Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-22
OUR NAKED NEIGHBORS
Curious Peoples Of Uncle Sans New
Sister Republics.
SAvAGEs OF THE SOUTH.
Nudity Their Prime Characterissic-FueR
Who Maintain Eternal Fires-The Feather
Indians and the Wonderful Robes They
Wear-Giants Of Patagonia.
CONCERNING THE NATIVE PopULA-
OtiOna IF he Soufh Avna~;ooo ,nrch,;n. -sxl

Otons OF the South American republics with
which Uncle Sam has recently entered into
commercial relations the Department of State
has taken pains to collect good deal Of inter-
esting information. Not the least extra.
ordinary Of these peoples is the unique race
which inhabits the great island called Terra del
Fuego. or Land Of Fire." at the southern end
of the continent. claimed jointly by Chill and
the Argentine. 1t was given this name by
Magellan because Of the fires that were kept
eternally burning along the shore, never being
permitted to go out. The natives are the
fiercest savages known in the world, with no
foreheads to speak Of their hair growing down
to their eyebrows Their favorite and Gus
tomary food is half-putrid fish, seal and whale
meat thrown up by the sea along the coast about
Cape Horn during the frightful storms that as
sail that bleak and Inhospitable strand From
time to time the corpses of wrecked sailors
afford them much-relished feasts without the
trouble OF cooking. They eat everything raw,
the fires being simply for warmth, for the
climate is exceedingly cold. Nevertheless,
they go about practically naked. wearing only
a cloak OF ratskin or other fur hung over one
shoulder and always on the windward side A
Fuegan woman will sell you this garment off
her back any time and trudge of perfectly
nude but quite content through q raging snow
squall.
HOW THE FUEaANs LIVE.
These Fuegans live in holes under the ground,
Covered over with brush, bark ana wild cab
bage leaves. In the center of each dwelling,
which is entered by an inclined tunnel a fire
ls kept perpetuaiiy burning. the smoke finding
Its way out through hole in the roof The
embers are never allowed to become extin-
guished, because the people know no way of
making fire, and if it was lost they could not
reproduce it. 1t is supposed that they brough:
IL originally, centuries ago. from some volcano
In the Cordilleras Their subterranean retreats
are constructed in the manner described in
order to economic warmth. In every canoe
also, perennial blaze is kept I'D on
clay flooring in the middle, for con-
venience when a fshing or trading ex-
curslon is to be made. The children's chief
duty Is to keep up the fires. Recently discoy-
cries OF gold have been made in that country,
and Argentine miners have gone there with
troops for protection. The latter have numer-
GUS encounters with the natives, killing them
withou: quarter. like wild beasts. MANY an
armed expedition has gone against these saw
ages. who have never been subdued, though
reduced In numbers. About 49, 600 of them are
supposed to remain. Not long ago in the
Straits OF Magellan ship Of the Pacific Steam
Navigation Company picked up naked British
sailor, whose five companions survivors from
the wreck Of a British barque. had been killed
by the FueSans. This man was saved to amuse
the women and children, who beat him con-
stantly to make him dance. When rescued he
was mass OF sores and bruises.
STRANGE PEOPLE IN ECUADOR.
Not less interesting than the Fuegans are the
aborigines Of Ecuador, who use against their
enemies and in the capture of game arrows
tipped with mysterious poison of unknown
origin, which Is sure and sudden death to man
or beast. These deadly weapons are fired from
biowpipes ten feet in length, and are effective
n a n sfn oof1 fna
IL woman is tired of her husband she gives
him draught of 'foripondio," distilled from
plant resembling the stramony. by drinking
which the Delphic priests of old sought inspira-
ton for their oracular utterances The bever-
age transforms the man into an idiot. and the
wife narries again. Another curious custom
prevalent in the same region obliges a man
when his wife is confined to 20 to
bed himself and receive all the
attentions ordinarily due to female in child
birth. To Ecuador belong the Galapagos
Islands, in the Pacific, which form a strange
volcanic group, crossed by the line of the
equator They are perfectly barren and unin-
habited, save by extraordinary reptiles and
birds, which are found nowhere else in the
world. VI twenty-five sorts of land birds Sc
cured there by Darwin on the occasion of his
visit all bat one were peculiar to the little
archipelago. Most remarkable among the rem
tiles were gigantic tortoses. which grew to 700
or SUI pounds each in weight. These last have
b,
made practice of stopping at the islands to
provision their ships with turtle flesh. the
animals being too unwieldy to elude capture
ALONG THE AMAZON.
Many strange race types most surprising to
the ethnologist are found along the Amazon
and its tributaries. On the high slopes OF the
Andes dwell people who make a practice Of
chopping off the heads of their enemies and
preserving them for ornamental uses. The
process employed In the preparation of these
weird trophies Is quite an art in ITSELF the head
being literally boned-that is to say, deprived
OF the skull. For this purpose the throat is
sliced around with knife and the skin is drawn
of over tine skull, with care to keep uniniured
the mouth, nose and other features. Next, the
the skin being turned right side out, it is filed
with not gravel, which makes it shrink. Fresh
heated gravel is put in it at intervals until the
head has shrunk to quarter the size OF that of
a newborn baby Its appearance thus trans
formed Is astonishingly grotesque, and much
pleasure 10 derived from hanging il by its long
black hair from a rafter in the house for the
family to jeer at and abuse now and then
AMONG cANNIBALs.
On the lower Amazon dwell the cannibal
Butocudos, who distort their features with tho
biggest ornaments OF a certain kind known
In babyhood both men and women have their
lower lips and the lobes Of their ears pierced
with holes, in which are thrust pieces of wood.
AS they grow older these wooden adornments
are made bigger and bigger, until an adult or
dinarily has ear lobes that hang down to the
shoulders and lip that projects six inches or
more beyond the nose. One must suffer to be
beautiful, as the French say, and such is the
memorable fashion among these anthropophaRi,
In that country young man who desires to
take wife must first submit himself to a
frightful ordeal. He draws over each arm mn
to the shoulder loose armlet woven of palm
leaves. Then, under supervision Of his elders.
he plunges both arms as far as he can into
nest of fierce devouring ants. The insects at
once attack the intruder, Of course. and, ac-
cording to the terms OF the trial, he must
stand without moving for an hour, submitting
with absolute stoicism to the bites OF the en-
ragged creatures. II he endures the test, he is
entitled 10 u bride, otherwise he must wait a
year and then undergo il again. There are
still tribes descended from tho ancient Incas
which bandage the heads Of their children SO
that they assume conical form. Funnilv
enough, the brain does not seom to suffer any
injury from this treatment.
INDIANS OF THE GREAT woods
In Paraguay live the ferocious Indians of the
Gran Chaco, or "Great Woods" who only
few days ago massacred every soul in civil
lied village Of 600 people. Before long they
will be annihilated and superb territory will
be open to settlement. It is covered with the