The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1883-02-17
A CURIOUS RACE.
Lieutenan, Bov,'s Account Of the Jasaus in Terri
del FuegO,

|
del FuegO,
Tho Jagans impress one as poor
race. In general the men are scafcely
more than Of medium stature, while the
women rarely reach it, The faces of
this new race are round, large and fat,
with huge check bones, low foreheads,
large, fiat noses, very black and restless
eyes, wide apart, large, humid lips and
strong jaws furnished with beautiful
teeth. The head and chest are dispro-
portionately large, compared to the ex-
IRENE slenderness OF arms and legs,
and it is a marvel how the latter can
support the well-developed trunk and
heavy head. In spite of this strange
formation, both men and women have
uncommon strength, and / have seen
them carry weights that would have
taxed the most robust of our sailors.
No less surprising is the smallness of
their hands and feel,which il beauty, Is
very advantageous TO the men, who
carry only one or two objects in their
hands ut the same time. They have
rough, lusterless black hair, which they
wear long and falling over face and
shoulders. Some bind it with strap,
some let it grow to such an extent that
they look moro like furies than human
beings. The men have very little beard
and that little they pluck out, while
neither men nor women have hair on
their bodies. They do not tattoo, but
use all kinds of paint. Two or three
hucs of color on the face and a few
necklaces and shells or birds bones is
the usual dress of Fuegian.
For protection against the terrible
hurricane, the SHOWS that fall during
ten months in the year and the torren-
tial rains that daily visit this miserable
archipelago, the Feugian 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 ruin. These
wigwams are used by the Feugians who
dwell near the few residents of Uscium.
ala or around the mission; the other
natives scarcely ever remain more than
one or two days in the same place; they
lead vagraut 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 the 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 around big fire
while the poor women were exposed in
fragile skifls to the snow, wind and
waves, fishing for their idle and angry
husbands. The greater number Of
wives or slaves a man has the easier fol
him it is to find living; hence the
practice Of polygamy,whio is 80 rooted
among the Feugians that in spite oil
the efforts # the missionaries It is nc
rare thing TO sec a convert break
through restraint and add two or NOR,
wives to the one allowed him by his
new religion. But, though Feugiau
may marry as many wives az he pleases
he seldom takes more than four, and
even with that small number it is diff
cult to preserve domestic peace. The
wigwam is the scene of daily battles
and sometimes the prettiest of the wives
pays with her life the preference of her
husband
The Fugian women are very prolific
Seven or eight is the average number
OF children, but often a still young wo.
man will have ten or twelve. The chill
dren, however, seldom all survive then
parents, for the mortality between two
and ten years Of age is extraordinary
The variable and rigid climate, and
want of nourishment, tho terrible heat
and bad treatment by parents are tn,
chief causes Of the deaths Of these mis-
erablo infants, yet unarmed against tn,
irightful struggle for existence LION
don Daily NetOs.