15fi BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 1 bull. (53 



INITIATIONS 



Sources 



(a) Onas.— Barclay, a* 74-76; b, 99-100; Beauvoir, b, 206-207; Cojazzi,* 31-38, 

 101-102 (Mdnekenkn); Dabbene, a, 73-74; b* 257-259, 269-270; Furlong, d* 224; 

 g, 7; i, 11; k*; C. Gallardo,* 330-337; Holmberg, a, 57-58. 



(6) Yahgans.— Th. Bridges,* a, Fr. tr., 174-175; h, 208-209; /:, 239-240; Hahn, c, 

 340; Ilyades,* q, 376-377; Martial, 214. 



Based on the foregoing: Dabbene, b, 191-192, 202; Krickeberg, 142; Oute.s, d, 140; 

 H. Webster, 56, 176-177. 



Our sole direct arid first-hand source of information on the Yahgan 

 boy initiations was the elder Mr. Bridges, as our main sources for Ona 

 initiations are his sons, Lucas and William. Some of the Ona data 

 have been independently verified by Prof. Tonelli from two natives 

 at Rio Grande mission. 



The initiation customs observed at present among the Onas and for- 

 merly among the Yahgans are very similar. In the earlier days, the 

 tradition runs in both tribes, the men were under j^etticoat govern- 

 ment ; but they rebelled, adopted the initiation rites from the women, 

 and created the masked spirits, all in order to keep the women in sub- 

 jection. The adolescent boy is taken from his mother and obliged to 

 fast and to undergo other physical and psychical tests. Endurance 

 and stoicism, generosity, honesty, veracity, bravery, the duty of 

 blood-revenge, observance of the marriage laws against incest and 

 adultery, and other tribal virtues are solemnly inculcated. The 

 grown men paint and dress up in masks to represent spirits, and pro- 

 ceed to terrorize the women and children and to test the courage of 

 the boy candidate. Finally the boy, if found worthy, is told the 

 truth about the supposed spirits and the purpose of the masquerad- 

 ing, namely, to keep the women in subjection, and he is threatened 

 with dire punishment if he shoidd ever i-eveal the secrets to the 

 women or children. 



Except for several minor details — the Ona masks, for instance, are 

 of hide; the Yahgan of bark — the initiation rites in the two tribes are so 

 similar' that there is a good probability of borrowing, as regards 

 some at least of the elements. A detail in the Yahgan's tradition to 

 the eft"ect that they inaugurated the rites after the incursion of the 

 Onas into the Beagle Channel district (Martial, 214) would perhaps 

 suggest that the Yahgans rather than the Onas have been the bor- 

 rowers; but the point is doubtful. 



By the time of the French expedition in 1882-83, and even before, 

 the boy initiations had fallen into desuetude among the Yahgans, but 

 they still preserved a simpler puberty rite, including fasting and 

 moral instruction, for the girls (Th. Bridges, h, 208; A, 240; Hyades, 

 q, 377). 



■ Even to tho name of the large wigwam used for the rites, called kina by the Yahgan, and hnain (Cojazzi, 

 3.')), ftm (Kiirlong, d, 224), jaind (Callardo, 331-332), Ainf (Furlong, k). 



