Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

326 OEMS-MEN IMPROVEMENT. March built for transporting himself alone ; neither was the meeting with his brother accidental. I am now quite sure that from the time of his changing his mind, and desiring to be placed at Woollya, with Matthews and Jemmy, he meditated taking a good opportunity of possessing himself of every thing ; and that he thought, if he were left in his own country without Matthews, he would not have many things given to him, nei- ther would he know where he might afterwards look for and plunder poor Jemmy. While Mr. Bynoe was walking about on shore, Jemmy and his brother pointed out to him the places where our tents were pitched in 1833, where the boundary line was, and where any particular occurrence happened. He told Mr. Bynoe that he had watched day after day for the sprouting of the peas, beans, and other vegetables, but that his countrymen walked over them without heeding any thing he said. The large wigwams which we had erected with some labour, proved to be cold in the winter, because they were too high ; therefore they had been deserted after the first frosts. Since the last depredations of the Oens-men, he had not ventured to live any longer at Woollya his own island, as he called it, affording safer refuge and suffi- cient food. Jemmy told us that these Oens-men crossed over the Beagle Channel, from eastern Tierra del Fuego, in canoes which they seized from the Yapoo Tekeenica. To avoid being separated they fastened several canoes together, crossed over in a body, and when once landed, travelled over-land and came upon his people by surprise, from the heights behind Woollya. Jemmy asserted that he had himself killed one of his antagonists. It Avas generally remarked that his family were become consi- derably more humanized than any savages we had seen in Tierra del Fuego : that they put confidence in us ; were pleased by our return ; that they were ready to do what we could explain to be for their interest ; and, in short, that the first step towards civilization — that of obtaimng their confidence was undoubtedly made : but an individual, with limited means, could not then go farther. The whole scheme, with respect