Christian Mission in Tion'a del Fuego, Febi'uary 18th 1891. 



In response to the kind suíi'gesti(ins of the devoted and able 

 Director of the Museum of La Plata, & with the hope that the 

 information here giveii will prove interesting to many readers, & 

 heli)ful, I now write the following brief account of the Christian 

 Mission so longestabhshed in Tierra del Fuego, and of my work 

 in ronnection with it, & of the present state of that country 

 & its people and its prospects in tiie futura. 



Soma forty yaars ago tha Mission was founded by the zea- 

 lous efforts of Capt. Gardiner R. N. who in a voyage previous- 

 ly made through theMagallan Straits was struck with the mise- 

 rable state of the nativos he then met as regards their igno- 

 rance of God. and the immorality of their lives. So funds had 

 been raised, & an equipment forrncd for beginning the Mission. 

 This consisted of tlie generous founder, a Doctor of medicine, 

 a Catechist, Carpenter, & threo pious Cornish flshermen, with 

 a years' provisions, two new Pinnaces fitted wilh all requisi- 

 tas & two small Boats. The party arrived safely at midsummer 

 and after landing them & their goods, the barque that brought 

 tham resumad her voyage. 



The natives hearing of the wondrous visitors gathered 

 from all sidas in increasing numbers their cupidity rendered 

 them more & more troublesome dangerous, and as none of 

 them knew any English, or tha Englislimen any word of the 

 native language, friendly intercourse became increasingly diffi- 

 cult, and it became avident to the Missionaries that they must 

 either assert their power by using their firearms against the 

 natives, or give up their position & go elsewhere. But by this 

 tima, some months after tlieir arrival, some of them were in 

 very weak health, and so they unhappily determinad to seak 

 an asylum in soma sacluded spot in the country, rather tlian 

 incur the risk of a passage across the ocaan to tha Falklands. 

 So they found their unhappy asylum in Spaniard Harbor, at tha 

 head of Aguirre Bay, whcre they lingered on in daily sickness 



