_Araucanos_, in northern and central Chili.
_Aucanos_ or _Aucas_, in the central Pampas.
_Chauques_, in the Archipelago of Chiloe.
_Chonos_,(?) on Pacific, south of Chiloe.
_Cuncos_, in Chili, south of Rio Valdivia.
_Divie-ches_, on Rio Colorado.
_Guarpes_, near Mendoza.
_Huiliches_(southern people), tribes to the south.
_Moluches_ (western people or warriors), on Pacific coast.
_Pehuenches_ (pine-forest people), east of Cordillera, north of
Rio Colorado.
_Picunches_ (northern people), north of Pehuenches.
_Puelches_ (eastern people), on both banks of Rio Negro.
_Querandies_, near site of Buenos Ayres.
_Ranqueles_, between Rio Quarto and Rio Quinto.
The Pacific coast of Patagonia, gashed by ancient glaciers into deep
fiords and rocky islands, harbors various tribes whose affinities are
uncertain. The most curious of them would seem to be the _Chonos_ or
Chunos, or Cuncones. They lived south of the archipelago of Chiloe, and
are described as having red hair, a light olive complexion, and of mild
and friendly manners. They raised a breed of dogs (perhaps guanacos), and
wove their clothing from its coarse long hair.
This account comes to us from as far back as 1619, when the first
missionaries visited them,[538] and these traits cannot therefore be
attributed to intermixture with Europeans. They are not peculiar in these
respects. Similar traits are reported of the Boroas, a tribe in one of
the valleys of central Chili;[539] and I have already referred to the red
hair of the boys among the Matacos of the Gran Chaco. Perhaps it was not
unusual among these nations, as I can in no other way explain the strange
idea of the poet Ercilla the Homer of the Araucanian Conquest, that
these people were descendants of the Frisians of North Holland![540]
The language of the Chonos is said to be quite different from that of
the Araucanians. Pöppig believed it to be a distant dialect of the same
stock. Some recent travelers assert that they are now extinct, but Dr. C.
Martin informs us that the original inhabitants of the Chonos Islands,
who were the “Huaihuenes” Indians, were transported in 1765 to the island
of Chaulañec, where their posterity still survive.[541]
_3. The Patagonians and Fuegians._
The Patagonians call themselves Chonek or Tzoneca, or Inaken (men,
people), and by their Pampean neighbors are referred to as Tehuel-Che,
southerners. They do not, however, belong to the Aucanian stock, nor
do they resemble the Pampeans physically. They are celebrated for
their stature, many of them reaching from six to six feet four inches
in height, and built in proportion.[542] In color they are a reddish
brown, and have aquiline noses and good foreheads. They care little for
a sedentary life, and roam the coast as far north as the Rio Negro.
They are not without some religious rites, and are accustomed to salute
the new moon, and at the beginning of any solemn undertaking to puff
the smoke of their pipes to the four cardinal points, just as did the
Algonquins and Iroquois.[543]
Their language differs wholly from the Araucanian, though it has borrowed
many words from it. An interesting fact illustrating its stability in
spite of their roving life has been brought out by Ramon Lista. He has
compared its present form with the vocabulary of it given by Pigafetta in
his voyage in 1520, and shows that in the intervening generations it has
undergone scarcely any change.[544]
Von Martius believed that a connection between the Patagonian and the
Tapuya stocks could be shown, and gives a tabular comparison of the
two.[545] I have extended this by means of Ramon Lista’s vocabulary
of the former and Dr. Ehrenreich’s corrected forms of the Tapuya, and
conclude that the resemblances are illusory, depending on incorrect
orthography of the sounds.
About the beginning of the last century the tribes known as Poyas
(_Pey-yuy_) and Reyes (_Rey-yuy_) were collected at a Mission established
on Lake Nahuelhuapi, about south latitude 42°. Hervas reports them as
speaking a language radically different from the Araucanian, and probably
they should be classed with the Tzonecas.[546]
On the inhospitable shores of Tierra del Fuego there dwell three nations
of diverse stock, but on about the same plane of culture. One of these is
the _Yahgans_ or Yapoos, on the Beagle canal; the second is the _Onas_ or
Aonik, to the north and east of these; and the third the _Alikulufs_, to
the north and west.
Of these the Yahgans are the best known, through the efforts of the
English missionaries who have reduced their language to writing. It is a
polysyllabic, agglutinative tongue, with both pre- and suffixes, and is
extremely rich in expressions for the ordinary needs of their life. The
verb has four numbers, a singular, dual, trial and plural. It does not
seem in any way related to the Aucanian stock.[547]
The tongue of the Onas, who are known as the _Yakanna-Cunni_, is
apparently connected with the Tsoneca or Patagonian, which people they
also resemble in stature and physical traits.[548]
The Fuegians are generally quoted as a people on the lowest round of the
ladder of culture; and so they are painted by many observers. They have
no government, they can count only to three, ordinary family affection
is not observable, and even mothers manifest a lack of love for their
offspring. Their shelters are wretched, and they go almost naked in a
climate which is both cold and damp.
On the other hand, they display singular ingenuity in their utensils for
hunting and fishing; they use the sling, the club, the bow, the bola and
the lance; the women weave reed baskets so firmly that they will hold
water, and their bark canoes are light and seaworthy.
In hunting they have the service of a native dog which they have
trained, and whose welfare they look after with sedulous attention.
Though devoid of idols and external rites of worship, they manifest
in many ways a sense of religion. Thus the relations of the sexes are
surrounded with ceremonies of fasting and bathing, to neglect which
would entail misfortunes, and the name of the dead is not pronounced out
of superstitious awe. The songs and legends of the Yahgans show some
imaginative power. Many of them relate to the marvelous achievements
of the national hero, _Umoara_, who appears to be a wholly mythical
individual. Their strongest passion would seem to be for personal
adornment, and for this purpose shells, vegetable beads, bright pebbles
and variegated feathers, are called into requisition.[549]
These traits are not those of an enfeebled intellect, and an examination
of their physical powers supports a favorable opinion of their
capacities. Some of them are unusually tall and strong, especially
those on the east coast. Their skulls are mesocephalic and prognathic,
and their brains, which have been examined most carefully by a German
anatomist, show not a single point of inferiority to the average European
brain.[550]
From examinations which have been carried on in the numerous shell-heaps
which line the shores, there is no evidence that any other people ever
occupied the islands. Skulls and relics are such as those of the present
inhabitants.[551] The total number of these is about 8000, nearly equally
divided between the tribes named.
The classification of the smaller tribes under the above stocks is not
yet complete. So far as I can make it out, it is as follows: