The sun., 1894-09-16

vaseline. The Yahgan used whale oil as use
| vaseline. The explorers spoke of his " filthy
greasy skim" but the scientific sporting man Of
New York now initiates the Yahgan, even
| though vaseline gathers during q swim any fot-
sam that comes handy by. Tho Yahgan was
shelterless and naked ina land Of fierce and
freezing storms" but he did not freeze; he did
not even shiver In ordinary Cape Horn weather.
However one can understand why the eI-
porers did not perceive the real condition Of the
Yahgan. They were cold in spite of thick fan
nels, and II was but natural that they should
Judge others by themselves. They were blinded
by pity for the naked heather, 50 TO speak. But
one cannot so easily understand how the ex-
plorers fell into such errors as they did about
the ingenuity and the mechanical skill Of the
native. The results OF YahgaA handicraft were
everywhere visible. He could not make either
a good house or q broadcloth suit. In his hands
a white mans coat was ripped TO pieces and the
strips used for decoration. But there were his
canoes and his weapons especially his canoes.
The explorer was probably 30 intent In look
ing at the naked human beings sitting in an
open boat during q wintry gale that he could
not critically even the boat. The Yahgan
boats are mentioned slightingly, II at all, by
nearly every traveller who has visited the
region. THE boats are unwieldy and logy. and
the Indians seem to have no knack Of propelling
them at any sort OF speed" says . latter day
writer, who saw a canoe of the kind In the Straits
Of Magellan. That was the writer's Judgment In
the matter. Here are the facts as he saw them.
The boat was "about rs feet long, feet
wide, and feet deep. with compare
lively sharp ends" The facts as I
saw them are SO. save that the ends
seemed 10 me to be extremely sharp.
Let any white canoe man imagine q boat OF
those proportions with lines In an exact arc of q
circle. and then let him say whether he knows
OF any superior model among either civilized or
savage nations-a model better adapted for
combined speed, safety, and capacity than this
My own experience with Indian canoes includes
the kayaks and oomiaks OF the Eskmos In
Greenland, the dugouts of old Providence ISL
and In the Caribbean Sea. and the bangos OF tho
Bay OF Panama, but am bound to say that the
most graceful canoe, As well as the strongest,
ever saw was made by the Yahgan.
However. one fact about these canoes Will con-
vince any one who knows what Cape Horn
storms are that the Yahgan canoe Is OF re-
markable model: The Yahgans used them In
navigating the waters OF the Cape Horn archi-
pelago. Further than that, both the Rev,
Thomas Bridges and the Rev. John Lawrence,
who for twenty years have been familiar with
the Yahgans, told me that they never heard OF
Yahgan being upset in his canoe until in these
later years, when the possession OF axes and the
substitute dugouts of an entirely different model
for the canoes they had made in the old days.
Judged only by his house and his clothing,
the Yahgan was OF lower grade OF intelli-
gence, or ut least worse on. than many
brutes. Judged by his canoe, he was a naval
architect who produced a model 70 which the
designers OF yachts in the United States and
England are in these days OF spoon" bows
approaching, hut have not yet equalled.
ha k.,EIa
stripped wide pieces of bark from the tallest
and smoothest tree trunks he could hnd. using
shell axes, In the old days, tO cut the trees The
bark was stripped from the trunk with a wooden
tool something like chisel and OF the very shape
found most advantageous by the white men
who, in Pennsylvania and the Adirondacks
supply hemlock bark TO the tanneries. Having
his bark on the tree, the YAhgSn cut the strips
into such shape that when sewed together they
would form canoe with mldshiD section, say
four feet wide by three deep. that Was almost
the arc OF a circle. From this section the model
tapered away almost on the arc OF another cir
Gle, 80 that IL had sheer at once pleasing 10 the
eye and well adapted TO ride the most tenn |
pestuOus seas in the world.
To brace this bark shsAthing the Yahkzn |
made ribs Of split saplnss that look ed like hlck-
ory barrel hoops ribs At once strong and light
while the rails and beams were made OF round |
"N'o' Ano oeAA rAfipo we're eeWed together /
with whaleboRe taken from whales stranded on |
the beach.
Into the bottom OF this eAnOs the Yahgan put |
an inverted sod perhaps two By three feet large,
and on this HIS squaw built small nre for |
warmth. Forward and aft Of the hFe we're put |
little layers Of 6TuAh and grASs. The man |
squAtted on the grass forward Of the nre. aud |
his fAyorite squaS, II he had more than one.
Was Just aft Of H. the tsrms forward and AFT /
being ussd 70 indicate only the dirsctiOn In
which the canoe travelled. for bOth snds we're
alike Ths other s9uAss Ana the children Wsrs