The coast of the Beagle Channel and all the archipelago south of
Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn is inhabited by the Yahgan Indians. They
have no chiefs nor tribal laws and are perhaps the lowest grade of
human beings, in point of intelligence, and in the manner and customs
of living, existing on the American continent. They are dwarfed in
stature, have very dark skins and are repulsive in appearance. A
peculiar feature of the Yahgans is the extraordinary projection of
their front teeth, which are used for opening the shells of oysters and
mollusks. These bivalves and crustacea, their sole article of food, are
eaten raw.
The Yahgans, like their neighbors, the Alacalupes of the western
channels of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, live almost constantly in
their canoes, their only means of transportation. For their fishing
expeditions they rarely pass the night on shore, traveling long
distances in their frail barques. Considering the turbulent waters in
the channels of the archipelago, and the fact that their canoes are
made of trunks of trees, propelled with paddles, and that a single
frail craft is sometimes laden with a family consisting of several
persons, their feats are little less than marvels of navigation.
About fifty years ago English missions were established at Usuhaia,
on the Wallston Islands, and later at Takanika, where some favorable
results were obtained in distracting the natives somewhat from the
pursuits of their nomadic life. A few of them utilize the knowledge
acquired from the missionaries in the cultivation of the soil. But
the missionaries having practically ceased their efforts in that
inhospitable country, most of the Indians have lapsed into their
traditional nomadic life, and their condition is perhaps worse to-day
than ever before. To add to the misfortunes of these miserable nomads,
who have sterility of soil and a rigorous climate to contend with,
many of them have been placed in actual slavery in recent years by
foreigners, who have acquired interests in the far south, and taking
advantage of the helplessness of the Indians have impressed them into
service without justification in moral or statutory law.
The Chilean government, apparently indifferent to their fate, has
failed to interest itself in the cause of those unfortunate pariahs of
human society, whose ranks are being rapidly decimated and whose utter
extinction, under present conditions, is only a question of a few years.
In 1882, Mr. Bridge, the missionary, calculated the Yahgan population
of the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego at three thousand, but in 1883,
the scientific expedition of the “Romanche” estimated the diminishing
population at one thousand three hundred. This estimate was based
upon the number of canoes counted in the channels, approximately two
hundred, each of which was manned by a family of six persons on the
average. From later data, which has been furnished by people living
in the archipelago, who have endeavored to make a census of the
population, the number of this tribe is calculated at seven hundred.
On several occasions the Yahgans have requested foreigners who have
visited the islands to present their case to the Chilean government and
ask for relief from existing conditions. But so far nothing has been
done in the way of providing for or improving the condition of these
unfortunate people.