158 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



a condition as they are now. Having in more 

 civilized times worn jewels in their ears, the 

 custom of piercing the ears in youth persists, 

 though the jewels may be lacking." l 



(b) Bridges says that according to a tradition 

 which is probably true, the Fuegoes, until quite 

 recently, submitted their young men to a sort of 

 initiatory trial when they attained to adolescence. 

 They were taken into a hut (the kino) set apart 

 for the purpose, and there underwent certain tests, 

 including a rigorous fast. Bridges adds that the 

 kina was also the theatre of mysterious and bizarre 

 scenes of very ancient origin, the roles of which, 

 now relegated to men only, were entirely performed 

 by women. Contrary to Giraud-Teulon who cites 

 these facts as evidence of the former existence of 

 a matriarchy, the fetes of the kina seem to have quite 

 disappeared from among the natives of Orange Bay. 



Dr Hyades, however, mentions a survival of the 

 old custom. " The custom is still observed of 

 submitting young girls to a fast at the time of 

 puberty, but this fast is less severe than that 

 already mentioned as undergone by the boys ; the 

 same good advice is then given them by their 

 parents, as was formerly bestowed upon the boys 

 in the Kina."' 2 



1 Emile Deschamps, V Anthropologic, 1891, t. ii., pp. 297 and 

 following. 



2 Mission tscientifiquc du cap Horn, 1882-1883. t. vii. Anthro- 

 pologie, Ethnographie, by P. Hyades and J. Deniker ; Paris, 

 Gauthier-Villars, 1891, p. 377. 



