EXPLORING PATAGONIA

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 14, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 33.

EXPLORING PATAGONIA.

PROF. J. B. HATCHER of Princeton University has newly returned from a remarkable trip of exploration in a hitherto unknown region of South America, namely, the wild interior of Patagonia. He visited Washington this week for the purpose of depositing with the Bureau of Ethnology a rich collection of objects illustrating the mode of life of the various tribes of aborigines in that part of the world. These natives are among the strangest and most picturesque savages in existence, some of them being described as representing almost the lowest stage in the scale of human development. Their country, too, is more than ordinarily interesting, being associated, since the earliest times, with rumors of gigantic human inhabitants and an astonishing fauna. Quite recently some skeletons of birds that had heads as big as those of horses have actually been dug up. They stood at least nine feet high, and had short wings, claws like an eagle’s, and a beak like a condor’s. It is likely that they attacked with success the largest mammals contemporary with them, being the biggest fowls of prey that ever lived; but they became extinct long ago, and so there was no opportunity for Professor Hatcher to secure a living specimen.

The Professor made several trips, during one of which—through the desert interior—he did not see a human being for over four months, except Mr. O. A. Peterson of Princeton, who accompanied him. He discovered a river never before heard of, which is one of the largest in Patagonia, very swift and deep. But his most interesting observations related to the aboriginal tribes, respecting some of which almost nothing was known. Of these not the least notable were the savages of the west coast, who are an aquatic people, living almost entirely in small, open boats, which they construct with much skill out of large pieces of bark sewn together with sinew and flexible whalebone. Of the latter considerable quantities are thrown up along shore.

These natives feed almost exclusively on shellfish, which they pick up along shore, while the remains of an occasional seal or sea-otter, cast up by the waves or killed with spears, serve to vary the monotony of the diet. Probably among no other people in the world are the actual necessities of life so few. With no constant habitation—no place of residence that can properly be called a home—they move about from one sheltered cove to another. Their occupation of any particular locality is entirely dependent upon the abundance of edible mollusks and upon the weather, which, during inclement periods, may render a well-sheltered spot desirable as a temporary village site. On a few earthen sods in the bottom of the family canoe is kept constantly burning a small fire, which always seems just on the point of going out. About this fire they huddle when not engaged in collecting food.

The climate is extremely cold, and fierce storms are constantly raging; yet these strange people, instead of wrapping themselves in furs, go almost naked. Some of them are clad in scraps of cheap calico, obtained by barter from the whites, which are fashioned into rude garments, the costume of the women being a loose skirt suspended from the shoulders and falling below the knees. Others, through choice or necessity cling to the primitive style of costume, which consists merely of a narrow girth about the loins. To this is sometimes added a piece of sealskin held by thongs in such a way as to be readily shifted to any desired position as a protection against the wind.

For shelter on land, notwithstanding the severe weather that prevails most of the time, these aborigines erect structures hardly worthy to be called huts, consisting of a few branches of trees, the lower ends of which are stuck in the ground in a circle, while the upper ends are bent over toward the middle and carelessly thatched together. Such a house, together with a canoe, a couple of paddles, one or two spears or harpoons of bone for the capture of seals, and one or more baskets made of rushes for use in gathering mollusks, fulfil all the domestic requirements of a family. From the great accumulations of shell heaps in many places periodically occupied, it is evident that the people described have inhabited the region for a long period, during which their habits and customs have undergone little change.—Boston Transcript.