The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-05-05
WIVES By FORCE
That Is the ygay q Giant haee u
TIeFfa deA Eueguns Obtain
Their HeIpmeets.

AMeAH AeANa4AG&NAy
Dr.. Frederick A, Cook tells Of little
known race of abOrigines IN an article
in the Century Magazine on The Giant
Indians Of TERRA del FuegO,' whom he
visited on the Belgiam Antarctic expedi-
tion. Of their marriage customs lie
writes;
Marriage, like almost everything
Ona, is mot fixed by established fuies.
It is arranged and rearranged from
time TO time to suit the eonveniencs Of
the contracting parties. Women gen
orally have very little to say about it.
The bargain is made almost solely By
lIg and physical force is the prin-
cipaI bond of union. For ages the
strongest bucks have been accustomed
/ to steal women from neigh boring
tribes, and from neighboring clans Of
their own tribe. The Onas, being far
the most powerful Indians, have thus
been able to capture and retain lib
/ eral supply of wives. A missionary who
has been in constant contact with
these Indians for 80 years has given ii
as his opinion that a plurality ofwives
is entirely satisfactory to their pc.
1 culiar emotions and habits of life.
| The relation to one another of the
women who possess but one husband
in common in the family wigwam is
of novel interest. AS a rule, they are
no more jealous than are the children
in a civilized home circle The prin-
cipal reason for this is that the sew
eral wives are often sisters A young
man takes by force, by mutual agree.
ment, or by barter, the oldest daughter
of family. If he proves himself
good hunter and a kind husband, the
wife persuades her sister to join her
wigwam and share her husbands s affec-
tions. Frequently, when girl is left
an orphan, she is taken into a family
and trained to become the supplement-.
airy wife of her benefactor in after
years. In the hut each wife has her
own assigned position, always resting
in exactly the same spot, with all Of
her belongings about her. The wealth
of the household is not common to all
the occupants. Each woman has her
own basket of meat fragments or
shelltish, her own bag with implements,
needles, sinews and bits of fur, and
each wife has her own assemblage Of
! children,
The work of the man IS strictiy Inn
tied to the chase. He carries his bow
. and culver of arrows, and his eye is
ever on the horizon for game; but he
! seldom stoops to anything like manual
labor that is not connected with the
actual necessities of the chase. He
. kills the game, but the wife must carry
{ it into camp. In moving, the women
take up all of their earthly posses
sions, pack them into huge roll, and
with this firmly strapped across their
I backs they follow the unencumbered
/ lead of their brave but ungallant hus-
. bands. Thus the women carry, day
J after day, not only all the household
! furniture, but the children and the
. portable portions of the house. The
I, women certainly have all the uninter.
: esting details and the drudgery of life
/ heaped upon them, but they seem to
|, enjoy it. In defense of the men it
q should be said that they are worthy
husbands. They will fight fierCely to
6 protect their homes, and they will
guard the honor of their women with
G their own blood. 1t is a crying sir
of the advance of Christian civilization
o that this red man of the far south
j should be compelled to lay down hi,
Il life at the feet of the heartless pale
4 faced invaders to shield the honor oil
!. his home.