The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-01-22
PRIMITIVE PEOPLE
NEARLY wiped OUT
Epidemic ScOurges Indians 81
Terra del Fuego

New XOrk.-a K. LOtlrop, a mem-
Der Of TIE Rela BtaR Of the Museum Of
the American Indian, Heye BOUnda-
dsa, toaa the story Of the sudden
passing 81 q race Of primitive dwell
era on tie shores Of the Straits OF
Eag6aaA- This people wal described
once By Darwin as members Of the
race nearest, seuealogteblly, t. the
ape.
Darwin found this group at the tip
Of the South American continent IN
the polar cold Of Terra del FUegO.
He reported them to be q hardy tribe.
Measles and tuberculosis, Mr.. 10th
rOP said. In the space Of a few years
reduced their numbers from 10000 to
q bare 50 survivors. A few years may
zee the total extinction OF this race.
WBA has puzzled anthrepolOgists fer
years, he Prophesied.
Remain IN Primitive state.
Spreading with greater rapldity
than through the Indian reservations
the United States more than a dec
Rde ago, these same tbs have agRi-
hilated entire tribes and clans Of
those South American Indiana accord
ing to Mr.. LOthrOP. The Indians died
like flies. The few white men,
equipped with inadequate medicines,
struggled to saw them, bat the odds
we're too great. Even their OWn- lives
were threatened.
Neither the culture nOr the clViliEa-
ton Of the Indians has advanced q
step since Magellan sailed his bark
through the straits Bearing his name,
500 years age. Tackled away IN tie
creVices Of the mountains hOmRlAg
In the tOrtuoWs channel, the indians
have remained 0loOf frOm all clVnlsa-
ton.
The climate Is a. frig1d as that Of
Alaska, bat these Indians sleep with
only a slRGie blanket, while their feet
are exposed to the snow and Ice
Their dwellings are rude huts, barely
more than windbreaks.
Impoverished as the natives are,
the few white men in this region, who
rule Over the vast domain, are wealthy
beyond calculation and live like landed
kings, Mr.. LOthrOp said.
SO vast are the white enen's hold
ings, he asserted, that land is meas.
ured not In acres, but in square
leagues (Slx and a quarter miles
square). William Bridges, an English.
man, alone owns 400 square leagues Of
land there, according to Mr.. LOthrOp
and last year more than 10000 Of hl'
tremendous herds Of sheep were sh0rl
for a profit Of 100000.
Origin a Puzzle.
The origin Of these strange peOpI
has bafled MI. LOthrOp. It is hi
theory they descended from the Pats
gOnians, a savage race dwelling on tn
shores Of Chile, but he admitted b
had uncovered no proof to substaI
tate 1t. Darwin, who described tn
race in his work, THE Cruise Of tn
Beagle" also admitted himself puzzle
as to the ancestry Of these Indians.
Mr.. LOthrOp returned recently aftC
eleven months in this Indian cOuntr
The greater part Of his exploration
we're spent along the b~lizzard-swel
shores Of the Straits Of Magellan. r,
nearly a year he wandered through Il
barren region Of Terra del Fueg
hemmed in by the desOlate stretch
land called Cape Horn on the sOut
and on the north by Patagonia al
Chile.
Conditions there were almost beyOl
1an..e-EeA. - - nh
listed like scavengers from the wrec
Of the ships Of the white men viii
came to grief in the turbulent strai
Billiards that hundreds Of years a
almost brought disaster to the intrC
Id Magellan still take their toll
modern ships and bring supplies to t
meager c%upbOards Of these savages,