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The remarks under yesterday's date were suggested by occurrences on that day but were not written on Sunday. Early this morning the Commodore was out of sight and the wind fair for her passage through the first Narrows.

At breakfast time Wesail brought not only his son Onteachy but also another son, Lux, two of his wives and two young men, his brothers, appearing to expect that they were all to sit at our table. I think that this unreasonable expectation and demand upon our generosity might have been prevented if the suggestion I made yesterday, regarding the necessity of perfect understanding with Wesail upon this point, had been acted upon. It was perfectly out of our power to feed all these people: we therefore laid plates etc. for ourselves, Wesail and Onteachy only, and this was what we had engaged to do. Our not doing more occasioned very dissatisfied looks and finally Wesail distributed messes from his own plate among them, taking care in the meantime to secure enough for himself likewise. He never ceased eating while anything remained on the dishes and before he left he either took possession of any biscuit that might remain on the table or else gave Onteachy a hint to do so. We were obliged to eat our meals with all haste or else retain a good sharp appetite for the next scramble, the dishes being emptied as if by magic.

It soon began to be evident that although our persons were safe from hostility on the part of the Patagonians, yet Wesail had neither the inclination, nor the power, to leave our provisions at our own disposal. In fact our position had become a false one, for instead of being respected and protected as missionaries, our presence and persons were merely tolerated, that the provisions might be squeezed out of us at the pleasure of Wesail etc. He did not hesitate to come into the house at any time of the day and help himself to biscuit from the barrel, merely holding it up in his hand as he went out again that it might not have the appearance of a sly theft but only a little liberty that he judged we should not question. He had also got into the habit of coming long before meals were ready and when he brought his children and wives with him, as he had done before today, there was no moving in the place: so I asked Captain Gardiner to let him understand that we would send word to him and Onteachy as soon as all was ready for them; this Captain Gardiner assented to and did.

But when dinner time came, Captain Gardiner, being justly displeased with Wesail's unreasonable behaviour, refused at first to send him word, as he wished to break through his practice of coming to meals with us. Against this I could not forbear to urge, modestly, that it was an article in the agreement to which Captain Gardiner had consented, that Wesail and Onteachy should eat with us and this we ought not to attempt to get rid of, except in a straightforward manner; and that to attempt to get our dinner without Wesail, who was waiting for his till he heard from us that it was ready, would be likely to make him angry and compromise our own character. Captain Gardiner then went himself and called Wesail, who appeared to be somewhat displeased and ate but little, which last circumstance might have been occasioned by our having a little piece of guanaco, which he had given us; it was the only piece we had received and the only present made to us. As this meat was common enough to him, this might account for his disinclination to take much with us today.

At tea time there was another dispute between him and Captain Gardiner arising from a misunderstanding about a tin pot. Wesail's wives had observed how convenient our wooden pails and tin pots were, and consequently Captain Gardiner had complied with their request to lend them a water pail and give them a tin coffee cup. This happened I think on Saturday. In the course of this day Captain Gardiner stopped one of Wesail's wives as she was going out of our house with a tin coffee pot in her hand; the pot, he supposed she was attempting to steal, he therefore took it away from her, much against her will. While at tea this afternoon Wesail made a rather positive demand for one of these tin cups and when Captain Gardiner replied that we had none to spare, Wesail warmly dissented from the statement which Captain Gardiner continued to affirm.

I felt sure from Wesail's manner that something was wrong, and we proceeded to count our cups, of which we ought to have five, exclusive of the one Captain Gardiner had given them. We did not appear to have more than five so Captain Gardiner seemed to answer Wesail more positively. I could not understand all that was said but it was very evident that Wesail was getting out of temper. At last Captain Gardiner turned to me and said "He demands one of these cups and says [...] will have it, so I must submit". It was accordingly handed over to them. Ultimately it appeared that the pot Wesail's wife had been carrying away was their own, as upon mustering all ours we had the right number, exclusive of the one Captain Gardiner gave them today.

But the unpleasantnesses were far from ending here. Wesail had previously asked if we had any spirits with us and had been informed that we had some for medicinal and other necessary purposes only. This evening after the tin pot was dismissed, he asked in a somewhat positive tone for some of these spirits that he and some of his friends might get drunk. Against this Captain Gardiner protested in the most feeling and Christian manner, telling him in substance that God had given a most positive command against drunkenness and that missionaries, above all others, could not do anything to contribute to such wickedness etc. But Wesail, who had expressed to the Chilean deserter that was unfriendly to us his dislike of missionaries who had not pleased him in the distribution of their biscuits, only grew more impatient and positive till Captain Gardiner felt himself obliged to produce a bottle, with a request that he would add some water to it before it was drunk. Wesail then departed with the bottle in good humour, leaving us with the conviction that our prospect of usefulness was becoming very limited and that we had better leave at the first opportunity, than be constrained to administer to their sins.

We had hardly time to commit our way to God and ask for a clear light to shine upon our path, before we heard the sounds of drunken revelry from Wesail's tent; and soon after he came again, singing and staggering into the house to ask for more, we feared before we had effected our purpose of throwing it all away, which was the course we had determined on. For some time however, he did nothing but lay his head and hands upon the table and then get up and sing - lel, lel, la etc. But at length he began to talk about Port Famine, saying they all liked Port Famine because there they made him and all his people drunk and boiled large iron pots of harina or meal for them.

This was the prelude to the next act of the evening which was to ask Captain Gardiner to feast his people with meal tomorrow morning, as the greater part of them were going away to hunt and had nothing to satisfy their hunger before they went. However unreasonable this demand was, it was not so bad as that for spirits for the purpose of getting drunk, and as it was in vain to reason with a drunken man, especially of his character, Captain Gardiner promised to do as he required. He then walked out with the friend that had accompanied him.

Soon after Captain Gardiner happening to go out of the house saw him lying on the ground close to our door and supposing he had been overcome by the spirits, said "Wesail" (no reply) "Wesail, you had better go to your tent and not lie on the ground here." To this no significant reply was given, and Captain Gardiner discovered that Wesail had met with and detained a female who it seemed was nothing loath; plenty of people were about still, no privacy had been sought; which confirmed what I heard from a sailor with whom I had remonst[rated] on account of his behaviour to the Patagonian woman viz. It is not such an easy matter to make these husbands jealous

About ten o'clock this night we emptied our spirits that we had intended for medicine etc. and for the spirit lamp into the water, so that we could not be again compelled to minister to the sin of drunk[en]ness but we still very seriously feared that it would become our duty to leave these people at the first opportunity; for Padre Domingo, and others at Port Famine, had obtained so much influence over them as to counteract all our efforts, unless we could supply them with clothes, food and drink; this latter was now as much out of our power as it was opposed to our duty, and we quite anticipated that we should be left without food; but if we could have consented to supply these three things, Wesail gave us to understand that he would become a Christian - that is, as he had learnt to understand the term "a Christian" at Port Famine etc. he would wear the clothes that might be given him. This would indeed have been something like adorning the outside of a sepulchre.

While we were again considering the duties that our position demanded of us, I told Captain Gardiner what I had been thinking of for several days; and the Patagonians had not been with us two days before I was convinced that plan was the only one that would give the Mission a chance of success. The important features of the plan were: - That I should adopt the Patagonian mode of living so far as absolutely necessary and accompany them in their wandering from place to place, depending upon them for supplies of food and any assistance that I might require in moving my tent etc. Secondly, that instead of being encumbered with such a stock of provisions as would oblige me to remain at a station and would excite the cupidity of the Patagonians and the Lagoon Indians, I should be empowered to obtain such supplies from vessels passing the straits or from other sources, as would enable me to satisfy the Patagonians for every assistance they had previously rendered me.

The chief difficulty of this plan, with respect to myself, was the great probability that my life would be terminated by the hardships and exposure to the winter nights etc. before any adequate good could be effected. This probability was much confirmed by my experience during our four days tramp in search of the Patagonians. There was also the probability that, if I accompanied the people either to Port Famine or the North, the Spaniards would put an end to the Mission as soon as its object became known, or at least my efforts would be counteracted and embarrassed by the Roman Catholic priest at Port Famine. These amongst other reasons satisfied me that it was not my duty to make this attempt and Captain Gardiner concurred with this opinion, although he seemed to think that some such plan afforded the only hope of benefiting these poor people.

In the course of this day Captain Gardiner twice urged me to think about making an attempt among the Araucanians, but each time we considered the matter, difficulties originating in the present state of Chile and the character and feeling of the Araucanians presented themselves; and these difficulties, Captain Gardiner concluded, would be insurmountable without some previous conversation about these matters. I gave him to understand that having abandoned my country and lost my home in order to assist in carrying out the views of the Committee, I held myself at their disposal and would gladly make any attempt that they would sanction. He then gave me to understand that the Committee had given him no positive and particular instructions but a carte blanche so that he must act as circumstances appeared to demand; to which I replied that I would most gladly and cordially cooperate with him in any attempt that I had not reason to think was utterly impracticable, or else was likely to result in nothing adequate to the expectations of the Committee.

Both of us were decidedly of the opinion that, as Tierra del Fuego was an object of the Committee's solicitude, our duty to them and the Association required that we should not return to England without at least ascertaining that it was impracticable to do any good there, and we were quite willing to meet any danger that a prudent attempt might involve. One of the difficulties to be anticipated in Tierra del Fuego, as well as with the Araucanians, was their unwillingness to receive missionaries or others; and another difficulty was the receipt and security of the necessary supplies. With regard to Tierra del Fuego it was certain, I remarked, that the north eastern part was the most likely, on account of the great superiority in the number and character of the tribe inhabiting that part and the great superiority of its climate and soil; it also possessed a good harbour, accessible to ships, without encountering the dangers of the Straits and not so much out of the way of vessels going round the Horn as Cape Gregory is. In fact it is the part that Captain King recommended as fittest for a British settlement. It would not indeed enjoy the advantage of a call from any vessel that was not instructed to touch there; but I understood Captain Gardiner to agree that it was the most likely part to make an attempt upon, or inasmuch that he said nothing to the contrary. The matter was then left to more mature consideration.

I then took the liberty of hinting that, if it should happen that nothing could be done here, it would be a great loss to the Missionary cause if the energies of the Committee and Association and their funds should be exhausted for want of being directed to some one of the many vacant fields of labour; and I ventured to suggest that possibly they would gladly exert themselves to support as their own Mission, some other station, which the Church Missionary Society or the Colonial Church Missionary Society might recommend and assist them in the management of. Captain Gardiner thought this not improbable, as there were already some such Associations in connection with the Church Missionary Society.