CHAP, x.] ASTONISHMENT OF NATIVES AT FIRE-ARMS. 209 



position of these savages, and understand their actions. In the 

 case of this Fuegian, the possibility of such a sound as the report 

 of a guu close to his ear could never have entered his mind. He 

 perhaps literally did not far a second know whether it was a sound 

 or a blow, and therefore very naturally rubbed his head. In a 

 similar manner, when a savage sees a mark struck by a bullet, it 

 may be some time before he is able at all to understand how it is 

 effected ; for the fact of a body being invisible from its velocity 

 would perhaps be to him an idea totally inconceivable. Moreover, 

 the extreme force of a bullet, that penetrates a hard substance 

 without tearing it, may convince the savage that it has no force at 

 all. Certainly I believe that many savages of the lowest grade, 

 such as these of Tierra del Fuego, have seen objects struck, and 

 even small animals killed by the musket, without being in the least 

 aware how deadly an instrument it is. 



22nc?. After having passed an unmolested night, in what would 

 appear to be neutral territory between Jemmy's tribe and the 

 people whom we saw yesterday, we sailed pleasantly along. I do 

 not know anything which shows more clearly the hostile state of 

 the different tribes, than these -wide border or neutral tracts. 

 Although Jemmy Button well knew the force of our party, he was, 

 at first, unwilling to land amidst the hostile tribe nearest to his 

 own. He often told us how the savage Oens men " when the leaf 

 red," crossed the mountains from the eastern coast of Tierra del 

 Fuego, and made inroads on the natives of this part of the country. 

 It was most curious to watch him when thus talking, and see his 

 eyes gleaming and his whole face assume a new and wild expression. 

 As we proceeded along the Beagle Channel, the scenery assumed 

 a peculiar and very magnificent character ; but the effect was much 

 lessened from the lowness of the point of view in a boat, and from 

 looking along the valley, and thus losing all the beauty of a 

 succession of ridges. The mountains were here about three thousand 

 feet high, and terminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose 

 in one unbroken sweep from the water's edge, and were covered to 

 the height of fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-coloured 

 forest. It was most curious to observe, as far as the eye could 

 range, how level and truly horizontal the lineoa the mountain side 

 was, at which trees ceased to grow : it precisely resembled the high- 

 water mark of drift-weed on a sea-beach. 



At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound with 



