208 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [chap. x. 



serable, 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 in- 

 formation from them, concerning the habits of their countrymen : 

 this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty in understand- 

 ing 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 under- 

 stood anything which they had asserted. Their sight was re- 

 markably acute : it is well known that sailors, from long prac- 

 tice, 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 ob- 

 ject 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 con- 

 versation one with another on the subject. The old man ad- 

 dressed 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 



