242 CHARLES DARWIN 



and foolish, that they had showed to strangers their plun- 

 der, and their manner of obtaining it. It was quite melan- 

 choly leaving the three Fuegians with their savage country- 

 men; but it was a great comfort that they had no personal 

 fears. York, being a powerful resolute man, was pretty sure 

 to get on well, together with his wife Fuegia. Poor Jemmy 

 looked rather disconsolate, and would then, I have little 

 doubt, have been glad to have returned with us. His own 

 brother had stolen many things from him; and as he re- 

 marked, "What fashion call that:" he abused his country- 

 men, " all bad men, no sabe (know) nothing." and, though 

 I never heard him swear before, " damned fools." Our three 

 Fuegians, though they had been only three years with civil- 

 ized men, would, I am sure, have been glad to have retained 

 their new habits; but this was obviously impossible. I fear 

 it is more than doubtful, whether their visit will have been 

 of any use to them. 



In the evening, with Matthews on board, we made sail 

 back to the ship, not by the Beagle Channel, but by the 

 southern coast. The boats were heavily laden and the sea 

 rough, and we had a dangerous passage. By the evening 

 of the 7th we were on board the Beagle after an absence of 

 twenty days, during which time we had gone three hundred 

 miles in the open boats. On the nth, Captain Fitz Roy 

 paid a visit by himself to the Fuegians and found them going 

 on well ; and that they had lost very few more things. 



On the last day of February in the succeeding year (1834), 

 the Beagle anchored in a beautiful little cove at the eastern 

 entrance of the Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Roy deter- 

 mined on the bold, and as it proved successful, attempt to 

 beat against the westerly winds by the same route, which 

 we had followed in the boats to the settlement at Woollya. 

 We did not see many natives until we were near Ponsonby 

 Sound, where we were followed by ten or twelve canoes. The 

 natives did not at all understand the reason of our tacking, 

 and, instead of meeting us at each tack, vainly strove to 

 follow us in our zigzag course. I was amused at finding 

 what a difference the circumstance of being quite superior 

 in force made, in the interest of beholding these savages. 



