RACES OF MEN. 197 



THE DIGGER INDIANS. 



The Digger Indians of California are said to be the most 

 degraded of all American races. They are not particular about 

 their diet. If game or fish are not easily obtained, roots, or 

 worms, or anything will do. Before the Spaniards came to America 

 these Indians had no domestic animals, and have none now except 

 a miserable breed of dogs. The girls usually marry at 13 or 14, 

 though often as early as 12. They soon cease to have children, 

 and rarely have more than five. The average age for reproduction 

 is, therefore, about 19 for the women and 20 to 22 for the men. 



THE FUEGIANS. 



The Fuegians are the most miserable and degraded race in South 

 America, and are comparable only to the Digger Indians of North 

 America. They live in the rudest manner, wear almost no clothing, 

 and subsist by hunting and fishing. "As soon as a youth is able to 

 maintain a wife by fishing or bird-catching, and has built or stolen 

 a canoe, he captures and carries off a bride." As these simple things 

 are what he is taught from earliest infancy, and as there are no 

 restraints on his reproductive propensities, he must begin pretty 

 early, and the average age of reproduction is probably the same as 

 with the Digger Indians. 



THE PATAGONIANS. 



In strong contrast with the Fuegians are the Patagonians, a 

 race of people who are their close neighbors and near relatives, if 

 we are to believe what ethnology tells us. The Patagonians are 

 ranked as a high race of Indians, being intelligent, skillful and 

 athletic. Marriage by force is unknown. The consent of the damsel 



