Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1900-10-25
4 PERFECT RACE
GROWING EXTINCT.
The Ona Men Are Dying Fast, Thus
Taking Away the Moss Wonder
fully Formed People on Earth.
BY Frederick a. Cook.


Shrouded in icy mystery, the south
polar regions have remained, since the
earliest times, an enigma to man.
For three hundrad years the glacial
lands under the pale ray of the Pole
Star have been gradually made to yield
their ice StronghoIds tc the daring as
SaultS of the explorer, whi-e the portion
of the globe illunined by the Southern
Cross has been left almost unvisited.
Up to the time of the Belgian expe-
dition no mortal being had sojourned
an entire season in the South Polar
seas. I consider, therefore, that in
penetrating through the first antarctic
night the little band of explorers of
which I had the honor to be one has
marked an era in the records of polar
Their work is the stepping
stone to new ventures.
In the end of 1897 nineteen men in
trusted their lives to the little Belgica-
an auxiliary bark of $50 tons-and with
her attacked the previously unpene-
trated barriers of Ice which hedged in
the region south of Cape Horn.
They discovered a new and beauti-
full highway, in size comparable to the
Straits OF Magellan, and through this
pushed into & new world Of ice, visiting
a hundrcl island and several hundred
1I4IACo III 1dA&N tiJO11 III OlI10I 1O-
man eye had ever rested.
! Upon this land were found great cit
les or weird creatures and a p~rofusion
! of curious othef-world life. After
passing through this unknown land our
little party entered upon an equally
kno sea.
During this eternity Of gloom the
| Belgica was the only speck OF human
life within the antarctic and sub-an-
{ r y-o+io noSoo -
: combined spread OF Europe ana Asia.
ALMOST UNKNOWN.
! But it was not My in the South
! Polar regions that we made interest
ing discoveries. We had an opportun-
/ ity to study hat strange ace of
! giants 1nhabiting the southern-most
portions of the Southern Hemisphere
| the Fuegians. These people. called On
as by their ~neighbors, have hitherto
resisted all the efforts of civilization.
They have persistently withstood all
attempts OF white men to enter into re-
lations Of friendship. AS a conse-
Quence they remain to-day more un-
known than the pigmies OF Africa.
TIE home of the giants is on the
mainland Of TERRA del Fuego. Their
island is nearly as large as the State
OF New York. It has great prairies,
mountain forests, lakes and
hunting grounds, which the island
dWellers have Kept through ages ex-
clusively for themselves, resisting up
to within recent years all efforts OF the
invader.
Gradually, however, the onward
march Of civilization has made it's con-
quests White sheep farmers have
overcome by trade where they could
not succeed by force. The Onas are al
length yielding to the subtle influence
of the luxuries and comforts of civ
~ilization. The mining camp of the
"paleface" is crowding the dusky race
back into the fo~rest-covered lovlands
n the i~ce-capped highlands of the in.
terror, where they must either freeze
or starve, at the mercy OF the eau.
caSian invader.
There is perhaps nc race in the world
with a more perfect physical develop
nent than the Ona men. Their aver.
age height is about six feet, while 6
few attain 6 feet 6 inches. This won.
derful development has arisen through
the exigencies of their life and the dis.
of game, which make Ions
marches necessary. The Ona men ar,
certainly the greatest cross-countr,
runner on the American continent.
The only weapon which these giant.
use effectively is the bow and arrow
l The bow is made of the wood of tn,
antarctic beech, scraped into shape b,
! the edge of a shell. The string is compos
, ed of the sinews Of the guanaco-al
animal Of the camel species-which re
l sembles a cross between a goal and a,
antelope. The tips Of their arrows ar
composed of glass. This glass they q,
: not make themselves. It is picked II,
from wreckage found about the barrel
. shores.
: A whole Ona family participates il
h sports of the chase. They marcl
E for days -ov Wind-swept plains
through icy streams, into regions seem
e ingly- deserted by animal life. TIL
women and children travel in on
group, the men in another. Sick an
helpless persons are left behind t
starve or support life as best the
can.
When a herd Of guanaco is found tn
men creep on their hands and fee
covering their bodies with their robe
= to initiate animals. When close t
!. their prey they rise, throw aside the
- robes and spring naked upon the guar
!. acos, killing some with their bow
= others by means of knife and cluI