220 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [cmar. x. 
for the fact of a body being invisible from its velocity would 
perhaps be to him an idea totally inconceivable. Moreover, the 
extreme force of a bullet, that penetrates a hard substance with- 
out tearing it, may convince the savage that it has no farce at 
all. Certainly I believe that many savages of the lowest grade, 
such as these of Tierra del Fuego, have seen objects struck, and 
even small animals killed by the musket, without being in the 
least aware how deadly an instrument it is. 
22d.—After having passed an unmolested night, in what 
would appear to be neutral territory between Jemmy’s tribe and 
the people whom we saw yesterday, we sailed pleasantly along. 
I do not know anything which shows more clearly the hostile 
state of the different tribes, than these wide border or neutral 
tracts. Although Jemmy Button well knew the force of our 
party, he was, at first, unwilling to land amidst the hostile tribe 
nearest to his own. He often told us how the savage Oens men 
“‘ when the leaf red,” crossed the mountains from the eastern 
coast of Tierra del Fuego, and made inroads on the natives of 
this part of the country. It was most curious to watch him 
when thus talking, and see his eyes gleaming and his whole face 
assume a new and wild expression. As we proceeded along the 
Beagle Channel, the scenery assumed a peculiar and very mag- 
nificent character; but the effect was much lessened from the 
lowness of the point of view in a boat, and from looking along 
the valley, and thus losing all the beauty of a succession of ridges. 
The mountains were here about three thousand feet high, and 
terminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose in one un- 
broken sweep from the water’s edge, and were covered to the 
height of fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-coloured 
forest. It was most curious to observe, as far as the eye could 
range, how level and truly horizontal the line on the mountain 
side was, at which trees ceased to grow: it precisely resembled 
the high-water mark of drift-weed on a sea-beach. 
At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Sound 
with 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 
