228 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [_ CHAP - x - 



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 our- 

 selves, 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 " ehef- 

 d'oeuvres de l'industrie humaine, comme ils traitent les loix de 

 la nature et ses phenomenes." 



On the 5th of March, we anchored in the 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 a blanket round his waist. We did not recognise him till 

 lie 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 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,* had several months since gone to his own 



* Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been em- 

 ployed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard from a sealer in (1842 ?), 



