roorER] BTBLTOGRAPHY OF TRIBES OF TIEREA DEL FUEGO 47 



Menendez and Bargas (Gonzalez de Agiieros, 181-182, 185, 236, 

 248). The latter group were taken to the island of Lemui, but left 

 about a year after (Moraleda, 332, 435; Fonck, ii, 151). 



Cailin was peopled until 1780-81, when the Chonos, at their own 

 request, were transferred to the island of Chaulinec (Moraleda, 

 306-307). In 1787 Moraleda found Caihn uninhabited, and in 1788 

 reported 21-22 families of Chonos on Apiao Island just northeast of 

 Chaulinec; but in 1790 the surviving Chauhnec Chonos to the number 

 of 22 returned to Cailin (Moraleda, 79, 124, 306-307). 



In all cases these mission Chonos appear from the original docu- 

 ments to have followed the missionaries voluntarily, not as a result 

 of coercion, as is sometimes stated; but as a rule they soon became 

 dissatisfied, it seems, and returned to their freer nomadic life. 



We hear nothing more of note about the Chonos until 1875. 

 Admiral Fitz-Roy's expedition found no Chonos in the archipelago of 

 that name,^ but in 1875 Capt. E. Simpson came across a sole family 

 of Chonos, named Lincoman, in Puquitin Channel between Ascension 

 and Guaitecas Islands (E. Simpson, 114, 18, 43; C. Martin, h, 465; 

 c, 402; d, 364). 



Some of this family or their descendants may still be in the Chonos 

 Archipelago, but all recent reports declare that the islands north of 

 Taitao Peninsula are uninhabited except by rare or transient whites 

 or Chilotan Indians (Lenz, a, 33; Pacheco, c, 30; Steffen, a, 54). It 

 is possible, however, that some Chonos may still survive in the Gulf 

 of Penas region. 



According to Capt. Steele (Skottsberg, h, 270) there are about 200 

 natives in the Gulf of Penas and northern Messier Channel district. 

 This estimate may, however, be somewhat too high. Dr. Skottsberg 

 encountered about 80 Alacaluf on his expedition between Port 

 Grappler and Port Gallant, and was told of about a dozen more. He 

 estimates that he saw about a half or at least a third of the total num- 

 ber of inhabitants of this region (d, 591-592; cf., also, Steffen, c, 463). 



Mr. Thomas Bridges, after his visit to the Alacaluf in 1886, placed 

 their numl^er at about 150 (Hyades, q, 12), while in 1902 Dr. Dabbene 

 was told that there were from 200 to 800 surviving Alacaluf (h, 

 216-217). Father Pietro Renzi, of the Salesian missions, after a 

 recent visit among the Alacaluf, gives their population as less than 

 200 (Boll, sales., July, 1910, 221, cited by Cojazzi, 16). Still more 

 recently Mr. Lucas Bridges is cited as authority for the statement 

 that there are now only about 100 survivors of this once widespread 

 people (Gasperi, 164). 



The more reliable estimates, therefore, vary from about 200 to 400. 

 To judge from the early accounts, like Sarmiento's, Ladrillero's, and 



1 Lieut. Skyring found less than 20 natives in his 400 to 500 mile cruise through the Patagonian channels 

 (King, 345). 



