174 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY Ibui.t,. n:? 



and also tlie same absence of features that arc cliaracteristie of peo- 

 ples who have advanced beyond the nomadic stage of culture. 

 Adequate^ details are available only for the Yahgans and Onas. 



REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE 



Quarreling, homicide, hlood-revenge. — Human life is normally sacred 

 (Th. Bridges, li, 205-206; i, in Hyades, q, 374) but not absolutely so. 

 Of abortion and infanticide we have already spoken under Domestic 

 Culture. 



The custom of blood-revenge is emphatically prevalent. In their 

 daily relations the Fuegians are peaceful enough, yet quarrels are not 

 infrequent — quarrels which often, especially among the Onas, pass 

 from words to blows, and may end in homicide. 



Among the Yahgans murder is comparatively infrequent. Between 

 1871 and 1884 the Rev. Mr. Bridges found only 22 cases of homicide 

 (Jb, Oct. 1, 1884, 224) — this among a people who must of necessity 

 take the law into their own hands. The friends of the fighting par- 

 ties intervene, both by persuasion and by force, to restore peace, but 

 often the fight develops into a general melee (Hyades, q, 374, citing 

 Th. Bridges, h and i). A murderer becomes an outcast, abandoned 

 by all (Hyades, q, 241, 243; cf. also Th. Bridges, h, 206), and will 

 sooner or later be killed (Despard, h, 698). 



Among the Onas homicide is much more common, Mr. Lucas 

 Bridges stating that ''there are few Onas over 30 years of age who 

 have not killed one of their own people in revenge" (Young, 1900 ed., 

 61, 1905 ed., 66, quoting from letter by Mr. Lucas Bridges). The in- 

 trusion of white settlers into native hunting grounds has probably had 

 something to do with this. 



Intratribal and intertnhal feuds. — There is, or was, a good deal of 

 bad feeling for one another between the members of the three Fuegian 

 tribes, but as a rule on border territories the relations liave been faii'ly 

 peaceful. In their relations with the whites both the Chonos and 

 Fuegians have normally shown themselves peaceful, friendly, and 

 tractable, but the Fuegians have often shown tliemselves liostile, 

 aggressive, and treacherous, when they felt they were numerically 

 superior. More commonly, however, the white man has, deliberately 

 or unwittingly, been the first to give offence. 



Deadly and long-standing intratribal feuds are common, particu- 

 larly so among the Onas, but warfare, properly so called, can not be 

 said to exist. Tlie vanquished men are usutdly killed outright and 

 the women and children taken captive. Usually no quarter is given, 

 but there are exceptions. Dr. C. Gallardo mentions an interesting 

 case where two Onas, overpowered by numbers, showed such dex- 

 terity in dodging arrows for a whole hour that the attackmg party, in 

 admiration, let them go off free (312-314). The Yahgans often muti- 

 late the bodies of dead enemies (Hyades, q, 375; cf. also L'Hermite, 



