CHJ*?. x.] GLACIERS ENTERING THE SEA. 163 



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 ot 

 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 firearms. 

 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 under- 

 ground. 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 shown to strangers their 

 plunder, and their manner of obtaining it. It was quite melancholy 



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