of the interior; who is very malignant and powerful; and who knows everything that is done or spoken. They are very superstitious. They have great faith in dreams. They will not for any consideration allow a stranger to cut off a lock of their hair; and they think it extremely unlucky to kill the young sea-birds. "Oh, Mr Bynoe, very bad to shoot little duck-come wind-come rain-blow -very much blow," was the solemn remonstrance of one of them to a gentleman who had killed some very young ducklings as zoological specimens. They never speak of the dead. When a boy, hereafter to be mentioned, was questioned about his dead father, he was very unhappy, and refused to answer: "No good talk; my country never talk of dead man."

Embruted as are these savages, they are not sunk beyond recovery. Through the mercy of our God, there is at this moment on the earth a power well able to cure the worst woes of Fuegia. True, they are not an inviting race; but they are none the less a fac-simile of our British forefathers. Sir James Mackintosh was born in a northern latitude exactly corresponding to Cape Horn in the south, and his ancestors lived in a hut without window or chimney, with a fire in the centre of the floor, with a pile of mussel-shells at the threshold, and with smoked fish and deer's flesh hanging from the rafters; and when they wished to cross an arm of the sea, they waited for a day of calm

weather which would not endanger their wicker coracle. The ancestors of Davy and Newton lived in forests almost as sombre as the beech-woods of Narborough's Land. They wore cloaks of bull or badger's skin, like the otter or guanaco robes of Navarin Island; and they anointed their persons, and pipeclayed their faces, in a truly Fuegian fashion. The ancestors of Wesley and Wilberforce worshipped a devil, and were glad to propitiate his wrath by flinging their infants into the fire. But Christianity has wrought for Britain the best of miracles. If it has not brightened the skies and converted these islands into new Hesperides; it has shed a balm into the moral atmosphere, and it has transformed the population. It has made us, as a people, honest, hard-working, and humane. It has made a future existence a familiar idea, and it has made the Most High a not unfamiliar presence. It has given us tastes, aspirations, and affections, which a nation of atheists or pagans can never know. And whilst all this has been effected with only a small per-centage of practical religionists in our population, and, we may add, with only a small per-centage of Bible Christianity in our practical religion, it has done enough to teach us that the only thing needed to make any land "a delightsome land," is the gospel in ascendancy.

In the year 1831 there were three Fuegians in England. They were brought to this country by Captain FitzRoy, R.N., and the hope was enter

tained that they might learn our language, and acquire the habits of civilisation, so as to introduce them, on their return, among their own compatriots. One of them was a full-grown man, York Minster, a gruff and surly fellow, who could never be induced to learn anything. Jemmy Button was a good-natured boy of no great capacity; and Fuegia Basket was a rather pleasing and very intelligent girl. Considerable interest was felt in these visitors from the antipodes, and even the king and queen expressed a desire to see them. They were accordingly taken to the palace, and were received with all the gentle kindness so characteristic of Queen Adelaide. Captain FitzRoy consigned them to the care of a schoolmaster at Walthamstow; and after a few months, accompanied by Mr Matthews, a missionary, he carried them back to their native isles. It may be questioned whether their residence in England was sufficiently long; and it is likely that, had a selection been practicable, more promising pupils might have been found than York Minster and Jemmy Button. At all events, the experiment was very unproductive. On landing in their own country, York Minster married Fuegia Basket, and being a powerful, resolute man, it is possible that he may have been able to preserve from his rapacious neighbours the implements and manufactured articles with which he was freely supplied. But poor Jemmy was soon victimised. His goods. were stolen, and his little garden was trodden down;

justifying his verdict, "My people very bad; no sabe nothing; my people very great fool." And as the violence of the people forced Mr Matthews to return on board, there is too much reason to fear that, left to themselves, his scholars would soon relapse into the surrounding barbarism.

CHAPTER VII.

First Toils.

My wanderings thou hast numbered;
Even every tear mine eyes have shed
Thy vial holds;

All in the folds

Of thy large volume read.

Psalm lvi. 8.-George Sandys.

If our lives are preserved, and our attempt prospered, we shall next New Year's Day be in India. We shall no more see our kind friends around us, or enjoy the conveniences of civilised life, or go to the house of God with those that keep holy day; but swarthy countenances will everywhere meet our eye, the jargon of an unknown tongue will assail our ears, and we shall witness the assembling of the heathen to the worship of idol gods. We shall be weary of the world, and wish for wings like a dove. We shall probably experience seasons when we shall be "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."-Dr Judson.