Evening star., 1938-07-03
Obscure Islands at Worlds End
Scene of Struggle of Nations
Fuegian Archipelago at the Southernmost Point
Inhabited by Primitves Contested
by Argentina and Chile.


fact, they spend most of their time in
their canoes. rarely going any distance
into the interior OF the islands. Their
camp sites can be located by the great
heaps of shells, called kitchen middens
These shell fish are secured by their
women who dive naked into the icy waters
and detach them from the rocks with .
peculiar wooden prong. The Yahgan
women do practically all the padding In
canoes. and when travelling, the man sits
or stands in the bow, often with spear or
harpoon In hand.
Because Of lack of possessions and his
independent life the Yahgans have no
chiefs or organized government. They
have no form of religious worship and no
word for God, or pray, in their language
although they have q belief that spirits
enter into and control the phenomena Of
nature. Their language Is euphonious and
pleasing and though their numerical sys-
tenn comprises only three words for 'one"
two" and three" they have an astound-
ing vocabulary OF about IS 900 words.
Steam navigation diverted round the
Horn trafic through the Strait Of Magellan,
after which one old Fuegian lamented
that Nowadays there are no more wrecks"
Then came the Panama Canal, which,
through diverting the greater part of navi-
cation from the Strait northward. has
again tended to increase the isolation
Of the Magellan territory.
Remains Unknown Land.
Therefore 1t is not surprising that this
great territory lying between the Strait
and the Horn and only 900 miles from
Antarctica has remained such an unknown
land.
One may we'll ask why a boundary dis
pute at this late day and why the i'm
portance of such inconsequential islands,
anyway? The Argentina Chile boundary
line extends more than 1000 miles across
more than 80 degrees Of latitude Ever
since the days Of the vice royalties OF Peru
and La Plata. after Argentina and Chile
became independent states, their boundary
line has been the cause Of many disputes
and at times led to costly preparations for
| war. incurring a large part OF the present
| debts Of the two nations
| Eventually these two sister nations wisely
referred the matter to the arbitration of
| Queen Victoria. careful survey was
made, under the direction OF Sir Thomas
H. Holditch. In 1902 the award was render
ed by King Edward VII and accepted by
! the two countries concerned.
The frontier limitation treaty of 1881
provided that the islands to the west Of
| Tierra-del-F -Fhego and south Of Beagle
Channel and extending to Cape Horn
should belong to Chile those north of
Beagle Channel and east Of TERRA -dei-
Fuego to Argentina. But an 1893 protocol
clarified the treaty's stipulations, assigning
to each state the sovereignty over its re-
spective littoral. providing that Chile could
not claim any Of Beagle Channel: and ap-
parently just where Beagle Channel waters
| flowed into the Atlantic was not definitely
determined and is the present bone Of
contention.' The fact that the islands in
question lay in an area OF the Channels
debouchment opens up the opportunity for
the present contention
As the great pampas region Of nothern
TERRA del Flego and Patagonia proved
good sheep country. the wool and frozen
meat industry grew apace in the straits
region. Little Punta Arenas became a coal
ing and shipping point. As this trade de-
veloped, 50 did both Argentina's and Chile s
interest in these southern territories
Warships In Area.
The World War caused increased ma
tional vigilance on their part over these
regions as both British and German war;
ships played hide-and-see in the archi-
pelagic maze. And of the coasts of Chile
and Argentine occurred, in the battles Of
Coronel and the Falklands. respectively,
two major naval engagements of the war
In both these battles the hidden away
channelways of the Patagonian and
Fuegian archipelaeos proved of strategic
value. have it on good authority that
the protective lees of Picton and adjoining
islands offered safe hide-out anchorage
for the German fleet before its ill-fated at
tack on Port Stanley in the Falk,ands
Thus IT is evident that these islands might
be of tacital, perhaps strategic military
value in the future.
The arbitration formula of the British
reward was never formally ratified and
since 1914 this question has been revived
from time to time. Due to the new drift
in inter-American relationships. Britain
practically withdrew some three years ago
On numerous occasions our South Ameri.
can cousins. have turned to the United
States to act as arbitrator in inter-Soutt
American disputes. In fact, on three
different occasions President Hayes in 1878
President Grover Cleveland in 1894 anc
w. l. Buchanan when our Minister al
Buenos Aires in 1899, have served a:
arbitrators in connection with Argentina. :.
boundary disputes, and the Buchanan
arbitration was in connection with a dis.
puted point of the Argentina and Chile
boundary itself.
So it is not extraordinary that. in tn.
present instance, these two South American
republics should turn to the Republic ol
the United States Of America in the con.
tinued interest Of peace. to solve throug.
the friendly and peaceful medium of arbi
tration. the sovereignty Of these littls
known islands at the worlds lands end.