Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/166

 156 PATAGONIA useful to navigators by indicating the presence of submerged rocks. Agriculture, hitherto confined to the colonies at Sandy Point and Port Santa Cruz, has only prospered in potatoes and garden vegetables ; but it was hoped that Swiss immigrants, expected in 1874, would by the use of fertilizers, and with efficient culture, succeed in raising wheat and barley, both of which were found to take three years to coine above ground at the now abandoned colony of Chupat. The puma lurks along the forest margins, or seeks, in the vicinity of the rivers, lakes, and pools, his favorite prey, the gua- naco. The latter animal roams in numerous flocks through the plains, never approaching the woods. Capybaras are very plenty, and the vizcacha and tucutuco, burrowing rodents, are here almost as common as in the Argentine pampas. Two species of deer are mentioned. A small delicately shaped fox, likewise very abundant, derives its support exclusively from several species of mice, externally character- ized by large thin ears and a beautiful fine fur, which swarm among the thickets in the valleys. Skunks and cavies are to be met with every- where. Among the amphibia are otters and two kinds of phocidce distinguished as eared and hair and fur seals ; whales are not uncommon ; and many varieties of excellent edible fish, in- cluding salmon, abound in some of the rivers and along the coasts. Shell fish are in great variety. The condor and some carrion hawks, especially the carranclia (polylorus Brazilien- 818} and the chimango (P. chimangd), follow and prey upon the guanacos; large flocks of geese (chloephaga Hagellanica and C. antarc- 'tica) feed upon the plains; and penguins are numerous on the shores of the straits and else- where, as are also cormorants, ducks, oyster- catchers, and sea gulls. The forest glades are enlivened by the warbling of small birds of many kinds, and the gorgeous plumage of paro- quets and humming birds. The ostrich (rhea Americana) frequents the great central plains, where it is taken by the Indians with the lasso and bolas. Recent travellers enumerate nine tribes of Patagonians S. of the Kio Negro: the Poyuches, Puelches, Cailliheches, Cheuches, Caflecaueches, Chaoches, Huilliches, Dilm aches, and Yakanaches. They all speak the same language, said to be akin to and strongly re- sembling the Araucanian of Chili, with slight dialectic modifications. They are tall (the men, according to Capt. Mayne, averaging 5 ft. 11 in., or 5 in. over the mean stature of English- men), robust and powerful in proportion to their size, with large heads, high cheek bones, black eyes expressive of savage cunning, and straight, coarse, black hair, separated in front by a band and falling in wild disorder over the shoulders and back. The women are relatively much smaller, and with few exceptions ill-looking. Their costume usually comprises a beaded patch of cloth upon the head, the hair being divided into two long braided tresses reaching to the loins; huge ear rings with great square pen- dants attached, necklaces, armlets, and anklets of beads; and a woollen garment extending from the shoulders to below the knees, and fastened at the waist with an ornamental girdle and at the top with a tupu or brooch often of silver. The men swathe the middle of the body ; and their mantle, not always worn save in the south, is made of guanaco skins sewed together, with a hole for the head, and extend- ing below the knee. Both sexes paint the body with a species of volcanic earth furnished by the Araucanians, and pluck out all the hair of the eyebrows, beard, and all parts of the trunk. The Indians of the north are admirable eques- trians, and pass most of their time on horse- back; their offensive weapons are the lance, the sling, and the bow and arrow, all of which they use with dexterity and address, as they do also the lasso and bolas in the chase of the guanacos, ostriches, and cattle and horses on the plains. Their herds of these last and their flocks of sheep are numerous, being mainly stocked from the nearest Argentine farms, on which they make frequent raids. In the south the cattle are not so plenty, and there are no horses. The dress of the Indians is warmer, but, like their northern brethren, they are given to the use of intoxicating drinks, which, with tobacco, trinkets, and other commodities, they procure from the white colonists in exchange for os- trich feathers. The Fuegians, though of the same race as the Patagonians, are much smaller of stature, and differ essentially from them in their manner of living. One religion prevails through the whole of Patagonia; the people believe in two supreme beings, Vitauentru, revered as the author of all good, but to whom no fixed place of abode is assigned, and Hua- cuvu or Gualichu, the source of all human ills, and ruler of the evil spirits supposed to wan- der to and fro on the face of the earth. They have no priests, but there are diviners (of both sexes), whose pretended power to see into the bowels of the earth is gradually losing prestige with the multitude. Most of the tribes now possess cooking utensils, but the food, in the north mainly consisting of horse flesh, is still eaten almost raw, though with abundance of salt. They are fond of drinking the blood of an- imals ; and after each meal they smoke tobacco prepared with ox manure in a stone pipe, in- haling vast volumes of smoke until insensibility and even convulsions ensue. They have two religious festivals, one in honor of each of their divinities. They bury their dead with great solemnity, sacrificing the horse of the deceased (if a man) on his grave, besides which they leave a quantity of slaughtered animals for his food. They are fond of dancing, during which the women sing and beat a sort of tamborine, accompanied by the discordant notes of a reed fife, their only musical instrument. Altoge- ther the Patagonians have dwindled down to a few thousand. This region was discovered in 1520 by Magalhaens, who named it Pata- gonia (the country of the large- footed), in al