430 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the chmate and the productions of his 

 country." 



The number of these savages is no doubt very small, as seldom more than 

 thirty or forty individuals are seen together. The interior of the mountainous 

 islands, which is as little known as the interior of Spitzbergen, is no doubt com- 

 pletely uninhabited ; as the coasts alone, with the exception of the eastern and 

 more level part of the country, where the guanaco finds pasture, are able to 

 furnish the means of subsistence. The various tribes, separated from each 

 other by a deserted neutral territory, are nevertheless engaged in constant 

 feuds, as quarrels are perpetually arising about the possession of some limpet- 

 bank or fishing-station. When at war they are cannibals ; and it is equally cer- 

 tain that when pressed in winter by hunger they kill and devour their old wom- 

 en before they kill their dogs, alleging as an excuse that their dogs catch otters, 

 and old women do not. 



It has not been ascertained whether they have any distinct behef in a future 

 life. They sometimes bury their dead in caves, and sometimes in the mountain 

 forests. Each family or tribe has a wizard, or conjuring doctor. Their lan- 

 guage, of which there are several distinct dialects, is likewise little known ; it 

 is, however, far inferior to the copious and expressive vocabulary of the Esqui- 

 maux. 



In 1830, while Captain Fitzroy was surveying the coasts of Fuegia, he seized 

 on a party of natives as hostages for the loss of a boat which had been stolen, 

 and some of these natives, as well as a child belonging to another tribe, whom 

 he bought for a pearl button, he took with him to England, determining to 

 educate them at his own expense. One of them afterwards died of the small- 

 pox ; but a young girl, Fuegia Basket, and two boys. Jemmy Button (thus 

 named from his purchase-money) and York Minster (so called from the great 

 rugged mountain of York Minster, near Christmas Sound), were placed in a 

 school at Walthamstow, and moreover had the honor of being presented to 

 King WilHam and Queen Adelaide. Three years Jemmy and his companions 

 remained in England, at the end of which time Captain Fitzroy was again sent 

 out to continue the survey, and took with him these three Fuegians, intending 

 to return them to the place whence they had come. In this, however, he was 

 disappointed ; but at their own request York and Fuegia were, with Jemmy, 

 deposited at Woollya, a pleasant looking spot in Ponsonby Sound, belonging 

 to Jemmy's tribe. His family, consisting of his mother and three brothers, 

 was absent at the time, but they arrived the following morning. Jemmy rec- 

 ognized the stentorian voice of one of his brothers at a prodigious distance, but 

 the meeting, as Mr. Darwin, who witnessed the scene, relates, was less interest- 

 ing than that between a horse turned out into a field and an old companion. 

 There was no demonstration of affection ; they simply stared for a short time 

 at each other. Three large wigwams were built for them, gardens planted, and 

 an abundant supply of every thing landed for their use. Jemmy, who had be- 

 come quite a favorite on board, was short and fat, but vain of his personal ap- 

 pearance ; he used always to wear gloves, his hair was neatly cut, and he was 

 distressed if his well-polished shoes were dirtied. York was somewhat coarse 



