220 NATIVES — WOOLLYA. Feb. 



and rather thick lips, the contour of her face was sufficiently 

 good to have been mistaken for that of a handsome gipsy. 

 What her figure might be, a loose linen garment, evidently 

 one that had belonged to Fuegia Basket, prevented our 

 noticing. The sight of this piece of linen, several bits of 

 ribbon, and some scraps of red cloth, apparently quite recently 

 obtained, made me feel very anxious about Matthews and his 

 party : there was also an air of almost defiance among these 

 people, which looked as if they knew that harm had been done, 

 and that they were ready to stand on the defensive if any such 

 attack as they expected were put into execution. Passing 

 therefore hastily on, we went as far as the light admitted, and 

 at daybreak next morning (6th) were again hastening towards 

 Woollya. As we shot through the Murray Narrow several 

 parties of natives were seen, who were ornamented with strips 

 of tartan cloth or white linen, which we well knew were ob- 

 tained from our poor friends. No questions were asked ; we 

 thought our progress slow, though wind and tide favoured us : 

 but, hurrying on, at noon reached Woollya. Several canoes 

 were on the beach, and as many natives seemed to be assembled 

 as were there two days before we left the place. All were 

 much painted, and ornamented with rags of English clothing, 

 which we concluded to be the last remnants of our friends'* 

 stock. Our boats touched the shore ; the natives came halloo- 

 ing and jumping about us, and then, to my extreme relief, 

 Matthews appeared, dressed and looking as usual. After him 

 came Jemmy and York, also dressed and looking well : Fuegia^ 

 they said, was in a wigwam. 



Taking Matthews into my boat, we pushed out a short 

 distance to be free from interruption, and remained till I had 

 heard the principal parts of his story : the other boat took 

 Jemmy on board, and York waited on the beach. Nearly all 

 the Fuegians squatted down on their hams to watch our pro- 

 ceedings, reminding me of a pack of hounds waiting for a fox 

 to be unearthed. 



Matthews gave a bad account of the prospect which he 

 saw before him, and told me, that he did not think himself 



