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without risk of discovery, get near enough to ascertain : but,
in case we should find them, we went armed, each with a pistol
or gun, a cutlass, and a piece of rope to secure a prisoner. We
landed at some distance from the cove, and, leaving two men
with our boat, crept quietly through the hushes for a long
distance round, until we were quite at the back of the new wigwams
; then closing gradually in a circle, we reached almost
to the spot undiscovered; but their dogs winded us, and all at
once ran towards us barking loudly. Further concealment was
impossible, so we rushed on as fast as we could through the
bushes. At first the Indians began to run away ; but hearing
us shout on both sides, some tried to hide themselves, by
squatting under the banks of a stream of water. The foremost
of our party, Flsmore by name, in jumping across this stream,
slipped, and fell in just where two men and a woman were concealed
: they instantly attacked him, trying to hold him down
and beat out his brains with stones ; and before any one could
assist him, he had received several severe blows, and one eye
was almost destroyed, by a dangerous stroke near the temple.
Mr. Murray, seeing the man’s danger, fired at one of the Fuegians,
who staggered back and let Flsmore escape; but immediately
recovering himself, picked up stones from the bed of the
stream, or was supplied with them by those who stood close to
him, and threw them from each hand with astonishing force and
precision. His first stone struck the master with much force,
broke a powder-horn hung round his neck, and nearly knocked
him backwards: and two others were thrown so truly at the
heads of those nearest him, that they barely saved themselves by
dropping down. All tills passed in a few seconds, so quick was
he with each hand: but, poor fellow, it was his last struggle;
unfortunately he was mortally wounded, and, throwing one
more stone, he fell against the bank and expired. After
some struggling, and a few hard blows, those who tried
to secrete themselves were taken, but several who ran away
along the beach escaped : so strong and stout were the females,
that I, for one, had no idea that it was a woman, whose arms
I and my coxswain endeavoured to pinion, until I heard some
one say so. The oldest woman of the tribe was so powerful,
that two of the strongest men of our party could scarcely pull
her out from under the bank of the stream. The man who was
shot was one of those whom we had taken in the boat as a guide,
and the other was among our prisoners. Mr. Murray’s coats
were found in the wigwams divided into wrappers to throw
over the shoulders. We embarked the Indians (two men, three
women, and six children), and returned to the spot where we
had passed the preceding night. One man who escaped was a
one-eyed man we had seen before; he was more active than
any, and soon out of our reach. Two or three others escaped
with him, whom I did not see distinctly.
“ That a life should have been lost in the struggle, I lament
deeply ; but if the Fuegian had not been shot at that moment,
his next blow might have killed Flsmore, who was almost
under water, and more than half stunned, for he had scarcely
sense to struggle away, upon feeling the man’s grasp relax.
When fairly embarked, and before we asked any questions, the
natives seemed very anxious to tell us where our boat was;
but pointed in a direction quite opposite to that which they
had previously shown us. We guarded them carefully through
the night, and next morning (14th) set out upon our return to
the Beagle, with twenty-two souls in the boat. My object was,
to put them in security on hoard, run down the coast with
the ship to some harbour more to the eastward, and then set
out again upon another search ; carrying some of my prisoners
as guides, and leaving the rest on board to ensure the former
remaining, and not deceiving us. We made tolerable progress,
though the boat was so over-loaded, and on the 15th reached
the Beagle with our living cargo. In our way we fell in with
a family of natives, whose wigwams and canoes we searched ;
but finding none of our property, we left them not only
unmolested, but gave them a few things, which in their eyes
were valuable.
“ This conduct appeared to surprise our prisoners, who, as
far as we could make out, received a wholesome lecture, instead