During the voyage of the British ships Adventure and Beagle to Tierra del Fuego in the years 1826-1830, Captain Robert Fitz Roy:
...seized
a party of natives, as hostages for the loss of a boat, which had been
stolen, to the great jeopardy of a party employed in the survey; and
some of these natives, as well as a child whom he bought for a
pearl-button, he took with him to England, determining to educate them
and instruct them in religion at his own expense.
- Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, chapter 10.
Four
Fuegians - two men, a young boy, and a little girl - were removed from
their home and forced to travel to the other side of the globe. One of
the men soon died of small pox1. The other three unfortunates eventually came back to the land of their birth, but they could never return home.
The Three Fuegians
Charles Darwin
provides a description of the three Fuegians who accompanied him on the
first leg of the famous Voyage of the Beagle. York Minster, the
surviving man, was 'full-grown, short, thick, powerful' and 'reserved,
taciturn, morose, and when excited violently passionate.' York
Minster's violence would serve him well on his return to Tierra del
Fuego. Jemmy Button, the child who had been purchased for the price of
his namesake button, was:
… an universal favourite,
but likewise passionate... He was merry and often laughed, and was
remarkably sympathetic with anyone in pain.
Although
Jemmy Button expressed a devotion to his native land, in his time in
Britain he had adopted a number of European habits: he wore gloves,
kept his hair neatly trimmed, and was very careful to always keep his
shoes brightly polished. Fuegia Basket, the girl, was 'a nice, modest,
reserved young girl, with a rather pleasing but sometimes sullen
expression.' Darwin reports that she seemed to have a facility with
languages and learned some Spanish and Portuguese on the voyage. Darwin
was of the impression that York Minster was 'determined to marry'
Fuegia Basket once they were returned to their homeland. Darwin was,
however, showing Victorian politeness: part of the reason that Fitz Roy
had been content to cut short his experiment of civilising the Fuegians
was that York Minster had already been caught raping the 12-year old
Fuegia Basket.
The Return
The
return of the three Fuegians was one of the principal reasons for the
voyage of the Beagle. The British Admiralty, in an anachronistic show
of humanitarian spirit, had been horrified by Fitz Roy's abduction of
these simple people and in time gave orders that they be returned.
After York Minster's attack on Fuegia Basket, Fitz Roy was quite happy
at the prospect of having them out of his home. The three Fuegians were
not consulted. It seems clear from both Darwin's description of the
three, and from later events in Tierra del Fuego, that at least Jemmy
Button might have chosen to remain in Britain if given the choice.
In
January 1833, Fitz Roy landed the Fuegians in the area of Jemmy's
family. York Minster and Fuegia, who had originally come from another
area, decided that they would debark with Jemmy as well. A British
missionary also intended to remain. Five days were spent in building
the returnees shelter and in unloading their goods and there was even
an attempt made at preparing a garden and planting seeds. On 24
January, Jemmy's mother and brothers arrived to investigate reports of
his return. Jemmy had forgotten most of his own language and was
virtually ignored by his family. Fuegia Basket, however, was doted upon
by the Fuegian Women.
Three days later, all women and children of
the native group disappeared. This caused great unease among the
British who, except for Matthews the missionary, moved camp to a
location farther from the little group of shelters. The next day, since
all seemed well at the resettlement camp, the British moved off on an
exploration journey, returning on 6 February. While away, the Fuegian
men had been reinforced and had spent their time plundering the new
arrivals. Fitz Roy ordered Matthews back to the ship. York Minster
apparently expressed his confidence that he and Fuegia would be able to
manage. Jemmy Button, however, 'looked rather disconsolate, and would
then, I have little doubt, have been glad to have returned with us.'
The Beagle sailed away.
Jemmy Button's New Life
On
5 March the following year, the Beagle anchored once more near the
settlement and found it deserted. After a time, a canoe approached the
Beagle with a naked and distraught Jemmy Button. After a wash and a
British meal, Jemmy informed his European friends that he wished to
stay in his homeland: he had a wife, he had relearned some of his
language, and he had acquired skills he needed for life in Tierra del
Fuego. After a short visit with his old friends, Jemmy Button and his
wife returned to the canoe he built and the home he hoped to build for
his family. There is a story that some years later a group of
missionaries was killed in the same area by a party led by Jemmy Button.
York Minster's New Life
According
to Jemmy Button, sometime after the Beagle's initial departure, York
Minster built a canoe and returned to his home area with Fuegia Basket.
He was said to have persuaded Jemmy Button and his mother to accompany
them, but one night he stole everything the Button family owned and
deserted them on the strange shore. With that final act of robbery,
York Minster passes out of history.
Fuegia Basket's New Life
The
last mention history makes of the little girl that Fitz Roy abducted
comes from a Captain Sullivan, who had heard the story from a sealer.
Around 1842, in the western part of the Strait of Magellan, a woman
came aboard the sealing vessel and surprised all present with her
ability to speak English. As Darwin writes in a footnote:
She lived (I fear the term probably bears a double interpretation) some days on board.
Some
reports suggest that Fuegia did not survive her time on the sealing
ship while other stories current in Patagonia suggest that she lived to
be an old woman with the fear that her relatives were intending to
strangle her.
Related BBC Links
1 The small pox victim had been named Boat Memory.
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