234 
TIERRA DEL FUEGO 
CHAP. 
morning (23rd) 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, 1 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 was 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 Akcid. der Wissen: Berlin, 
Feb. 1845) 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. 
