The archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, which consists of the large island
of the same name, and numerous smaller islands, many of which are
rocky, ice-bound and forbidding in aspect, constitutes the extreme
southern territorial limits of the continent, and is separated from the
mainland by the Strait of Magellan. The aborigines of this far southern
territory are divided into three tribes,--the Onas, Yahgans and the
Alacalupes. It is among these tribes, inhabiting a wild and forbidding
country, undisturbed by the march of progress and civilization, that
one may find the indigenous races living under the same conditions and
maintaining the traditions and customs that prevailed before the coming
of the white man to the western world.