Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-11-25

ways at hand These islanders try out
oil from whale blubber and store 1t FOR
future use in the bladder-like leaves of
kind OF seaweed found everywhere IN
that region.
Quite distinct and peculiar is the Ona
tribe, which inhabits the prairie region OF
Terra del Fuego This great island has
the shape of u triangle, and Is almost as
large as the state of New York. once up
on a time it must have had troplcal
climate. inasmuch as the bones OF mon
keys and parrots are found fossil there
in great numbers. There is much excel
lent grazing land, and sheep-raislng is q
growing industry, the Onas being killed
off as fast as possible incidentally to the
process of fencing the land. Their chill
dren and women are captured. when pos
sible and practically enslaved. being en-
ployed us. servants at the stations MAIN
tanned by the Argentine government on
the island or also carried to Buenos
Ayres. The Onas inhabit the part of
Terra del ruego which Magellan first
saw and their habit of signalling to one
another by means of fires caused the IA
NOUS navigator to call the country Land
of Fire..
The Onas have no horses. They eat
those they capture from the sheep men,
considering horse meat the greatest of
delicacies. 1ney depend for food chiefly
upon the guanaco. which abounds in Ter
I'll del FupSo. anu hlliu VI III dliit SQulI
rel In the chase they rely mainly upon
bows and arrows and the bolas. the lat
ter consisting of two or three stone balls
on the ends of hide thongs. On being
thrown the balls diverse in obedience to
centrifugal force and fly round and round
in the air. until the object is struck,
when the thongs wind themselves about
it. These savages can throw the bolaS so
deXtrously as to fasten a man to his
horse. The Onas, however. often kill the
IL
running them down--so wonderfully fleet
of foot are they.
John r. Spears. to whose recently pub
lished work on Cape Horn the writer is
much indebted. says that the Ona has as
poor an apology for home as can be
found anywhere in the world saucer
shaped. hollow. big enough for a bed for
all the family. is scooped in the ground.
Some poles and brush are placed about
this. and over the weather-sde is thrown
a skin or two. To protect themselves
from cold. the inmates of this extcmpor-
lied house lie down on the ground with
the children in the midst of the huddle.
and then call their dogs to come and lie
over them. 1t is a poverty-stricken Ona
family that has not enough dogs to cover
it out of sight. These people have a Curl
Gus practice of singeing off their hair so
as to leave sort of tOnsure on the
crown. They are remarkable for using
combs made of whalebone, which are not
found elsewhere.
For making fire the Onas carry bits
of iron ore, which come from an island
to the west of Terra del Fuego. A scrap
of flint with the ore and a little dry fun
gus, always kept wrapped in a piece of
hide or bladder, enab BILE the Ona to light
fire even in rainstorm. Whiskey bot
ties drifted ashore from ships supply the
tribe with glass tips for reed arrows The
Onas. when captured by whites or other
wise in distress. cut long and deep CASH
es in their chests with any sharp thing
that may be at hand. When white pros
pectors have disappeared in. that country
only their bones have been found usual
ly. and these always bore marks of fire
and human teeth. The Onas eat the
whites they capture. Mr. Spears speaks
of the interesting fact that these natives
long ago discovered a sure and speedy
remedy for the chief ill that savages are
heir to through association with the
whites in a decoction of a thorny bush
which grows on the plains. known to
science as Berberis.
When Magellan made his winter quar-
tiers at San Julian in 1920 on his voyage
round the world he observed in the neigh
borhood many human footprints of as
tonishng size. Hence he called the
country Patagonia, from 'patagon,
large and clumsy foot. The name is
commonly applied to that portion of
South America lying between the Rio
Negro on the north and the Strait of Ma
6cldu Ol the S9Outu IL Is All
territory. extending one thousand miles
north and south. Very sparsely settled,
1t is to great extent UNEMPLOYED Most
of the interior is inhabited only by rowing
bands of aborigines. The greater part of
Patagonia belongs now to Argentina
Chill holding by treaty the mountainous
strip along the Pacific coast.
The strip presents a very extraordinary
geological formation, the mountains ris-
ing to height of two miles directly from
fh.a il, Tins. he
the west, with myriads of inaccessible
submits and not a pass for one thousand
miles. The peaks are forever covered
with snow and ice. which form enormous
glaciers. Remote from this range of the
Southern Andes, Professor Hatcher found
on the plains of Patagonia numerous VOL
canic cones. usually in groups. Though
extinct, it is evident that they have been
active within comparatively recent times.
Great hills of lava. full of caVerns. rise
from the pampas, with immense craters
or bowls in their tops. A narrow strip of
grazing country along the east coast is
the sheep-farming region. The interior
Is mostly desert. without single tree
| and only such scant vegetation as will
support the guanaca and rhea, or South
American ostrich.
The fauna of the country is very re-
markabie. There are two species of true
| native dogs wild. One of them is light
gray with "a black spot at the base of the
everywhere on the plains. The other is
much larger. rather shy. and found only
in the mountains. very plentiful spec
les of mammal is the strange armadiHo
one of the most ancient of existing crea-
| lures. Snakes are its favorite prey and
1t Kills them by saving them in two with
the saw-lke edges of its bony shell.
There is ii venomous kind of toad, which
bites savagely. hanging on with the te-
nacity of a bulldog and injecting it's poi
son into the blood. Not to be forgotten
is the puma. which. though the most
bloodthirsty of beasts of prey. cannot be
| induced to defend itself against man. 1t
commonly attacks and kills the formid-
able jaguar. but a child may approach
1t with safety. The grass cat" of the
pampas is much like the domesticated
cat. but larger and frightfully savage
Storms of sky-blue and scarlet dragon
| flies which come before the southwest
| wind from the interior. flying at the rate
of eighty miles an hour and fairly dark
ening the air with their swarms, are
| among the curious phenomena Of the re-
giOn.
Professor Hatcher renorts that tho ri