Some Early Context: Encounters and Attitudes

Introduction

This article aims to set some general early context for the development of links between men and women from the island of Ireland and the Patagonian/South American Missionary Society (PMS/SAMS). It was not until 1860s that references to the Society largely dropped the ‘Patagonian’ in favour of the ‘South American’. For roughly the first twenty years both terms of reference appear together with some frequency and for that reason we will refer to PMS/SAMS in these early discussions.

This article aims to provide examples of the information available to the general nineteenth-century reader that related to South America and to highlight particularly the images, written and visual, circulating in relation to the indigenous peoples of that continent. Readers should be aware that some materials contain terminology used in the nineteenth century that is now considered obsolete and/or offensive. The decision has been made to include it, where necessary, as part of the historical narrative and to help us understand the context and attitudes in which the Mission Society was working. There can be no doubt that we continually need to examine our perceptions and statements in any century or activity. A Select Bibliography can be found at the end.

South America in the press in Ireland

A large and fascinating body of work exists on the lives of the Irish in Latin America. See, for example, the work of the Society for Irish Latin American Studies or online databases, such as the British Presence in Southern Patagonia that includes individuals from Ireland. Whether we want to go back to the mythical journey of St Brendan of Clonfert to Mexico c. 550, or military links in the 1700s with well-known names such as Sligo-born Ambrose O’Higgins (1720–1801), Governor of Chile, or the self-styled Empress of Paraguay, Eliza Lynch (1835-1886), mistress of Francisco Solano López. Within this corpus, less is known about the Protestant population migrating from Ireland and certainly very little about those who worked with the PMS/SAMS, which is the particular focus of this site. Given the lack of written sources outlining the details of how this connection with the Society developed in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, one of the most useful places to turn to learn about the activities and potential influences is the periodical press; newspapers, journals, and magazines.

There is a significant amount of information relating to South America recorded in the Irish newspapers. The digital databases, such as the British Newspaper Archive (BNA), currently provide material on these themes dating back to the early 1700s, mostly relating to political, military, and financial interests and often extracted from the English or continental European papers. These databases of digitised materials are continually being updated and provide an excellent resource for exploring large amounts of texts that can transform our understanding in a way that would not have been possible in previous decades.

The vital connection with the seas around the island of Ireland is palpable in these articles whether movement of commerce, people, or impact of the weather and the attraction or ‘threat’ of unknown peoples on distant shores.

Images of the Patagonians in Irish newspapers

Between innumerable articles on shipments of Peruvian guano (there are currently some c.330,000 articles referencing guano in the Irish papers since 1750 available via the BNA), we find many references to the Patagonia and Patagonians, particularly as giants or the ‘patagonian’ size of vegetables (onions and cucumbers) and animals. We focus here on some representations of the inhabitants of Patagonia as this was the first area of interest to the work of the PMS/SAMS. Tierra del Fuego (or Terra) is also present in the newspapers although less frequently than Patagonia. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with Patagonia and the indigenous people often referred to as ‘Fuegians’ or ‘Patagonians’ without clear precision. The term Fuegian is often used as a generic term for ethnic groups of Tierra del Fuego that include: Yamana, Alakaluf, Selk’nam and Haush. [See Chapman’s work in the Bibliography for greater detail on this.]

The European public imagination, whithin which we include British and Irish, was fed on centuries of tales of travel, disasters, and survival that simultaneously embraced fiction and non-fiction, embellished with images to attract and repel, as shown in this article. As noted above the size of the Patagonians was a frequent element of discussion. The Dublin Courier (16 July 1766), for example, reported that Dr Maty, serving on an English man-of-war, confirmed that not only were early accounts of men 8-10 feet tall, hailing from a country in the southern extremity of America, true, but some 400-500 had been seen and examined by his crew. Into the nineteenth century, the Mayo Constitution (22 Feb 1830) continued these ideas with an exploration in some detail their measurements. The Waterford Mail quotes from the French Naturalist, M. Lesson, in the newly published Encyclopedia Britannica to the effect that seven-foot-tall men were as common in Patagonia as men six foot two inches were in England (24 September 1841).

Earlier, in 1767, there was some excitement when the Jason was thought to have brought back some Patagonians only to have the Belfast News-letter (7 April 1767) dash public hopes by reporting this was without foundation. The News-letter also continued into the 1820s discussing the manners of the Patagonians (18 September 1827). On the theatre front the term ‘patagonian’ appears in relation to performances in Belfast, Newry, and Dublin by the ‘Patagonian Sampson’, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, and his feats of strength (11 June 1811). The Limerick Gazette that same year, tantalised readers with Belzoni’s Mathematical, Philosophical, and Optical experiments culminating in his super-human ability to carry a pyramid of ten men, reflecting how often the term ‘patagonian’ was used in every-day language as a metaphor for size and strength (11 June 1811).

More threatening images were conveyed by the likes of the Tipperary Free Press reporting on the difficult situation of the ‘Buenos Ayrians’ due to revolts in the provinces, with Patagonian Indians ravaging the territories, murdering the men, and carrying off the women, children, and cattle (7 March 1827). Tales of shipwrecks also provided a lens through which the readers were fed stories of menace and malice at the hands of the inhabitants of the coastal regions. These stories increased in number as the nineteenth century progressed. The Irish Times, for example, in 1888 published a story about the 1887 wreck of the barque, Glenmore, belonging to William Porter and Co., of Carrickfergus, sailing to Buenos Aires. Wrecked due to weather conditions as they entered the Straits of Le Maire (between Staten Island and Tierra del Fuego), the survivors tried to find a location to land,

“At one point, where the cliffs lowered somewhat, a party of ten or twelve Fuegians, naked and all men over six feet high, appeared on the cliffs. They gesticulated and shouted […] Not liking their appearance and knowing that they had a reputation for cannibalism, the crew again put out to sea…” (19 November 1888)

It must be noted, however, that other articles reporting shipwrecks indicate the generosity and accommodation of indigenous coastal people who found the survivors.

Anglicans and South America

The first contact of the Anglican church with South America did, of course, begin several centuries before the PMS came into being. Bazely, for example, refers to an Anglican communion service recorded to have taken place c. 1577-78 at the request of convicted mutineer during one of the voyages of Sir Francis Drake. [Colin Bazley, “The Fair-Haired Mapuche”: Charles Sadleir, Pioneer Missionary in Araucania, 1895-1918′, Anglican and Episcopal History, 1997, 66.3, 329-353]

However, it is with the influx of Europeans to South America during the nineteenth century, that we see more concrete Anglican establishments to meet the needs of the growing immigrant English-speaking population in that region, such as the first Anglican chaplaincies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, c.1810, and Bahia and Pernambuco, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1825. This growing number of European immigrants also relates to our first group of missionaries from Ireland with the PMS/SAMS in the 1850s-1890s, in what we might call the ‘Chaplaincy Era’ of the mission work.

Fitz-Roy, the Beagle, and the Church Missionary Society

The largest and most consistent number of articles relating to Tierra del Fuego also link to the first attempts by an Anglican missionary society to settle a base among the indigenous peoples of South America. This contact was initiated during the hydrographic surveys of the ships Adventure and the Beagle (1826-1836).

Reports of the indigenous peoples through accounts of these voyages can be found in the pages of the Irish newspapers, most returning to the question of dimensions. The Dublin Evening Mail highlighted that the Patagonians were not as large as previously thought and Byron must have been deceived or,

‘that the race of Patagonian giants has since degenerated, from their communication with the Spanish settlements to the north’ (19 September 1827).

No doubt, a quick dig at the Spanish intended. The measurements were also picked up by the Mayo Constitution,

‘Measurement of the largest Patagonian in a tribe of about 150 in number, height six foot two inches, circumference of the chest, three foot eleven inches … the shortest men in their party were five foot ten inches’ (22 February 1830).

Discussions of height aside, on the return voyage to England in 1830, Captain Robert Fitz-Roy (1805-1865) of the Beagle, nephew of Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822), captured four Fuegians at different points around the coast, reported in the Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent in an extract entitled, ‘Interesting Voyage of Discovery’ from Portsmouth 23 October,

“The Beagle brought to England four natives of Terra del Fuego, (two men, one boy, and a little girl). These Fuegians were taken prisoners, during the time that the Beagle was employed on the S.W. coast of that country, in consequence of their tribe having stolen a boat, and left the master and six men, who were in her, to perish on a desert island. […] These natives were taken as hostages for the restoration of the boat, and as interpreters.” (28 October 1830)

The four individuals were in fact from different regions along the coast. When taken, they were given English names by the crew: Yuk’cushlu – named Fuegia Basket as reminder of how the sailors from the stolen ship had been raised from the sea in a basket, 9 years old and likely Alakaluf, taken near London Island; El’leparu – named York Minster after the region where he was taken, York Minster promontory (Caterdral de York), a 26 year-old Alakaluf; Boat Memory (original name unknown), taken near Whittlebury Island, 20 yrs old; and O’rundel’lico – Jemmy Button, a 14 year-old Yamana/Yaghan boy taken near the Murray Narrows named ‘Button’ because he was given to the crew in exchange for a button. Lucas Bridges later wrote that this idea of an exchange of a child for a button was ‘a ridiculous story, as no native would have sold his child in exchange for H.M.S Beagle with all it had on board.’ (Uttermost part of the earth, p. 30)

Fitz-Roy’s intention seems to have been to provide the group with an education and return them to their homeland with all the ‘advantages’ this would bring them and their communities. Writing to Commander Philip Parker King (1791-1856), 12 September 1830, Fitz-Roy stated that,

“When about to depart from the Fuegian coast, I decided to keep these four natives on board, for they appeared to be quite cheerful and contented with their situation; and I thought that many good effects might be the consequence of their living a short time in England. They have lived, and have been clothed like the seamen, and are now, and have been always, in excellent health and very happy. They understand why they were taken, and look forward with pleasure to seeing our country, as well as to returning to their own.
Should not his Majesty’s Government direct otherwise, I shall procure for these people a suitable education, and, after two or three years, shall send or take them back to their country, with as large a stock as I can collect of those articles most useful to them, and most likely to improve the condition of their countrymen, who are now scarcely superior to the brute creation.” [Robert Fitz-Roy, Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836, Vol. 2 (Calhoun, 1839, p.6)]

We have no first-hand accounts from the indigenous perspective and the term ‘captive’, or ‘prisoner’ is still debated in relation to the Fuegians and what they experienced. The link to British Empire and expansionist thinking of the nineteenth century, including missionary activities, is a central aspect of this. There can be no question that the Fuegians were taken onboard without clear understanding of, or agreement to take part in, Fitz-Roy’s goals. Nonetheless, Fitz-Roy evidences a sincere commitment to care for the four individuals even if this is shown in a manner that would not be accepted by many readers in the twenty-first century. The Dublin Evening Packet again noted,

“Captain Fitzroy decided to bring them to England, instead of sending them on shore when the Beagle left the Fuegian coast. His intentions are to procure them a suitable education, and in the course of a few years to send or take them back to their own country. Captain Fitzroy maintains them, and holds himself responsible for their comfort while absent from and for their safe return to their own country. He hopes that by their assistance the condition of the savages inhabiting the Fuegian Archipelago may be in some measure improved, and that they may be rendered less hostile to strangers. At present they are the lowest of mankind, and, without a doubt, cannibals.” (28 October 1830)

The same article appears in the Cork Constitution and Kerry Evening Post on 30 October 1830, and Belfast News-letter on the 2 November 1830. In each case, the Fuegians are described as ‘cheerful’ and ‘reconciled to their new life’ without questioning how this could be evidenced. The belief displayed that people of Tierra del Fuego were ‘savages,’ the ‘lowest of mankind,’ and ‘cannibals’ undoubtedly feeds into the conclusion that any opportunity to introduce them to the superior ways of the western, British society would be beneficial. Such attitudes were propounded by well-known travel accounts, such as the eighteenth-century voyages of George Anson, John Byron, or James Cook, among others, covered widely in the Irish papers. James Weddell’s, Voyage to the South Pole, that includes detailed accounts of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego and was publicised between 1824 and 1827, overlapping with information from the Beagle.

By 1831, and despite significant challenges, Fitz-Roy remained true to his intentions of returning with the Fuegians to their homeland, or as close to it as possible given that they came from different regions. On this occasion, his crew, along with three of the four Fuegians, included Charles Darwin and a young missionary, Richard Matthews, sent by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) to establish a station in Wulaia Bay/ Bahía Wulaia, Navarino Island. The fourth Fuegian, Boat Memory, died of smallpox soon after arrival in England even though all four of the individuals had been vaccinated in Montevideo before travelling to England and received further treatment to protect them on arrival.

Despite the positive news that the Fuegians had returned home in June 1832, the Freeman’s Journal (25 October 1833) and Northern Whig (31 October 1833) reported that when Fitz-Roy revisited them a few days later, they, along with the missionary, Matthews, had been plundered of everything they had by their own families (25 October 1833). Not the happy return envisioned or the start to mission life for Matthews.

In 1836, the Newry Examiner and Louth Advertiser provided an extract from an anonymous source that indicated a differing attitude towards the Patagonians compared to the people of Tierra del Fuego, although these terms are often blurred. This was especially in relation to the southern portion of Tierra del Fuego where the desolate landscape, damp and windy weather, fed into the characterisation of the people as ‘wretched natives’ and ‘outcasts’ as well as to the physical descriptions provided (26 November 1836). The following week, the Athlone Sentinel covered a report from the November meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, London, relating to an extract of Fitz-Roy’s survey voyages and contact with the Patagonian people. It praised the amount of information that was being learned about the indigenous communities, drawing a parallel to the northern island of New Zealand, where ‘an Englishman may now walk alone and unmolested, where ten years ago, such an attempt would have been a rash braving of the club and the oven […] All this is chiefly due to the Church Missionary Society’ (2 December 1836). Twenty years later, the Achill Missionary Herald and Western Witness commented on the return of Fuegians saying,

“Perhaps a shipwrecked seaman may hereafter receive help and kindness from Jemmy Button’s children, prompted as they can hardly fail to be by the tradition 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.” (15 April 1856)

The notion of missionaries ‘pacifying’ the native peoples was to follow the work of the PMS/SAMS into the twentieth century. Jemmy Button/O’rundel’lico would remain at the centre of interests for the first groups to go out under the PMS between 1940s-1860s, with terrible consequences for all involved. For the next article on ‘A.G. Gardiner and the Irish Press’, please click here.

Select Bibliography on Fitz-Roy and the Beagle

There are many works, academic and non-academic, exploring the impact of European/Indigenous encounters in Patagonia/Tierra del Fuego and particularly around the figure of Jemmy Button. The below are a few examples of further reading available.

Bridges, E. Lucas, Uttermost part of the earth (Hodder and Stoughton, 1951)

Chapman, Elizabeth, European Encounters with the Yamana people of Cape Horn, before and after Darwin (Cambridge Univerity Press, 2010) – one of the most in-depth studies of European contacts with the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego that includes lengthy discussion of the work of the PMS.

Darwin, C. R., Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N. 2d edition (John Murray, 1845)

Darwin Correspondence Project [https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/ ]:

Yuk’cushlu/Fuegia Basket: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/yokcushlu-fuegia-basket
Boat Memory: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/boat-memory
El’leparu/York Minster: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/elleparu-york-minster
O’rundel’lico /Jemmy Button: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/orundellico-jemmy-button

Fitzroy, Robert, ed., Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. 3 vols. and appendix (Henry Colburn, 1839)

For perspectives that focus on Robert Fitz-Roy, see for example:

Hazlewood, Nick, Survival, revenge and the theory of evolution (Sceptre, 2000) – a dramatic but less balanced account than Chapman’s of these encounters and the early work of the PMS.
Nichols, Peter, Evolution’s Captain (Profile Books, 2003)
Smith, Larry Douglas, ‘Fitzroy and the Fuegians: A Clash of Cultures’, Anglican and Episcopal History, 3 (1990), 386-403
Thompson, Harry, This Thing of Darkness (Headline Review, 2005)

For Spanish language works, see for example:

Arnoldo Canclini, El fueguino, Jemmy Button y los suyos (Sudamerica, 1988)
Iparraguirre, Silvia, Tierra del Fuego (Spanish language versions – ALFAGUARA, 1998 & 2012; English language version – Curbstone Books, 2000)

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Some Early Context: Encounters and Attitudes

Introduction

Select Bibliography on Fitz-Roy and the Beagle

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