160 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP, x 



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,* and red, they 

 looked like so many demoniacs who had been fighting. We then pro- 

 ceeded (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 seen 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 recognized 



* 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) th at ^ is composed of infusoria, including four- 

 teen 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, more- 

 over, a striking fact in the geographical distribution of the infusoria, which 

 are well known to have very wide ranges, that all the species in this 

 substarce, although brought from the extreme southern point of Tierra del 

 Fucgo, are old, known forms. 



