heaven, we
have at last fairly left these wretches!" when one more faint hallo
from an all-powerful voice, heard at a prodigious distance, would reach
our ears, and clearly could we distinguish--"yammerschooner." But now,
the more Fuegians the merrier; and very merry work it was. Both
parties laughing, wondering, gaping at each other; we pitying them, for
giving us good fish and crabs for rags, etc.; they grasping at the
chance of finding people so foolish as to exchange such splendid
ornaments for a good supper. It was most amusing to see the
undisguised smile of satisfaction with which one young woman with her
face painted black, tied several bits of scarlet cloth round her head
with rushes. Her husband, who enjoyed the very universal privilege in
this country of possessing two wives, evidently became jealous of all
the attention paid to his young wife; and, after a consultation with
his naked beauties, was paddled away by them.
Some of the Fuegians plainly showed that they had a fair notion of
barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuable present) without
making any signs for a return; but he immediately picked out two fish,
and handed them up on the point of his spear. If any present was
designed for one canoe, and it fell near another, it was invariably
given to the right owner. The Fuegian boy, whom Mr. Low had on board
showed, by going into the most violent passion, that he quite
understood the reproach of being called a liar, which in truth he was.
We were this time, as on all former occasions, much surprised at the
little notice, or rather none whatever, which was taken of many things,
the use of which must have been evident to the natives. Simple
circumstances--such as the beauty of scarlet cloth or blue beads, the
absence of women, our care in washing ourselves,--excited their
admiration far more than any grand or complicated object, such as our
ship. Bougainville has well remarked concerning these people, that
they treat the "chefs d'oeuvre de l'industrie humaine, comme ils
traitent les loix de la nature et ses phenomenes."
On the 5th of March, we anchored in a cove at Woollya, but we saw not a
soul there. We were alarmed at this, for the natives in Ponsonby Sound
showed by gestures, that there had been fighting; and we afterwards
heard that the dreaded Oens men had made a descent. Soon a canoe, with
a little flag flying, was seen approaching, with one of the men in it
washing the paint off his face. This man was poor Jemmy,--now a thin,
haggard savage, with long disordered hair, and naked, except a bit of
blanket round his waist. We did not recognize him till he was close to
us, for he was ashamed of himself, and turned his back to the ship. We
had left him plump, fat, clean, and well-dressed;--I never saw so
complete and grievous a change. As soon, however, as he was clothed,
and the first flurry was over, things wore a good appearance. He dined
with Captain Fitz Roy, and ate his dinner as tidily as formerly. He
told us that he had "too much" (meaning enough) to eat, that he was not
cold, that his relations were very good people, and that he did not
wish to go back to England: in the evening we found out the cause of
this great change in Jemmy's feelings, in the arrival of his young and
nice-looking wife. With his usual good feeling he brought two
beautiful otter-skins for two of his best friends, and some spear-heads
and arrows made with his own hands for the Captain. He said he had
built a canoe for himself, and he boasted that he could talk a little
of his own language! But it is a most singular fact, that he appears
to have taught all his tribe some English: an old man spontaneously
announced "Jemmy Button's wife." Jemmy had lost all his property. He
told us that York Minster had built a large canoe, and with his wife
Fuegia, [3] had several months since gone to his own country, and had
taken farewell by an act of consummate villainy; he persuaded Jemmy and
his mother to come with him, and then on the way deserted them by
night, stealing every article of their property.
Jemmy went to sleep on shore, and in the morning returned, and remained
on board till the ship got under way, which frightened his wife, who
continued crying violently till he got into his canoe. He returned
loaded with valuable property. Every soul on board was heartily sorry
to shake hands with him for the last time. I do not now doubt that he
will be as happy as, perhaps happier than, if he had never left his own
country. Every one must sincerely hope that Captain Fitz Roy's noble
hope may be fulfilled, of being rewarded for the many generous
sacrifices which he made for these Fuegians, by some shipwrecked sailor
being protected by the descendants of Jemmy Button and his tribe! When
Jemmy reached the shore, he lighted a signal fire, and the smoke curled
up, bidding us a last and long farewell, as the ship stood on her
course into the open sea.
The perfect equality among the individuals composing the Fuegian tribes
must for a long time retard their civilization. As we see those
animals, whose instinct compels them to live in society and obey a
chief, are most capable of improvement, so is it with the races of
mankind. Whether we look at it as a cause or a consequence, the more
civilized always have the most artificial governments. For instance,
the inhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first discovered, were governed
by hereditary kings, had arrived at a far higher grade than another
branch of the same people, the New Zealanders,--who, although benefited
by being compelled to turn their attention to agriculture, were
republicans in the most absolute sense. In Tierra del Fuego, until
some chief shall arise with power sufficient to secure any acquired
advantage, such as the domesticated animals, it seems scarcely possible
that the political state of the country can be improved. At present,
even a piece of cloth given to one is torn into shreds and distributed;
and no one individual becomes richer than another. On the other hand,
it is difficult to understand how a chief can arise till there is
property of some sort by which he might manifest his superiority and
increase his power.
I believe, in this extreme part of South America, man exists in a lower
state of improvement than in any other part of the world. The South
Sea Islanders, of the two races inhabiting the Pacific, are
comparatively civilized. The Esquimau in his subterranean hut, enjoys
some of the comforts of life, and in his canoe, when fully equipped,
manifests much skill. Some of the tribes of Southern Africa prowling
about in search of roots, and living concealed on the wild and arid
plains, are sufficiently wretched. The Australian, in the simplicity
of the arts of life, comes nearest the Fuegian: he can, however, boast
of his boomerang, his spear and throwing-stick, his method of climbing
trees, of tracking animals, and of hunting. Although the Australian
may be superior in acquirements, it by no means follows that he is
likewise superior in mental capacity: indeed, from what I saw of the
Fuegians when on board and from what I have read of the Australians, I
should think the case was exactly the reverse.
[1] This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little
specific gravity: Professor Ehrenberg has examined it: he states (Konig
Akad. der Wissen: Berlin, Feb. 1845) that it is composed of infusoria,
including fourteen polygastrica, and four phytolitharia. He says that
they are all inhabitants of fresh-water; this is a beautiful example of
the results obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg's microscopic
researches; for Jemmy Button told me that it is always collected at the
bottoms of mountain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact that in
the geographical distribution of the infusoria, which are well known to
have very wide ranges, that all the species in this substance, although
brought from the extreme southern point of Tierra del Fuego, are old,
known forms.
[2] One day, off the East coast of Tierra del Fuego, we saw a grand
sight in several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the
water, with the exception of their tail-fins. As they fell down
sideways, they splashed the water high up, and the sound reverberated
like a distant broadside.
[3] Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been
employed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard from a sealer in
(1842?), that when in the western part of the Strait of Magellan, he
was astonished by a native woman coming on board, who could talk some
English. Without doubt this was Fuega Basket. She lived (I fear the
term probably bears a double interpretation) some days on board.