The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-05
pweIlers in Canoes.


The Yaghans frequent chiefly the
shores of the Beagle channel a shell
tered passage of great beauty but ----
tie practical use, lying as it does half
way between the Magellan straits and
the Horn it's entrance blocked at ell
| ing tide rips These tribesmen are
true canoe jewellers, since they must
search forever the shores of other
wise barren islands for food. in Cue
shape of mussels, fish, sea fowl, or, per-
haps, by great good chance, a stranded
seal or whale. Till the South Ameri-
can mission established itself among
them they braved the rigors of the cl.-
mate naked, save for a small, flat OF
ter skin slung from the neck to the
side where the wind happened to blow.
The women, usually two, padded the
canoe from the stern. The man
crouched in the bow, alert, harpoon
| in hand. In the center of the canoe
| were piled among simple hunting gear
babies and a slab of shingled turf. on
which smoldered the firebrands car
ried to each fresh hating place. For
| In the Land of Horn fire is a first ne
cessity of human life, and from hun
dreds of tiny smoke drifts which lined
the channels in the days when first
Magellan and Drake passed on their
way around the world. came the name
of TERRA del Fuego" or Land of Fire.
A People with No God.
In their unceasing struggle with the
elements for a bare existence tho
Yakhans have been forced to abandon
all but the slightest mental equipment.
They have evolved no faith. no god;
they have no head man to organize
them into common defense or attack.
They are still stationed at that micro
cosm of great empires-the family.
~ L aAok tNsH ~ hat
language Is a very complex one. with
regular grammar and upward of
80 900 classified words. To each tiny
bay, each unoticed headland, they give
a full descriptive name, which are tAe
surnames of persons born in such
spots. Shortly after birth of the child
is dipped in the Icy sea to render it
more hardy. Their dead are buried
without ceremony under rocks or in
great hidden heaps of mussel shells
which accumulate by an oft-feauented
camp. Their name for death signifies
simply gone away" yet they have the
| instructive dread of wild animal for
all dead things, and when one mem
Der of the family dies all those who,
having been born in the same spot
| bear the same name. change 1t for some
other. The departed are hereafter
never mentioned, save in some round
| about fashion, for the Yaghans are
apt at nicknames. This tribe has been
decimated by white mems diseases
which are fostered by their passion
for liquor-a weakness takeh in full
advantage of by INSCRIPTIONS traders
OF the quality of drink supplied It is
sufficient to say that it can be bought
for about sixpence quart at Ushuaia
the present seat of Argentine Govern
ment in the Beagle channel.
Onas n Better Race.
The second tribe. the Onas. are foot
Indians. living in the mountainous in
terror of the great island of which
the Beagle channel marks the southern
boundary. Although they are thus in
a sense islanders they have no canoes
and cannot even swim. being depend
ant on the guanaco, which frequent
the upper pastures. for food and gener-
Lal equipment, from their rawhioe
water bags to the strung sinews OF
their bows. An all enveloptng fun
robe is their only covering. and this
when there is need for freer move.
ment, the braves at once discard
standing clothed, like our own ances,
tors, inthe primal simplicity of bow
and arrows and paint. They use sucf
pigments to aid their stalking. a sci
ence in which they are past masters
To hunt the guanaco they first color
themselves according to the ground
over which they must move. &.
white when on snowfelds, yellow
among dry pampa srass, slate color
| with red spots when among lichen-
covered rocks. Their amusement con
sfsts in wrestling and in long races
perhaps to a hilltop 10 miles distant
J Thia last Ia a sevara test of endur.