The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-06
The Ona Indians, Who Go Naked and
sleep in Holes in the Ground, and
Their War with the whites.
SHOT ON SIGHT BY FARMERS
DENSE VEGETATION, GREAT FOR
EsTs AND GRAss-GRowN PLAINS.
Gold Mines of the Far south, Where
Nuggets and Scales of the Metal
Are Found in the Sea sands.
copyright, 1858, by Frank G. Carpenter,

Copyright 1858. by Frank G. Carpenter)
PUNTA ARENAS, Strait of Magellan.
Sept. 20-"What do you do to keep out the
Indians?" / asked a man who has charge of
So 600 sheep in TERRA del Fuego the other
night Doc" was the reply. why, we
shoot them. Sometimes we catch them and
send them to the Catholic mission station
on Dawson island, but it is cheaper TO kill
them on sight" I have heard other men
make similar statements. The Ona Indians
of northern Tierrl del Fuego are hunted
like wild beasts. They are shot down with
out question when they are seen near the
white establishments, and every big sheep
station has its men who keep a lookout for
them. No account is made of such as are
killed. There is practically no law in TERRA
del Fuego, and although both the Argentine
and Chile own portions of it. the greater
part is as wild was the United States
at the time of Columbus.
The Indians feel much the same as the
whites, they scruple not to send their ar
rows into them, and when they have the
greater force they are not afraid to at
tack. Only few months since two Chilean
naval officers were surveying one of the
smaller islands near here. They We're killed
by the Indians. The men, when found,
had been striped naked and in one of them
there were twenty-five arrows with glass
heads AS a result of this warfare it is
difficult to see much Of the Onas outside
the mission station on Dawson island
have met with almost none IN my travels
through the Strait of Magellan and along
the northern coast of TERRA del Fuego. I
passed one or two boatloads near the Isle
Of Clarence on the south of the strait and
have seen some of the half-civilized ones
of the Catholic mission. have, however,
talked with the priests who are working
among them and from them and other par
ties have gathered some new information
about these little known people. One of the
Catholic fathers has very kindly given me
some of his photographs, but these repre-
sent them as better clad than the average
people of their kind.
The most of his pictures are of the Ona
Indians who are found in central and
northern TERRA del Fuego They are the
most numerous of the three tribes about
Cape Horn, according to the chilean esti-
mates numbering from 1000 to 1890. the
other two being the Yaghans, of whom
there are only 500, and who are found in
the southern part of the island and the
Alacalufes, or canoe Indians, of the west,
who also number 500, and who live almost
entirely on mussels and shell fish.
THEY GO NAKED.
Nearly all of these Indians go nakeI
Where they have been captured by the mis-
sionaries you find them wearing stray gar
ments, but there is seldom a semi-civilized
man among them who will not sell his
whole suit for plug of tobacco nor q
woman who would not in a driving snow
storm take off all she had on and give it for
a piece of red cloth or a string of bright
beads. The Onas Of the wilds wear strip
of guanaco skin over the shoulders, tied on
by thongs bound over the chest. The men
and women among them have breech cloths.
but the children go naked. barring the coat
of whale or fish oil with which they are
literally smeared This oil serves to keep
out the cold. Such as 1 have seen have
shown no sign of sb!vering, although they
live in the latitude O., Labrador, and l. with
my winter fannels lnd overcoat, am none
too warm
These Indians have been painted by tray
elers as wretched and miserable in the ex-
IRENE. l do not find them so. They are
sleek, fat and apparently well fed. Those
saw farther up in the Magellans had per-
petual grin on their faces, and both the
Onas and the Yaghans. are, 1 am told, gedd
natured. In travelling along the shores }of
TERRA del Fuego you come every now and
then to an Ona house. 1t is merely a hole
in the ground with a wind break OF
branches or trees bent down and tied to-
gether over it. This hole is about three feet
deep and is just big enough to contain the
Indian and his family. They use it chiefly
at night crawling in and cuddling up to-
gether with their dogs lying about and
over them for warmth. Such fires as they
make are for cooking and are in front OF,
and outside, the sleeping hole. They do not
like to stay more than a night or so in the
same place, as they have an idea that the
devil, or evil spirit, is after them, and they
must move on or he will catch them
The Onas are of good size, though not
the giants that some travellers have painted
them. The men are, as a rule, about six
feet tall and the women about five feet
five. The Yaghans are much smaller and
the Alacalufes are between the two Were
1t not for their stomachs the Onas might be
said to be well formed. They are straight
deeo-chested and muscular. The women
when young are plump and well-rounded
with fine necks and breasts. They are ALL
however, great gluttons, and they some
times gorge themselves so that their stom-
achs are stretched like a drum head and
extend out into pot-belliedness. Their skins
are lighter than those of most of our In
uidtlS. Iuey nave nigh cheek DOHts, hat
noses and straight, dark eyes, with rather
full, sensual lips. Their hair is straight; it
is black. and with the men is singed close
at the crown forming a sort of tonsure.
The women let their hair grow and it hangs
down over their shoulders. The men do not
begin to have boards until late in life and
as they do not like to appear old they usual
ly pull out the stray hairs on their faces
An Ona seldom has beard before he il
thirty-five or forty.
THEY EAT PUTRID MEAT.
The Onas do not apparently care whether
their food is fresh or not Before the adj
vent of sheep farming in Tierro del Fuego
they lived on fish. fungi and guanacos.
Guanacos are wild animals which look like
a cross between the deer and the camel
and are of the size of very large sheen.
The Onas run them down with their dogs
and follow them also on foot They are
very fast runners and take steps. 50 an
Argentine man who lived on the islands
says. six feet apart. When they kin more
game than they can eat they bury the left
overs sn the bed Of a stream ana come back