252 THE VOYAGE. ALT AT. 2$. [1834. 



( luxuries of life. Jemmy and his wife paddled away in their 

 canoe loaded with presents, and very happy. The most 

 curious thing is, that Jemmy, instead of recovering his 



I own language, has taught all his friends a little English. 



1 " J. Button's canoe " and " Jemmy's wife come," " Give me 

 knife," &c., was said by several of them. 



We then bore away for this island this little miserable 

 seat of discord. We found that the Gauchos, under pretence 

 of a revolution, had murdered and plundered all the English- 

 men whom they could catch, and some of their own country- 

 men. All the economy at home makes the foreign movements 

 of England most contemptible. How different from old Spain. 

 Here we, dog-in-the-manger fashion, seize an island, and leave 

 to protect it a Union Jack ; the possessor has, of course, been 

 murdered ; we now send a lieutenant with four sailors, without 

 authority or instructions. A man-of-war, however, ventured 

 to leave a party of marines, and by their assistance, and the 

 treachery of some of the party, the murderers have all been 

 taken, there being now as many prisoners as inhabitants. 

 This island must some day become a very important halting- 

 place in the most turbulent sea in the world. It is mid-way 

 between Australia and the South Sea to England ; between 

 Chili, Peru, &c., and the Rio Plata and the Rio de Janeiro. 

 There are fine harbours, plenty of fresh water, and good 

 beef. It would doubtless produce the coarser vegetables. 

 In other respects it is a wretched place. A little time 

 since, I rode across the island, and returned in four days. 

 My excursion would have been longer, but during the 

 whole time it blew a gale of wind, with hail and snow. 

 There is no fire-wood bigger than heath, and the whole 

 country is, more or less, an elastic peat-bog. Sleeping out 

 at night was too miserable work to endure it for all the 

 rocks in South America. 



We shall leave this scene of iniquity in two or three days, 

 and go to the Rio de la Sta. Cruz. One of the objects is to 



