The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1884-02-23
LES MISERABLES.
The Most Wrctched People on the
Face of the Ear'h--Thc de-
graded Inhabitants or
Terra del t'uegO.

10 you kuo" VIM " a.
vretched people on the face OF the
earthP" said John w. Stoddard, a stout
English sailor whom Clnclnnati
En0uirer man ran across the other
day. r.,
"Why, the poor of London or Ire
land" replied the scribe.
Not bit of t. Guess again.
the men who catch rats in the sew
ers of Paris, or those poor creatures
working lifetime in deep underground
col jcrieS, rarely seeing the light OF day,
and pu ling the coal carts. craving on
their hands and knees along the tram
ways"
mo, sir, their lives are happy ones.
When | was before the mast, cruiSed
several times in the China seas, and
have doubled the Horn more than
once. There" the old sailor contin-
ned. II saw the most miserable race OF
people, the most filthy in their habits,
DEGRADED in disposition, and animals
in character, it was ever my lot to be-
hold. They call themselves fueglans,
and live in the land called Terra del
Fuego.'
The land of trc?'
yes, that's it in Portuguese 1t was
formerly considered that this was an
island lying off the southern coast OF
Patagonia, and the nearest land to the
South Pole. That's the way the geog-
ranhies mt If Int 80 incorrect. They
a"p" :. esolics Of irregular shaped islands
some of them having lofty mountains
and heavily wooded. These Fucgans, "
and here the old tar drew down his
face, ego stark naked the year around,
their only coating being one of dirt, for
they never wash but the mud is on
them an inch or two thick. Cold?
Why, talk about Dakota That's not Il
circumstances Snow and ice they have
the year around, and there's water
water everywhere. Sometimes it lies
stagnant in ponds and marshes. Why,
men-that is Europeans-have persisted
Of cold in midsummer.
What do they live uponP Does the
country supply any food for themP'
Sometimes they get hold OF the car
cass of dead whale, and that's their
greatest luxury. Yet when this fails,
they turn in and eat each other. They
are the W rst sort of cannibals, per-
haps having acquired the taste from
eating the frozen crews OF ships that
have been wrecked there, and they are
not few. Sometimes hey obtain smell
fish, seals, sea ottars or the penguin.
But rotten whale blubber, no matter
how far dccompoScd, does not turn the
Fuegian' epicurcan stomach,
They do not have any dwellings,
and such rs they are resemble wild
beasts lairs, or such II home as the
orang outang Of Borneo would select,
lie procureS number of tall saplings.
sharpens the points, arranging them
IN a sort Of circle, driving the sharp
ened end into the ground, and draws
them together at the top. covering the
whole with old sealskin or species OF
grass peculiar TO the ry. There
is no door To this affair for il Is not
worthy the name even of a hut, and as
for furniture, it consists of grass for II
carpet, a bladder filed with water fas-
tened upon the side of the wall, which,
when any of the family want a drink,
they 90 to and take Il pull. They are
not ferocious, but hidcousIy ugly race
of people. ridiculously short in stature,
with pouchy bellies and horrd, long,
ugly matted hair, which falls down
their necks and shoulders, giving them
an odd look. The talcSt Of them is
never over five feet, and the women are
six inches shorter Though he is not
much on dress, yet he has some vari-
ETY., and paints white streaks over the
black mud that covers him, with here
and there yellow or brown spot. They
wear strings of iiSh-bones about their
ankles, and sometimes about their
necks. There is one peculiarly about
him, and that is that he is as beardless
and whiskerless rs the Esquimau, who
lives on the other end of the earth. He
is more, or as much. at home in the
water as on the land His canoe is
simply piece of birch bark fastened
with thongs at both ends, and in this
trail structure he moves along the
chores or crosses from one iSlet to an
other. Laws they have none, nor any
religion. They have no chief or leader,
only conqueror, and rude sort OF
belief in devils. One singular custom
lndt tntN nave 10 III ticli hiouo vi hoh
ing. They shoot the fish with arrow:
sometimes, but more often hunt then
with dogs. They have small breed
of fox-like ours, mean, snarling and "a
wretched as themselves. Their owners
don't bother themselves to feed them
nor care for them at ALL so their life il
sorry existence. But they are usefu
TO them for ali that. They pursue an,
drive the fish into nets, and thus learI
20 catch one for themselves when hun
ger, rs it always does, presses them
TheS dogs learn to eat seaweed, whic
seems to have the same nutriment TO
them that it does for their masters"
Have they no recreations, no games
frolics or revels, like most savag
tribes?"
well, yes. Sometimes the hug
carcass Of q monster whale gets strar