CHAP, x.] FUEGIANS. 16$ 



head with rushes. Her husband, who enjoyed the very universal 

 privilege in this country of possessing two wives, evidently became 

 jealous of all the attention paid to his young wife ; and, after a con- 

 sultation with his naked beauties, was paddled away by them. 



Some of the Fuegians plainly showed that they had a fair notion of 

 barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuable present) without 

 making any signs for a return ; but he immediately picked out two 

 fish, and handed them up on the point of his spear. If any present 

 was designed for one canoe, and it fell near another, it was invariably 

 given to the right owner. The Fuegian boy, whom Mr. Low had on 

 board, showed, by going into the most violent passion, that he quite 

 understood the reproach of being called a liar, which in truth he was. 

 We were this time, as on all former occasions, much surprised at the 

 little notice, or rather none whatever, which was taken of many 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 ourselves, excited their admira- 

 tion far more than any grand or complicated object, such as our ship. 

 Bougainville has well remarked concerning these people, that they 

 treat the " chef-d'ceuvres de 1'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 recognize him till he was close to us ; for he was ashamed of him- 

 self, 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 

 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 ?), 



