208 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [cuap. x. 
serable, degraded savages whom we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia 
Basket was a nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a rather 
pleasing but sometimes sullen expression, and very quick in 
learning anything, especially languages. This she showed in 
picking up some Postapwese and Gounish, when left on shore for 
only a short time at Rio de Janeiro and Monte Video, and in 
her knowledge of English. York Minster was very jealous of 
any attention paid to her 5° for it was clear he determined to 
marry her as soon as they were settled on shore. 
Although all three could both speak and understand a good 
deal of English, it was singularly difficult to obtain much in- 
formation from them, concerning the habits of their countrymen : 
this was partly owing to their apparent difficulty in understand- 
ing the simplest alternative. Every one accustomed to very 
young children, knows how seldom one can get an answer even 
to so simple a question as whether a thing is black or white; the 
idea of black or white seems alternately to fill their minds. So 
it was with these Fuegians, and hence it was generally impossible 
to find out, by cross-questioning, whether one had rightly under- 
stood anything which they had asserted. ‘Their sight was re- 
markably acute: it is well known that sailors, from long prac- 
tice, can make out a distant object much better than a Jandsman ; 
but both York and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on 
board: several times they have declared what some distant ob- 
ject has been, and though doubted by every one, they have proved 
right, when it has been examined through a telescope. They 
were quite conscious of this power; and Jemmy, when he had 
any little quarrel with the officer on watch, would say, “ Me see 
ship, me no tell.” 
It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages, when 
we landed, towards ; Jemmy Button: they immediately perceived 
the difference between him and ourselves, and held much con- 
versation one with another on the subject. The old man ad- 
dressed a long harangue to Jemmy, which it seems was to invite 
him to stay with them. But Jemmy understood very little of 
their language, and was, moreover, thoroughly ashamed of his 
countrymen. When York Minster afterwards came on shore, 
they noticed him in the same way, and told him he ought to 
shave; yet he had not twenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we 
