234 



CHARLES DARWIN 



astonishment at the apparition of the four boats. Fires were 

 lighted on every point (hence the name of Tierra del Fuego, 

 Or the land of fire), both to attract our attention and to 

 spread far and wide the news. Some of the men ran for 

 miles along the shore. I shall never forget how wild and 

 savage one group appeared : suddenly four or five men came 

 to the edge of an overhanging cliff; they were absolutely 

 naked, and their long hair streamed about their faces; they 

 held rugged staffs in their hands, and, springing from the 

 ground, they waved their arms round their heads, and sent 

 forth the most hideous yells. 



At dinner-time we landed among a party of Fuegians. 

 At first they were riot inclined to be friendly ; for until the 

 Captain pulled in ahead of the other boats, they kept their 

 slings in their hands. We sOon, however, delighted them by 

 trifling presents, such as tying red tape round their heads. 

 They liked our biscuit : but one of the savages touched with 

 his finger some of the meat preserved in tin cases which I 

 was eating, and feeling it soft and cold, showed as much dis- 

 gust at it, as I should have done at putrid blubber. Jemmy 

 was thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen, and declared his 

 own tribe were quite different* in which he was wofully mis- 

 taken. It was as easy to please as it was difficult to satisfy 

 these savages. Young and old, men and children, never 

 ceased repeating the word " yammerschooner," which means 

 "give me." After pointing to almost every object, one after 

 the other, even to the buttons oh our coats, and saying their 

 favourite word in as many intonations as possible, they would 

 then use it in a neuter sense, and vacantly repeat " yammer- 

 Schooner." After yammerschoonering for any article very 

 eagerly, they would by a simple artifice point to their young 

 women or little children, as much as to say, "If you will 

 not give it me, surely you will to such as these." 



At night we endeavoured in vain to find ah Uninhabited 

 cove; and at last were obliged to bivouac not far from a 

 party of natives. They were very inoffensive as long as they 

 were few in numbers, but in the morning (21st) being joined 

 by others they showed symptoms of hostility, and we thought 

 that we should have come to a skirmish. An European 

 labours under great disadvantages when treating with sav- 



