The Opelousas courier., 1891-11-14
OUR SAVAGE NEIGHBORS,
CURIOUS RACES IN SOUTH AMERI-
CAN REPUBLICS,
The Fuegan Cannibals-Ab origines
of Ecuador-Amazon Head Hunt
ers-Giants of Patagonia.

III AE"SSbAU'
Concerning the native populations of
the South American republics with which
Uncle Sam has recently entered into com
mercial relations, the Department OF
State has taken pains to collect a good
deal of interesting information. Not the
least extraordinary of these peoples is
the unique race which inhabits the
great island called Terre del Fuego, or
Gland 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 5%5eatives are the ~fercest saw
ages knowfin the world, with no fore
heads to speak of, their hair growing
down to their eyebrows. Their favorite
and customary 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 assail
that bleak and inhospitable strand.
From time to time the corpses OF
wrecked sailors afford them much rel
ished feasts without the trouble of cook
ing. They eat everything raw, the fires
being simply for warmth, for the climate
is exceedingly cold. Nevertheless, they
go about wearing only a cloak of ratskln
or other fur hung over one shoulder and
always on the windward side. AFuegan
woman will sell you this garment off her
back any time and trudge off quite con-
tent through a raging snow -squall.
These Fuegans live in holes under the
ground, covered over with brush, bark
and wild cabbage leaves. In the centre
of each dwelling, which is entered by an
inclined tunnel, a fire is kept perpetually
burning, the smoke finding its way out
through a hole in the roof. The embers
are never allowed to become extinguished
because the people know nc way of max
ing fire, and if it was lost they could not
reproduce it. 1t is supposed that they
brought it originally, centuries ago, from
some volcano in the Cordilleras. Their
subterranean retreats are constructed in
the manner described in order to econo-
mize warmth. In every canoe, also, a
perennial blaze is kept up on a clay floor
ing in the middle, for convenience when
a fishing or trading excursion is to be
made. The childrens chief duty is to
keep up the fires. Recently discoveries
of gold have been made in that country,
and Argentine miners have gone there
with troops for protection. The latter
| have numerous encounters with the ma
tives, killing them without quarter, like
wild beasts. Many an armed expedl-
ton has gone against these savages, who
have never been subdued, though re-
duced in numbers. About 10000 of
them are supposed to remain. Not long
ago in the Straits of Magellan a ship of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
picked up a naked British sailor, whose
five companions, survivors from the
wreck of a British barque, had been
| killed by the Fuegans. This man was
saved to amuse the women and children,
who beat him constantly to make him
dance. When rescued he was a mass of
sores and bruises.
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 a mysterious
poison of unknown origin, which is sure
| and sudden death to man or beast. These
deadly weapons are fired from b~lowpipes
| ten feet in length, and are effective at a
distance of $50 feet. Among these peo-
ple if a woman is tired of her husband
she gives him a draught of ;'doripon-
did," distilled from a plant resembling
the stramony, by drinking which the
| Delphic priests of old sought inspiration
for their oracular %utterances. The bev-
.erage transforms the man into an idiot,
and the wife marries again. To Ecua-
dor belong the Galapagos Islands, in the
| Pacific, which form a strange volcanic
group, crossed by the line of the equa-
tor. They are perfectly barren and un-
inhabited, save by extraordinary reptiles
and birds, which are found nowhere else
in the world. Of twenty-five sorts OF
| land birds secured there by Darwin on
| the occasion of his visit all but one were
peculiar to the little archipelago. Most
remarkable among the reptiles were gi-
gantic tortoises, which grew to 700 or
800 pounds each in weight. These last
| have been almost exterminated by sailors,
who have made apractice of stopping al
| the islands to provision their ships with
! turtle flesh, the animals being too un.
| iwieldy to elude capture.
Many strange race types most surpris-
ing 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 tc
say, deprived Of the skull. For this
purpose the throat is sliced around with
a knife and the skin is drawn off over
the skull, with care to keep uninjured
the mouth, nose and other features.
Next, the skin being turned right side
out, 1t is filled with hot gravel, which
makes it shrink. Fresh heated gravel i
put in al intervals until the head ha'
shrunk to quarter the size of that of
new born baby. It's appearance thu
transformed is astonishingly grotesque,
and much pleasure is derived from hang
ING it by its long black hair from q ratteI
in the house for the family to jeer at ant
abuse now and then.
-o aa,x, drvnlt %bo oanni