The National tribune., 1900-03-01
MARRIAGE BY FORCE.
How the Giant Indians of TERRA del Fuego
Take Advantage of their Strength.

DIR. Frederick A. Cook tells of n little
known race of aborigines in an article in
the Century Magazine for March on The
| Giant Indians of TERRA del Fuego," whom
he visited on the Belgian Antarctic expedi-
ton. Of their marriage customs he writes.
Marriage, like almost everything Ona, is
not fixed by established rules. 1t is ar
ranged and rearanged from time TO time
to suit the convenience of the contracting
parties. Woman generally have very
| little to say about it. The bargain is made
| almost solely by the men, and physical
force is the principal bond of union. For
| ages the strongest bucks have been accus-
toned to steal women from neighboring
| tribes. and from neighboring clans of their
own tribe. The Onas, being by far the
most powerful Indians. have thus been
| able TO capture and retain liberal supply
of wives. a missionary who has been in
constant contact with these Indians for
30 years has given it rs his opinion that a
plurality OF wives is entirely satisfactory to
| their peculiar emotions and habits of life.
The relation to one another of the women
who possess but one husband III common
| in the family wigWam is of novel interest.
AS rule. they are no more jealous than
are the children in a civilized home circle.
The principal reason for this is that the
several wives are often sisters. A Young
man takes by force, by mutual aprccmenf
Ill
If he proves himself Il good hunter and a
kind husband, the wife persuades her sister
to join her Wigwam and share her hU:;-
bands affections. Frequently. when a
girl is left an orphan. she is taken into u
family and trained 10 become the supnle.
mentary wife of her bcnefactor in after
years. In the hut each wife has her own
assigned position always resting in ex-
actly the same spot, with all of her he
longings about her. The wealth of the
household IS not common TO all the occll-
pants. Each woman has her own basket
of meat fragments or shelfish. her own
bag with implements, needles, sinews. and
bits of fur, and each wife has her own assem-
blage 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 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 1t into camp. In moving, the
women take up all of their earthly possess
sions, pack them into Il huge roll, and
with this firmly strapped across their
backs they follow the unencumbered lead
of their brave but ungallant husbands.
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
uninteresting 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 civilization
that this red man of the far south should
be compelled to lay down his life ut the feet
of the heartleSs palc-faced invaders TO
shield the honor OF his home.