150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 63 



totepiists (cf. Outes, a, 251-252), there might be some reason for 

 suspectmg that the Onas, too, were formerly such. But the whole 

 question is too obscure in the present state of our knowledge. 



Animism, in the sense of the personification of nature, is found, but 

 only in a mild form, among the Yahgans and iVlacaluf . i\jnong the 

 Onas there is a marked tendency to look upon natural objects as 

 having once been men. 



The Yahgans carried around with them red pebbles when they 

 traveled inland (Hyades, q, 280-281), and the Onas treasure pieces of 

 stone shaped naturally something like an arrowhead (Cojazzi, 86). 

 Packets or pouches containing human hair are carried by the Ala- 

 caluf sometimes (Fitz-Iloy, a, 192; Skottsberg, c, 98-99; d, 595). 

 These objects appear to be more than trinkets or curios. The packet 

 given to Mr. Low was supposed to bring fair wind (Fitz-Roy, a, 192). 

 At any rate they are of uncommon use. They might be called fetishes 

 according to some definitions of fetishism. 



ANCESTOR WOKSHIP 



Traces of ancestor worship are found among the Yahgans and Onas 

 at least. See below under Prayer. It takes the form chiefly of invo- 

 cation of deceased medicine-men. The fact that the leather pouch 

 found by Dr. Skottsberg, which was worn around the neck of an Ala- 

 caluf, contained the hair of a dead person might perhaps be inter- 

 preted as evidence for the existence of the rudiments of ancestor wor- 

 ship among the Alacalufan tribe. The possessor, however, readily 

 bartered the pouch for a trifle (Skottsberg, d, 595). 



It may be noted in passing that the absence of totemism and the 

 very rudimentary development of animism, fetishism, and ancestor 

 worship among the Fuegians are also characteristic of many of the 

 lowest Indo-Oceanic peoples (cf. Mills). 



FUTURE LIFE 



A. Alacaluf. — ^According to the Salesians, the Alacaluf "believe 

 that the good after death go to a dehghtful forest where they eat to 

 satiety what they liked in life: fish, seafood, seals, birds, etc.; while 

 the wicked are plunged into a deep weU from which they can not 

 escape" (Cojazzi, 125). The use of the amulet above mentioned and 

 the custom of burying bows and arrows, etc., with the dead (cf. infra, 

 pp. 161-162) may also be taken as mdications of belief in survival. 

 Alacalufan evidence on this point is extremely meager. 



B. Chonos. — No available data at all. 



C. ya^^raris.— Authorities differ. Some would have it that the Yah- 

 gans lack all beUef in survival after death (Th. Bridges, e, 332; h, 206; 

 i, in Hyades, q, 253; Hyades, p, 332; q, 257; Lovisato, b, 149; Fur- 

 long, h, 137; ;^'),and a fortiori no idea of recompense or punishment 



