The crew of the Beagle helped set up a mission post in the Beagle Channel with
huts, gardens, furniture and crockery, and left Mr Mathews and the three Fuegians
there. Unfortunately, when the Beagle returned from its surveying it was obvious their
civilizing experiment had failed. The mission post had been looted and its possessions
divided up amongst the natives. Mathews who was in fear of his life chose to re-join
the ship, the three Fuegians had reverted to their native habits and Jemmy Button
was now quite naked except for a rag around his waist. FitzRoy must have been
disappointed but he hoped:
That some benefit, however slight, may result from the intercourse of these people, Jemmy,
York and Fuegia, with other natives of Tierra del Fuego. Perhaps a shipwrecked seaman
may hereafter receive help and kind treatment from Jemmy Button’s children; prompted, as
they can hardly fail to be, by the traditions they will have heard of men of other lands; and
by an idea, however faint, of their duty to God as well as their neighbour.Charles Darwin – The Voyage of the Beagle^73Map of the Beagle Channel by HMS Beagle 1834, showing Darwin Sound and Mount Darwin