everything they saw, and stole what they could. They were delighted at
our dancing and singing, and were particularly interested at seeing us
wash in a neighbouring brook; they did not pay much attention to
anything else, not even to our boats. Of all the things which York
saw, during his absence from his country, nothing seems more to have
astonished him than an ostrich, near Maldonado: breathless with
astonishment he came running to Mr. Bynoe, with whom he was out
walking--"Oh, Mr. Bynoe, oh, bird all same horse!" Much as our white
skins surprised the natives, by Mr. Low's account a negro-cook to a
sealing vessel, did so more effectually, and the poor fellow was so
mobbed and shouted at that he would never go on shore again.
Everything went on so quietly that some of the officers and myself took
long walks in the surrounding hills and woods. Suddenly, however, on
the 27th, every woman and child disappeared. We were all uneasy at
this, as neither York nor Jemmy could make out the cause. It was
thought by some that they had been frightened by our cleaning and
firing off our muskets on the previous evening; by others, that it was
owing to offence taken by an old savage, who, when told to keep further
off, had coolly spit in the sentry's face, and had then, by gestures
acted over a sleeping Fuegian, plainly showed, as it was said, that he
should like to cut up and eat our man. Captain Fitz Roy, to avoid the
chance of an encounter, which would have been fatal to so many of the
Fuegians, thought it advisable for us to sleep at a cove a few miles
distant. Matthews, with his usual quiet fortitude (remarkable in a man
apparently possessing little energy of character), determined to 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 delighted to find all
quiet, and the men employed in their canoes spearing fish. Captain
Fitz Roy determined to send the yawl and one whale-boat back to the
ship; and to proceed with the two other boats, one under his own
command (in which he most kindly allowed me to accompany him), and one
under Mr. Hammond, to survey the western parts of the Beagle Channel,
and afterwards to return and visit the settlement. The day to our
astonishment was overpoweringly hot, so that our skins were scorched:
with this beautiful weather, the view in the middle of the Beagle
Channel was very remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object
intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between the
mountains. The circumstance of its being an arm of the sea was
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