THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



221 



"for me to return the compliment, which being done, he 

 seemed highly pleased. The language of these people, 

 according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be called artic- 

 ulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his 

 throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat 

 with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds. 



They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed or 

 yawned, or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated 

 us. Some of our party began to squint and look awry; but 

 one of the young Fuegians (whose whole face was painted 

 black, excepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded in 

 making far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat with 

 perfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressed 

 them, and they remembered such ,words for some time. Yet 

 we Europeans all know how difficult it is to distinguish 

 apart the sounds in a foreign language. Which of us, for in- 

 stance, could follow an American Indian through a sentence 

 of more than three words ? All savages appear to possess, to 

 an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told, 

 almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among 

 the Caffres; the Australians, likewise, have long been notori- 

 ous for being able to imitate and describe the gait of any 

 man, so that he may be recognized. How can this faculty be 

 explained? is it a consequence of the more practised habits 

 of perception and keener senses, common to all men in a 

 savage state, as compared with those long civilized? 



When a song was struck up by our party, I thought the 

 Fuegians would have fallen down with astonishment. With 

 equal surprise they viewed our dancing; but one of the 

 young men, when asked, had no objection to a little waltzing. 

 Little accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yet 

 they knew and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would tempt 

 them to take a gun in their hands. They begged for knives, 

 calling them by the Spanish word " cuchilla." They ex- 

 plained also what they wanted, by acting as if they had a 

 piece of blubber in their mouth, and then pretending to cut 

 instead of tear it. 



I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had on 

 board. During the former voyage of the Adventure and 

 Beagle in 1826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy seized on a party 



