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. I
' 1. 7
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ber) were occupied at a distance, cutting wood, digging
ground for a garden, or making wigwams for Matthews,
York, and Jemmy.
As the natives thronged to our boundary-line (a mere mark
made with a spade on the ground), it was at first difficult to
keep them back without using force; but by good temper on
the part of our men, by distributing several presents, and by
the broken Fuegian explanations of our dark-coloured shipmates,
we succeeded in getting the natives squatted on their
hams around the line, and obtaining influence enough over
them to prevent their encroaching.
Canoes continued to arrive ; their owners hauled them ashore
on the beach, sent the women and children to old wigwams at
a little distance, and hastened themselves to see the strangers.
While I was engaged in watching the proceedings at our
encampment, and poor Jemmy was getting out of temper at
the quizzing he had to endure on account of his countrymen,
whom he had extolled so highly until in sight, a deep voice
was heard shouting from a canoe more than a mile distant:
up started .Jemmy from a bag full of nails and tools which he
was distributing, leaving them to be scrambled for by those
nearest, and, upon a repetition of the shout, exclaimed “ My
brother! ” He then told me that it was his eldest brother’s voice,
and perched himself on a large stone to watch the canoe, which
approached slowly, being small and loaded with several people.
When it arrived, instead of an eager meeting, there was a
cautious circumspection which astonished us. Jemmy walked
slowly to meet the party, consisting of Iris mother, two sisters,
and four brothers. The old woman hardly looked at him
before she hastened away to secure her canoe and hide her
property, all she possessed—a basket containing tinder, firestone,
paint, &c., and a bundle of fish. The girls ran off"
with her without even looking at Jemmy; and the brothers
(a man and three boys) stood still, stared, walked up to Jemmy,
and all round him, without uttering a word. Animals when
they meet show far more animation and anxiety than was
displayed at this meeting. Jemmy was evidently much morti-
VOL. II . V