210 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x. 



the Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, who were living 

 in the cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soon joined our party 

 round a blazing fire. We were well clothed, and though sitting 

 close to the fire were far from too warm ; yet these naked savages, 

 though further off, were observed, to our great surprise, to be 

 streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting. They 

 seemed, however, very well pleased, and all joined in the chorus of 

 the seamen's songs : but the manner in which they were invariably 

 a little behindhand was quite ludicrous. 



During the night the news had spread, and early in the morn- 

 ing (23rd) a fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika, or 

 Jemmy's tribe. Several of them had run so fast that their noses 

 were bleeding, and their mouths frothed from the rapidity with 

 which they talked; and with their naked bodies all dedaubed with 

 black, white,* and red, 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 

 tw 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 



* This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little specific 

 gravity : Professor Ehrenberg has examined it : he states (Konig Akad. 

 der Wissun : Berlin, Feb. 1845) that it is composed of infusoria, including 

 fourteen polyuaslrica. and four phytolitliaria. He pays that they are all 

 inhabitants of fresh-water; this is 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 moun- 

 tain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact in the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the infusoriii, 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 Fucgo, are old, known forms. 



