298 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [omar, x. 
things, the use of which must have been evident to the natives. 
Simple circumstances—such as the beauty of scarlet cloth or 
blue beads, the absence of women, our care in washing our- 
selves,—excited their admiration far more than any grand or 
complicated object, such as our ship. Bougainville has well 
remarked concerning these people, that they treat the ‘ chef- 
d’ceuvres de l'industrie humaine, comme ils traitent les loix de 
la nature et ses phénoménes.” 
On the Sth of March, we anchored in the cove at Woollya, 
out we saw not a soul there. We were alarmed at this, for the 
natives in Ponsonby Sound showed by gestures, that there had 
been fighting; and we afterwards heard that the dreaded Oens 
men had made a descent. Soon a canoe, with a little flag flying, 
was seen approaching, with one of the men in it washing the 
paint off his face. This man was poor Jemmy,—now a thin 
haggard savage, with long disordered hair, and naked, except a 
bit of a blanket round his waist. We did not recognise him till 
he was close to us; for he was ashamed of himself, and turned 
his back to theship. We had left him plump, fat, clean, and 
well dressed ;+F never saw so complete and grievous a change. 
As soon however as he was clothed, and the first flurry was 
over, things wore a good appearance. He dined with Captain 
Fitz Roy, and ate his dinner as tidily as formerly. He told us he 
‘had ‘too much’ (meaning enough) to eat, that he was not cold, 
that his relations were very good people, and that he did not 
wish to go back to England: in the evening we found out the 
cause of this great change in Jemmy’s feelings, in the arrival of 
his young and nice-looking ue With his usual good feeling, 
he brought two beautiful otter-skins for two of his: best friends, 
and some spear-heads and arrows made with his own hands for 
the Captain. He said he had built a canoe for himself, and he 
boasted that he could talk a little of his own language! But it 
is a most singular fact, that he appears to have taught all his 
tribe some English: an old man spontaneously announced 
‘Jemmy Button’s wife.” Jemmy had lost all his property. 
He told us that York Minster had built a large canoe, and with 
his wife Fuegia,* had several months since gone to his own 
* Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been em- 
ployed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard frem a sealer in (1842 ?), 
