The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-11-04
An American Sailors Queer Experiences
in Patagonia.

III L tl.4s vllis-s
The family of Alonzo Hewitt, an
/ American sailor, live in East New York,
and Is now at home for few days
4 respite from the arduous duties of a
life on the ocean wave" A week AGO
be returned from long voyage and on
Friday next he viii say goodbye to his
wife and little ones and 20 before the
mast on the sailing vessel William
Lamb, which is engaged in the grain
carrying trade between New York and
San Francisco. The route taken by the
William Lamb is down around Cape
/ Horn. As is well known to all sailors,
the doubling of the Horn is usually
attended with some risk of shipwreck.
High winds prevail in that latitude and
when the weather is especially bad a
week is consumed in getting around the
southermost point of South America.
Mr.. Hewitt has sailed this route from
New York to San Francisco since 1850.
He has been shipwrecked half dozen
times and can relate some pretty severe
experiences; but the most remarkable
/ of them all was his three months So
iourn among the Patagonian savages.
In 1865 Mr. Hewitt belonged to the
crew of the ship Angelica, which went
ashore during a severe gale on the Pat
agonia coast. The vessel was manned
/ by thirteen men, all of whom were cap
/ tured by the savages and taken into the
interior. The men were separated from
each other and given to different chiefs
as slaves. MIR. Hewitt never knew what
.f Oh l., I'll
| by a savage named Minchoo and COM
PEELED to carry heavy loads of provis-
ions and hunting materials on long
! Journeys. At night his hands were tied
behind his back and one end of the
leathern thong was fastened to tree,
SO that he could not run away. No knife
or sharp instrument of any kind was
! left within his reach and he was as eff
fectually a prisoner as though he had
been locked up within strong walls.
The whole story of his trouble and suf-
ferings while in the hands of the saw
ages would fill large volume, but the
most interesting portion, which can be
confined to the limits of a newspaper
account, is his account of the manner
in which he was tattooed by the Pata-
gonians.
Almost the entire surface of Mr..
Hewitt's body is covered with indelible
representations of beasts, birds and
reptiles. He said that the savages oc-
cupied over a months time in making
these unique pictures. A preparation
in many respects resembling India ink
was used and the method of producing
the pictures was to puncture the skin
with the points of small fish bones>and
then rub the ink upon the wound thus
produced, The ink thus produced dis
celebration of the skin that can never be
effaced.
"What caused the Patagonians to
mark you in this manner?n inquired
the reporter.
81 presume the chief who held me
captive wanted to disfgure me for the
amusement of himself and his associ-
ates," was the reply.
:" Then you do not think the chief
meant to punish you?"
Not especially. In my mind he
wished to display the artistic skill of
one of his young braves in the pictorial
line. He undoubtedly regarded my
skin in much the same light that a
painter does the white canvas. | was
a good groundwork for ornamental
ton"
"Was the chief proud of you after
the work was dOneP'
"He was, indeed. was taken about
among the people and exhibited to adj
miring eyes. The young men and
maidens would point at the pictures and
then look at each other and smile.
Older savages would admire me by the
hour, and | was one of the greatest OBJ
jects of interest in Patagonia
''DO you know the meaning of the
pictures?'
81 only know that the pictures rep
resent beasts, birds and reptiles; but
whyUhey were selected as subjects battle
my comprehension. L suppose that [
am a sort of Patagonian obelisk and al
though unlike the Alexandrian mono
18th, L am not three or four thousand
years of age, | perhaps represent re-
ligious ideas and historical facts"
The tattooed man brushed his locks
of shaggy HAIR back from his forehead,
and disclosed a blue-and-yellowish rep
resentation of a bird. Although the
bird has outstretched wings and beak
and claws ike an eagle, it is far from
being a good representation of the
glorious American bird of freedom. On
either side of the mans face is bird
that looks more like young chicken
than anything else. Lengthwise on the
nose is tiny picture of blue snake
with red eyes. A red snake with blue
eyes encircles the mans neck. Rolling
up his sleeves and barring his arms, Mr..
Hewitt exhibited to the reporter picto-
rial representations of more than
dozen different kinds of animals. Some
of them resembled goats others sheep
and foxes. There were animals with
horns and others without horns. There
was singular looking creature that re-
minded the reporter of centaur above
the elbow of the right arm. There
were more figures on the left arm than
on the right one. The to<al number of
distinct pictures on the mans body he
said, were 1873. Only three colors are
shown, red, blue and yellow The inks
were obtained by pressing the Juice
from vegetables and mixing it with fine
earthly pigments. Mr. Hewitt thinks
that the inks were of poisonous nature,
because they caused his limbs to swell
10 twice their normal size while the
pictures were being made.
Five years ago Mr.. P. T. Barnum,
hearing of Mr.. Hewitt and thinking
that he would prove valuable as curl
osity for public exhibition, offered him
liberal salary to appearin the Great
est ShOw on Earth" Mr.. Hewitt de-
clined the proposition. He wrote to
Mr. RarnrrYo cavspr. ssT 49,, . 49,.