The navigating skills of the Southern Tehuelches (Aonikenk)

The Tehuelche people were the original inhabitants of Patagonia, and they lived in the steppe, east of the Andean mountain range (to the west were the Chonos, Mapuches, and Huilliches in what is now Chile). They were the descendants of the ancient Patagonian Paleo-Indians. There are two versions about the origin of the name Tehuelche: one is that it comes from their words tehuel = “south” and chu = “land”, this suffix was later distorted by the Mapuche into che = “people”. The other is that the Mapuche called them chewuel = “surly”, “unsociable” and che = “people”, hence the “unfriendly people.”

We divide the Tehuelche people into two distinct groups, each with cultural and linguistic differences: the Northern Tehuelche (Günnuna Kenna or Gennakenk – which, in their language, meant “people”) and the Southern Tehuelche. The region located between the Senguer, Chubut, and Chico rivers was a flexible border between both groups.

Today's post will focus on the southermost of the Tehuelches and their navigation skills.

Southern Tehuelches and Selk'nam

The Southern Tehuelche were divided into two separate sub-groups, very similar except for their language: The northernmost were the Teushen (Boreal Southern Tehuelche), who lived in the north of central Patagonia, between the Santa Cruz and Chubut rivers. To the south were the Aonikenk or Aonek’enk (Austral Southern Tehuelche), which meant “People of the South.” They lived in the southern area, between the Santa Cruz River and the Strait of Magellan.

On the northern side of Tierra del Fuego Island were the Selk’nam (or Ona), who were “foot Indians” who never adopted an equestrian way of life because horses never reached their island before the arrival of the first white settlers. The Selk’nam were very closely related to the Tehuelche in culture and language; they had become separated from them when the sea level rose and flooded the Strait of Magellan, isolating them on Tierra del Fuego at the end of the last Ice Age.

The watercraft of the Aonikenk

Father Thomas Falkner (1707-1784) was an English Jesuit priest who lived in what is now Argentina in several Jesuit missions where he was in close contact with natives of different Patagonian tribes from 1730 until 1767, when the Spanish crown expelled the Jesuit order from South America. Upon returning to Britain in 1774, he wrote his book, Description of Patagonia, detailing his first-hand knowledge of the region. In it, he described how the natives crossed the Strait of Magellan:

"Tamu, the Yacana-cunnec Cacique, told me that they used a kind of float, with which they sometimes passed the Straits, and had communication with those of his nation". (p.92)

Falkner applied the name Yacanacunnec to what we now call the Aonikenk Tehuelche people. Perhaps "those of his nation" were the Fuegian Selk'nam natives, who were also part of the Chon native peoples, isolated on the Isla Grande, the main Tierra del Fuego Island after the last ice age.

Falkner added on p. 111 some more information:

"The last of the Tehuel nations are the Yacana-cunnees, which signifies foot-people ; for they always travel on foot, having no horses in their country. To the north, they border on the Sehuau-cunnees; to the west, on the Key-yus or Key-yuhues, from whom they are divided by a ridge ot mountains: to the east, they are bounded by the ocean; and to the south, by the islands of Tierra del Fuego or the South Sea. These Indians live near the sea, on both sides of the straits, and oftentimes make war with one another. They make use of light floats, like those of Chiloe to pass the straits."

Chiloe floats

Toribio Medina (Los aborijenes de Chile, 1882, p.188) describes the canoes and balsas of the Araucanians, which they used in rivers, lakes, and to cross between the mainland and Mocha Island (28 km - 17 mi.) They used rushes, reeds, puya, or straw, and tied them into bundles as floats (Read more about these vessels). They hollowed out canoes. Further north in the Peruvian and Chilean Atacama region the natives made floats using sealed sea wolf hides filled with air. But these were not hollow, you had to mount them.

However, I found a Source that mentions a native in Chiloe called Agustín Yapa who "crossed the channels to transport sheep in leather balsas" (Benjamín Vicuña, Catálogo de la biblioteca i manuscritos, 1886. p.44).

"Pelotas" or coracles

Tomás Harrington disagreed with Falkner. Harrington was an Argentine school teacher and ethnologist (1887-1967) who lived and worked in Patagonia, where he interviewed dozens of Tehuelche natives and compiled an extensive native vocabulary and listed many place names. In his Contribución al estudio del Indio Gününa Küne, Revista del Museo de La Plata, Vol.2 No.14 (new series), 1946, p.259) he noted that the name Yacana-cunes can be interpreted as "pedestrian people", and that the Keyus were the people who crossed the Strait. He added that it is impossible to define the racial origin of either group.

However, we have an eyewitness Antonio de Viedma (1742-1797), a Spanish naval officer who explored the coast of Patagonia and trekked inland discovering the lake that bears his name. In his diary (Diario de un viaje a la costa de la Patagonia, para reconocer los puntos en donde establecer poblaciones con una descripción de la naturaleza de los terrenos, de sus producciones y habitantes; desde el puerto de Santa Elena hasta la boca del Estrecho de Magallanes) he recounts his exploration from San Juliá to Lake Videma during which he had to cross the Chico River close to Corpen (map). On the way back the river was flooded:

"Day 27
At 8 a.m. we set off, and at 12 p.m. we reached the banks of the Rio Chico de Santa Cruz. Since the river was very high, the indian Ocopán decided not to ford it; so we stopped at a place they call Chonqueyr.
Day 28
At 5:30 in the morning, the indian Ocopán and Don León de Rosas, who had attempted to cross the river, succeeded and informed me. I intended to cross as they had, but upon reaching a channel, the stable hand couldn't restrain the horses, which bolted. So I ordered the pilot to cross and tell Julián to send me some swimming Indians so as not to risk my life or leave without gathering all the horses. He did so and found Julián at a place they call Quilion, from where he sent me three swimming Indians, equipped with hides and sticks to form a ball [in the original "pelota"] They arrived where I was at sunset and brought guanaco meat for us to eat.
Day 29
At 8:00 a.m., having prepared to cross the river, and feeling that the "pelota" that the indians were mkaking wasn't right, I ordered them to leave it, and that once they were on the other side of the river, I would try to cross with my horse. This was done, and we all crossed without the slightest incident; and continuing our journey, we arrived at Oenna at midday, where I found the pilot returning to join me, and some tents belonging to Chief Julián, whom I had sent for the same purpose; and here we spent the night."

Viedma ratifies the use of floats mentioned by Falkner.

Fifty-one years later Captain FitzRoy and Charles Darwin (the scientist who proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection) left the HMS Beagle to explore the Santa Cruz River from its mouth. They almost reached Lake Argentino before turning back due to lack of supplies. In his description of their journey (where the boat had to be hoisted by the sailors against the river's stron current), FitzRoy mentions the natives and their floats (FitzRoy, R. 1839. Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831-36, under the command of Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, R.N. London: Henry Colburn. See p. 344)

"...we arrived at the spot whence the smoke had issued, but saw no human beings: though marks of very recent fire, and numerous tracks of feet upon a soft muddy place at the side of the river, showed that a party of Indians had lately crossed over, and a smoke rising at some distance on the southern shore, pointed out where they were gone. At this spot there was about an acre of good pasture land, by the water side: and the breadth of the river itself was something less than usual, reasons which had induced the natives to select it as a crossing place*. To pass a river running at the rate of six or seven miles an hour, and about two hundred yards in width, can be no easy task to women and children. But as we saw many prints of very small feet on the muddy bank, both women and children must have crossed at this place with the men. How did they get over? there is no wood, neither are there rushes with which they might make balsas†. Perhaps some of the women and children were put into rough, coracle-like boats, made of hides‡, and towed across by the horses, holding by whose tails the men swam and perhaps many of the women. This method of holding by the tail, while swimming, is said to be better than resting a hand upon the horse's neck and holding by the mane. None of the Indians sit upon their horses while swimming."
* Marked 'Indian Pass' on the plan.
† Floats or rafts.
‡ "Me envió tres indios nadadores, provisto de cueros y palos para formar una pelota." (Diario de Viedma, p. 58.)

We know tht FitzRoy had read Falkner, and since he also quotes Videma, he probably imagined the coracles based on this information.

Argentine explorer and scientist Francisco Moreno (1852-1919) during his own exploration of the Santa Cruz River, in 1876-77, which reached Lake Argentino, cited FitzRoy's comments and added his own rmarks (See Viaje a la Patagonia Austral. Vol. 1, 1879. See p.256.):

"There is no doubt about the accuracy of these words; the place lends itself easily to crossing, for even though at this point the river is narrower than in other parts and runs at a speed of seven miles per hour, the undulation formed by its course and the disposition of the terrain make it preferable to other points. The Indians also confirm the assertion of the English admiral and have told me that before Pavon Island was populated they crossed the river at this point and at other places located further inland where, although the river is always too deep, as happens at the point I am concerned with, to allow passage on firm foot, they always find more or less ease in crossing it.
They carried it out, and even today they sometimes do, on rafts made of branches and tree trunks that the river carries in its upper course, and when trunks are lacking, as happens here in Chickerook Aiken, they built such rafts, although smaller, with the poles of their tents. On them they placed the small children and the few belongings; the women and men held onto the ends of the poles submerged in the water and swam alongside the raft. This was pulled by a horse, to whose tail it was tied, but before they had horses, the strongest swimmers of the Indians were in charge of steering it. This means of crossing the rivers is not without dangers, and it is frequent that one or more of the indigenous people drown; however, I have sometimes used it with excellent results in my exploration of the Limay and Negro Rivers. Our companion Isidoro assures me that he also knows that this point has been a crossing point for Indians. [a ford]"

This ford was located at Chickerook-Aiken (see approx. location in Google maps).

Allen Francis Gardiner (1794–1851) was a British Royal Navy officer and missionary, who starved to death in Tierra del Fuego, after an unsuccessful attempt to set up a mission among the Yaghans or Yamana. In 1842, he left us a description of a now unknown tribe, the Tachwell (see my post on them) who lived in the Southwestern Andes and frequented the Strait of Magellan. In 1842 Gardiner wrote (Accounts and Papers. COLONIES. Session 2 February 24 August 1843. 33. Vol XXXIII. House of Commons papers, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. HMSO, 1843) about them, and one part of his description mentions the use of hide-covered canoes to cross the Patagonian rivers:

"The district by the Tatchwell is wet and rainy and heavily timbered with trees of great size, their tents, dress, and stature is similar to that of the other Patagonian tribes; they have, however, canoes, but these are only employed for crossing rivers, and are merely a light frame covered with guanaco skins. They use no paddles but are towed across by their horses swimming before with a lasso attached to their tails."

Benjamin Bourne in "The Captive in Patagonia" (p.133) describes "boats" used by the Aonikenk to cross rivers. He had been sailing from Connecticut to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush and while stopping for supplies on the northern shores of the Strait of Magellan was taken captive by the Aonikenk and held prisoner. After three months he managed to escape when he saw a boat with a party of white people. They took him to the island on the Santa Cruz River, rescuing him.

Below is his description of native navigation and a plate from his book:

"We moved the next day in a northerly direction, and struck the river Santa Cruz, encamping about an eighth of a mile from its marshy banks...
Three or four days were passed in suspense, which was at last terminated by taking our line of march down the river. We halted at noon, at a point where the banks sloped gently to the water's edge, on either side of the deep and narrow channel. Active preparations were here commenced for crossing. Part of the horses were driven across the river, whilst a portion of the tribe were occupied in building boats to ferry their families and goods across. Their boats are constructed after a simple fashion. A quantity of bushes are cut and dragged down to the margin of the water. They take four tent-stakes, and lay them so as to enclose an area eight feet square, lashing them firmly together at the four corners. Four Indians then raise the stakes from the ground, while others place the skin covering of the tent over the frame, allowing it to sag down three or four feet. The edges of the skin are brought over the stakes, and fastened on the inside. The bushes, made ready for the purpose, are placed within, tops downward, round the entire circumference, and secured to the stakes, till the boat is completely timbered up. The bushes keep the skin distended, and give to the vessel an oval shape, so that, though square at the top, it bears a striking resemblance to a large iron pot. Its length and its breadth of beam are of course equal. When completed, it is firmly lashed from stem to sternpost, and from side to side, with a lariat, or green hide rope, forty feet long, to keep it from spreading or racking. I had no hand in modelling this witch of the wave, but, like an apprentice, did as I was ordered in forwarding the structure, and, when nothing else was required, "held on to the slack." It was at last completed, like the temple of Solomon, without the sound of axe or hammer; neither bolts, trenails nor caulking-iron, were required. We carried the barge down, and launched her in the stream. Two paddles were made by lashing two bladebones of the guanaco to sticks. Squaws, pappooses and baggage, were stowed away, till the boat was laden to the water's edge. I was directed to take passage with the family and household effects of the chief, and seated myself in the centre of the closely-packed craft. One end of a lariat was fastened to the boat, and the other tied to the tail of a horse. A savage mounted, with one rein attached to the wooden bit on the up-stream side. Two others took the oars, one on each side, and a squaw was stationed on the top-gallant forecastle for the purpose of singing, to insure good luck. All is ready. The old horse wades till the depth of water compels him to swim, and the boat is pushed off. The rider floats on the horse's back, kicking the water with his feet, holding the rein in one hand, and grasping the mane with the other. "Chew! chew!" he shouts, at the top of his voice. The black swan in the forecastle opens her capacious mouth and sings, "Yek yah, youri miti! yek yah, youri miti!" The two oarsmen dig away with might and main, while the younger fry swell the chorus with a "Yah! yah! yah!" The boat brings some heavy lurches to the windward, then yaws off to leeward; all owing to those lubberly oarsmen not meeting her with the helm in season. At length, after innumerable shiftings, we reached the opposite shore, and waded up on dry land. Several boats were constructed after the same unique model, and succeeded in crossing safely."

Ferrying the Santa Cruz. Bourne

So, all of these people confirm the use of guanaco hide-covered floats.

Across the Strait of Magellan

An interesting paper (Franklin, W.L. (2022) Guanaco colonisation of Tierra del Fuego Island from mainland Patagonia: Walked, swam, or by canoe? Geo: Geography and Environment, 9, e00110. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/geo2.110) explores why does Tierra del Fuego only have one large mammal, the Guanaco, and no rhea or pumas. The answer according to Franklin is that a large eruption by Hudson Volcano some 7,750 years ago wiped out the natives and large terrestrial fauna in the southern tip of Patagnoia, and that "Neither terrestrial vertebrates nor man were replenished from the adjacent mainland for 1000 years because the Strait of Magellan was a complete biogeographical barrier. Guanacos on Tierra del Fuego have lower genetic diversity compared with the mainland, suggesting it is a younger population. Empirical evidence and pivotal events of Patagonia's prehistory support one of three hypotheses: guanacos were introduced to Tierra del Fuego by early Holocene, guanaco-dependent, indigenous peoples from the mainland who repopulated Tierra del Fuego utilising the newly invented, skilfully crafted, seaworthy bark canoe."

Below is an image from Franklin's paper depicting the natives carrying guanaco across the Strait of Magellan.

Franklin therefore suggests " Guanacos and Fuegian dogs to Tierra del Fuego... by bark canoe. I propose that canoeists when they recolonised Tierra del Fuego in the Middle Holocene selectively introduced two ‘utility species’ of mammals to Tierra del Fuego that were of direct survival value for the existence of a terrestrial hunter-gatherer culture on the island: the guanaco because of its importance as a familiar and sustained source of food and skins (clothing and shelters), and the domestic Fuegian dog in a mutualistic relationship for its companionship, protection and hunting abilities..."

The bark canoe is what the Yamana or Yaghan people used until their demise in the late 1800s. However, the Selk'nam Fuegians were not known for owning boats or bark canoes. Their territory was the open grasslands and tundra, bogs and the fringe of the Fuegian Forests, on the north side of Tierra del Fuego. They seldom ventured into the woods of the Southern Andean ridges. They were pedestrian, land people, not sailors or canoe people like the Yamanas or their neighbors, the Alakaluf of the Western and Northwestern Tierra del Fuego canals and fjords. The Alakaluf used dugout canoes made from logs.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Trimenen the Giants of Coin (Patagonia).

Oliver van Noort (1558-1627) was a Dutchman, navigator and merchant who sailed around the globe (the first Dutchman to do so) during an expedition which set out from Texel, The Netherlands in 1598 with the intention of looting Portuguese and Spanish settlements in America, and trade with spices in the Far East.

A company was organized, the Magelhaensche Compagnie with Peter Van Beveren, Huyg Gerritz and John Benninck as its main shareholders, and it fitted four ships the "Hendrick Frederick", the "Mauritius", the "Endracht" and "Esperance", with 248 men on board.

They reached the Strait of Magellan, and massacred a group of Fuegian natives on Penguin Island, killing all the men and sparing the women and children -though they kidnapped four of the children. One of them gave them the following account:

"From one of these boys, after he had learnt the Dutch language, they had the following intelligence. The larger of the two islands was named Castemme by the natives, and the tribe inhabiting it Enoo. The smaller island was called Talche. Both were frequented by great numbers of penguins, the flesh of which served the natives as food, and their skins for cloathing. Their only habitations were caves. The neighbouring continent abounded in ostriches, which they also used as food. The natives of these dreary regions were distinguished into tribes, each having their respective residences. The Kemenetes dwelt in Kaesay; the Kennekin in Karamay; the Karaiks in Morina: All these are of the ordinary size, but broad-breasted, and painted all over; the men tying up their pudenda in a string, and the women covering their parts of shame with the skins of a penguin; the men wearing their hair long, while that of the women was kept very short; and both sexes going naked, except cloaks made of penguin skins, reaching only to the waist. There was also a fourth tribe, called Tirimenen, dwelling in Coin, who were of a gigantic stature, being ten or twelve feet high, and continually at war with the other tribes."

Read the Source of this text (Kerr Robert. (1824). General History and Collection of Voyages… Edinburgh. Vol. X Chap. IV. Voyage of Oliver Van Noort Round the World in 1598-1601.). Another online source with the original book.

In the original Dutch language version (see it online here), the names for the natives are written the same as in the English translation except the following: Karayke, Morine, and Trimenen.

The massacre and kidnapping is a display of ruthlessness typical of Europeans of those days (I exclude Narbrough from this category, he was more compassionate. When he saw the natives at Port Desire in 1669 he wrote "they would not have come near our People, if they had not fallen accidentally in the Hills and Valleys with them. I have thought that they have heard of the cruel dealings of the Spaniards, and dare not trust us." (Source)

Dutch killing Fuegians, by T. de Bry. Source

By the time they left the Strait of Magellan, scurvy, bad weather, and the clashes with the Portuguese and the natives had decimated the crew. The second in command, Jacob Claasz, was court martialled for attempted desertion and abandoned on the mainland near Port Famine. His fate is unknown.

Only two ships made it into the Pacific Ocean, the "Mauritius" and the "Endracht", 101 men had died, and only 147 had made it to there alive. They raided some spots along the Pacific coast and then they visited the Spice Islands. Only 45 made it back to Holland, the outcome of the commercial venture was a break-even. It led to a greater geographic knowledge and set the basis for the Dutch East India Company that would occupy the East Indies and establish the Dutch colonial empire there.

All the abducted children died at sea, and shortly after, in 1600, Sebald de Weert on his way back to The Netherlands stopped on that island and found a woman, who had survived the massacre.

The Natives

This is the original Dutch text by van Noort.

Below are two maps, one by van Noort (top) from 1602, with the Pinguyns Eÿlanden, and a modern one (bottom) with the only three islands in that part of the Strait, from north to south Isabella, Marta, and Magdalena. If the people the Dutch killed were on one of these islands, they were boat people, not foot indians like the Selk'nam.

van Noort map of Patagonia and Current map. A Whittall

van Noort identified four native groups and their territories (names from English and Dutch versions):

• The Enoo on the Island of Casteme next to the Talche Island
• The Kemenetes in Kaesay
• The Kennekin in Karamay
• The Karaiks (or Karayke) in Morina (or Morine)
• The Tirimenen (or Trimenen) in Coin

The first four groups were normal sized people, which by the description given, seem to be canoe people. The fourth group were the giants, at war with the others.

The Selk'nam called the Yagan people "Uowen" which does not appaer in this list, so this also proves that the boy kidnapped by van Noort was not a Selk'nam.

I have found two scholarly articles on this subject, one is a thesis (Alejandra Vidal, (2015) Proto-Chon: Fonología, morfología y léxico, who discusess her findings about the words mentioned by van Noort, most of which she writes "belong to some language of the Chon family" (see p. 71 1.6.1. La lengua de los enoo (fines del siglo XVI)).

Vidal interprets the Enoo terms as equivalent to the following Chon language terms:

• Kenneka. Selk'nam "nèné-qà" ‘belonging to the West’, "k-nèné-qr" ‘person from the West’
• Koin. Place name. Selk'nam "kʔójin" ~ "kwʔójin" ‘cordillera’ (Andes)
• Castemme (Santa Magdalena Island). Tehuelche "kašte:m" ‘land within’
• Talcke (smaller Santa Marta Island). Tehuelche "t’alk’e-" ‘be small’

This is a jumble of Selk'nam and Tehuelche terms. Which group would use such a language?

David Williams wrote an interesting paper attempting to identify: "Which ethnic group did the mysterious Enoo tribe (Strait of Magellan, 1599) belong to? / ¿A que grupo etnico pertenecio la misteriosa tribu enoo (Estrecho de Magallanes, 1599)?" Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana, vol. 10, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 99+. Gale OneFile: Informe Académico, Online

Williams suggests the enoo people were Yamaná people (Yaghans) canoe people who were inside the territory of the Alakaluf canoe people. This is far from the Beagle Channel and southeastern Islands of Fuegia, where the Yamaná people lived. What were they doing in the Strait of Magellan hundreds of kilometers north of their territory?.

I agree with Williams that the particle "aike" found in the name of the name of the Karaik or Karaike is a Tehuelche word which means "campground", "place where you live". So maybe it was the spot where the "Kar" people lived (?) what is Kar?

Over a century ago, John Cooper (Analytical and critical bibliography of the tribes of Tierra del Fuego and adjacent territory. (1917). Washington Govt. printing office.) wrote about the words reported by van Noort and stated that "Neither the tribal names or other words have been confirmed by later investigators; they are all probably erroneous, with the possible exception of Coin (= Chon?). Cf. however, Furlong, 7, p. 185: the western Onas are called Kenenica Chon."

Below is an image from Furlong's book (Furlong, Charles Wellington, (1917), Tribal Distribution and Settlements of the Fuegians, Comprising Nomenclature, Etymology, Philology, and Populations) and the entry regarding Kenenica people:

Source

Furlong and the Kenenica. Source

Furlong (1874–1967) was an American author, artist and explorer who traveled extensively and visited Tierra del Fuego in 1907-1908. He wrote several books about the area and its people. He says that the Southern Onas (Selk'nam) called the "Western" Onas "Kenenica Chon", where Chon, is the Tehuelche word for "people"** so "Kenenica" is "Western". This is in agreement with Vidal's interpretation.

But, why would the people in Penguin Island use a Southern Selk'nam term?

** See Alexander Chamberlain (On the Puelchean and Tsonekan (Tehuelchean), the Atacameñan (Atacaman) and Chonoan, and the Charruan Linguistic Stocks of South America, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1911), pp. 458-471. Online) who confirms that "... Tsoneka (Tsoneca), or Tsonek, Chonek, etc., the term by which they call themselves, said to signify "men," "people.""

This identifies two words: "Coin" = "Chon" (people) and "Kenenica" = "West". We will never know for certain who any of these people were, including the Trimenen giants.

Mateo Martinic (Los canoeros de la Patagonia meridional, Journal de la société des américanistes, 1989, 75 pp. 35-61. Source) identifies the "Karaike" with the Alakaluf canoe people and the "Enoo (Enooke, Enuke)" with the "Laguediche, Aveguediche, Poykes, Poyukes Indians of the Strait and adjoining waters".

Martinic does not identify these natives, but Alcides D'Orbigny, who visited Patagonia, did so in the 1830s when he listed the names given by mariners who visited the area or those who interacted with the Patagonians: "Beauchene-Gouin only mentions two [tribes] the Laguediches in the east and the Aveguediches, in the west of the Strait. Boungainville calls them Pecheraís because he heard them pronounce that word many times. Molina calls them Caucau, Falconer [Falkner] who never saw them gives them the name of Key Yus or Keyos to those who are on the west of the Strait of Magellan and the name of Yucama Cunny to those in the east" (Source. p. 231)

I have not been able to find any coincidences between the words mentioned by van Noort and those listed in this Spanish-Alakaluf / Alakaluf-Spanish dictionary.

Thomas Falkner didn't visit Patagonia, but he had excellent sources. He wrote in his Description of Patagonia (1774) about the southernmost Tehuelche groups, along the Strait of Magellan:

"The last of the Tehuel nations are the Yacana-cunnees, which signifies foot-people; for they always travel on foot, having no horfes in their country. To the north, they border on the Sehuau-cunnees [these are named for some black hares!: "Sehuau signifies, in the Tehuel dialect, a species of black rabbit, about the size of a field-rat; and as their country abounds in these animals, their name may be derived from thence; cunnee signifying people."] to the west, on the Kej-yus or Key-yuhues, from whom they are divided by a ridge ot mountains : to the east, they are bounded by the ocean; and to the south, by the islands of Tierra del Fuego or the South Sea. These Indians live near the sea, on both sides of the straits, and oftentimes make war with one another. They make use of light floats, like those of Chiloe in order to pass the straits. They are sometimes attacked by the Huilliches, and the other Tehuelhets, who carry them away for slaves, as they have nothing to lose but their liberty and their lives. They live chiefly on fish; which they catch, either by diving, or striking them with their darts. They are very nimble of foot, and catch guanacoes and ostriches with their bowls (sic) [bows?]."

These "floats" or coracles were used by the Aonikenk people, who seem to be these Yacana-cunnees (probably the name given to them by the Northern Tehuelches, as foot Indians). The Selk'nam to the south may also have used floats to trade across the Strait of Magellan, so it is possible that the natives on Penguin Island were Aonikenk or Selk'nam. The "western people" would have been the Key-yus, possibly the Kemenetes in Kaesay. Mountains separated them from the Aonikenk.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall © 

Phoenician gods in Patagonia: horned demons

 
Seeking a link between horned Phoenician gods and the horned deities of Patagonia
 
See Index on all my posts on Phoenicians in America.
 

Baal, supreme Phoenician god. Note the horns sprouting from his head. Source: Internet

Biblical "Molech" horned god revered by the Ammonites and also the Phoenicians. Source: Internet

We have mentioned the possibility that the Phoenicians or their Carthaginian descendants reached America some 2200 – 2700 years ago, trading Brazil wood dye, precious metals and gems of American origin in their Mediterranean markets. Perhaps they even set up colonies here (in future posts I will keep on providing “evidence” on their alleged presence in South America). In today’s post we will take a peek at their gods and review the possibility that these deities could have left an indelible impression on the local natives, especially in Patagonia, which is where there is evidence (in the form of Phoenician inscriptions) of their presence.

See my post on the Cattle like creatures in Patagonia (cows and bulls were unknown in Patagonia until they were introduced by the Spaniards in the early 1500s): the options are that (a) there was some now extinct "bovid" in Patagonia or (b) they came across cattle brought by pre-Hispanic mariners, either in effigy (such as a horned-god cult) or in person, with cattle on board these sailor's ships.

Horned gods. Molech

Molech was the main god of the Ammonite pantheon, he was also worshiped by the Phoenicians as we can see from inscriptions bearing his name “Melek. A name that meant “king” (that is, the great leader, or “top” god).[3]

Moloch derives from the word Melkarth and is abbreviated in the Phoenician inscriptions as Melkar, Mokarth and also Mokar.[3]

Each of the independent city-states of Phoenicia had their “male” deity which despite having different names, shared the same features: at Tyre he was Melqart, at Sidon Eshmun and at Byblos, Baal. They also had a female partner (who is most commonly known as Astarte). The name Baal, in Phoenician meant “lord” or “master”, and may have been referred to as adonai (my lord), which was adopted by the Greek as Adonis, their young hunter god.[4]

We find juicy references to Moloch in the Bible, who mentions it in reference to the hated enemies of the people of Israel, the Ammonites, whose religion included the worship of Moloch or Molech whom they represented as a horned bull-like deity.

Ammonites: People of Semitic origin who lived on the eastern side of the Jordan River (Transjordan), just to the northeast of the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan. [1]

We find reference to him in the Bible, in 1 KingS 11:7: “Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon”.

According to the Bible, the cult of Moloch was bloody and demanded the sacrifice of children. As the Jewish people sporadically took to adoring Moloch (abandoning the worship of Jehovah), God’s word, as recorded in the Bible, strictly prohibits this horrible kind of sacrifice.

For instance, in Leviticus 18:21 God orders: “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.”.
His ban is repeated in Leviticus 20:2-5 (Where he tells Moses: “Say to the Israelites: 'Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him…”) and in 2 Kings. 23:10; Jeremiah 32:35, Isaiah 30:33 and 57:5, etc.
However not all agree with this monstrous behavior:

Some are of opinion that the devotees contented themselves with making their children leap over a fire sacred to Moloch by this action consecrating them to that false deity and as by a lustration purifying them this being a usual ceremony on other occasions among the heathen. Others believe that they made them pass between two fires opposite each other with the same intention...[2]

There is even a place mentioned in the Valley of Hinnom, on the hill where Jerusalem is built, this site is known as Topheth, or “fire pit”.
The burning took place in a brazen idol (depicted above), which had the head of a bull and arms of a person. They would build a fire, and heat the idol until it was red-hot and glowing, then they would take their newborn babies and place them in those searing arms, so that they burned to death. [2]

Apparently the Carthaginians also sacrificed children, though there are many who doubt this (read both sides of the story - external link.)

Baal the other horned god

There is a stele of Baal, from a site in modern Syria, Ugarit. It dates back to the period between the 1500 and 1800 years BC. If you are in Paris, drop by the Musee du Louvre and take a look at it. Baal has two cow-like horns sprouting from his head.

Sources.

[1] Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, (1990). The Mercer dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press, 1990. pp. 23.
[2] Agustin Clamet, (1832) Dictionary of the Holy Bible. Crocker and Brewster, pp. 677.
[3] George Rawlinson, The Religions of the Ancient World. pp. 146.
[4] Glenn Markoe, (2000) Phoenicians. Vol 2 of Peoples of the past. University of California Press, pp. 117.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2011 International Year of Forests Copyright 2009-2011 by Austin Whittall © 

Volcanos and the city of dwarves

 

Volcanoes in Southern Patagonia. Copyright © 2010 by Austin Whittall. [4]

Aonikenk Chief Papon, who died a poor drunkard in 1892, had been in his heyday the supreme Chief of all the native groups that lived between the Santa Cruz River and the Strait of Magellan.[1]

At the end of his life he was so poor that he sold at Punta Arenas a set of boleadoras that he believed were made of brass but were actually pure gold.

When asked about where he found the nuggets, Papon said that he found them by an ancient city that was buried under the recent lava flows of a nearby volcano (some believed that the city was the famous lost City of Caesars, mentioned in the previous chapter). This city, according to Papon was inhabited by dwarfs. [1]

His tribe occupied the area by Dinamarquero River and being nomads could also be found in the “interior zones of Ultima Esperanza” and after Papon’s death, at Valle del Zurdo. [2] I have marked these three areas with “light blue dots” on the map above.

The city that he mentions must have been located in that area, and the volcano that erupted near it, must be one of the active volcanoes shown within the “green triangle” on my map.

The volcanoes are marked with black triangles and the lava fields are shaded blue.

Some active Patagonian volcanoes
In Argentina:

Viedma Volcano (49°21.5', 73°17'). Argentina, Santa Cruz. 1500 m .
Erupted in 1988 and is located under the ice sheet of the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields Northwest of Lake Viedma. It has four large craters or calderas.[3] I doubt that this volcano could be the one mentioned by Papon.

Pali Aike Basalt Field (52°0', 70°0'). Argentina, Santa Cruz and also in Chile. 282 m.
It covers 3,000 km² (1,170 sq.mi.) of basalt fields of “modern origin” (that is in a geological sense, as they date to Pleistocene or Holocene times). The youngest flows are in the Southeastern tip of the field.[3]

The name in Aonikenk language means "country of the devil" and shows that they feared this area. It is protected by a Chilean National Park.

Regarding this field, Musters during his trip through Pali Aike in 1869, remarked that they had probably been formed not too long ago and was told by chief Casimiro (of the Aonikenk) about an active volcano belonging to that range whose eruption shook the ground and knocked down the natives’ tents and poisoned the water of some stream close to it. This may be Diablo volcano which has had “recent activity”.[5]

Another report by the Chilean authorities based in Punta Arenas, dated 1847, stated that these same Indians (among which was Casimiro) reported an active volcano which has been identified as Mount Burney. Which “made the earth shake continuously”.[5]

This seems to be a likely candidate for Papon's volcano.

Some recently recorded eruptions of Chilean volcanoes (there is a blank before the 1870s though as there were no settlements in the area): [5]

- Lautaro (49°01’S, 73°33’W) Chile, 1878-79, 1934-35, 1959-60, 1995, 1998.
- Burney (52°29’S, 73°24’W) Chile, 1910, 1970. ca. 3970 and 1500 BP
- Diablo (52°07’S, 73°24’W) not older than 15000 BP.
- Aguilera (50°20’S, 73°45’W) Chile, ca. 6300, 3345 BP
- Reclus (50°57’S, 73°35’W) Chile, ca. 14990 and 3345 BP

Any of these or even the Cerro del Fraile basalt field could have erupted in historic times and be remembered by Papon. However I am inclined to believe that we can reduce our search to Diablo volcano or to some small flows in the Basalt Fields close to Papon's tribal range.

I will keep researching on this matter and also look into lost cities in that area.

The original quote on Papon's city (23. Sept. 2010)

Below I copy the translated text regarding Papon's city.

the Aonikenk chief had told, with signs and words, about the existence of a city squashed by the volcanic lavas of very old eruptions. Besides, rcent eruptions completely covered the remains that until shortly before, marked the evident signs of the buried city. At the site indicted as the city's layout, chief Papon had picked up the piece of gold used to make his boleadora [...] there in the area that Papon had pointed out, was a site where fruit trees had been planted, and many have gathered petrified fruits [1]

Comments and possible "cities"

As you can see, the text states that the city was buried not once but twice (once long ago, the other burial recent). The petrified fruits and the fruit trees are interesting and may indicate a failed European colony.

But there were only two settlements in the area, both by Sarmiento de Gamboa, the failed Port Famine -actually its name was "Rey Felipe" close to current Punta Arenas, and "Nombre de Jesús" at the entrance to the Strait of Magellan, at Cape Virgenes.

There was another failed attempt to settle the Straits, and it was attempted by Captain de Gennes, under the auspices of the French crown in 1696. His fleet of six vessels however returned from the Straits without establishing a settlement.

It is noteworthy that the Spanish towns (1584) did plant some crops and also "vines and quince and other plants brought from Rio de Janeiro". Later, in 1699, Gouin de Beauchesne, a Frenchman, "sowed some seeds [...] which grew into healthy and vigorous plants" (we do not know if they were fruit trees or just garden vegetables. [6] Could these be the origin of the fruit trees mentioned by Papon?

What is a city?

We should consider what Papon would consider as a city. He had seen Punta Arenas (then a very small town - actually a village) but he had also been to Buenos Aires which at the time was a very big city with over one million inhabitants. The natives lived in mobile camps, with tents (toldos) made from sown guanaco skins. The mere notion of a town implies that its inhabitants were not Indians.

So, setting aside the absurd notion of Templar knights in Patagonia, or survivors of Atlantis, then the inhabitants of this city must have been Europeans perhaps shipwrecked survivors of some of the expeditions that explored the region and never returned home (i.e. Bishop of Plasencia).

In fact, this was believed true by the Spanish conquistadors, who believed that there was a mysterious city of Caesars in Patagonia. I will post on this enigmatic legend soon.

Last but not least, the "city" may have been some camp of rival natives that lived in the region maybe in caves and were destroyed by the eruption of a volcano (this is reflected in the Tachwull myth, dwarves who died in a cataclysm or the Chelep cave men.

Sources.

There seems to be a lot of quotes based on articles published by Mateo Martinic Beros. Well I guess it is due to the fact that he has written many papers about the Strait of Magellan's history.

[1] Martinic B, Mateo, (2007). Los Cesares De La Patagonia, ¿Otra Fuente Indígena Para La Leyenda O Una Hasta Ahora Desconocida Creación Del Imaginario Aónikenk?Magallania, (Chile), 2007. Vol. 35(2)7-14.
[2] Martinic B, Mateo, (1995). Los Aonikenk Historia y Cultura. Punta Arenas: Vanic, Punta Arenas. pp. 153
[3] Grupo de Estudio y Seguimiento de Volcanes Activos. University of Buenos Aires.
[4] Map by Austin Whittall ©, based on Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Chile and pp. 166 of The geology of Chile, Teresa Moreno, Geological Society, 2007.
[5] Martinic B, Mateo, (2008). Registro Historico de Antecedentes Volcanicos y Sismicos en la Patagonia Austral y La Tierra del Fuego. Magallania, Punta Arenas, v. 36, n. 2, nov. 2008.
[6] Martinic B, Mateo, (2000). El establecimiento de la agricultura en Magallanes (1843-1880). Historia (Santiago) v.33 Santiago.
[7] Payró Roberto, (2008). La Australia Argentina. Biblio Bazaar. pp. 97.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

Chelep, the hairy Patagonian dwarf

 

Orangutan, from an old engraving.

Some more information on the intriguing subject of Patagonian dwarves. In previous posts, I have written about the different kinds of dwarves that have been reported in Patagonia. Today we will look into the Chelep, a dwarf that was likened to an orangutan.

Chelep, monkey like dwarf.

Chelep is an interesting creature and shares several features with the Fuegian Yosi and the Chiloé Island Trauco. Both of which are dwarfish, hairy, carry sticks or clubs, and very monkey-like.

Chelep may also be the origin of the myth regarding the “first men” or Tachwull .

The source on Chelep is a diary written by a Santiago Dunne, a Chilean government official in 1845, at Punta Arenas. He jotted down reports from a man named Centurión, who was not a native, but lived among them.

Below I will quote extensively from this diary (I have translated it from Spanish to English respecting the style of Dunne):

“that between the Negro and the Santa Cruz Rivers, along the inland road which is where the Indians travel, there are two places where there are many stone homes painted with various colors, and which are inhabited by a race that as described by the Patagons [Aonikenk] have a lot of resemblance to the orangutans: these sites are [not] along the same road but [towards] the Andes. Small size, hairy body and a club or baculus always in their hand. The cover with a short guanaco fur in the same way those [natives] of Tierra del Fuego do.
The Patagons call them Chelep. Most of these groups of Indians have visited those places and have been in the same homes, but have never been able to take one of their inhabitants despite that they have seen them and ran very close to them and even been hit by stones thrown by them; which has led them to take them for witches and they do not go to their caves because they must not be other than [illegible] in great numbers.
It should be noted that the Patagons [Aonikenk] only when they go to the Negro River, which does not happen frequently, is when the chelep see them arriving, because they have always done so during daytime, run away and get lost in forests [*] abandoning their lodges in which can be found bones and guanaco hides and that sometimes those that have slept close to such homes, have been robbed and some of their horses killed” . [1]

[*] though the Spanish word “montes” can also mean “mountains”.

More on the Chelep. A close encounter.

Centurión, Dunne’s informant had not been to the Chelep’s country, but his wife had, and she told Dunne the following:

She was at those homes only accompanied by her elder sister, because all the others that were going with her [to the Negro River] had gone out to the fields, far away […] while alone with her sister, the dog that they had with them began to bark and then they saw coming towards them a woman carrying a child and her club; this frightened them and her companion hid among a pile of hides that were there, but that she could not do the same, she pretended to be dead;
The new arrival saw her and with the tip of her club moved her but the child she carried in her arms cried every time she touche her and that at last she left her without harming her and only to the dog, which had bothered her, clubbed it. [2]

What kind of creature is the Chelep? a Homo erectus?

Dunne wrote that the natives frightened their children with these stories, but he believed that they may have some truth behind them, and that the Chelep were probably some "lost" tribe of the Tehuelche group.

However, their pre-human appearance, their monkey-like features may indicate some kind of non-human homind (i.e. a homo erectus or, if tiny and dwarfish, even a variety of Flores Island "hobbit") in southern South America. The cross cultural similarities (the creature appears under different names among all the Patagonian natives from Tierra del Fuego to Central Chile) also support this idea.

See this Map for a clear idea of where the different varieties of Patagonian dwarves lived.

Bibliography

[1] Martinic Mateo, (2005). De la Trapananda al Aysen: una mirada reflexiva sobre el acontecer de la Región de Aysen desde la prehistoria hasta nuestros días . Pehuén. pp. 29.

[2] Martinic Mateo, (2000). Informaciones Etnográficas extraidas del diario inedito de Santiago Dunne, Secretario de la Gobernación de Magallanes (1845). Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia: Serie Ciencias humanas, Vol. 28., Instituto de la Patagonia. Pp. 49 -50

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

Patagonian natives - Part 1

 

In our previous entry we mention two native groups, the Tehuelche and the Selk'nam, but we have not yet given a background on the people who originally lived in Patagonia.

Before the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century, Patagonia was inhabited by several groups of American natives whose ancestors, the “Paleo-Indians” had settled there some thirty thousand years ago or even earlier.

The oldest dated remains of these first inhabitants are from the end of the last Ice Age about 11,000 years before the present (BP).

Tehuelche.
Were the descendents of the ancient Patagonian Paleo-Indians. The name was given to them by the Mapuche natives (who lived in northern Patagonia in both Chile and Argentina), and meant “fierce people”.
We group them into two distinct groups, each with cultural and linguistic differences: the Northern Tehuelche (Günnuna Kenna or Gennakenk – which, in their language meant “people”) and the Southern Tehuelche. The region between the Senguer, Chubut and Chico rivers was a flexible border between these groups.

Northern Tehuelche. Gradually, during the XVIIth century these northernmost Tehuelche expanded further north out of Patagonia, across the Negro and Colorado rivers and into the Pampas where they replaced the original natives of Buenos Aires province and became known as the “Pampas” or “Puelche” (the latter, in Mapudungun -the Mapuche language- means “Eastern people”).
In the Pampas they encountered vast quantities of free roaming wild cattle and also the horse which the Spaniards had bought to America. The horse was quickly adopted, and through the Puelche it quickly spread south into the heart of Patagonia.
The original core of the Gennakenk continued living in Patagonia between the Negro and Chubut rivers until their demise in the late nineteenth century.
There was yet another smaller group, on the flanks of the Andes in the Argentine provinces of Chubut and Rio Negro. They were usually at war with the Mapuche who frequently invaded their territory. They were known as the “Chüwach a Künna” (people at the edge of the mountains) and little is known of them.

Map showing territories originally occupied by the Patagonian natives (Click to Enlarge)

Southern Tehuelche. They called themselves “Chonik”, which in their language meant “us, the men”. Originally they were “foot Indians” and it was not until the late XVIIth and early XIXth centuries that they adopted the horse. The Southern Tehuelche were divided into two separate sub-groups, very similar except for their language:

• Teushen (Boreal Southern Tehuelche); they lived in the north, between the Santa Cruz and Chubut rivers.
• Aonikenk or Aonek'enk (Austral Southern Tehuelche), which meant “people of the South”. They lived in the southern area, between the Santa Cruz River and the Strait of Magellan.

Fuegian natives.
Finally, Tierra del Fuego Island, inhabited by four groups all of which have now disappeared; each of them remarkably adapted and specialized to their own habitat.
The Selk’nam (or Ona), and the Haush (or Haus) were “foot Indians” who never adopted an equestrian way of life because horses never reached their island. The Selk’nam were very closely related to the Tehuelche in culture and language; they had become separated from them when the sea level rose and flooded the Strait of Magellan, isolating them on Tierra del Fuego.

The Haush were different and may have descended from the earliest humans to reach the southernmost tip of the Americas 13,000 years ago.

The other Fuegian natives were the “Boat people”, who had a highly developed way of life adapted to living on the sea coast; they moved around in canoes. These people were the Yagan (Yámana), who lived in the Fuegian channels and islands and were the southernmost people in the whole world; and the Alakaluf (or Kawesqar) who lived in the islands of southwestern Patagonia to the north and west of the Yagans. Both had a similar lifestyle differing only in their language.

A third group of boat people were the Chono; they were not Fuegian for they lived nearly 2.000 km (1,200 mi.) further north, around the Chonos Archipelago and Chiloé island –where they were absorbed by the Huilliche (relatives of the Mapuche). Little is known about them because they died out before the XIXth century.

In another post we mention the Mapuche people.


Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters