The inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego are of the same race as the Patagonians, but smaller; they live near the sea-coast, as the most of their food is obtained from the water in the shape of shell or other fish, seals, aquatic birds, and a certain edible weed that is thrown up by the waves. They are reputed to be cannibals, and the crews of ships wrecked on their coast have been killed and eaten by these savages. They do not confine their cannibalism to shipwrecked mariners, if all stories are true; Captain Smiley said he once visited a Fuegian chief, with whom he was on friendly terms, and found him superintending the cooking of one of his wives!
Missionaries have labored among the Fuegians, but to very little good result. The first effort was made after the return of Admiral Fitzroy's expedition, which is described in Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle." Four Fuegians were taken to England, where one of them died, and the others remained for three years and were educated. One of these natives was named "Jemmy Button," in consequence of his having been bought from his parents for a button cut from an officer's coat; he was intelligent, and gave promise of future usefulness, and it was thought a good plan to send him to his native land accompanied by a missionary.
Jemmy received many presents from kind-hearted people before starting for his old home, and when he arrived there he was cordially welcomed. The ship's carpenter built a house for the missionary and Jemmy; a garden was made and seeds were sown; the natives who flocked around the ship were well treated; and everything seemed to promise favorably.
Hardly was the ship out of sight before the natives robbed Jemmy of all his treasures, and reduced him to his original condition of a savage. All his fine clothes were destroyed, and he was compelled to dress—or, rather, to undress—like his own people; it is probable that the missionary would have been killed had not the ship looked in again after a week's absence, to see how things were getting along.
JEMMY BUTTON'S SOUND.
The next visitors to Tierra del Fuego found that the effect of civilization on Jemmy had not improved his morals. Captain Snow, who commanded a ship which touched at several places on the island, says Jemmy's tribe was the worst he saw, and had to be constantly watched to prevent thefts. They stole everything they could lay their hands on, and a few years later they massacred the crew of a ship that was sent there by the London Missionary Society, the very ship that Captain Snow formerly commanded.
