Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1885-10-22
A DEFIANT PEBBLE.
strange characteristics Of the Terre del
Fuego lndian-Tne woman's Love for
Tahaaao

"a aEA
Fuego l~ndian-Tne Woman's Love for
Tobacco.
The Terre del Fuego Indians, the
ngliest mortals that ever breathed, are
always on the lookout for passing YES
sells, and come out In capoes TO bec
and to trade skins for tobacco, writes
a correspondent to The NeU York san,
The fuegians, or Canoe Indians" as
they are commonly called, to distin.
guish them from the Patagonians, who
dislike the water and prefer to nayi-
gate ON horseback, have no settled
habitation. They are a simple people,
with u dirty and bloated appearance
and faces that would scare a mule.
They have broad features, low fore.
heads over which the HAIR hangs in
tangled Jumps. high cheek-bones, fiat
noses, normous chins and Jaws, and
mouths Ike a crocodile, with teeth
that add to their responsiveness. Their
skin is said to be of a copper color.
They are short in stature, round shout
dered, squatty, and bloated, a physical
deiormity said to be due TO the fact
that most of their lives are spent in
canoes. The women are even more re-
pulsiVe IN their appearance than the
men, and the children, which arc un-
commonly numerous, look like young
balloons. Their intelligence seems to
be confined to a knowledge of boating
and fishing. end they exercise great
skill in both pursuits. Scientists who
have investigated them say that they
ere the very lowest order of human
kind, many degrees below the Digger
Indians.
Although these people live IN a per
petual winter, where 1t freezes every
night and always SHOWS when the
clouds shed moisture, they 90 almost
stark naked! The skin of the otter
and guanacO are used for blankets.
which are worn about the shoulders
and afford some protection; but under
these neither women nor men wear
anything whatever, except shoes and
legglnCs made of the same material,
which protect tie feet from the rocks.
There is some lttle attempt at adorn-
ment made by both sexes in the way Of
necklaces, bracelets, and earrings
made of fish bones and sea shells.
VIII ch are often iGgeniously joined to-
Gether. The ONE will sell the skin
blankets that cover their back for to-
bacco, standing, meantime, as nude as
Il statue of Venus!
Their food consists of mussels. fish,
sea an mails, aud flesh OF similar SorGs,
which they catch with the rudest sort
Of implements. Their ii hing lines are
made Of grass and their hOoAs of fish
bones. For weapons they have bows
and spears, the former having strings
ma de of the entrails of animals, and
The latter being long. slender poles.
with tips of sharpened bone. They
also use sings with great dexterity.
which are. made of woven grass, and
are said TO bring down animals at long
range.
during the day they are always on
the water, in canoes or dugouts made
of the trunks of trees, the whole fam
lily going together. and usually CON
Fistiug Of "a man. two or three wives,
and as many urchins as can be crowd
ed into the boat. When night falls
they go ashore and build a fire upon
The rocks to temper the frigid atmos-
phere. Around this they cuddle in a
most afrectionate way, The name of
the islands upon which they live came
from these fires. The early nayiga-
tors when passing through the straits,
were amazed to see these fires spring
up as if by magic all over the islands
every night at shutdown, and so they
called them Terra del Fuego, or the
land OF fire. The English shorten the
lppellat on, and thus the place is
known rs Fireland.
No one has ever been able TO ascer-
lain whether they possess any sort of
religious belief or have religious cere-
monies. Across the straits the Pata-
gonians, or horse Indians. are of q
higher order OF creation and perform
sacred rites 20 propitiate the evil and
good spirits, in which. like the North
American savages, they believe, but
the Fucgians are too degraded to con
template anything but the necessity
Of ministering to their passions and
appetites. They eat fish and flesh UNI
cooked, and appreciate as dainties the
least attractive morsels. Their Ian
guage is an irregular and meaningless
jargon, apparently derived from the
Patagonians, with whom they were,
some time in the distant past, con-
nected. Bishop Sterling, of the
Church of England, a devoted and
energetic man, who has charge of
missionary work in South America.
with headquarters on the Falkland
islands, has made some attempt to
benefit these creatures, but with no
great success. lie has a little
schooner in which he sails around,
and has succeeded in ingratiating
himself among the Fuegians by giving
them presents of beads and Irvine,
blankets and clothing. They use the
first for ornaments, the second for
fishing gear, but trade OF the
other things for rum and to-
baceo the first chance they get.
As long as his gifts hold out he will be
kindly received, no doubt, and his de-
votion meet with encouragement, but
if he should land among them without
the usual plumber they would proba-
bly, kill Inn at breakfast time and
pick his ribs for lunch. Toward the
Atlantic coast the sayages are OF
a higher order, and the bishop
has established a missionary station in
a little town in which they live. His
assistants have succeeded in persuad.
ing the inhabitants If this village to
wear clothing and u a primary
school from which much good may