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This morning the wives and tents of the men that were with Wesail (and some others) began to make their appearance. Wesail seemed to take some part in the arrangement of their localities: his own brother, an interesting young man, had his tent immediately joining that of Wesail. In the course of the morning all the tents arrived; there were not more than ten. They have very few horses with them: Wesail has four but there does not appear to be more than one to each of the other tents, most of them are small and the backs of some of them are raw and sloughly [having peeled or dead skin, Ed.] from the friction of their cruel saddles. Their bridles are made of the sinews of the ostrich etc. and a mere piece of string tied to the under jaw of the horse. They had one pair of Spanish spurs which seemed to be the common property of two or three of them, the rest were instruments made of two pieces of stick each armed with iron and tied one on each side of the foot; these they use unmercifully, their heels being sometimes covered with blood.

One of the most remarkable men among them is an old fellow, who appears to act as orator and probably has some religious office. He is evidently looked up to by the tribe, and I was soon aware that Wesail used him as a tool to move his people at his (Wesail's) will. He takes care to keep him in his interest by paying him little attentions and procuring presents for him from visitors. Accordingly he gave Captain Gardiner a hint to this effect and the old man was greatly pleased by the gift of an old hat, which he tied on the crown of his head with a string of pink tape. Another attractive character is a very ugly old woman of a very masculine appearance, which striking peculiarity in a woman procured her a present of tobacco from Captain Gardiner who fancied she was the old orator and did not find out his mistake till too late to rectify it.

Wesail and Onteachy breakfasted with us this morning. He brought with him the thimbles that formed part of the present he had received and wished to have holes made through the tops of them, by which they might be suspended; his wives also were very clamourous for the rings upon our curtains and for the beads, such as the purse I had given to Wesail was made of. We did our best to make them understand, that the day was our Sabbath, in which we could do no work or attend to any unnecessary business of that nature and that we wished to spend all the day in the worship of God, in prayer and reading His Word etc., but that the thimbles should be bored tomorrow. Captain Gardiner easily explained all this to Wesail and consequently they did not annoy us much and when we began the morning service they all left us to ourselves.

While we were thus engaged we heard them shouting and running about gladsomely [full of joy, Ed.] and soon came near the house exclaiming, so that we might hear "Yini, yini (pronounced Yinny) meaning a ship". When the service was ended we found there was a vessel in the bay, under all sail and with a fair wind and the tide in her favour, apparently determined not to anchor but make for and pass through the Narrows. She appeared to be English or American and about three or four hundred tons burden.

Captain Gardiner immediately made for the shore with his glass; I soon followed and Wesail sent with me his friend, and Aide-de-camp, bearing a very light, long pole to assist us in making signals. All was now noise and bustle on the shore, most of the people, men, women and children, perhaps sixty, being assembled there raising smokes and shouting. Soon after I had raised my pocket handkerchief upon the pole, we had the high gratification of seeing the English Ensign floating in the wind and upon my waving my flag in the direction of the land, she shortened sail and approached the spot upon which we were standing.

As there was a bank, now invisible on account of the high tide, stretching out into the bay at right angles to the course she was now steering towards our position, I asked Captain Gardiner if we had better not shift a little, so that if the Commander thought we were making signals for him to anchor in the neighbourhood our position pointed out, we might not be the means of making him run upon this bank. This Captain Gardiner refused to do in the authoritative manner he generally assumed when any suggestion was made to him, observing, as a reason, that the man must be a great fool to run his vessel upon a shoal.

However, as she still continued her course, I took courage to say, that it was becoming evident that she was expecting that we were directing her to an anchorage and the probability was, that unless her Captain had been here before, he would be as ignorant of the position of the shoal as he (Captain Gardiner) and Captain Boyse were, when the Rosalie anchored here. To this the reply was to this effect. "Did I imagine that they would be so foolish as to neglect to sound as they passed on?" But, as I remarked to Captain Gardiner, that would be the means of increasing their dangerous confidence, for there was a great depth of water close up to the very edge of the bank; and it was soon very evident that we were leading them into danger and if she did not alter her course immediately she would be aground.

Captain Gardiner seemed now to be of my opinion, for as I began to run and wave the flag in the direction I thought she should immediately take to avoid the danger, he also began to wave his glass in the same direction in a very earnest manner. Our signals appeared to be understood for, instantly she turned and went off almost at a right angle and not a minute too soon. This rejoiced me exceedingly. Captain Gardiner now said she had done this for the purpose of sending a boat on shore and that she would not anchor as she had not made the necessary preparations in her sails to letting her anchor go: however, as soon as she was well away from the bank, the discoloured water of which it is probable she had at length observed, the necessary preparations were made and down went her anchor and the Captain came ashore about an hour after. This was the first vessel we had seen after the departure of the one that left us here, and she had arrived within a day after we had agreed to ask for one to come. She proved to be the Commodore bound for England direct. Surely this was an answer to our prayers! Her presence, the respect the Captain purposely showed us and other means he used to influence Wesail in our favour, were of the utmost importance to us and we felt under existing circumstances, more particularly the change in Wesail's mind, that we ought to remain and we were glad to be able to do so.

Having come to this resolution it was necessary that we should, as soon as possible, have a fresh supply of provisions, for the Patagonians were beginning to make some rather unreasonable demands upon our stock, which it was not likely could be replenished before some nine or ten months had passed over us. There arose also the question whether or not we should recommend the Committee to send any other party to our aid. Captain Gardiner's usual custom had been to make up his mind and tell me that he had done so before he talked with me on the subject. "I have made up my mind" was not his expression this time; but instead he very cordially told me what he had been thinking of, and I was glad to find that he considered our duty to the Committee and the Association, required us under existing circumstances, to remain at our post. In this opinion I quite concurred and confidently trusted that, as while doing our duty to the Association we were no less doing our duty to God, we should be at least protected while we remained, and further light would doubtless be vouchsafed to us when the necessities of the case required it.

Having come to the determination to remain, I felt it to be my duty to the cause and to myself to speak to Captain Gardiner regarding the manner in which he frequently treated me. I reminded him that at an early period after our arrival here, I had taken a fit opportunity of saying in the presence of the mess that I considered the Committee had left the entire direction of matters regarding the establishment of the Mission to him and that therefore be must not expect any impertinent interference from me; but on the contrary, I should always be ready to exert myself to the utmost to assist to carrying out any plan that he might determine upon; and while I should always be ready to express an opinion, if it was called for, still I would rather not under the circumstances have any choice in the matter.

(The occasion that gave rise to this conversation was the following - on the Sunday after our arrival at Cape Gregory, Captain Gardiner spoke of going to seek the Patagonians and Captain Boyse, I think, offered to take charge of everything during our absence; this raised the question whether or not I should accompany Captain Gardiner or some one else should go with him. Of course I was anxious to come into communication with the people at the very first opportunity, though I gave no expression to this feeling; but in accordance with the above sentiments I made known my determination to accompany Captain Gardiner or to remain behind at the station, as he might determine. The latter was the plan he resolved on, and accordingly I did not make any of the party who went in search of the Patagonians at this time but remained at the station of course, during the two nights of Captain Gardiner's absence, although no one would stay with me, partly because of the discomfort of the unfinished houses but chiefly perhaps, for fear of the Lagoon Indians, whose various fires not many miles off made Captain Boyse believe were in our neighbourhood.)

I also reminded Captain Gardiner that my conduct had been constantly in accordance with the sentiments I had expressed and that, far from interfering with matters which belonged to his province, I had, so to speak, followed his footsteps as a dog would his master's, although my judgement frequently convinced me that he was wrong. My motives were to secure such a unity of purpose, hand and heart, as was indispensably necessary to our success and comfort. I added that as regarded spiritual attainments in general, I should be content to carry his shoes but at the same time there was a part of his general behaviour towards me that he must permit me to speak of. If, as I hoped to be, I were permanently settled among the Patagonians, the measure of my success among them would depend, humanly speaking, upon the measure of respect and influence I could gain among them; and what I complained of was that part of his behaviour which necessarily robbed me of my chance of success.

I then specified some of the things to which I alluded, which had caused me to be insulted by the carpenter of the Rosalie and laughed at by some of the Patagonians. I told him that I attributed his harsh and disrespectful manner to the habit of command he had acquired in a Man-of-war, where it was absolutely necessary, and that I should not have mentioned it to him if I had not felt that I might as well return to England for any good that I could do the objects of the Mission, unless I could secure that respect and influence which might eventually secure me their love.

One of the incidents I mentioned to him was the following - Last Saturday after the arrival of Wesail's tents and wives and after we had had all the communication we thought advisable at that time, Captain Gardiner expressed his determination to alter the position of the kitchen stove. I immediately asked if I should assist him or if the Chilean's aid would be enough; receiving no reply, I said I would, for the present, go on with the wall, which I proceeded to do. In the mean time, Captain Gardiner had shifted the stove and then went to nailing up some boards at the gable of the house; in this there was no difficulty and if he wanted anything the Chilean was close to him, whereas I was at the other end of the station, in my shirt sleeves, sweating with hard toil at the ditch and wall, a work that Captain Gardiner at first projected but at which I had received no assistance as yet.

In these circumstances Captain Gardiner shouted for me to come to him, which I did immediately and found him surrounded with Patagonians, among whom were Wesail's wives. He then told me in an authoritative tone, which the people about him noticed, though they could not understand the words, to fetch him half a dozen nails such as he was using. I felt this to be void of all reason but I did not hesitate to comply. I brought them while he stood waiting for them, doing nothing; but instead of thanking me for leaving my own engagement and going from one house to another to wait upon him, he asked me in the same tone why I had not put them in paper. Certainly no such idea had struck me, as he had said nothing about paper, and those he had already used did not appear to have been put in paper by himself. I therefore made no [line missing, Ed.]

I then replied simply, because I had done exactly as he had ordered me. He also said "I can put these in my waistcoat pockets, bring me some of the long thin ones." Upon this I went and brought the little iron pan that contained all the nails and after selecting some of the long thin ones, I gave him some of them and put the pot beside him on the ground. After staying some time and seeing that he wanted no help, I went back to the other end of the station and resumed my work at the wall, from which he again called me in the same tone of voice to give him a nail from the pot at his feet. This strange conduct was noticed by those who surrounded him and the circumstances gave me considerable pain. I only noticed them however, by mildly remarking, "Sir, the nails are all at your feet".

No sooner did I mention the incidents alluded to than Captain Gardiner remembered them and expressed himself as being hurt on account of the natives having noticed them, and as being very sorry that such things had ever occurred; and added that he was glad that I had attributed them to the true cause viz. a habit he had contracted aboard a Man-of-war; and he assured me he mourned over it every day and was sorry I had not told him of it before, and begged that I would do so at the moment, for the future. This I declined, being sure that it would be better to leave such things for the future to his Christian principles and feelings.

After this satisfactory explanation we proceeded to canvass our future plans. Before we could hear from England in answer to any communication that might be sent by the Commodore, eight or ten months would hare elapsed; by that time Captain Gardiner would wish to set out for home, at the same time my being left alone was out of the question, some assistance must therefore be asked for; and his, Captain Gardiner's, opinion decidedly was on several accounts, it was not fit that I should be the chief agent in carrying out the designs of the Association: he would, therefore recommend to Sir Thomas Bloomfield, or to whomsoever he wrote, that an unmarried man should be sent out as a catechist and that, as the business of cook, housemaid etc. had been found to occupy so very much of our time, he would recommend that a lad should also come out, whose aid would leave the missionaries more time for their especial duties; with regard to myself, some fit opportunity might be afforded me of visiting England when I must take the opportunity of being ordained. I expressed myself very glad of this mark of his confidence and suggested that it might be much better if the person sent out could speak Spanish, as it would increase his influence and usefulness. Captain Gardiner thought it would be well if either the Missionary or the lad had some acquaintance with that language and he would mention the point in his communication. He would also write for provisions.

These arrangements appeared the best we could recommend, for though we were not certain of our being able to remain, yet, according to present appearances, it was our duty to remain at our post which, if we were permitted to do so for any length of time, the aid we sought would be absolutely necessary by the time it arrived, when every doubt might be removed as to what the subsequent plans should be. If it should so happen that we had been driven from our post, or should not be in life when the aid came, we should have taken care to use the best means in our power of putting correct information in the way of those whom we expected to come out, that they might judge to act most conformably with the instructions and wishes of the Committee. These conclusions we arrived at after having prostrated ourselves in a hollow place near the sea shore to ask counsel and direction of Him Whose servants we were and Whose Will we desired to know and do. We then proceeded to write a few hasty lines to England, as it was likely the vessel would sail again at the earliest opportunity, we did not expect to be able to write much.

The Captain, Philipe De St. Croix and a boat's crew, well armed, soon arrived. They were going to Liverpool and kindly offered us any assistance in their power. A gentleman passenger, Mr. Kennedy accompanied Captain De St. Croix to the station.

I took a private opportunity of asking Captain Gardiner if he would think it advisable to have Wesail and his chief men in the presence of all these, our countrymen, and come to a perfect understanding on every important point regarding the Mission and what Wesail was to expect from us and we from him. To this Captain Gardiner assented and as both Captain De St. Croix and Mr. Kennedy spoke Spanish as well as Wesail, this interview was of great service to us, although Captain Gardiner confined the arrangement to the point of our having liberty to remain and did not mention the matters I had taken the liberty to suggest, such as this - that Wesail must understand that as we were missionaries and with no more provisions than would suffice to feed ourselves, himself and son according to agreement, he and his people must cease their other unreasonable demands upon our store, or we ourselves might be left to starve before we could receive a fresh supply. I thought this an important omission, but to all that was said Wesail gave an assent that appeared very cordial and requested Captain De St. Croix to tell the people in England that his heart was towards Captain Gardiner, to which Captain Gardiner replied in English, "Yes while I have anything to give you!"

Wesail then went aboard the Commodore, Captain Croix and Mr. Kennedy saying they would contrive to impress him with the idea that it would be well for him and his people to treat us well. I fear they did not do the cause in general much good, as some of the crew told him some untruths and asked him to send a woman aboard. We thought it prudent to procure some biscuit from the vessel.

There was also another point which Captain Gardiner wished to arrange with Captain St. Croix viz. with the Patagonians there had arrived another deserter from Port Famine, a desperate character, who seeing his former comrade in possession of our kitchen, gave us to understand that if he was not fed also, he would contrive to show eight or ten of his Patagonian friends how to help themselves without any danger of a denial from us. There was no doubt that he would be able to put his threat into execution, for we had already seen, in the Patagonians themselves, a disposition to steal without any other prompter than a fit opportunity. Captain Gardiner was therefore glad to hear that this desperado would gladly work his passage to any place whither the Commodore would take him; the other Chilean also wished to get away.

I hinted that to take any active measures to send an acknowledged deserter out of the reach of the authorities, who claimed the country in which we were, might furnish them with a reason they would be glad of to oblige us to leave; but Captain Gardiner did not agree with me and concluded that we must get rid of the fellow. Accordingly he requested Captain De St. Croix to take him aboard. This he at once refused to do because, although he would gladly rid us of him if he had contrived to get aboard without his knowledge, yet this he must now prevent, as it would be a breach of international law to connive at such an escape. He informed us however, that there would be a Government vessel from Port Famine here tomorrow and they would secure him. On account of the other deserter I was sorry to hear this - as he retained his uniform, he could not escape observation - but as it would not be right to warn him, I hoped Captain Gardiner would leave things to take their own course. Indeed any active measure, either to favour or prevent their escape, might have embroiled us with one or other party. But to prevent the dangerous one from becoming more desperate from hunger etc., his old comrade was instructed to let him understand that he might sleep in the kitchen and eat anything that remained after meals.

Wesail stayed but a short time aboard the Commodore and Captain St Croix sent an apology for not coming ashore again, the surf being so high: we therefore had less time for writing than we anticipated. I sent to Sir Thomas Bloomfield a short statement of our tramp in search of the Patagonians with an encouraging remark or two; and to some of my friends a request to forward me such things as my experience taught me would be useful and acceptable to the natives as presents; to the Rev. W. J. Woodcock I expressed my decided opinion that his wife and family ought not to come out, as this is at present no place for ladies or children.

In the evening Wesail again eats with us. I mention to Captain Gardiner my wish to make Wesail useful to me in acquiring the language, and with this view I would always have writing materials on the table at meal times. This he considered a good plan. I may mention here that this morning Wesail brought two of his wives each having a young child to Captain Gardiner, that he might doctor them. There did not appear to be much the matter with either but the youngest exhibited slight signs of indisposition. He gave each of them a very small quantity of Rhubarb and Magnesia; the dose, though so small, operated upon the younger in less than five minutes, shocking the delicacy of the Mother and inducing Wesail himself to run out of the house to get some grass with which he cleaned the floor.

All the people who came into the house were very much interested in a portrait of my brother in water colours. Wesail turned and viewed it in every direction, apparently unable to believe that the figure was not raised from the surface. One of his brothers, who had not been present at the first examination, actually started with fright as soon as his eye rested upon this diminutive likeness; those who had corrected their impressions that it was an animate being in propria persona had a hearty laugh at him.

All were exceedingly delighted with my accordion, which was brought out today much against my will. Wesail insisted upon my playing it, and as Captain Gardiner was not present to explain my motives for declining, I was obliged to comply, after which most of them tried their hands at it. They are fond of singing, but their music is very monotonous.

This night, a number of them of all ages assembled in a tent and sang for several hours. A man appeared to begin by giving the measure in a sort of prelude and then all joined in chorus, each individual retaining the exact time and accent as given in the prelude, and exactly the same pitch of voice throughout with which each, respectively, began the song. The only variety that there was in each song, after the first measure, was occasioned by the natural difference in the pitch of their voices, which ranged from the deep bass of the men through every grade, up to the shrill treble of the children; very few voices were discordant, the harmony generally being 1.3.5.8. and the octaves to these. In some of the songs the harmony from some of the voices was 1.4.6.8. etc. but although they generally evaded discords, the kind of concord appeared to be the result of chance. The following is a specimen of the words and time of one song and they were all much alike.

repeated till they were hoarse, the vowels having the Italian sounds. Some consisted of longer stanzas and more complicated time, but this also seemed to be left to chance or the will of the leader. All was done in the dark and I had no opportunity of ascertaining whether it was a convivial or religious performance, or whether or not the old orator was their leader.