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National Geographic : 1969 Oct
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"Mliserable, degraded savages.... the Fuegians twice came and plagued us." Fort Bulnes, overlooking the Strait of Magellan, had not yet been built when the Beagle arrived in 1834. Fierce Indians, now virtually extinct, shared the region's deso lation with what seemed to Darwin "an endless succession of gales." Not until 1843 did Chile build the fort to establish its claim to the region. This reconstruction of the orig inal stockade stands near Port Famine, where star vation wracked a short lived Spanish settlement in the 1580's. A nice, modest, reserved young girl...." Darwin's description of Fuegia Basket, an 11 year-old Indian aboard the Beagle, might well apply to Nancy Zarricue ta of Puerto Williams on Navarino Island. On his previous voy age, Fitz Roy had taken several Fuegian hostages, transporting them to England and overseeing their education. He hoped to resettle them in their native land, and thus help to civilize the unruly tribes. To his dismay, the subjects of his experiment soon reverted to their primitive ways. American Indian passengers. These last were natives of the Tierra del Fuego region, brought away by the Beagle on her earlier voyage. The Indians were York Minster, a large and somewhat surly member of the Alacaluf tribe, aged 28, and two young Yahgans, lik able Jemmy Button, from Navarino Island, 16, and Fuegia Basket, a bright, pert little miss, 11 years old. After seizing them as hos tages for a stolen ship's boat, Captain Fitz Roy had taken his responsibilities toward them seriously. In England he had York and Jemmy instructed in gardening and carpentry. They all learned English and, he believed, the rudiments of Christianity and civilization. The captain hoped that all three might on their return make a beginning toward a better life for their fellow Indians. Winter Flight to the "Land of Fire" I thought of this strange assemblage in the wind-blown little Beagle as we flew in an elderly Douglas DC-3 from Punta Arenas toward the Beagle Channel and an airstrip at the Puerto Williams naval base on Chile's Navarino Island. It was August-winter in these latitudes-and below us the mountains of Tierra del Fuego (literally, land of fire) shone white and beautiful. But where were the Indian fires for which Magellan named this cold place? We saw no sign even of smoke. There were few aids to aerial navigation for the DC-3; a nonchalant young Chilean pilot flew us in by eye. His passengers, besides the three of us, were Chilean naval seamen, plus Patrick Furniss from Punta Arenas, who runs a Navarino sheep ranch, and Tony Cam biaso from Valparaiso, flying down to take a look at commercial fishing possibilities. Around us, high cloud builds up. The pilot banks and slides past mountaintops, over frozen lakes and black forests. The insides of the windows begin to frost. The clouds rise; so does the DC-3, leaping and bouncing, try ing to dodge them (for she is not fitted with de-icing equipment). We disconsolate modern mariners sit grimly in our seat belts. What would Darwin think of this? The aircraft has not robbed this area of its dangers. Darwin was probably better off in the Beagle. Suddenly the clouds roll open. The pilot slips into the gap. "The Murray Channel!" says Tony. "There's Wulaia!" The cove where the Beagle landed Jemmy Button! I peer down. I see no township or village. The black waters froth white with the driving wind. The black land whitened by snow looks savagely cold. 457
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