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At the World's End.

PF.CLLIAIUTIKS OP JOXI'IIUXW HACKS. 'i'lie South American Continent does not, properly speaking l , end in Cape-lloni, (or a narrow passage, some ar>o miles long, cuts across it somewhat further north. A forty feet tide races twice a day into (lie Atlantic entrance of this passage, covering and uncovering dangerous shoals, as a wild beast bares its gums, On these shoals many a good ship's back has broken.' •To the west the waterway stretches between twin ranges of splintered hills, covered by a dipping forest of Antarctic birch. Throughout all the year (he roaring sou'-west wind blusters past, bringing in it s t lu in showers of rain and sleet, and a cloak of trailing mist. Such are the famous Straits of Magellan, which guard the yet more broken channels and islands terminating in Capo Horn—a flat barrier of the wild races who in that wild land mark man's farthest limit to ilie south.

■H is with llio Vagluui, or cnnoedwcllcrs, unit the Unas of Tiurra del J''ucgu—two fust disappearing peoples, that this brief account is directed. The Yaghans (says W. S. Barclay, in the Illustrated London News) frequent chiefly the shores of the Beagle Channel, a sheltered passage of greai l(eauty, hut little practical •ise, lying as it does half-way between the Magellan Straits and the liorn, iis entrance blocked at either hand by dangerous reefs and racing lide-rips. These tribesmen are true aime-dwcllers, since they must search for ever the shores of otherwise barren islands for food, in the shape of mussels, lish, sea-fowl, or perhaps, by great good chance, a stranded seal or whale.

in their unceasing Kimble wilh the elements for a bare existence, the Ynghans Imve been forced Lo abanUon ull but tlio slightest mental equipment. They have evolved no faith, no Clod—they imve no token to bind them into one tribe, no headman to organist! them in common defence or attack. They are btill stationary at Unit microcosm of great empires—the family. They are a chatterbox tribe, and their language is a very complex one. with a regular grammar and upwards of :>O,OOO classified words. Shortly after birth the child is dipped ill the icy sea, to rentier it more hardy. They have a horror of death, ami when one of n family dies those of the same name change it, and the "tlear departed" is never afterwards mentioned except in a most roundabout fashion. I nfortunalclv this tribe is becoming rapidly decimated by white men's diseases, which are fostered by their passion for liquor —which can be bought (or about (id tier quart bottle at I'shunin, the present seat of the Argentine Government in the lieaglc Channel. The second tribe, the Onus, are toot Indians living in the mountainous interior of the great island of which the Beagle Channel marks the southern boundary. They have no ■ainocs, cannoi even swim, and arc dependent on the guanaco for food ami general equipment. An nil-en-veloping fur robe is their only covering, and Litis, when there is need tor freer movement, the braves at once discard, standing clothed, like own ancestors, in the primal simplicity of bow and arrows and paint. They use such pigments to aid their stalking, a science in which they are past masters. To hunt the suanaco they lirst colour themselves according to the ground over which they must move—e.g., white when mii snow-fields, yellow among dry pampas grass, slate colour with red spots when among lichen-covered rocks. Their amusement consists in wrestling and in long races, perhaps to a hill-top ten miles distant. The general physique of the Onus, and especially their keenness of sight uml hearing, are developed to an '.extraordinary degree, for to tile Ona his luhlv is his religion, and any bodily defect a disgrace. Their svsleni of courtship is Spartan. The man hands his chosen bride his hunting bow. Its return bv her own hands signilies acceptance without more to-do ; and the girl is used to accept promptly, otherwise she may receive in her calf or thigh, as a light remonstrance, one of her suitor's long Ibireli arrows, wilh its beautifully chipped glass head. The lie of comrade or brother wilh the nuns is far stronger than that linking man and wife. The men have a superstition Unit formcrlv the women had the upper hand.' while tile men were forced to do camp ilrmlecry. So. on reaching manhood, lhey hiiul themselves to a kind of freemasonry, whose object is to impose subjection on the women bv personifying, on lit occasions. the watchful spirits wilh which they have peopled tln- woods and lakes, whose, companionship is all they have of home.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19040407.2.13

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 79, 7 April 1904, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
776

At the World's End. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 79, 7 April 1904, Page 2

At the World's End. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 79, 7 April 1904, Page 2

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