SETTLEMENT AT VVOOLLYA. 285 



they looked like so many demoniacs who had been 

 fighting. We then proceeded (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 seem 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. Cap- 

 tain Fitz Roy originally intended, as before stated, 

 to have taken York INIinster and Fuegia to their o^vn 

 tribe on the west coast ; but as they expressed a 

 wish to remain here, and as the spot was singular- 

 ly favourable, Captain Fitz Roy determined to 

 settle here the whole party, including Matthews 

 the missionary. Five days were sj)ent in building 

 for them three large wigwams, in landing their 

 goods, in digging two gardens, and sowing seeds, 



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, moreover, a strikmg fact in the geographical distribution of 

 the infusoria, which are well known to have very wide ranges, 

 that all the species in this substance, although brought from the 

 extreme southern point of Tierra del Fuego, are old, known forms. 



