206 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [omar. X. 
articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his 
throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so 
many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds. 
They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed or yawned, 
or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated us. Some 
of our party began to squint and look awry; but one of the 
young Fuegians (whose whole face was painted black, excepting 
a white band across his eyes) succeeded. in making far more 
hideous grimaces. They could repeat with perfect correctness 
each word in any sentence we addressed them, and they remem- 
bered such words for some time. Yet we Europeans all know 
how difficult it is to distinguish apart the sounds in a foreign 
language. Which of us, for instance, could follow an American 
Indian through a sentence of more than three words? All 
savages appear to possess, to an uncommon degree, this power ot 
mimicry. Iwas told, almost in the same words, of the same 
ludicrous habit among the Caffres: the Australians, likewise, 
iave long been notorious for being able to imitate and describe 
the gait of any man, so that he may be recognised. How can 
this faculty be explained? is it a consequence of the more prac- 
tised habits of perception and keener senses, common to all men 
in a savage state, as compared with those long civilized ? 
When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the 
Fuegians would have fallen ‘down with astonishment. With 
equal surprise they viewed our dancing; but one of the young: 
men, when asked, had no objection to a little waltzing. Little 
accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yet they knew 
and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would tempt them to take a 
gun in their hands. They begged for knives, calling them by 
the Spanish word “cuchilla.” They explained also what they 
wanted, by acting as if they had a piece of blubber in their 
mouth, and then pretending to cut instead of tear it. 
I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on 
board. During the former voyage of the Adventure and Beagle 
in 1826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy seized on a party of natives, 
as hostages for the loss of a boat, which had been stolen, to the 
great jeopardy of a party employed on the survey ; and some of 
these natives,.as well as a child whom he bought for a pearl-button, 
he took with him to England, determining to educate them and 
