Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1900-11-16

Giant Indians Of Tierra del Fueso and
Their strenath.

DR.. Frederick Cook tells Of little
known race of aborigines in an arti-
Gle in the Century Magazine for
March on "The Giant Indians OF
TERRA del Fuego," whom he visited
on the Belgian Antarctic expedition.
OF their marriage customs he writes:
Marriage, like almost everything
Ona, is not fixed by establishing rules.
It is arranged and rearranged from
time to time to suit the convenience
of the contracting parties. Women
generally have very little to say about
It. The bargain is made almost sole
1y by the men. and physical force is
the principal bond of union. For ages
The strongest bucks have been accus-
so1ned 10 steal women from neighbor-
ing tribes, and from neighboring
clans of their own tribe. The Onas,
being by far the most powerful In
dians, have thus been able to capture
and retain liberal supply of wives.
A missionary who has been in con-
stant contact with these Indians for
thirty years has given it as his opin-
ion that plurality of wives is en-
tirely satisfactory to their peculiar
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 a family. If he proves himself a
good hunter and a kind husband, the
wife persuades her sister to join her
wigwam and share her husbands af-
fections. frequently, when girl is
left an orphan, she is taken into a
family and trained to become the sup
Elementary 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 her belongings about her. The
wealth of the household is not COM
mon to all occupants. Each woman
has her own basket of meat fragments
or shellfish, her own bag with imple-
ments, needles, sinews and bits of fur,
and each wife has her own assemblage
of children.
The work of the man is strictly
limited to the chase. He carries his
bow and quiver of arrows, and his eye
is ever on the horizon for game; but
he seldom stops to anything like man.
ual labor that is not connected with
the chase. He kills the game, but
the wife must cary it into camp. In
moving the women take up all their
earthly possessions, pack them in a
huge roll, and with this strapped
across their backs they follow the
lead Of their brave but ungallant hus-
band. Thus the women carry, day
after day, not only all the household
furniture, but the children and the
portable portions of the house. The
women certainly have all the uninter-
esting detail and the drudgery of life
heaped upon them, but they seem to
enjoy it. In defense of the men it
should be said that they are worthy
husbands. They will fight fiercely to
protect their homes, and they will
guard the honor Of their women with
their own blood. 1t is a crying sin
of the advance of Christian civiliza-
tion that this red man of the far
south should be compelled to lay
down his life at the feet Of the heart
less pale-faced invaders to shield the
honor of their home.