234 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap. 



morning (23 rd) a fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika, 

 or Jemmy's tribe. Several of them had run so fast that their 

 noses were bleeding, and their mouths frothed from the rapidity 

 with which they talked ; and with their naked bodies all 

 bedaubed with black, white,^ and red, they looked like so many 

 demoniacs who had been fighting. We then proceeded 

 (accompanied by twelve canoes, each holding four or five 

 people) down Ponsonby Sound to the spot where poor Jemmy 

 expected to find his mother and relatives. He had already 

 heard that his father was dead ; but as he had had a " dream 

 in his head " to that effect, he did not seem to care much about 

 it, and repeatedly comforted himself with the very natural 

 reflection — " Me no help it." He was not able to learn any 

 particulars regarding his father's death, as his relations would 

 not speak about it. 



Jemmy was now in a district well known to him, and 

 guided the boats to a quiet pretty cove named Woollya, 

 surrounded by islets, every one of which and every point had 

 its proper native name. We found here a family of Jemmy's 

 tribe, but not his relations : we made friends with them ; and 

 in the evening they sent a canoe to inform Jemmy's mother 

 and brothers. The cove wcis bordered by some acres of good 

 sloping land, not covered (as elsewhere) either by peat or by 

 forest-trees. Captain Fitz Roy originally intended, as before 

 stated, to have taken York Minster and Fuegia to their own 

 tribe on the west coast ; but as they expressed a wish to 

 remain here, and as the spot was singularly favourable, Captain 

 Fitz Roy determined to settle here the whole party, including 

 Matthews, the missionary. Five days were spent in building 

 for them three large wigwams, in landing their goods, in digging 

 two gardens, and sowing seeds. 



The next morning after our arrival (the 24th) the Fuegians 



1 This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little specific gravity ; 

 Professor Ehrenberg has examined it : he states {Konig Altad. der Wissen : Berlin, 

 Feb. 184s) that it is composed of infusoria, including fourteen polygastrica and four 

 phytolitharia. He says that they are all inhabitants of fresh water ; this is a beautiful 

 example of the results obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg's microscopic re- 

 searches ; for Jemmy Button told me that it is always collected at the bottoms of 

 mountain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact in the geographical distribution of 

 the infusoria, which are well known to have very wide ranges, that all the species in 

 this substance, although brought from the extreme southern point of Tierra del Fuego, 

 are old, known forms. 



