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for that purpose to the north-west, into Beagle Channel, and to the west of Navarin Island, and among other places to Woolya, the place where Jemmy Button, a Fuegian taken to England by Captain FitzRoy, was left on his return from England, after three years' absence. If we can make him out, doubtless it may prove very advantageous to us. At all events, we mean to purchase,* if we can, two lads about ten or twelve years of age, and take them back with us, and from them acquire the language. Our cruise may perhaps last two or three months. This, however, is uncertain. We are well provided with boats, having two very large ones with us, besides two gigs to attend on their seniors. We are well supplied with provisions.

"Captain Gardiner is much what I expected him to be. For indomitable perseverance he is unquestionably to be ranked among men of the first class, and his life is that of an exact and strict disciplinarian. As a Christian, he is devout and unaffected, and most sincere. I am indeed far, far short of him. I am more conscious of my defects since I have been able to compare myself with him. I see that I am a mere vacillator and weak believer, in contrast with his stability and strict in

* Of course Mr Williams only means that it was intended to borrow the children from their parents for a certain time, making the parents such a present as would secure their consent. A button was the consideration for which Jemmy's parents made him over to Captain FitzRoy.

tegrity. I am greatly pleased with all my companions. Mr Maidment, my fellow-catechist, is an amiable, kind, and worthy man; and one becomes more attached to him, and respects him more, the more you know him. He is very sincere and humble, and I fully believe a child of God. Our three young men, having been much afflicted, have exhibited their different characters strikingly. Poor Bryan, who was worst, has shewn a very meek and patient disposition, full of resignation and a simple-hearted love to Christ. Badcock,

who is the eldest and biggest of the three, is, I am persuaded, the subject of divine grace. He, too, is remarkably meek, but there is a somewhat timid or nervous cast of mind in him. John Pearce is a rough, just, honest, and upright man, but with a little touch of independence of spirit which, subdued by grace and properly directed, will rather prove an advantage. Erwin, our ship-carpenter, is the most dapper, sprightly, and excellent fellow I have met for a long time. He is a summary of good qualities, good sense, kind disposition, unassuming deportment, and useful for all purposes; just the man we want to help and comfort us in all exigencies. Every one of them has had to encounter great objections and many persuasions not to go on such an enterprise. But God provides all. He is with us. How delightful is his service! How do I rejoice that it is my calling to declare Christ, to publish such glad tidings to a poor abject race!

Rejoice with me, brother Jones, whilst in the words of Mary I would say, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.'

Returning to the Journal, under "Thursday,` Nov. 28," we find the following entry :

66

To-day, at about eight o'clock in the morning, we passed the Straits of Magellan; and, having had splendid breeze all day, we are at this time -ten P. M.-considerably advanced toward the Strait of Le Maire, which we hope to pass through to-morrow. We are now happily bringing our voyage to a close. To-day the sun has shone very brilliantly, and this evening it has poured a brilliant flood of light around us. Its setting was as fine a scene as anything we have witnessed during our voyage, and has greatly cheered us, taking it as an earnest that we shall not be altogether wanting bright days and sunny visitations, and likewise deeming it in our fancies as a welcome paid us by Fuegia's luminary.

66

Friday, November 29.-To-day at half-past one A.M. we first had a sight of the mountains of Tierra del Fuego. At that time I heard the chief mate awake the Captain, and inform him of the fact. I was singularly impressed with the idea that we were in danger. The thought crossed my mind several times, but without affecting me with any anxiety, but inducing me to call upon the Lord with reliance and trust upon him. I had no

ground whatever for the surmise at the time, hearing no intimation to that effect, and I was surprised when I afterwards learned from the second mate, that in consequence of the men not keeping a good look-out, we had well-nigh run ashore just at that time.

"At about half-past four, Captain Gardiner awoke me, and told me the land was well in sight. I arose and went on deck. There was Tierra del Fuego, sure enough; its snow-tipped mountains were looming through the vapors of the morning sky, and the land of Fuegia threw a faint cold smile upon us, and greeted us with a rough, but, doubtless, a hearty shake of the hand; for truly enough we shivered, if not at the sight of it, yet, with cold. At eight o'clock we were off the entrance of the Strait of Le Maire; but the wind being adverse, we could not take advantage of the tide which set at that hour. Consequently, we had to lie off, and beat between the two coasts of Staten Island and the mainland. We had thus abundant opportunity for seeing this remarkable land, particularly Staten Island, and likewise abundant experience of the extreme disagreeableness of our proximity to the Strait of Le Maire. The swell from the ocean here rising in opposition to the tide-race produces a scene altogether novel to us; the sea seems literally alive; its commotion is extreme. Abreast the land in particular, and extending two or three miles out, or more, there

is the appearance of innumerable breakers, and the white spray dashes its waters about in the wildest manner. The wind blowing strong from the S.E., we rolled about, owing to it and the tide-race and swell combined, far more than we should have done in an ordinary gale. At three o'clock we hoped to have an opportunity again, it being ebb-tide, to pass through; but though we tried, it was impossible, the wind continuing unfavorable. We have thus during the day, it being now nearly eleven P.M., had ample experience of Fuegian weather. If we must take it for a sample, it is certainly none of the best ;-sudden puffs of wind, with ominous gathering of dark clouds, and a chilly aspect of the whole heavens, with a conviction seizing your mind, that you are going to have a snow-storm, which apprehension is converted into the slighter infliction of a thin driving but sharp sleet, or, as I expect we may yet find, into a thumping hail-storm; and then the mist on the mountains clears up, and exposes a few glimmering rays of the sun, burnishing their sides of snow.

"In excellent keeping with the rough and wintry climate is the aspect of the land. Words can never do justice to its frowning, wild, and wintry character. Staten Island must certainly be unequalled in this respect. It is a place of dreariness and of forlorn solitude, par excellence. Its bare, broken, jagged, turret-like hills, present the idea

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