The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-12-03
THE STORY OF THE
ARTHUR SEWALL
ISLAND WHERE HER CREW SUPPOSED TO HAVE LANDED IS
WHERE ROBINSON CRusoE wRECKED-wHAT THE
STEAMER FR1DJoFs SAW SEARCHING FOR
LOST ONES


the creek and sometimes along the
banks, following the footprints which
always showed that both white men
and sayages had passed OF the for
meT none had returned, put the naked
feet had gone both ways
Half mile from the snore the par
ty came to a large natural clearing,
and the captain ordered every one TO
stop while he examined it.
1t was as well that they did, for as
they watched four gigantic naked fig
ures marched in Indian file across a
hill top on the opposite side of the.
clearing and disappeared The signif-
cant thing about them was that one
man bore small boats anchor and
another carried a coil of rope over mis-
shoulders They stared into the clear
ing as they passed, but saw nothing
of the white men, All four were arm
ed with bows and arrows and clubs.
Another quarter OF mile brought to
view a second clearing, which was full
of savages. The rescue party was dis
covered at once and had little time for
further investigations There were
several hundred of the naked natives,
and it seemed that some sort of feast
or ceremony had just been concluded.
A huge fire had burned down to ashes.
On two sides of the fire sat and stood
two groups of warriors, naked except
for a small strip of fur about their
loins. They bore spears and bows and
had quivers full of arrows bound by
thongs to their backs Their average
height was well over six feet, which
showed that they were of the race OF
Onas like the Patagonians.
On the third side was a group OF
Alaculofs, smaller and hideous with
red~and white stripes across their
faces and hair colored red
A tall monster with pare legs and a
bullying jacket of black feathers and
wearing a black, cone-shaped mask,
seemed to be harranguing them when
the sailors arrived. There was no
sign of the shipwrecked men.
There was yelling and confusion as
the natives observed the strangers
| Picking up clubs and spears they
moved as if to surround the sailors
who brandlshed their weapons in the
hope of intimidating them. 1t served
only to keep the savages at a distance
too great to hurl spears, but near
enough to keep stones from their
n nd a rte 90
bzoken glass falling among them.
The NOrwegians retreated slowly
, firing at the nearest bowmen, and al
last reached the boats without any
dangerous wounds AS they emerged
, from the creek the tall monster with
the black feather dress and high mask
led a charge of spearmen down the
, sides of the creek. But the rifles and
revovers of the seamen killed or
, wounded half a dozen and held them
at bay until all were aboard the boats
in safety.
The steamer got up anchor and
steamed away, for the natives on the
beach were sending up smoke signals
and savages were assembling from all
parts of the island in their war canoes,
each with its small fire.
Terra del Fuego, it should be under
stood, is an island of triangular shape,
separated from the mainland of South
America by the Strait of Magellan. 1t
is little less in size than the State OF
New York In it's neighborhood are
hundreds of smaller islands of greater
or less s'ze-Noir Island, Desolation
Island, Clarence Island, Dawson ISL
and and St. Ives Island among the
most impOrtant-and all of them to-
gether from a very cons derable archi-
pelago, Cape Horn being situated on
one of the lesser islands, at the bot
tom or southern end.
The natives of Terra del Fuego are
of three distinct tribes, First, there
are the Onas, who inhabit the broad,
level plains of the northern and east
ern part of the great island. Along
the southern coast and on islands ad-
jacent thereto dwell the Yahgans
while the western shores are the home
of the Alaculofs.
Ordinarily the white mans weapons
. of precision render him so far superior
to the primitive savage that the latter
, even when in numbers, is at an enor'
nous disadvantage. Unfortunately
, however, these cannibals are not only
very cunning, but possess a high de-
gree of skill in the use of slings. EN-
, ploying round pebbles gathered on the
beach for projectiles, they are able tc
. discharge the latter with such deadly
accuracy as to kill waterfowl at q
) distance of 100 yards-a performance
/ which would be creditable with a rife
Now, the aforementioned cannibals
/ are people of the coast, never going
far inland. They are aquatic by habit
living almost entirely in small oper
boats, which they construct with much
skill out of large pieces Of beech-treC
/ bark, sewn together with sinew anC