204 BUREATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY iBm.T,. C3 



needs to construct a plank boat that could be easily taken apart for 

 p<)rtag:ing, a biiigcr cidtural leap perhaps than the substitutino- of the 

 more durable and stronger planks for the fragde and soon worn out 

 bark. 



Then, too, although technically the Chonoan boat is of an ad- 

 vanced type, actually it is a rudely modeled and leaky craft. Com- 

 pared with the Polynesian or Melanesian plank canoe, the Fuegian 

 is markedly inferior in workmanship. There is, besides, no trace, 

 even rudimentary, of the Pol3aiesian outrigger, and it seems a far 

 cry, as Prof. Dixon recalls, to Melanesia and the area of Melanesian 



influence. 



Textile and Fictile Products 



Weaving, plaiting, and twisting. — The fiber and dog's hair mantles 

 used by the Chonos and the Ona medicine-man's hair mantle have 

 ah'cady been mentioned. No details on methods of manufacture 

 are available. The ''Coucous" used to spin a sort of blanket of 

 down (A. Campbell, 59). 



Twisting and plaiting in fiber, sinew, etc., are commoji among the 

 Fuegians. 



For sewing skins or bark, an eyeless needle or awl is used by the 

 Fuegians. Among the Onas at least it is sometunes hafted (C. 

 Gallardo, 270; Outes, h, 290). Among the Yahgans a kelp sheath is 

 used to protect the point of the awl when not in use (Hyades, q, 306). 



Baskets. — Tlie common form of basketry found among the three 

 Fuegian tribes is of the half-hitch coiled variety made of rush with 

 or without foundation. There are two types: A simple haK hitch with 

 fuier meshes, and what appears from the illustrations (Hyades, li,- 

 517; q, pi. xxxii, fig. 8) to be a wrapped or knotted half hitch with 

 larger meshes. There is among the Yahgans at least a third variety, 

 a crudely woven type (Outes, d, 138, fig. 142; cf. also Hyades, q, 303, 

 mider t^aouanoucli) . 



The two varieties of coiled basketiy are of uniform weave over the 

 whole Fuegian area. Dr. Skottsberg states {d, 601 ; /;, 267) that "the 

 Yahgan types figured by Hyades are rare" among the West Pata- 

 gonian Alacaluf; judging, however, by the illustrations ((/, fig. 1^2; 

 h, fig. 13) of the common West Patagonian type, there seems to be 

 practical identity of weave between this and Dr. HyacU^s' large-mesh 

 variety. 



Coiled baskets are not so common among the Onas as among the 

 Yahgans .(C. Gallardo, 264), and according to Dr. Dab1)ene {h, 249) 

 are made by the southern rather than by the nortliern Onas. Tliis 

 fact and the similarity between the Ona and Yahgan names for 

 basket (cf. Comparative Glossary, Group VI, 3, and note 2) would 

 suggest that the Onas have perhaps borrowed tliis cultural element 

 from the Canoe Indians. 



