DECEMBER 17th, 1832. -- Having now finished withPatagonia and the Falkland Islands, I will describeour first arrival in Tierra del Fuego. A little afternoon we doubled Cape St. Diego, and entered the famousstrait of Le Maire. We kept close to the Fuegian shore, butthe outline of the rugged, inhospitable Statenland was visibleamidst the clouds. In the afternoon we anchored in the Bayof Good Success. While entering we were saluted in a mannerbecoming the inhabitants of this savage land. A groupof Fuegians partly concealed by the entangled forest, wereperched on a wild point overhanging the sea; and as wepassed by, they sprang up and waving their tattered cloakssent forth a loud and sonorous shout. The savages followedthe ship, and just before dark we saw their fire, and againheard their wild cry. The harbour consists of a fine pieceof water half surrounded by low rounded mountains of clay-slate, which are covered to the water's edge by one densegloomy forest. A single glance at the landscape was sufficientto show me how widely different it was from anythingI had ever beheld. At night it blew a gale of wind, andheavy squalls from the mountains swept past us. It wouldhave been a bad time out at sea, and we, as well as others,may call this Good Success Bay.

In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicatewith the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of thefour natives who were present advanced to receive us, andbegan to shout most vehemently, wishing to direct us whereto land. When we were on shore the party looked ratheralarmed, but continued talking and making gestures withgreat rapidity. It was without exception the most curiousand interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not havebelieved how wide was the difference between savage andcivilized man: it is greater than between a wild anddomesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greaterpower of improvement. The chief spokesman was old, andappeared to be the head of the family; the three others werepowerful young men, about six feet high. The women andchildren had been sent away. These Fuegians are a verydifferent race from the stunted, miserable wretches fartherwestward; and they seem closely allied to the famous Patagoniansof the Strait of Magellan. Their only garment consistsof a mantle made of guanaco skin, with the wool outside:this they wear just thrown over their shoulders, leavingtheir persons as often exposed as covered. Their skin is ofa dirty coppery-red colour.

The old man had a fillet of white feathers tied round hishead, which partly confined his black, coarse, and entangledhair. His face was crossed by two broad transverse bars;one, painted bright red, reached from ear to ear and includedthe upper lip; the other, white like chalk, extended aboveand parallel to the first, so that even his eyelids were thuscoloured. The other two men were ornamented by streaksof black powder, made of charcoal. The party altogetherclosely resembled the devils which come on the stage in playslike Der Freischutz.

Their very attitudes were abject, and the expression oftheir countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled. Afterwe had presented them with some scarlet cloth, which theyimmediately tied round their necks, they became good friends.This was shown by the old man patting our breasts,and making a chuckling kind of noise, as people do whenfeeding chickens. I walked with the old man, and thisdemonstration of friendship was repeated several times; it wasconcluded by three hard slaps, which were given me on thebreast and back at the same time. He then bared his bosomfor me to return the compliment, which being done, heseemed highly pleased. The language of these people,according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be calledarticulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing histhroat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throatwith so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds.

They are excellent mimics: as often as we coughed oryawned, or made any odd motion, they immediately imitatedus. Some of our party began to squint and look awry; butone of the young Fuegians (whose whole face was paintedblack, excepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded inmaking far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat withperfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressedthem, and they remembered such words for some time. Yetwe Europeans all know how difficult it is to distinguishapart the sounds in a foreign language. Which of us, forinstance, could follow an American Indian through a sentenceof more than three words? All savages appear to possess, toan uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told,almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit amongthe Caffres; the Australians, likewise, have long been notoriousfor being able to imitate and describe the gait of anyman, so that he may be recognized. How can this faculty beexplained? is it a consequence of the more practised habitsof perception and keener senses, common to all men in asavage state, as compared with those long civilized?

When a song was struck up by our party, I thought theFuegians would have fallen down with astonishment. Withequal surprise they viewed our dancing; but one of theyoung men, when asked, had no objection to a little waltzing.Little accustomed to Europeans as they appeared to be, yetthey knew and dreaded our fire-arms; nothing would temptthem to take a gun in their hands. They begged for knives,calling them by the Spanish word "cuchilla." They explainedalso what they wanted, by acting as if they had apiece of blubber in their mouth, and then pretending to cutinstead of tear it.

I have not as yet noticed the Fuegians whom we had onboard. During the former voyage of the Adventure andBeagle in 1826 to 1830, Captain Fitz Roy seized on a partyof natives, as hostages for the loss of a boat, which hadbeen stolen, to the great jeopardy of a party employed onthe survey; and some of these natives, as well as a childwhom he bought for a pearl-button, he took with him toEngland, determining to educate them and instruct them inreligion at his own expense. To settle these natives in theirown country, was one chief inducement to Captain Fitz Royto undertake our present voyage; and before the Admiraltyhad resolved to send out this expedition, Captain Fitz Royhad generously chartered a vessel, and would himself havetaken them back. The natives were accompanied by a missionary,R. Matthews; of whom and of the natives, CaptainFitz Roy has published a full and excellent account. Twomen, one of whom died in England of the small-pox, a boyand a little girl, were originally taken; and we had now onboard, York Minster, Jemmy Button (whose name expresseshis purchase-money), and Fuegia Basket. York Minsterwas a full-grown, short, thick, powerful man: his dispositionwas reserved, taciturn, morose, and when excited violentlypassionate; his affections were very strong towards a fewfriends on board; his intellect good. Jemmy Button was auniversal favourite, but likewise passionate; the expressionof his face at once showed his nice disposition. He wasmerry and often laughed, and was remarkably sympatheticwith any one in pain: when the water was rough, I was oftena little sea-sick, and he used to come to me and say in aplaintive voice, "Poor, poor fellow!" but the notion, afterhis aquatic life, of a man being sea-sick, was too ludicrous,and he was generally obliged to turn on one side to hide asmile or laugh, and then he would repeat his "Poor, poorfellow!" He was of a patriotic disposition; and he liked topraise his own tribe and country, in which he truly said therewere "plenty of trees," and he abused all the other tribes:he stoutly declared that there was no Devil in his land.Jemmy was short, thick, and fat, but vain of his personalappearance; he used always to wear gloves, his hair wasneatly cut, and he was distressed if his well-polished shoeswere dirtied. He was fond of admiring himself in a lookingglass; and a merry-faced little Indian boy from the RioNegro, whom we had for some months on board, soon perceivedthis, and used to mock him: Jemmy, who was alwaysrather jealous of the attention paid to this little boy, did notat all like this, and used to say, with rather a contemptuoustwist of his head, "Too much skylark." It seems yet wonderfulto me, when I think over all his many good qualitiesthat he should have been of the same race, and doubtlesspartaken of the same character, with the miserable, degradedsavages whom we first met here. Lastly, Fuegia Basket wasa nice, modest, reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing butsometimes sullen expression, and very quick in learning anything,especially languages. This she showed in picking upsome Portuguese and Spanish, when left on shore for onlya short time at Rio de Janeiro and Monte Video, and in herknowledge of English. York Minster was very jealous ofany attention paid to her; for it was clear he determined tomarry her as soon as they were settled on shore.

Although all three could both speak and understand agood deal of English, it was singularly difficult to obtainmuch information from them, concerning the habits of theircountrymen; this was partly owing to their apparent difficultyin understanding the simplest alternative. Every oneaccustomed to very young children, knows how seldom onecan get an answer even to so simple a question as whether athing is black or white; the idea of black or white seemsalternately to fill their minds. So it was with these Fuegians,and hence it was generally impossible to find out, by crossquestioning, whether one had rightly understood anythingwhich they had asserted. Their sight was remarkably acute;it is well known that sailors, from long practice, can makeout a distant object much better than a landsman; but bothYork and Jemmy were much superior to any sailor on board:several times they have declared what some distant objecthas been, and though doubted by every one, they have provedright, when it has been examined through a telescope. Theywere quite conscious of this power; and Jemmy, when hehad any little quarrel with the officer on watch, would say,"Me see ship, me no tell."

It was interesting to watch the conduct of the savages,when we landed, towards Jemmy Button: they immediatelyperceived the difference between him and ourselves, and heldmuch conversation one with another on the subject. Theold man addressed a long harangue to Jemmy, which itseems was to invite him to stay with them But Jemmyunderstood very little of their language, and was, moreover,thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen. When York Minsterafterwards came on shore, they noticed him in thesame way, and told him he ought to shave; yet he had nottwenty dwarf hairs on his face, whilst we all wore ouruntrimmed beards. They examined the colour of his skin, andcompared it with ours. One of our arms being bared, theyexpressed the liveliest surprise and admiration at itswhiteness, just in the same way in which I have seen theourangoutang do at the Zoological Gardens. We thought that theymistook two or three of the officers, who were rather shorterand fairer, though adorned with large beards, for the ladiesof our party. The tallest amongst the Fuegians was evidentlymuch pleased at his height being noticed. When placedback to back with the tallest of the boat's crew, hetried his best to edge on higher ground, and to stand ontiptoe. He opened his mouth to show his teeth, and turnedhis face for a side view; and all this was done with suchalacrity, that I dare say he thought himself the handsomestman in Tierra del Fuego. After our first feeling of graveastonishment was over, nothing could be more ludicrousthan the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which thesesavages every moment exhibited.

The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into thecountry. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainousland, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inletsand bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. Themountain sides, except on the exposed western coast, arecovered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest.The trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500feet, and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute alpineplants; and this again is succeeded by the line of perpetualsnow, which, according to Captain King, in the Strait ofMagellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To findan acre of level land in any part of the country is most rare.I recollect only one little flat piece near Port Famine, andanother of rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In bothplaces, and everywhere else, the surface is covered by athick bed of swampy peat. Even within the forest, theground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetablematter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to thefoot.

Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through thewood, I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first,from the waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardlycrawl along; but the bed of the stream soon became a littlemore open, from the floods having swept the sides. I continuedslowly to advance for an hour along the broken androcky banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of thescene. The gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded withthe universal signs of violence. On every side were lyingirregular masses of rock and torn-up trees; other trees,though still erect, were decayed to the heart and ready tofall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the fallenreminded me of the forests within the tropics -- yet there wasa difference: for in these still solitudes, Death, instead ofLife, seemed the predominant spirit. I followed the watercoursetill I came to a spot where a great slip had cleared astraight space down the mountain side. By this road Iascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained a goodview of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong toone kind, the Fagus betuloides; for the number of the otherspecies of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quiteinconsiderable. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year;but its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, witha tinge of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured,it has a sombre, dull appearance; nor is it often enlivenedby the rays of the sun.

December 20th. -- One side of the harbour is formed by ahill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has calledafter Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrousexcursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, andnearly so to Dr. Solander. The snowstorm, which was thecause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January,corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!I was anxious to reach the summit of this mountainto collect alpine plants; for flowers of any kind in the lowerparts are few in number. We followed the same watercourseas on the previous day, till it dwindled away, and wewere then compelled to crawl blindly among the trees.These, from the effects of the elevation and of the impetuouswinds, were low, thick and crooked. At length we reachedthat which from a distance appeared like a carpet of finegreen turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out to be acompact mass of little beech-trees about four or five feethigh. They were as thick together as box in the border ofa garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat buttreacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gainedthe peat, and then the bare slate rock.

A ridge connected this hill with another, distant somemiles, and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lyingon it. As the day was not far advanced, I determined towalk there and collect plants along the road. It would havebeen very hard work, had it not been for a well-beaten andstraight path made by the guanacos; for these animals, likesheep, always follow the same line. When we reached thehill we found it the highest in the immediate neighbourhood,and the waters flowed to the sea in opposite directions. Weobtained a wide view over the surrounding country: to thenorth a swampy moorland extended, but to the south wehad a scene of savage magnificence, well becoming Tierradel Fuego. There was a degree of mysterious grandeurin mountain behind mountain, with the deep interveningvalleys, all covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest. Theatmosphere, likewise, in this climate, where gale succeedsgale, with rain, hail, and sleet, seems blacker than anywhereelse. In the Strait of Magellan looking due southward fromPort Famine, the distant channels between the mountainsappeared from their gloominess to lead beyond the confinesof this world.

December 21st. -- The Beagle got under way: and on thesucceeding day, favoured to an uncommon degree by a fineeasterly breeze, we closed in with the Barnevelts, and runningpast Cape Deceit with its stony peaks, about threeo'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape Horn. The eveningwas calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view of thesurrounding isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute,and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth.We stood out to sea, and on the second day again made theland, when we saw on our weather-bow this notorious promontoryin its proper form -- veiled in a mist, and its dimoutline surrounded by a storm of wind and water. Greatblack clouds were rolling across the heavens, and squallsof rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence,that the Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove.This is a snug little harbour, not far from Cape Horn; andhere, at Christmas-eve, we anchored in smooth water. Theonly thing which reminded us of the gale outside, was everynow and then a puff from the mountains, which made theship surge at her anchors.

December 25th. -- Close by the Cove, a pointed hill, calledKater's Peak, rises to the height of 1700 feet. The surroundingislands all consist of conical masses of greenstone,associated sometimes with less regular hills of baked andaltered clay-slate. This part of Tierra del Fuego may beconsidered as the extremity of the submerged chain ofmountains already alluded to. The cove takes its name of"Wigwam" from some of the Fuegian habitations; but everybay in the neighbourhood might be so called with equalpropriety. The inhabitants, living chiefly upon shell-fish, areobliged constantly to change their place of residence; butthey return at intervals to the same spots, as is evident fromthe piles of old shells, which must often amount to manytons in freight. These heaps can be distinguished at a longdistance by the bright green colour of certain plants, whichinvariably grow on them. Among these may be enumeratedthe wild celery and scurvy grass, two very serviceable plants,the use of which has not been discovered by the natives.

The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions,a haycock. It merely consists of a few broken branchesstuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on oneside with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannotbe the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days.At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one of these nakedmen had slept, which absolutely offered no more cover thanthe form of a hare. The man was evidently living by himself,and York Minster said he was "very bad man," andthat probably he had stolen something. On the west coast,however, the wigwams are rather better, for they are coveredwith seal-skins. We were detained here several days by thebad weather. The climate is certainly wretched: the summersolstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell on thehills, and in the valleys there was rain, accompanied bysleet. The thermometer generally stood about 45 degs., but inthe night fell to 38 or 40 degs. From the damp and boisterousstate of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine,one fancied the climate even worse than it really was.

While going one day on shore near Wollaston Island, wepulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were themost abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. Onthe east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanacocloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins. Amongstthese central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin, orsome small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief,which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low downas their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, andaccording as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side.But these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and evenone full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was rainingheavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray, trickleddown her body. In another harbour not far distant, awoman, who was suckling a recently-born child, came oneday alongside the vessel, and remained there out of merecuriosity, whilst the sleet fell and thawed on her nakedbosom, and on the skin of her naked baby! These poorwretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous facesbedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy,their hair entangled, their voices discordant, and theirgestures violent. Viewing such men, one can hardly make one'sself believe that they are fellow-creatures, and inhabitantsof the same world. It is a common subject of conjecturewhat pleasure in life some of the lower animals can enjoy:how much more reasonably the same question may be askedwith respect to these barbarians! At night, five or sixhuman beings, naked and scarcely protected from the windand rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wetground coiled up like animals. Whenever it is low water,winter or summer, night or day, they must rise to pick shellfishfrom the rocks; and the women either dive to collectsea-eggs, or sit patiently in their canoes, and with a baitedhair-line without any hook, jerk out little fish. If a seal iskilled, or the floating carcass of a putrid whale is discovered,it is a feast; and such miserable food is assisted by a fewtasteless berries and fungi.

They often suffer from famine: I heard Mr. Low, a sealing-masterintimately acquainted with the natives of thiscountry, give a curious account of the state of a party ofone hundred and fifty natives on the west coast, who werevery thin and in great distress. A succession of gales preventedthe women from getting shell-fish on the rocks, andthey could not go out in their canoes to catch seal. A smallparty of these men one morning set out, and the otherIndians explained to him, that they were going a four days'journey for food: on their return, Low went to meet them,and he found them excessively tired, each man carryinga great square piece of putrid whale's-blubber with a holein the middle, through which they put their heads, like theGauchos do through their ponchos or cloaks. As soon asthe blubber was brought into a wigwam, an old man cut offthin slices, and muttering over them, broiled them for aminute, and distributed them to the famished party, whoduring this time preserved a profound silence. Mr. Lowbelieves that whenever a whale is cast on shore, the nativesbury large pieces of it in the sand, as a resource in time offamine; and a native boy, whom he had on board, oncefound a stock thus buried. The different tribes when atwar are cannibals. From the concurrent, but quite independentevidence of the boy taken by Mr. Low, and ofJemmy Button, it is certainly true, that when pressed inwinter by hunger, they kill and devour their old womenbefore they kill their dogs: the boy, being asked by Mr.Low why they did this, answered, "Doggies catch otters,old women no." This boy described the manner in whichthey are killed by being held over smoke and thus choked;he imitated their screams as a joke, and described the partsof their bodies which are considered best to eat. Horridas such a death by the hands of their friends and relativesmust be, the fears of the old women, when hunger beginsto press, are more painful to think of; we are told that theythen often run away into the mountains, but that they arepursued by the men and brought back to the slaughter-houseat their own firesides!

Captain Fitz Roy could never ascertain that the Fuegianshave any distinct belief in a future life. They sometimesbury their dead in caves, and sometimes in the mountainforests; we do not know what ceremonies they perform.Jemmy Button would not eat land-birds, because "eat deadmen": they are unwilling even to mention their dead friends.We have no reason to believe that they perform any sort ofreligious worship; though perhaps the muttering of the oldman before he distributed the putrid blubber to his famishedparty, may be of this nature. Each family or tribe has awizard or conjuring doctor, whose office we could neverclearly ascertain. Jemmy believed in dreams, though not, asI have said, in the devil: I do not think that our Fuegianswere much more superstitious than some of the sailors; foran old quartermaster firmly believed that the successiveheavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, werecaused by our having the Fuegians on board. The nearestapproach to a religious feeling which I heard of, was shownby York Minster, who, when Mr. Bynoe shot some veryyoung ducklings as specimens, declared in the most solemnmanner, "Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, snow, blow much."This was evidently a retributive punishment for wastinghuman food. In a wild and excited manner he also related,that his brother, one day whilst returning to pick up somedead birds which he had left on the coast, observed somefeathers blown by the wind. His brother said (York imitatinghis manner), "What that?" and crawling onwards,he peeped over the cliff, and saw "wild man" picking hisbirds; he crawled a little nearer, and then hurled down agreat stone and killed him. York declared for a long timeafterwards storms raged, and much rain and snow fell.As far as we could make out, he seemed to consider theelements themselves as the avenging agents: it is evident inthis case, how naturally, in a race a little more advancedin culture, the elements would become personified. Whatthe "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me mostmysterious: from what York said, when we found the placelike the form of a hare, where a single man had slept thenight before, I should have thought that they were thieveswho had been driven from their tribes; but other obscurespeeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes imaginedthat the most probable explanation was that they wereinsane.

The different tribes have no government or chief; yeteach is surrounded by other hostile tribes, speaking differentdialects, and separated from each other only by a desertedborder or neutral territory: the cause of their warfare appearsto be the means of subsistence. Their country is abroken mass of wild rocks, lofty hills, and useless forests:and these are viewed through mists and endless storms. Thehabitable land is reduced to the stones on the beach; insearch of food they are compelled unceasingly to wanderfrom spot to spot, and so steep is the coast, that they canonly move about in their wretched canoes. They cannotknow the feeling of having a home, and still less that ofdomestic affection; for the husband is to the wife a brutalmaster to a laborious slave. Was a more horrid deed everperpetrated, than that witnessed on the west coast by Byron,who saw a wretched mother pick up her bleeding dyinginfant-boy, whom her husband had mercilessly dashed on thestones for dropping a basket of sea-eggs! How little canthe higher powers of the mind be brought into play: what isthere for imagination to picture, for reason to compare, orjudgment to decide upon? to knock a limpet from the rockdoes not require even cunning, that lowest power of themind. Their skill in some respects may be compared to theinstinct of animals; for it is not improved by experience:the canoe, their most ingenious work, poor as it is, hasremained the same, as we know from Drake, for the last twohundred and fifty years.

Whilst beholding these savages, one asks, whence havethey come? What could have tempted, or what change compelleda tribe of men, to leave the fine regions of the north,to travel down the Cordillera or backbone of America, toinvent and build canoes, which are not used by the tribesof Chile, Peru, and Brazil, and then to enter on one of themost inhospitable countries within the limits of the globe?Although such reflections must at first seize on the mind, yetwe may feel sure that they are partly erroneous. There isno reason to believe that the Fuegians decrease in number;therefore we must suppose that they enjoy a sufficient shareof happiness, of whatever kind it may be, to render lifeworth having. Nature by making habit omnipotent, and itseffects hereditary, has fitted the Fuegian to the climate andthe productions of his miserable country.

After having been detained six days in Wigwam Cove byvery bad weather, we put to sea on the 30th of December.Captain Fitz Roy wished to get westward to land York andFuegia in their own country. When at sea we had a constantsuccession of gales, and the current was against us: wedrifted to 57 degs. 23' south. On the 11th of January, 1833,by carrying a press of sail, we fetched within a few miles ofthe great rugged mountain of York Minster (so called byCaptain Cook, and the origin of the name of the elder Fuegian),when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sailand stand out to sea. The surf was breaking fearfully onthe coast, and the spray was carried over a cliff estimatedto 200 feet in height. On the 12th the gale was very heavy,and we did not know exactly where we were: it was a mostunpleasant sound to hear constantly repeated, "keep a goodlook-out to leeward." On the 13th the storm raged with itsfull fury: our horizon was narrowly limited by the sheetsof spray borne by the wind. The sea looked ominous, likea dreary waving plain with patches of drifted snow: whilstthe ship laboured heavily, the albatross glided with itsexpanded wings right up the wind. At noon a great sea brokeover us, and filled one of the whale boats, which wasobliged to be instantly cut away. The poor Beagle trembledat the shock, and for a few minutes would not obey her helm;but soon, like a good ship that she was, she righted and cameup to the wind again. Had another sea followed the first,our fate would have been decided soon, and for ever. Wehad now been twenty-four days trying in vain to get westward;the men were worn out with fatigue, and they had nothad for many nights or days a dry thing to put on. CaptainFitz Roy gave up the attempt to get westward by the outsidecoast. In the evening we ran in behind False Cape Horn,and dropped our anchor in forty-seven fathoms, fire flashingfrom the windlass as the chain rushed round it. How delightfulwas that still night, after having been so long involvedin the din of the warring elements!

January 15th, 1833. -- The Beagle anchored in GoereeRoads. Captain Fitz Roy having resolved to settle the Fuegians,according to their wishes, in Ponsonby Sound, fourboats were equipped to carry them there through the BeagleChannel. This channel, which was discovered by CaptainFitz Roy during the last voyage, is a most remarkable featurein the geography of this, or indeed of any other country: itmay be compared to the valley of Lochness in Scotland, withits chain of lakes and friths. It is about one hundred andtwenty miles long, with an average breadth, not subject toany very great variation, of about two miles; and is throughoutthe greater part so perfectly straight, that the view,bounded on each side by a line of mountains, gradually becomesindistinct in the long distance. It crosses the southernpart of Tierra del Fuego in an east and west line, andin the middle is joined at right angles on the south side byan irregular channel, which has been called Ponsonby Sound.This is the residence of Jemmy Button's tribe and family.

19th. -- Three whale-boats and the yawl, with a party oftwenty-eight, started under the command of Captain FitzRoy. In the afternoon we entered the eastern mouth of thechannel, and shortly afterwards found a snug little coveconcealed by some surrounding islets. Here we pitched ourtents and lighted our fires. Nothing could look more comfortablethan this scene. The glassy water of the little harbour,with the branches of the trees hanging over the rockybeach, the boats at anchor, the tents supported by the crossedoars, and the smoke curling up the wooded valley, formed apicture of quiet retirement. The next day (20th) we smoothlyglided onwards in our little fleet, and came to a more inhabiteddistrict. Few if any of these natives could everhave seen a white man; certainly nothing could exceed theirastonishment at the apparition of the four boats. Fires werelighted on every point (hence the name of Tierra del Fuego,or the land of fire), both to attract our attention and tospread far and wide the news. Some of the men ran formiles along the shore. I shall never forget how wild andsavage one group appeared: suddenly four or five men cameto the edge of an overhanging cliff; they were absolutelynaked, and their long hair streamed about their faces; theyheld rugged staffs in their hands, and, springing from theground, they waved their arms round their heads, and sentforth the most hideous yells.

At dinner-time we landed among a party of Fuegians.At first they were not inclined to be friendly; for until theCaptain pulled in ahead of the other boats, they kept theirslings in their hands. We soon, however, delighted them bytrifling presents, such as tying red tape round their heads.They liked our biscuit: but one of the savages touched withhis finger some of the meat preserved in tin cases which Iwas eating, and feeling it soft and cold, showed as much disgustat it, as I should have done at putrid blubber. Jemmywas thoroughly ashamed of his countrymen, and declared hisown tribe were quite different, in which he was wofullymistaken. It was as easy to please as it was difficult tosatisfy these savages. Young and old, men and children, neverceased repeating the word "yammerschooner," which means"give me." After pointing to almost every object, one afterthe other, even to the buttons on our coats, and saying theirfavourite word in as many intonations as possible, they wouldthen use it in a neuter sense, and vacantly repeat"yammerschooner." After yammerschoonering for any article veryeagerly, they would by a simple artifice point to their youngwomen or little children, as much as to say, "If you willnot give it me, surely you will to such as these."

At night we endeavoured in vain to find an uninhabitedcove; and at last were obliged to bivouac not far from aparty of natives. They were very inoffensive as long as theywere few in numbers, but in the morning (21st) being joinedby others they showed symptoms of hostility, and we thoughtthat we should have come to a skirmish. An Europeanlabours under great disadvantages when treating with savageslike these, who have not the least idea of the power offire-arms. In the very act of levelling his musket he appearsto the savage far inferior to a man armed with a bow andarrow, a spear, or even a sling. Nor is it easy to teach themour superiority except by striking a fatal blow. Like wildbeasts, they do not appear to compare numbers; for eachindividual, if attacked, instead of retiring, will endeavour todash your brains out with a stone, as certainly as a tigerunder similar circumstances would tear you. Captain FitzRoy on one occasion being very anxious, from good reasons,to frighten away a small party, first flourished a cutlass nearthem, at which they only laughed; he then twice fired hispistol close to a native. The man both times looked astounded,and carefully but quickly rubbed his head; he thenstared awhile, and gabbled to his companions, but he neverseemed to think of running away. We can hardly put ourselvesin the position of these savages, and understand theiractions. In the case of this Fuegian, the possibility of sucha sound as the report of a gun close to his ear could neverhave entered his mind. He perhaps literally did not for asecond know whether it was a sound or a blow, and thereforevery naturally rubbed his head. In a similar manner,when a savage sees a mark struck by a bullet, it may be sometime before he is able at all to understand how it is effected;for the fact of a body being invisible from its velocity wouldperhaps be to him an idea totally inconceivable. Moreover,the extreme force of a bullet, that penetrates a hard substancewithout tearing it, may convince the savage that ithas no force at all. Certainly I believe that many savagesof the lowest grade, such as these of Tierra del Fuego, haveseen objects struck, and even small animals killed by themusket, without being in the least aware how deadly aninstrument it is.

22nd. -- After having passed an unmolested night, in whatwould appear to be neutral territory between Jemmy's tribeand the people whom we saw yesterday, we sailed pleasantlyalong. I do not know anything which shows more clearlythe hostile state of the different tribes, than these wideborder or neutral tracts. Although Jemmy Button well knew theforce of our party, he was, at first, unwilling to land amidstthe hostile tribe nearest to his own. He often told us howthe savage Oens men "when the leaf red," crossed the mountainsfrom the eastern coast of Tierra del Fuego, and madeinroads on the natives of this part of the country. It wasmost curious to watch him when thus talking, and see hiseyes gleaming and his whole face assume a new and wildexpression. As we proceeded along the Beagle Channel, thescenery assumed a peculiar and very magnificent character;but the effect was much lessened from the lowness of thepoint of view in a boat, and from looking along the valley,and thus losing all the beauty of a succession of ridges. Themountains were here about three thousand feet high, andterminated in sharp and jagged points. They rose in oneunbroken sweep from the water's edge, and were covered tothe height of fourteen or fifteen hundred feet by the dusky-coloured forest. It was most curious to observe, as far asthe eye could range, how level and truly horizontal the lineon the mountain side was, at which trees ceased to grow: itprecisely resembled the high-water mark of drift-weed on asea-beach.

At night we slept close to the junction of Ponsonby Soundwith the Beagle Channel. A small family of Fuegians, whowere living in the cove, were quiet and inoffensive, and soonjoined our party round a blazing fire. We were well clothed,and though sitting close to the fire were far from too warm;yet these naked savages, though further off, were observed,to our great surprise, to be streaming with perspiration atundergoing such a roasting. They seemed, however, verywell pleased, and all joined in the chorus of the seamen'ssongs: but the manner in which they were invariably a littlebehindhand was quite ludicrous.

During the night the news had spread, and early in themorning (23rd) a fresh party arrived, belonging to the Tekenika,or Jemmy's tribe. Several of them had run so fast thattheir noses were bleeding, and their mouths frothed fromthe rapidity with which they talked; and with their nakedbodies all bedaubed with black, white,

Jemmy was now in a district well known to him, andguided the boats to a quiet pretty cove named Woollya,surrounded by islets, every one of which and every point hadits proper native name. We found here a family of Jemmy'stribe, but not his relations: we made friends with them;and in the evening they sent a canoe to inform Jemmy'smother and brothers. The cove was bordered by some acresof good sloping land, not covered (as elsewhere) either bypeat or by forest-trees. Captain Fitz Roy originally intended,as before stated, to have taken York Minster andFuegia to their own tribe on the west coast; but as theyexpressed a wish to remain here, and as the spot was singularlyfavourable, Captain Fitz Roy determined to settle here thewhole party, including Matthews, the missionary. Five dayswere spent in building for them three large wigwams, inlanding their goods, in digging two gardens, and sowingseeds.

The next morning after our arrival (the 24th) the Fuegiansbegan to pour in, and Jemmy's mother and brothersarrived. Jemmy recognised the stentorian voice of one ofhis brothers at a prodigious distance. The meeting was lessinteresting than that between a horse, turned out into a field,when he joins an old companion. There was no demonstrationof affection; they simply stared for a short time ateach other; and the mother immediately went to look afterher canoe. We heard, however, through York that themother has been inconsolable for the loss of Jemmy and hadsearched everywhere for him, thinking that he might havebeen left after having been taken in the boat. The womentook much notice of and were very kind to Fuegia. We hadalready perceived that Jemmy had almost forgotten his ownlanguage. I should think there was scarcely another humanbeing with so small a stock of language, for his English wasvery imperfect. It was laughable, but almost pitiable, tohear him speak to his wild brother in English, and then askhim in Spanish ("no sabe?") whether he did not understandhim.

Everything went on peaceably during the three next dayswhilst the gardens were digging and wigwams building. Weestimated the number of natives at about one hundred andtwenty. The women worked hard, whilst the men loungedabout all day long, watching us. They asked for everythingthey saw, and stole what they could. They were delightedat our dancing and singing, and were particularly interestedat seeing us wash in a neighbouring brook; they did not paymuch attention to anything else, not even to our boats. Ofall the things which York saw, during his absence from hiscountry, nothing seems more to have astonished him thanan ostrich, near Maldonado: breathless with astonishmenthe came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was out walking-- "Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse!" Much asour white skins surprised the natives, by Mr. Low's accounta negro-cook to a sealing vessel, did so more effectually, andthe poor fellow was so mobbed and shouted at that he wouldnever go on shore again. Everything went on so quietlythat some of the officers and myself took long walks in thesurrounding hills and woods. Suddenly, however, on the27th, every woman and child disappeared. We were all uneasyat this, as neither York nor Jemmy could make outthe cause. It was thought by some that they had been frightenedby our cleaning and firing off our muskets on the previousevening; by others, that it was owing to offence takenby an old savage, who, when told to keep further off, hadcoolly spit in the sentry's face, and had then, by gesturesacted over a sleeping Fuegian, plainly showed, as it was said,that he should like to cut up and eat our man. CaptainFitz Roy, to avoid the chance of an encounter, which wouldhave been fatal to so many of the Fuegians, thought it advisablefor us to sleep at a cove a few miles distant. Matthews,with his usual quiet fortitude (remarkable in a manapparently possessing little energy of character), determinedto stay with the Fuegians, who evinced no alarm for themselves;and so we left them to pass their first awful night.

On our return in the morning (28th) we were delightedto find all quiet, and the men employed in their canoesspearing fish. Captain Fitz Roy determined to send theyawl and one whale-boat back to the ship; and to proceedwith the two other boats, one under his own command (inwhich he most kindly allowed me to accompany him), andone under Mr. Hammond, to survey the western parts ofthe Beagle Channel, and afterwards to return and visit thesettlement. The day to our astonishment was overpoweringlyhot, so that our skins were scorched: with this beautifulweather, the view in the middle of the Beagle Channelwas very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no objectintercepted the vanishing points of this long canal betweenthe mountains. The circumstance of its being an armof the sea was rendered very evident by several huge whales

It was my watch till one o'clock. There is somethingvery solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousnessin what a remote corner of the world you are thenstanding, come so strongly before the mind. Everythingtends to this effect; the stillness of the night is interruptedonly by the heavy breathing of the seamen beneath the tents,and sometimes by the cry of a night-bird. The occasionalbarking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds one that itis the land of the savage.

January 20th. -- Early in the morning we arrived at thepoint where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms; andwe entered the northern one. The scenery here becomeseven grander than before. The lofty mountains on the northside compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the countryand boldly rise to a height of between three and four thousandfeet, with one peak above six thousand feet. They arecovered by a wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerouscascades pour their waters, through the woods, into the narrowchannel below. In many parts, magnificent glaciers extendfrom the mountain side to the water's edge. It isscarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful thanthe beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially ascontrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow.The fragments which had fallen from the glacier into thewater were floating away, and the channel with its icebergspresented, for the space of a mile, a miniature likeness ofthe Polar Sea. The boats being hauled on shore at ourdinner-hour, we were admiring from the distance of half amile a perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing that somemore fragments would fall. At last, down came a mass witha roaring noise, and immediately we saw the smooth outlineof a wave travelling towards us. The men ran down asquickly as they could to the boats; for the chance of theirbeing dashed to pieces was evident. One of the seamen justcaught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker reached it:he was knocked over and over, but not hurt, and the boatsthough thrice lifted on high and let fall again, received nodamage. This was most fortunate for us, for we were ahundred miles distant from the ship, and we should havebeen left without provisions or fire-arms. I had previouslyobserved that some large fragments of rock on the beach hadbeen lately displaced; but until seeing this wave, I did notunderstand the cause. One side of the creek was formedby a spur of mica-slate; the head by a cliff of ice aboutforty feet high; and the other side by a promontory fiftyfeet high, built up of huge rounded fragments of graniteand mica-slate, out of which old trees were growing. Thispromontory was evidently a moraine, heaped up at a periodwhen the glacier had greater dimensions.

When we reached the western mouth of this northernbranch of the Beagle Channel, we sailed amongst many unknowndesolate islands, and the weather was wretchedly bad.We met with no natives. The coast was almost everywhereso steep, that we had several times to pull many miles beforewe could find space enough to pitch our two tents: one nightwe slept on large round boulders, with putrefying sea-weedbetween them; and when the tide rose, we had to get up andmove our blanket-bags. The farthest point westward whichwe reached was Stewart Island, a distance of about one hundredand fifty miles from our ship. We returned into theBeagle Channel by the southern arm, and thence proceeded,with no adventure, back to Ponsonby Sound.

February 6th. -- We arrived at Woollya. Matthews gaveso bad an account of the conduct of the Fuegians, that CaptainFitz Roy determined to take him back to the Beagle;and ultimately he was left at New Zealand, where his brotherwas a missionary. From the time of our leaving, a regularsystem of plunder commenced; fresh parties of the nativeskept arriving: York and Jemmy lost many things, and Matthewsalmost everything which had not been concealed underground.Every article seemed to have been torn up anddivided by the natives. Matthews described the watch hewas obliged always to keep as most harassing; night andday he was surrounded by the natives, who tried to tire himout by making an incessant noise close to his head. One dayan old man, whom Matthews asked to leave his wigwam,immediately returned with a large stone in his hand: anotherday a whole party came armed with stones and stakes, andsome of the younger men and Jemmy's brother were crying:Matthews met them with presents. Another party showedby signs that they wished to strip him naked and pluck allthe hairs out of his face and body. I think we arrived justin time to save his life. Jemmy's relatives had been so vainand foolish, that they had showed to strangers their plunder,and their manner of obtaining it. It was quite melancholyleaving the three Fuegians with their savage countrymen;but it was a great comfort that they had no personalfears. York, being a powerful resolute man, was pretty sureto get on well, together with his wife Fuegia. Poor Jemmylooked rather disconsolate, and would then, I have littledoubt, have been glad to have returned with us. His ownbrother had stolen many things from him; and as he remarked,"What fashion call that:" he abused his countrymen,"all bad men, no sabe (know) nothing" and, thoughI never heard him swear before, "damned fools." Our threeFuegians, though they had been only three years with civilizedmen, would, I am sure, have been glad to have retainedtheir new habits; but this was obviously impossible. I fearit is more than doubtful, whether their visit will have beenof any use to them.

In the evening, with Matthews on board, we made sailback to the ship, not by the Beagle Channel, but by thesouthern coast. The boats were heavily laden and the searough, and we had a dangerous passage. By the eveningof the 7th we were on board the Beagle after an absence oftwenty days, during which time we had gone three hundredmiles in the open boats. On the 11th, Captain Fitz Roypaid a visit by himself to the Fuegians and found them goingon well; and that they had lost very few more things.

On the last day of February in the succeeding year (1834)the Beagle anchored in a beautiful little cove at the easternentrance of the Beagle Channel. Captain Fitz Roy determinedon the bold, and as it proved successful, attempt tobeat against the westerly winds by the same route, whichwe had followed in the boats to the settlement at Woollya.We did not see many natives until we were near PonsonbySound, where we were followed by ten or twelve canoes. Thenatives did not at all understand the reason of our tacking,and, instead of meeting us at each tack, vainly strove tofollow us in our zigzag course. I was amused at findingwhat a difference the circumstance of being quite superiorin force made, in the interest of beholding these savages.While in the boats I got to hate the very sound of theirvoices, so much trouble did they give us. The first and lastword was "yammerschooner." When, entering some quietlittle cove, we have looked round and thought to pass a quietnight, the odious word "yammerschooner" has shrilly soundedfrom some gloomy nook, and then the little signal-smokehas curled up to spread the news far and wide. On leavingsome place we have said to each other, "Thank heaven, wehave at last fairly left these wretches!" when one more fainthallo from an all-powerful voice, heard at a prodigiousdistance, would reach our ears, and clearly could we distinguish-- "yammerschooner." But now, the more Fuegians the merrier;and very merry work it was. Both parties laughing,wondering, gaping at each other; we pitying them, for givingus good fish and crabs for rags, etc.; they grasping at thechance of finding people so foolish as to exchange such splendidornaments for a good supper. It was most amusing tosee the undisguised smile of satisfaction with which oneyoung woman with her face painted black, tied several bitsof scarlet cloth round her head with rushes. Her husband,who enjoyed the very universal privilege in this country ofpossessing two wives, evidently became jealous of all theattention paid to his young wife; and, after a consultationwith his naked beauties, was paddled away by them.

Some of the Fuegians plainly showed that they had a fairnotion of barter. I gave one man a large nail (a most valuablepresent) without making any signs for a return; but heimmediately picked out two fish, and handed them up on thepoint of his spear. If any present was designed for onecanoe, and it fell near another, it was invariably given to theright owner. The Fuegian boy, whom Mr. Low had onboard showed, by going into the most violent passion, thathe quite understood the reproach of being called a liar, whichin truth he was. We were this time, as on all former occasions,much surprised at the little notice, or rather nonewhatever, which was taken of many things, the use of whichmust have been evident to the natives. Simple circumstances-- such as the beauty of scarlet cloth or blue beads,the absence of women, our care in washing ourselves, -- excitedtheir admiration far more than any grand or complicatedobject, such as our ship. Bougainville has well remarkedconcerning these people, that they treat the "chefsd'oeuvre de l'industrie humaine, comme ils traitent les loixde la nature et ses phenomenes."

On the 5th of March, we anchored in a cove at Woollya,but we saw not a soul there. We were alarmed at this, forthe natives in Ponsonby Sound showed by gestures, that therehad been fighting; and we afterwards heard that the dreadedOens men had made a descent. Soon a canoe, with a littleflag flying, was seen approaching, with one of the men in itwashing the paint off his face. This man was poor Jemmy,-- now a thin, haggard savage, with long disordered hair, andnaked, except a bit of blanket round his waist. We did notrecognize him till he was close to us, for he was ashamedof himself, and turned his back to the ship. We had left himplump, fat, clean, and well-dressed; -- I never saw so completeand grievous a change. As soon, however, as he was clothed,and the first flurry was over, things wore a good appearance.He dined with Captain Fitz Roy, and ate his dinneras tidily as formerly. He told us that he had "too much"(meaning enough) to eat, that he was not cold, that hisrelations were very good people, and that he did not wish to goback to England: in the evening we found out the cause ofthis great change in Jemmy's feelings, in the arrival of hisyoung and nice-looking wife. With his usual good feelinghe brought two beautiful otter-skins for two of his bestfriends, and some spear-heads and arrows made with his ownhands for the Captain. He said he had built a canoe for himself,and he boasted that he could talk a little of his ownlanguage! But it is a most singular fact, that he appears tohave taught all his tribe some English: an old man spontaneouslyannounced "Jemmy Button's wife." Jemmy had lostall his property. He told us that York Minster had builta large canoe, and with his wife Fuegia,

Jemmy went to sleep on shore, and in the morning returned,and remained on board till the ship got under way,which frightened his wife, who continued crying violentlytill he got into his canoe. He returned loaded with valuableproperty. Every soul on board was heartily sorry to shakehands with him for the last time. I do not now doubt thathe will be as happy as, perhaps happier than, if he had neverleft his own country. Every one must sincerely hope thatCaptain Fitz Roy's noble hope may be fulfilled, of beingrewarded for the many generous sacrifices which he made forthese Fuegians, by some shipwrecked sailor being protectedby the descendants of Jemmy Button and his tribe! WhenJemmy reached the shore, he lighted a signal fire, and thesmoke curled up, bidding us a last and long farewell, as theship stood on her course into the open sea.

The perfect equality among the individuals composing theFuegian tribes must for a long time retard their civilization.As we see those animals, whose instinct compels them to livein society and obey a chief, are most capable of improvement,so is it with the races of mankind. Whether we lookat it as a cause or a consequence, the more civilized alwayshave the most artificial governments. For instance, theinhabitants of Otaheite, who, when first discovered, weregoverned by hereditary kings, had arrived at a far higher gradethan another branch of the same people, the New Zealanders,-- who, although benefited by being compelled to turn theirattention to agriculture, were republicans in the most absolutesense. In Tierra del Fuego, until some chief shall arisewith power sufficient to secure any acquired advantage, suchas the domesticated animals, it seems scarcely possible thatthe political state of the country can be improved. At present,even a piece of cloth given to one is torn into shredsand distributed; and no one individual becomes richer thananother. On the other hand, it is difficult to understand howa chief can arise till there is property of some sort by whichhe might manifest his superiority and increase his power.

I believe, in this extreme part of South America, manexists in a lower state of improvement than in any other partof the world. The South Sea Islanders, of the two racesinhabiting the Pacific, are comparatively civilized. TheEsquimau in his subterranean hut, enjoys some of the comfortsof life, and in his canoe, when fully equipped, manifestsmuch skill. Some of the tribes of Southern Africaprowling about in search of roots, and living concealed onthe wild and arid plains, are sufficiently wretched. TheAustralian, in the simplicity of the arts of life, comesnearest the Fuegian: he can, however, boast of his boomerang,his spear and throwing-stick, his method of climbing trees, oftracking animals, and of hunting. Although the Australian may besuperior in acquirements, it by no means follows that he islikewise superior in mental capacity: indeed, from what Isaw of the Fuegians when on board and from what I haveread of the Australians, I should think the case was exactlythe reverse.