Tierra del FuegoAll hands employed in getting in a stock of wood & water. There were three canoes full of Fuegians in this bay, who were very quiet & civil & more amusing than any Monkeys. Their constant employment was begging for everything they saw; by the eternal word — yammer-scooner — They understood that guns could kill Guanaco & pointed out in which direction to go. They had a fair idea of barter & honesty. I gave one man a large nail (a very valuable present) & without making signs for any return, he picked out two fish & handed them up on the point of his spear. If any present was designed for one canoe & it fell near another, invariably it was restored to the right owner. When they ‘yammer-scooner’ for any article very eagerly; they by a simple artifice point to their young women or little children; as much as to say, "if you will not give it me, surely you will to them".
Captain Fitzroy’s Journal:
The 1st of March passed in replenishing our wood and water at a cove, where we had an opportunity of making acquaintance with some Yapoo Tekeenica natives, who seemed not to have met white men before.
The 1st of March passed in replenishing our wood and water at a cove, where we had an opportunity of making acquaintance with some Yapoo Tekeenica natives, who seemed not to have met white men before.
No comments:
Post a Comment