The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-03-06
The Most Wretehed People on the Earth.

land, replied the scribe. ,
mot bit of it. Guess again.
'FThe men who catch rats in the
sewers of Paris, or those poor creatures
working a lifetime in deep underground
collieries. rarely seeing the light OF day,
and pulling the coal-cart, crawling on
their hands and knees along the tram
ways"
NO" sir; their lives are happy ones.
When I was before the mast several
times cruised in China seas, and have
doubled the Horn more than once.
There, " the tough old tar continued,
Il saw the most miserable race of peo-
pie, the most filthy in their habits, de-
graded in disposition, and animals in
character, it was ever my lot to behold.
They call themselves Fuegians, and
live in the land called Terra del Fuega.
The land Of iire?n
Yes, that's it, IN Portuguese. Ii
was formerly considered that this was
an island living off the southern coast OF |
Patagonia, and the nearest land to the |
South Pole. That's the way the geog-
raphies put it, but it's incorrect. They |
are series Of small irregular-shaped |
islands, some of them having lofty |
mountains and heavily wooded. These
Fuegians, " and here the old tar drew
down his face, ''go stark naked the year
round, 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
| circumstance Snow and ice they have
the wear round, and there's water, wa
ter everywhere. Sometimes it lies stag
nant in ponds and marshes Why, men
that IS, Europeans-have persisted
| with the cold in midsummer.
What do they live upon? Does the
country supply any food for them?'
Sometimes they Get hold OF the car
cass of dead whale, and that's their
greatest luxury. Yet when this fails
thcy turn in and eat each other. They are
, the worst sort OF cannibals, perhaps,
| having acquired the taste by eating the
frozen crews of ships that have been
wrecked there and they are not few.
Sometimes they obtain shelltsh, seals.
sea offers or the penguin. But rotten
whale blubber, no matter how far de
composed, does not turn the Fuegian' s
epicUrean stomach.
They do not have any dwellings,
and such as they are resemble wild
beast LARS, OF such a home as the orang-
outanr of BornpO would select. He
procures a number Of tall saplings,
sharpens the points. arranging them in
q sort of circle, driving the sharpened
| end into the ground, and draws them
/ together at the top, and covers the
whole With Old sealskins or species o.
grass peculiar to the country. There is
no door to this affair, for its not worthy
the name of even a hut, and rs for The
D. furniture, it consists Of grass for a car
net. q bladder filled with water fastened
J" upon the side of the wall, which, Whel
any Of the family want to drink, the.
% 90 TO and take pull. They are not
ID terocious, but hideously ugly race O
60 people, ridiculously short in stature
mo- 1G with pouchy bellies and horrld long, ugl
Is matted hair, which falls down their nee
and shoulders, giving them an odd loob
al The tallest of them is never over fly
at feet; and the women are SIX lnchC
-. shorter Though he IS not much o
y dress, vet he. has some variety, an
asst paints white streaks over the black mU
that covers him. with here and there
h' yellow or brown spot. They wear stir
of fish-bones about their ankles, al
/. sometimes about their Uccks. There
4"' one popularity about him, and that
. he is as beardless and whiskerless as Il
ion Esquimaux. who lives on tic other Ell
of of the earth He is more, or as niue
an at home in the water rs on land. L
c. canoe is simply Il piece OF birch ba'
me fastened with thongs at both ends, and
i mre this frail structure he moves alol
the shores or crosses from one inlet
another Laws they have none, II
any sort of religion. They have
chief or leader, only a conqucror. ant
rude sort of belief in devils. One 81
cular custom that they have is thu
| mode of fishing They shoot the ii
- with arrows sometimes, bat more oft
d in hunt them with dogs. They have
wa, small breed of foX-like ours, mea
he snarling, and as wretchcd as themsely
the Their owners don't bother Intensely
'eeh to feed them nor care for them ut {
70 so their lives are n sorry eNisten
But they are useful to them for ali tn
/ npN pursue dIlfi NiiNO WV 44"'l'
nets, and thus learn to occasional
catch one for themselves when hung
,. as it pcrpetually does, presses the
ata,, These dogs learn to eat sca-Weed VIII
seems to have the same nutrlment
them that il does for their masters.
Have they no recreation, no gan
Is frolics or reyels, like most saw
tribes2'
..Wen, yes. Sometimes the h
n, carcass of a monster male gets stran
Ills among the islets, and, wedged
among the ice, dies. Then when
Fueeian smells the animal, no ma
- rs IN IN how rotten il is, fleet OF canoe
tt en- once makes for the spot, If the care
oyes is upon the beach You IL see whole
laoes move toward the spot, II
aR, women and children, and in few he
Agt. they will return with huge rings OF b
3D. Der, rotten and greasy, about t
Ast, necks. Then follows a great feast
1873 general rejoicing. They eat the b
Der raw, apparently knowing nott
oo of cookery. Fish they swallow VII
Ii,i lust as bird does, fins, scales, h'
Jus tail and all.
- 81 ''But they nave llfcs anu co''i'' CIV
e ss. ., "Oh, yes, and The singular part
,oire is their mode of kindling fire
sugar, as original as unique. On the
nomi, mountain sides is found Kind OF
sizing, pyrites, which, when struck with
d, and bic, produces sparks. These he cat
lids as upon piece OF punk, or dead tree
/. niece OF moss. Then, having rC
.ere. ball of dry grass, he ignites this, an
waving it in the air produces a
MASS, which. united toa bundle of sticks,
- produces fame, and the fire is
InN plcte"
lUls But the work is 4 laborious one
Yes. and for that reason the Fu6
is very careful Of his fire, and whel
], 49,. he goes. and he is compelled by the
: ccssities of life to continually chang
: EA place Of abode, he carries his fire
> fully about with him