The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-03-01
The yagans Of Terre Del Fnege.

who inhabit q portion of the southwest of
the country. With slight abridgment
the London Daily Nes0s gives the account
in Lieutenant Bove's own words:
The Jagans impress one as poor race.
In general the men are scarcely more
than of medium stature, while the women
rarely reach it. The faces of this race
are round, large and fiat, with high cheek
bones, low foreheads and large fiat noses,
very black and restless eyes, wide apart,
large, timid lips, and strong jaws fur
nished with beautiful teeth. The head
and chest are disproportionately large
compared to the extreme slenderness of
arms and legs, and it is a marvel how
the latter can support the well-deYeloped
trunk and head. In spite of this strange
formation, both men and women have
uncommon strength, and I have seen
them carry weights that would have
taxed the robustest of our sailors. No
less surprising is the smallness of their
hands and feet, which, if a beauty, is
very advantageous to the men, who can
carry only one or two objects in their
hands at the same time. They have
rough, lustreless black hair, which they
wear long and falling over face and
shoulders. Some bind it with leather
strap, but most let it grow to such
an extent that they look more like
furies than human beings. The men
have very little beard and that little they
pluck out. They do not tattoo, but use
all kinds of paint. Two or three hues of
color on the face and few necklaces of
shells of birds bones is the usual dress
of the Fuegian. For protection against
the terrible hurricanes, the SHOWS that
fall during the ten months in the year,
and the torrential rains that daily visit
this miserable archipelago, the Fuegian
only wears a small mantle of seal or
guanaco skin over his shoulders. The
Wigwams are only made of intertwined
branches fixed in some sheltered spot,
but they are too weak to keep out snow
and rain. These wigwams are used by
the Fuegians who dwell near the few
residents of Usciumata or round the
mission. The other natives scarcely
ever remain more than one or
two days in the same place;
they lead a vagrant life in their small
canoes among the complicated canals
OF this broken up country, fishing and
hunting for their subsistence, of which
the sea furnishes larger part. The
women are looked upon as Slaves, and
the greater part of the work falls to their
share. have often seen the men sitting
quietly round a good fire while the poor
women were exposed in fragile skiffs to
the snow, wind and waves. fishing for
their idle and angry husbands The
greater the number of wives or slaves a
man has, the easier for him it is to find
a living; hence the practice of polygamy
which is so rooted among the Fuegians
that in spite of the efforts of the mission
aries it is no rare thing to sec a convert
suddenly break through restraint and
add two or more wives to the one al
lowed him by the new religion. But,
though Fuegian may marry as many
wives as he pleases, he seldom takes
more than four, and even with that small
number it is difficult to preserve domestic
peace. The wigwam is the scene of daily
battles, and sometimes the prettiest of
the wives pays with her life the prefer
ence of her husband. Sometimes, how
ever, the wives all unite against their
common husband. Tie girls begin to
hunt for husbands at ten to twelve wears
of age. The man marries at fourteen or
sixteen years of age. The marriages are
dictated by convenience, and are mat
ter of sale and purchase rather than of
love or reciprocal sympathy. The father
chooses from among the suitors for his
daughter the one who is strongest, most
dexterous, and docile to his wishes, and |
fixes the number of skins to be given and |
days that his son-in-law has to work for
him. A canoe, spears and harpoons
form the dowry of the bride. When all |
is settled, the bride is informed, and |
whatever may be her sentiments, she |
takes good care to show no resistance to
her father, and is taken away to her hus- |
bands wigwam. But generally the |
fathers choice is also the daughters, |
for nowhere do strength and dexterity
make greater impression than upon the |
Fuegian girls, who fly from crooked
or deformed man, as from an impure
being-a pariah. There is no feast or
wedding ceremony. The bride simply |
goes to her husbands wigwam, or he es-
tablishes himself in that of her father.
But some rules have to be observed. If /
the husband wishes to continue to eat the
flesh of the guanaco, or seal, he must
AXE a purifying bath in the sea the morn
ing after his wedding. Such bath, es-
pecially in the depth of the winter, is no
ioubt often the cause of many of the
to which the young Fuegians
Are subject. The children seldom all
their parents, for the mortality
between two to ten years of age is ex-
raordinary. The variable and frigid
climate, the want of nourishment, the
errible heats, and bad treatment by the
parents, are the chief causes of the death
If these miserable infants, yet unarmed
against the frightful struggle for exist
,nce. The mother love lasts, it NAV be
aid, until the babe is weaned, after
which affection rapidly diminishes as
he child grows, and is completely gone
IS the latter attains the age of seven or
light years. At this age the parents
nave no more authority over the boys,
Who go out and come as they ike, and
re never asked what they are doing.
The only lasting love in the heart of a
1uegian is the love of self. How often
ave | seen father deTouring piece
+ meat or bread, while his furnishing