188 



LANGUAGE — CAUTIONS. 



usually obtained, I do not know ; but it cannot be plentiful in 

 the Tekeenica country, since every woman keeps small pieces 

 by her, in the basket which holds their paint and ornaments, 

 and will not easily be prevailed upon to part with them. Some 

 of the sealers have fancied these pieces of pyrites were silver or 

 gold ore, and have eagerly sought for the mines whence they 

 came. One person finding a large quantity in a rock some- 

 where near the Gulf of Trinidad, employed his crew and him- 

 self for many days in loading his ship with it, being quite sure 

 it was gold. 



Of the Fuegian language we know but little, although 

 three of the natives were so many months with us. J found 

 great difficulty in obtaining words, excepting names for things 

 which could be shown to them, and which they had in their 

 own country ; however, the few which I have collected are 

 given in the Appendix to this volume, and I can assure the 

 reader that the utmost pains were taken to spell each word so 

 as to ensure having the correct sound when pronounced by 

 other persons ; and to place the marks of accent, as well as 

 quantity, with precision. All the Fuegian sounds are imitable 

 by using our letters, excepting one, a curious sort of ' cluck,' 

 meaning ' no.' Many of their words are exceedingly guttural 

 in their pronunciation, yet I have twice heard their women 

 sing, and not disagreeably. Weddell, in his narrative (p. 173), 

 gives some Fuegian words, and endeavours to trace a simila- 

 rity to the Hebrew language. Molina also, in his vocabulary 

 of the Araucanian language, which appears to be related to 

 the Fuegian, traces some singular correspondences. 



Mr. Low, who has had more intercourse with the Fuegians 

 than perhaps any other individual, gave me much information 

 about them. He says that, generally speaking, they appear to 

 be friendly when meeting strangers, but that their subsequent 

 conduct depends entirely upon their relative numbers. They 

 ought never to be trusted, however, as they have hasty tempers, 

 and are extremely revengeful. They show much hardiness and 

 daring, being always ready to defend their own property, or 

 resent any ill treatment ; and they are enterprising thieves. 



