Evening star., 1898-11-05

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
F'uego. and, although both the Argentine
and Chile own portions of it. the greater
part is as wild as 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 not afraid to at
tack. Only a few months since two Chiea Il
naval officers were surveying one of the
smaller islands near here. They were kill
ed by the Indians. The men, when found.
had been stripped 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 out
side the mission station on Dawson Island.
l have met with almost none in my travels
through the Strait of Magellan and along
the northern coast of TERRA del Fuego. |
passed one or two boat loads near the Isle
of Clarence on the south of the strait and
have seen some of the half-civiliZed ones
of the Catholic mission. l have, however,
talked with the priests who are working
among them ard from them and other
parties have gathered some news nforma-
ton about these little-knoWn people. One
of the Catholic fathers has very kindly
given me some of his photographs, but
these represent 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 1000, the
other two being the Yaghars, of whom
there are only 800, and who found in
the southern part of the island: and the
Alacalufes. or canoe Indians of the west,
who also number 800, and who live almost
entirely on mussels and shell fish.
Slecp I'm Holes.
Nearly all of these Indians go naked.
Where they have been captured by the mis-
sionaries you find them wearing stray gar
ments. but there IS seldom semi-cvilized
man among them who will not sell his
whole suit for a plug of tobacco, nor a
woman who would not in driving snow
storm take off all she has on and give it for
a piece of red cloth or string of bright
heads. The Onas of the wilds wear a
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
though they live in the latitude of Labra-
dor, and l. with my winter f1annels and
overcoat. am none too warm.
These Indians have been painted by trav-
treme. l do not find them They are
sleek, fat and apparently well fed Those l
saw farther up in the Magellans had a per-
petual grin on their faces and both the
Onas and the Yaghans are, I am told good
natured. In travelling along the shores of
TERRA del Fuego you come every now and
then to an Ona house. 1t is merely 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
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
like to stay more than a night oil
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.
How the Indians Look.
The Onas are of a good size, though moi
the giants that some travellers have painted
them. The men are. as a rule, about six
feet tall and the women about five fee,
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
deep-chested and muscular The women
when young are plump and Well-rounded
| Their skins are lighter than those of mos
of our Indians. They have high cheek bones
fiat noses and straight. dark eyes, with raj tn
| er full, sensual lips. Their hair is straight; i
| is black, and with the men is singed close
| at the crown forming sort of tonsure
| The women let their hair grow and it hangs
| down over their shoulders. The men do mo-
| begin to have boards until late in life ano
! as they do not like to appear old they usual
| ly pull out the stray hairs on their faces
| An Ona seldom has a beard before he is
| thirty-five or forty.
The Onas do not apparently care whether
| their food is fresh or not. Before the ad
| vent of sheep farming in TERRA del Fuege
| 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 a very large sheep
| The Onas run them down with their dog:
| and follow them also on foot. They ar,
| very fast runners and take steps, so al
| Argentine man who lived on the islands
| says, six feet apart. When they kill more
game than they can eat they bury the left
| overs in the bed of a stream and come bacl
| a week or so later and eat them. This |:
especially so of the sheep they steal of the
| whites, They use only bows and arrows il
| war and for hunting. The arrows were orig
inally tipped with flint, but now they ar