COOPER] BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TRIBES OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 147 



(1) Admiral Fitz-Roy was told by Capt. Low that the West Pata- 

 gonian Channel natives, designated Chonos by Admiral Fitz-Roy, but 

 more properly of Alacalufan stock, beheved in "an evil spirit, called 

 Yaccy-ma, who they think is able to do all kinds of mischief, cause 

 bad weather, famine, illness, etc. He is supposed to be Hke an 

 immense black man." They also believed, according to Capt. Low, 

 in a "good spirit whom they call Yerri Yuppon, and consider to be 

 the author of all good: him they invoke in time of distress or danger" 

 (Fitz-Roy, a, 190; cf., h, 142). 



(2) According to recent studies by the Salesian fathers, the Ala- 

 caluf "believe in an invisible being called Taquatu, whom they imag- 

 ine to be a giant who travels by day and night in a big canoe, over 

 the sea and the rivers, and who glides as well through the air over 

 the tops of the trees without bending the branches. If he finds any 

 men or women idle or not on the alert [disoccu2)ati o distratti] he takes 

 them without more ado into his great boat and carries them far away 

 from home. It is at night particularly that the iVlacaluf fear to meet 

 this terrible being" (Cojazzi, 124). 



There seems to be no sufficient ground for questioning the correct- 

 ness m the main of the preceding statements. They are derived from 

 good first-hand som*ces. They are from independent observers, and 

 in their chief lines are m agreement. Moreover, such a dualistic con- 

 ception is very common among the aborigines of southern South 

 America and elsewhere. The anthropomorphic "black giant" is a 

 common enough creation of very primitive man, while the contrast 

 between the active evil spirit and the remote inactive good spirit 

 occurs the world over. 



It is true both the Rev. Mr. Bridges and Dr. Hyades deny that the 

 Fuegians believe in any superior or quasi-supreme beings, and Capt. 

 Martial found the Fuegians to have few scruples about killing nestUngs 

 (Martial, 212) ; but it needs to be borne in mind constantly that these 

 writers were authorities on the Yahgans, not on the Alacaluf. 



Granting, however, the facts, what interpretation should be given 

 them ? Mr. Spencer (Lang, 174) and Prof. Westermarck (n, 681-682) 

 summarily dismiss the giant black man as a weather doctor. It is 

 of course possible that he was, but there is no adequate evidence to 

 show this, miless one be ready to draw this inference from the fact 

 that he controlled, among other things, the elements. See also the 

 arguments against tliis hypothesis in Lang (174-175). 



Mr. Lang went to the other extreme in ranking the black giant 

 among the ethical Supreme Beings (174, 187), Ethical to some 

 extent he certainly seems to be, but hardly supreme, notwithstanding 

 his omniscience and power, for no creative function is attributed to 

 him, and besides the evidence at hand apparently shows him to be 

 the evil god in the Alacalufan duahstic system. He is pretty clearly 



