Tierra del Fuego and its peopling - The Hudson Volcano event 7,750 BP

When looking back at the Patagonian natives, one imagines that they lived in a period of stability over the 15,000 years that they reigned supreme in southern South America until the arrival of the Europeans (explorers, navigators, conquistadors, missionaries, soldiers, slave hunters, sealers, settlers, etc.)

European discovery brought diseases that were deadly to the Patagonians. Measles, the flu, smallpox, wiped out 90 to 95% of the American Natives in the century that followed discovery in 1492. Patagonia though isolated also suffered.

Scourges like alcohol, Spanish "malocas" hunting natives to enslave them to work in Chilean mines also hit the Patagonains.

But in the past, these natives also suffered from natural disasters.

Early Arrival of Humans to Tierra del Fuego

The dates have been slowly moving further back, accepting older dates. Now it is accepted that the first hunter-gatherers settled on the northern tip of Tierra del Fuego around 11,000 years ago. The site at Tres Arroyos has dates ranging from 11,880 to 10,600 BP. In those days the sea level was far lower, and the Strait of Magellan hadn't flooded. The Island was linked to the mainland.

Tierra del Fuego during the Last Ice Age (notice current and past coastlines). Source.

Fuegians hunted the Amerian horse, mylodon sloths, the guanaco, and a dog species (Dusicyon avus), among other prey. They also lived on the now submerged continental shelf. Later, around 9,240 years ago, the glaciers melted, retreated, and sea levels rose confining them on the Island.

Different studies have found hints that these people and their culture changed over the millennia, suggesting extinction, and repopulation events.

One paper published in Science magazine (Source) found that natives using canoes along the Pacific Ocean in what is now Chile, didn't advance further south than 32° S. Between 13,000 and 8,500 years ago, they kept north of this latitude. The first seafaring Fuegians in Southern Patagonia (52°S) are those whose remains were found at Punta Santa Ana, Chile, dated at 7,440 cal BP.

These people discovered navigation on their own, adapting from terrestrial hunter-gatherers to maritime people. They exploited terrestrial resources and used the trees in the area (at that time) to build their canoes.

But what moved landlubber natives to become seafaring ones?

Volcanic Eruption and a move to the sea

There was a catastrophic event that can be followed by the use of green obsidian, a sharp volcanic glass used in stone tools. This material is believed to have come from Otway Sound in Chile. It was common and traded widely by the terrestrial natives between 9,500 and 7,700 BP, and has been found at ancient sites in Pali Aike and Fell Cave, 200 km distant from Otway Sound. But then, after 7,700 it vanishes. Obsidian from Otway and other sites abruptly disappeared from the Patagonian sites.

The natives were affected by the eruption of Hudson volcano, located in Chile (46°S - see it in Google maps) This eruption known as H1 took place around 7,750 years ago. It spewed forth 18 km³ (4.3 cu. mi.) of tephra, and covered most of Southern Patagonia with a thick layer of volcanic ash that ranged from 4 cm (1.5 in.) in Otway to more than 20 cm (8 in.) in Tierra del Fuego.

The ash destroyed the plants, grasslands and the animals that fed on them. The human food-chain was disrupeted. The paper reports that the eruption "may have actually extinguished this culture completely. However, it was unlikely to have affected marine species. We propose that this volcanic eruption was a significant trigger to the development of the maritime population from the older terrestrial hunter–gatherers."

A 2020 paper published in Nature, agrees, stating that around 6,700 BP there was a move to the sea with the adoption of canoes and harpoons and the settlement of the shores of the islands of the region.

It too noted that green obidian was no longer used and suggests it reflects " a loss of cultural knowledge about the location of the source of this raw material, potentially due to arrival of new people unfamiliar with the landscape." A population that replaced the older one. It also noted that the tools used changed with the introduction of "large bifacial lithic projectile points of different materials" in a later period (from 5,500 to 3,100 BP).

Two thousand years ago there was another change. The boleadoras (stone spheres seathed in hide and strapped to leather ropes used as throwing weapons to tangle the legs of animals like guanacos and rheas) were dropped and replaced with spears. Stone projectiles adopted different shapes: pedunculated around 2,000 BP. Even smaller ones were used around 900 BP suggesting the appearance of the bow and arrow.

The authors support the notion that the seafaring know-how was developed and invented it locally in Tierra del Fuego and not to a large-scale immigration into the region. Later around 5,500 BP there was an inflow of people from the northwest that replaced the Punta Santa Ana people. They are responsible for the change in stone tools (biface). Then, around 4,700 to 2,000 BP another wave brought the bow and arrow, and the languages spoken in North, Central, and South Patagonia (Tehuelche, Selk'nam, Aoniken, Teushen).

A 2022 paper describes the catastrophic H1 Hudson volcano eruption. It was about 5 times worse than the 1991 Hudson eruption that blew 3-4 km³ of ash (0.84 cu. mi.) and eighteen times greater than the 1980 Mount St Helen's eruption (1 km³ or 0.24 cu. mi.) St Helen's was equivalent to 27,000 Hiroshima atom bonmbs. Below is a map from this paper:

Deposits of tephra thicknesses (cm) in bold numbers. Source.

The author, Franklin, states that "the 7750-Hudson volcano is suspected to ‘have killed all the terrestrial hunter-gatherer population on Tierra del Fuego, which had been isolated since the opening of the Strait of Magellan at ~9240 cal YBP, since no evidence occurs for their existence until more than 1000 years after [its] eruption’ and ‘… it may have devastated for an extended time period the flora and fauna supporting the local terrestrial hunter-gatherers in this area, particularly in Tierra del Fuego …’"

The author adds that humans recolonized the island of Tierra del Fuego between 7,440 and 6,700 BP. They used bark canoes which were resilient, large and safe for open ocean navigation. Tree trunk canoes were unstable and difficult to maneouver, and coracle-like rafts used by Aonikenk Tehuelche in Patagonia were not seaworthy enough to cross the Strait of Magellan.

Franklin says that all large animals died out in Tierra del Fuego, a few rodents and lizards survived underground. The natives when they returned brought the Guanaco and fox with them, one for food, the other as their canine companion. Far-fetched? perhaps.

Closing Comments

These articles imply that: The original Fuegians that reached the island 12,000 years ago died out with the Hudson eruption 7,750 BP. They were replaced by people who moved south into a vacant patagonia, perhaps following guanaco and rhea who also repopulated the region several hundred years later. Possibly not all of the original inhabitants died (they adapted to catch seals, whales, fish) and somehow survived, evolving into the historic Alakaluf and Yamana (Yagans). Some retained the terrestrial culture (Selk'nam and Haush). Later groups reached the region with new technologies and gene inflow.

The myth of the ancient Tachwüll dwarves or "first men" who were destroyed by a volcanic eruption may have come from the H1 eruption.

Perhaps a story told by the Tehuelche chief Kánkel to Welsh explorer ap Iwan in the late 1800s backs this notion; the native chief had said that long ago his ancestors were remiss to do something that their God had asked them to do, so it decided to punish them and made “all their horses go into the ground through a volcano’s crater, and since then a petrified horse skull marks this place." This event happened at Ashpaik (46°39’ S, 70°47’ W), some 30 km (18 mi.) southeast of Lake Buenos Aires, at Cerro Volcán (Volcano Hill). Not too far from Hudson Volcano. According to Musters who visited this place in 1870, it was at this “God’s Hill” that Tehuelche’s “Great Spirit” dispersed the animals he had created in all directions.

---

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

Fuegian palm trees, rhea and a penguin with scales

Tierra del Fuego is a large island on the southernmost tip of South America. It lies on the south side of the Strait of Magellan. It is shared by Argentina and Chile. Its name means "Land of Fire," due to the fires spotted by Magellan during the expedition, lit by the Selk'nam natives.

Its northern part is grassy, cold, and windswept, as you move south towards the Andes open forests appear and then, in the mountain range, dense, tangled Andean woods. Snowcapped mountains and glaciers line its southern flank. Freezing in winter, slightly less cold during summer.

However, the Dutch depicted it differently during their expeditions that took place in the early 1600s. They were seeking a way to the East Indies that didn't go through the Strait of Magellan, which was zealously claimed by Spain, or along the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. They explored Staten Island and found a way around the south side of the Island

The map below (online and zoomable) shows the ships of Joris van Spilbergen's expedition that navigated the Strait of Magellan in 1615. It depicts different scenes that took place in Tierra del Fuego.

Tierra del Fuego in 1615.

The image shows a penguin (marked with a letter "H") that is captioned in the text as follows: "H. Is a penguin, which are to be seen in great numbers there." Notice that it looks scaly rather than feathery! Then there is a tree that oddly resembles a palm tree (in the icy fireland!), further right there is a large bird being shot at by some Dutch sailors (caption reads "I. Are some sailors shooting birds on land.") The size of the birds is interesting. The penguin is as large as the natives. Is it some kind of giant penguin? If so, it became extinct.

The land bird to the right may be a ñandú or rhea, a flightless bird that inhabits southern South America and Patagonia, but nowadays is not found in Tierra del Fuego. Its size -as tall as the sailors- suggestss it was a rhea.

The Fuegian natives had a myth about the rhea, which they called "Ohi," indicating that it lived in the Island before it was hunted to extinction (read about this myth: the intriguing Ohi)

---

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

Captain Cook's description of the Haush and a large Fuegian beast

Continuing with my previous post on the Haush. I looked up Captain James Cook's journal for his comments on the haush, and sure enough, found them (CAPTAIN COOK'S JOURNAL DURING HIS FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD MADE IN H.M. BARK "ENDEAVOUR" 1768-71, where the Captain wrote:

"[In Success Bay.]
Monday, 16th. A Fresh breeze of Wind at South and South-West, with frequent showers of Rain and Snow. At 2 p.m. Anchored in the Bay of Success in 9 fathoms, the bottom Owse and sand.* (* The Endeavour was three days and a half in getting through the Strait of Le Maire, as far as Success Bay. It is a difficult passage for a sailing vessel even in the present day, as the tides are strong and winds generally contrary, but experience has enabled good directions to be given as to the best way to pass the Strait. Cook himself gives capital advice farther on.) The south point of the Bay bore South-East and the north point East-North-East. This Bay I shall describe when I come to speake of the rest of the Coast. Hoisted out the Boats and moor'd with the Stream Anchor. While this was doing I went ashore accompanyed by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander to look for a Watering place and to speak with the Natives, who were assembled on the Beach at the Head of the Bay to the Number of 30 or 40. They were so far from being afraid or surprised at our coming amongst them that three of them came on board without the least hesitation. They are something above the Middle size, of a Dark Copper Colour with long black hair; they paint their Bodies in Streakes, mostly Red and Black. Their Cloathing consists wholy in a Guanacoe Skin or that of a Seal, in the same form as it came from the Animal's back.
The Women Wear a Piece of Skin over their Privy Parts, but the Men observe no such decency. Their Hutts are made like a behive, and open on one side where they have their fires; they are made of small Sticks and covered with branches of trees, long Grass, etc., in such a manner that they are neither Proof against Wind, Hail, rain or Snow, a sufficient proof that these People must be a very hardy race. They live chiefly on shell fish, such as Muscels, which they gather from off the Rocks along the Sea Shore, and this seems to be the Work of the Women. Their Arms are Bows and Arrows neatly made; their Arrows are bearded, some with glass and others with fine flint; several Pieces of the former we saw amongst them with other European things, such as rings, Buttons, Cloth, Canvas, etc., which I think proves that they must sometimes travel to the Northward, as we know of no Ship that hath been in these parts for many Years; besides, they were not at all surprised at our Fire Arms; on the Contrary, they seemed to know the use of them, by making signs to us to fire at Seals or Birds that might come in the way. They have no Boats that we saw or anything to go upon the Water with; their number doth not Exceed 50 or 60 young and old, and there are fewer Women than Men. They are Extreamly fond of any Red thing, and seemed to set more Value on Beads than anything we could give them; in this Consists their whole Pride, few, either Men or Women, are without a Necklace or String of Beads made of Small Shells or bones about their Necks. They would not taste any strong Liquor, neither did they seem fond of our Provisions. We could not discover that they had any Head or Chief or Form of Government, neither have they any useful or necessary Utensil except it be a Bag or Basket to gather their Muscels into. In a word they are perhaps as Miserable a sett of People as are this day upon Earth.* (* Cook's description of the natives of Tierra del Fuego is good to the present day, except that those who live farther westward are still more wretched. Those of the main island, in which the Bay of Good Success lies, are able to kill guanaco, and enjoy a better climate. They, as Cook observed, never go on the water, whereas those westward practically live in canoes.) Having found a convenient place on the south side of the Bay to Wood and Water at, we set about that Work in the Morning, and Mr. Banks with a Party went into the Country to gather Plants, etc."

As you can see, Cook met the Haush in Good Success Bay, just like Darwin would do over 60 years later. He described them in a very similar manner to Darwin. Yet there is no reference to their language... where did Darwin get the idea that Captain Cook has compared these people's language to a man clearing his throat?

But there is a reference in Sir Joseph Bank's journal, he was the naturalist on board the Endeavour; he wrote two interesting things:

Haush language, with the remark used by Darwin: "Their language is guttural especialy in some particular words which they seem to express much as an Englishman when he hawks to clear his throat, but they have many words that sound so ft enough.".

Wild Beast in Tierra del Fuego: "Quadrupeds I saw none in the Island, exept the Seals and Sea lions which we often saw swimming about in the bay might be calld such, but Dr Solander and myself when we were on the top of the highest hill we were upon observ'd the footsteps of a large beast imprinted on the surface of a bog, but could not with any probability guess of what kind it might be."

Was this beast a guanaco? Guanaco live in Tierra del fuego and are the largest mammal there. I doubt a fox would have been considered a "large beast".

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

The Haush of Tierra del Fuego used clicks in their language

Charles Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle" is an extraordinary account, and I enjoy picking it up and reading pages at random. Last night, I read about the Beagle's arrival in Tierra del Fuego and Darwin's first contact with Fuegian natives, which took place at Good Success Bay (Bahia de Buen Suceso in Spanish).

The bay is located on the eastern tip of the Island of Tierra del Fuego, it is the western side of the Strait of Lemaire, which separates the Isla de los Estados island from the main Tierra del Fuego island. Its name is due to the protection it offered sailors from the roaring winds and terrible waves of the South Atlantic Ocean.

Darwin and a party of sailors landed here and met natives, he was shocked:

"I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilized man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement. The chief spokesman was old, and appeared to be the head of the family; the three others were powerful young men, about six feet high. The women and children had been sent away. These Fuegians are a very different race from the stunted, miserable wretches farther westward; and they seem closely allied to the famous Patagonians of the Strait of Magellan. Their only garment consists of a mantle made of guanaco skin, with the wool outside; this they wear just thrown over their shoulders, leaving their persons as often exposed as covered. Their skin is of a dirty coppery red colour."

The Haush were people that lived on the Mitre Peninsula, on the last ranges of the Andes, in the forest, sandwiched between the Selknam people who lived to the north, in the grasslands, and the sea to the south, the domain of the Yamana (or Yaghan) canoe people.

What drew my attention was how Darwin described their language: (see bold highlighted text)

"Their very attitudes were abject, and the expression of their countenances distrustful, surprised, and startled. After we had presented them with some scarlet cloth, which they immediately tied round their necks, they became good friends. This was shown by the old man patting our breasts, and making a chuckling kind of noise, as people do when feeding chickens. I walked with the old man, and this demonstration of friendship was repeated several times; it was concluded by three hard slaps, which were given me on the breast and back at the same time. He then bared his bosom for me to return the compliment, which being done, he seemed highly pleased. The language of these people, according to our notions, scarcely deserves to be called articulate. Captain Cook has compared it to a man clearing his throat, but certainly no European ever cleared his throat with so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds."

The fact that Darwin described them as having "Clicking sounds" is remarkable (see my recent post on click languages), it is the first reference that I have found of clicks in an Amerindian language.

I have mentioned the Haush (or Manek'enk) and their myths in my book (Monsters of Patagonia), they became extinct so not much is known about them. They were related to the Selknam people, hunted the local camelid (guanaco) and had a distinct language that though close to that of the Selknam, was unintelligible to them.

Lucas Bridges, son of Thomas, the English missionary who was the first European to settle in Tierra del Fuego (Ushuaia, the world's southernmos city was the site of his mission among the Yamana people), wrote about the Haush. He reported that they feared both Selknam and Yamana, and believed that they had been forced into the forested cul de sac where they lived due to this constant conflict with their neighbors. He also noticed the difference between the language of Selknam and Haush.

Bridges also believed that the Haush (or Aush) arrived in Tierra del Fuego before the Selknam did, and he based this belief on the fact that many place names in Selknam territory had Haush names.

My Map of Patagonian natives. The Haush are on the lower right tip of Tierra del Fuego:

A close up view of Mitre Peninsula, the land of the Haush, and Bahia Buen Suceso is marked with a red circle:

A photo of one of the last Haush ca. 1920s (notice the guanaco fur, worn with the "wool outwards". The European man is a Catholic priest. Their missions only spread measles, tuberculosis and flu, wiping out the few remaining Haush (and also Selknam and Yamana) people.:

Little is known about them, their customs and language. I have not been able to find any scholarly papers about these people (most refer to the Selknam or Yamana). We have photos, and some articles written later, such as Anne Chapman's books, but if you dig deeper, they repeat the same themes and don't add new information beyond the anecdotes compiled by Bridges, the Catholic priests and the first "scientific" expeditions to Tierra del Fuego in the late 1800s.

The click language of the Haush is another mystery worth being studied.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2019 by Austin Whittall © 

Yamana sculpture

During the long process of writing my book on Patagonian "Monsters", I read many papers, articles and books (especially books) written by explorers, missionaries and scientists who visited Patagonia between the 1500s and the early 1900s. In one of those books, I came across the image shown below, with the Spanish caption: "Ensayo de escultura, fueguino (on-asciaga) de Tierra del Fuego", which can be translated as: "attempt at a sculpture; Fueguian (on-asicaga) Tierra del Fuego" [1]:

Yaghan sculpture From [1].

The image was published in a book that described the scientific expedition undertaken by the Italian captain Giacomo Bove, sponsored by the Argentine government, in 1881-1882. His was an expedition to Southern Patagonia, the Beagle Channel and Tierra del Fuego.

"On-asciaga" is the native Yaghan (also known as Yamana) name for the Beagle Channel [2]. This Channel lies on the southern shores of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Island, and marks the border between Argentina (north) and Chile (south). By the way, in 1978, both countries almost went to war over three islands located on the eastern mouth of the Channel (Picton, Lennox and Nueva). War was averted and the dispute was settled peacefully (the islands are now Chilean).

These Yaghans (also known as Yamanas) were "canoe people" who moved about in their bark canoes (yes, they were made out of the bark of the Southern Beeches -Nothofagus sp. trees). They lived a nomadic life in the Fuegian channels and islands. They spent some time on land, in simple huts made from branches, and hunted the local seals or ate the mussels and crabs that were abundant in the Fuegian coastal waters.

The Yaghans were actually the southernmost people in the whole world.

Their closest neighbors were the Alakaluf (or Kawesqar) who lived in the islands of southwestern Patagonia to the north and west of the Yaghans. Both had a similar lifestyle differing only in their languages, they were usually fighting each other.

On the Isla Grande's mainland, there were two other groups of natives, one in the southeastern forests were the Haush (or Haus) the others lived in the grasslands of the North (the Selk'nam or Ona).

I was surprised because neither the Bridges (Thomas or Lucas), [*] who were the first Europeans to live in the region as from 1870, nor any other later (or earlier) explorer mentioned any Yamaná sculptures! or any artistic production beyond their tools or some body painting and ceremonial masks. [3]

[*] Thomas Bridges, (1842–1898). English Anglican minister who from 1869 until he retired in 1887 headed the mission among the Yagans, founding what is now the town of Ushuaia. He later obtained a land grant from the Argentine government close to the town, and set up his estancia (sheep ranch) at Harberton. He also wrote a very complete Yagan language dictionary.
Stephen Lucas Bridges, (1874-1949) was the third son of English Anglican missionary Thomas Bridges. Lucas was the first European to be born in Tierra del Fuego. He grew up among the Yagans and learnt their language and customs. He moved from Ushuaia to Harberton in 1887, where his father established a ranch ("estancia") after retiring from mission work. In 1902 he set up his own ranch at Viamonte, where he would meet and befriend the Selk'nam. His autobiographic book Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948) is a valuable source on Fuegian anthropology.

The Yaghan Mask

The Yamana used bark masks in their ceremonies (they are often refered to as hílix, but that is their word for quiver -to hold arrows, not for "mask"), some images are shown below [6] (see Another photograph):

The neighboring Kawésqar (or Alacaluf) canoe people used masks [4]:

The image above is a photograph by Martin Guisinde (1923), showing a phallic "Yinchiahua" mask used during the male puberty initiation ceremonies.

The Fuegian native ceremonies invoked evil spirits and the men got dressed up to represent them. The best known is the Selk'nam's "Hain" ceremony, which was witnessed by Europeans in the late 1800s (Lucas Bridges). The Yaghans also had a similar rite, "Chiejaus" which was studied much later in the 1920s, when they had lost nearly all of their ancient customs and had already been absorbed into Western "civilization".

Fuegian males -of all groups- had a fixation with women’s freedom and they went to extremes to subjugate them. Their myths indicate that in the past men were under female domination until they revolted and adopted initiation rites in which they donned costumes and masks and impersonated evil spirits to instill fear and keep their women subdued. This may explain why females are associated with evil monsters in their culture.

The Patagonian indians in general and the Fuegians in particular did not sculpt stone. They fashioned their spears and tools from bone or stone, wove baskets, braided leather or used rounded stones for their "boleadoras" to capture the local guanaco camelids (or ñandú or rhea "ostriches" on the American mainland).

The few examples of engraved stones, supposedly of a Phoenician origin are an exception (see also alleged Hebrew engraved stones), but are clearly not of the Native American style which are less elaborate (see Genuine Native stone implements).

The stark and simple masks contrast with those elaborate "Middle Eastern" engravings, and also with the strange "Yamana sculpture"; the object does not seem to be a native handicraft.

This strange Yamana sculpture showing a person (with a hat? and a coat?) was probably the outcome of contact with Bridges' mission or maybe it was crafted as part of the activities at the misison. Thomas Bridges does not tell us what sort of work the natives did at the Ushuaia mission (we do know that the crowded settlement and the interaction with the Europeans which began arriving in the early 1880s decimated the canoe people with measles, tuberculosis and flu).

I resist the temptation to suggest that the sculpture depicts some mythical being (a Fuegian dwarf or ogre), because there is no context in which to insert it. Just a photograph in a book with a non descript caption. Such was the work of the anthropologists of the late 1800s!!

Later scholars had the knowledge and the know-how but lacked the subjects: disease had wiped out most of the Yaghans, Alakaluf and also the Selk'nam (or Ona) pedestrian natives that lived inland (actually these had also fallen under the bullets shot at them by the local gold-panners and European sheep farmers: the natives took to hunting sheep, far more easy preys than the guanaco).

Early 1900s postcard depicting a "Fuegian Indian" (No indication is given about the group he belonged to), both he and the Yaghan pictured further down have a certain "Australian" look don't they?

Below is a Yamana native (in mourning), from the French "Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn" (1882-1883) under captain Ferdinand Martial [7]:

Sources

[1] Giacomo Bove, Domenico Lovisato, Expedición a la Patagonia: un viaje a las tierras y mares australes (1881-1882). Ediciones Continente, 2005, pp. 146.
[2] Guillermo Lagos Carmona Los títulos historicos Andres Bello, 1985 - Chile pp. 34
[3] Orquera, L. and Piana, E., (1999). La vida material y social de los Yámana. B. Aires: Eudeba
[4] Claudio Pulgar Pinaud, (2007). Vivienda Indigena, Participación y desarrollo social. El caso de la Comunidad Indigena Kawesqar de Puerto Eden. Revista invi Nº 60, Agosto 2007, Vol. 22: 59 -100
[5] Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian.
[6] Cristopher Agostino, (2011)Masks from here Bark Masks and Bodypainting of the Yamana (or Yaghan) and the Selk’nam (or Ona) of Tierra Del Fuego
[7] Martial, L., (2005). Mision al Cabo de Hornos, la expedición científica francesa en la Romanche Julio de 1882 a setiembre de 1883.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2014 by Austin Whittall © 

Sarmiento de Gamboa's UFO in Patagonia (1580)

 
Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa recorded a strange incident during his voyage of exploration to the Strait of Magellan, it happened on the evening of Sunday, February 7, 1580.

(Sarmiento de Gamboa founded two ill fated colonies on the Strait of Magellan whose inhabitants starved to death, one became known as Port Famine. Only one settler survived to be rescued and taken to Lima).

He recorded the event in his journal and the original text is shown in the following image

Sarmiento de Gamboa's Journal. From [1]

Below is my translation of the original Spanish text. My comments are in brackets “[ ]”:

"Tonight during the evening on the South East side, quarter towards the South [South south east] we saw a round thing, red as fire, like an oval shaped shield, rise; it climbed through the sky, perhaps on the wind. Above a tall mountain it extended [in time or in shape?] , and being as a tall spear upon the mountain, it became like a half moon, tinted between red and white. Its shapes were like these [2] [see fig. 4, in the plates]

The figure drawn in his journal is shown below:

The image of the UFO seen by Sarmiento de Gamboa. From [1]

What could it have been?

What was this U.F.O.? (not in the sense of an alien spacecraft, but as a natural phenomenon). A comet or an eclipse.

Well, there actually was a total moon eclipse with the full moon of Jan 31, 1580, at 21:36 U.T., which would be around 17:36 or 5:36 PM in the area close to Tierra del Fuego (Gamboa was close to the Strait's western mouth) and actually it was visible in that area (see map below).[1]

The Lunar Eclipse of Jan. 31, 1580. By NASA. From [2]

Yes, I know, the dates are wrong, the eclipse happened on January 31st while Sarmiento wrote about something that happened on February 7th!

At first I thought that as Sarmiento’s diary was kept following the dates used back then, in 1579, which corresponded to the Julian calendar introduced by Julius Caesar, the eclipse could account for his sighting.

As you all know, the Julian calendar was out of phase with the real motion of the Earth by about 11 minutes every year. So when Easter began falling behind the “real” astronomical date, Pope Gregory XIII modified the calendar in 1582 to compensate for these 11 minutes per year difference. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD had done a minor adjustment, but by these 11 minutes a day added up to about 10 days in 1582. So in October 1582, the calendar was adjusted and October 15th followed October 4th. Many people wondered what happened to those 10 stolen from their lives!

But this cannot explain the eclipse. Because: 1) Julian Calendar is used to reflect astronomical events prior to 1582 and the NASA website [2] says the eclipse happened on January 31st.

¿Could Sarmiento have mistaken the dates?

By the way, the images seem to show a moon changing shape due to the Earth’s shadow flitting across it. The reddish color is also typical of lunar eclipses.
But we have one week difference!

The answer to my question is NO, he did not mistake the dates, in fact he saw and recorded the lunar eclipse in his journal:

"This Sunday there was a lunar eclipse; and though Sarmiento observed it and it was a clear night, and the Moon appeared in the East while the Sun set, and when it rose, it appeared round and totally un-eclipsed, but its redness and darkness that came over the sky as it showed itself above the Eastern horizon...." [1] pp. 184

So we can forget about the eclipse! I could not find any comets during that period either.

Perhaps some distant volcano’s eruption reflecting on a cloud blown by Patagonia’s wind?

A mystery, but I don’t think it can be due to an extraterrestrial alien craft.

Then again, the image in Sarmiento de Gamboa's journal looks like the Moon during Last Quarter, and, on February 8th that was precisely the Moon's phase. Could a volcanic eruption have caused the Moon to appear red? This is quite a common phenomenon, "blood red" Moon due to volcanic ash in the air (I have seen it due to Puyehue Volcano's recent eruption).

Sources

[1] Sarmiento de Gamboa, P., (1768). Viaje al Estrecho de Magallanes por el Capitán Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa en los años de 1579 y 1580… Madrid: Imprenta Real de la Gazeta. Pp 205 and plates.
[2] NASA. Phases of the Moon: 1501 to 1600

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

On Phoenicians and Fuegians

 

A comment posted by one of my readers put forth an interesting suggestion (thank you Linda Zambanini), which I copy below:

I was just reading your excellent blog about Phoenicians in South America after searching for more info about the Paraibo stone. I was fascinated by the horned Halaháches creature which was painted with broad red and white stripes. It came to my mind that the Phoenician sails were composed of broad red and white stripes. (The stripes were vertical but it would be difficult to paint a person with broad red and white stripes). Could it be that they were emulating the sails that they saw on Phoenician ships? Just a thought. Not sure if their “horned fish” it this conjectured to have been based on had red and white stripes.
Linda Zambanini

Halahaches or Kotaix, a Selknam creature. Black and white image from the Internet colored red by A. Whittall

Striped sails, true or false?

So I wondered: do we know if Phoenician sails were striped red and white? So... I did a bit of reading and I did not manage to find anything mentioning red and white striped sails. But, I did find some other remarks about Phoenician sails:

Phoenician ship. From the Internet

"The sails were made of strips of woven flax or of papyrus, bound at the edges with strips of raw hide”[1]

So perhaps "white" (is flax or papyrus white? or brown?) in strips with their edges of a reddish brown color (raw hide). So this could be taken for red and white stripes. But there is more:

The Holy Bible [2] mentions the Phoenician city of Tyre and her riches, and talks about;

“Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; 'blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee

It seems that the Egyptian linen, embroidered, would be too luxurious or maybe even too heavy to be used as a sail, so some Bible translations (i.e. Vulgate) interpret this not as sails but instead, as flags.

However this description seems to refer to the luxury boats of the nobles of Tyre and not the usual run of the mill commercial ships. But, if the snobs used embroidered sails, could the traders have used sails with red and white stripes?

The reference to "blue and purple" from the isles of Elisha may sound mysterious, but actually Elisha was one of the sons of Javan (which means Greece) so Elisha is a part of Greece. And, the purple from Laconia (where Sparta used to be) was a very fine dye, nearly as good as the Phoenician dye but cheaper and thus used to cover the awnings of their ships.

The biblical text is:



So, maybe they had colorful sails, blue, purple or flax and raw hide. But I have not found any reference to red and white sails (though, if you google images of "phoenician sails" the boats depicted have red and white sails!

Why? I will keep on reading.

Sources
[1] Astley John Hilary, (1937). Communication has been established Author Goodwin Publisher Methuen, pp. 135.
[2] Ezequiel XVII : 7. The Bible.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Lakuma the fuegian sea monster

It has been quite some time since my last post, and I sincerely apologize! I have been very busy, but nevertheless I have kept on researching.

I have found another reference regarding the Fuegian Lakooma, the only other one that I had found had been written by Lucas Bridges (the first "white" person born in Tierra del Fuego), and he did not say too much about it. This new reference was recorded by a Catholic priest, Martin Gusinde, who visited Tierra del Fuego in the early 1900s.
He wrote several books about his trips to Fuegia and in one of them [1] about the native "canoe" people, the Yamana, he writes about Lakuma (as he spells it):

It threatens evry canoe, lifts out the occupants, and sucks them down into the depths. Each Lakuma has the habit of flattening himself out on the surface of the water so that his back protrudes a little. He waits in this fashion until a canoe approaches. It is hard to recognize the Lakuma from a distance. People often say that outwardly he is like a whale; others compare him to the calamary hilka (Loligo subulata or squid) which is not which is not uncommon in those regions; still others to the ray. He is also said to be large and very strong, "a great monster like a huge worm" [cited in English]/, according to Spencer:80. If the occupants of a canoe have unwittingly come within reach of the monster, they rarely succeed in escaping disaster, and only if the Lakuma is sleeping or in a good mood.
... The people in the east eat the meat of the Lakuma, which is something we in the west would never do... Lakuma seriously harm everyone who comes within their reach

Spencer, quoted by Gusinde, said the following:[2]

Yaghan[i.e. Yamana] showed us special belt of kelp which natives are too frightened to cross because a great monster like a huge worm, called Wongara, drags them and their boats under water. Wongara is a general word for worm.

So it seems to be some Fuegian Kraken, which has some similarities with the Cuero creature which peoples the lakes and rivers of Northern Patagonia. But Spencer's deptiction: a worm, rings a bell! I have posted about maps published before Columbus discovered America which mentioned Giants fighting against Dragons:

The Nova Cosmographia per totum circulum map reconstructed by the scholar Dana Durand from a manuscript compiled by Brother Fredericus ca. 1450, has the legend “dy Risen vechten und streiten wider dy lint wurm”—Giants fighting and quarreling against the lindworm [*] ; once again a reference to giants and ‘dragons’. The
[*] Note on the Lindworm: A wingless dragon of Northern Europe, from Swedish ‘lind’ (flexible body) and ‘orm’ (serpent).

Could Lakooma and Wongara be the mythical lindworm?

Lucas Bridges father, Thomas, compiled a Yamana - English dictionary [3] in which he has one entry on "Wongara": "Wön-gara(nda) (A) spider(s), justt like a spider". So is it a worm or an aqutic spider?

Sources

[1] Gusinde, Martin, (1961). The Yamana: the life and thought of the water nomads of Cape Horn. pp. +1167
[2] Sir Baldwin Spencer, (1931). Spencer's last journey: being the journal of an expedition to Tierra del Fuego. Clarendon Press. pp 80.
[3] Bridghes, Thomas, (1933). Yamana-English: a dictionary of the speech of Tierra del Fuego. pp. 625.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Strange (dinosaur?) in Tierra del Fuego

 

Some strange Fuegian creatures. Copyright © 2010 by Austin Whittall

The image above is just a detail of an ancient map, Tabula Magellanica qua Tierrae del Fuego drawn in 1671 by John Ogilby and Jan Janssonius. The Strait of Magellan can be seen just above the two central blue colored arrows. The Pacific Ocean is on the lower left side, by the green arrow.

The map shows several animals and some natives too, on the island, named Magellanica.

Normal people and animals

The map shows some Rhea or ñandu being hunted by the local natives (though there are no "South American ostriches" on the island - see my post about the intriguing ohi for more on this matter). The "ostriches" are marked with blue colored arrows and are roughly to scale.

Then there are two penguins (green arrow), also drawn to scale.

Weird creatures

But then, there are two bulky bodied animals with long swan-necks and also long tails (marked with the red arrows), which have a bird-like (or reptilian) look.

They are quite similar to an image that I posted some time ago in my post Patagonian living dinosaurs.

I wonder what they are. They are big, about the size of an adult person. Too big to be any of the known Patagonian birds.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Saapaim - The Fuegian sloth

 
The Saapaim is a strange creature, that was reported as living in Tierra del Fuego by Anglican missionary Thomas Bridges in the 1860s. He took over the Mission at Ushuaia bay, which is nowadays the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego. Although I have already posted about it, (Mysterious Fuegian creature: Saapaim), I came across the original source of Bridge's report.

Below is the text where the creature is mentioned: [1]



Thomas'son, Lucas, had a different opinion: [2]



Lucs said it was a coipo, which is an animal that resembles both a beaver and an otter.

Bibliography.

[1] Bridges, T. (1869). Fireland and its people. The South American Missionary Magazine. Vol III. July, 1, 1869. pp. 113.
[2] Bridges, L. (1947). Uttermost part of the earth. Dutton. pp. 447.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Beavers or the small northern monsters

 

The destructive effect of Beavers in Patagonia.


These Northern Hemisphere animals (Castor canadiensis) were introduced to Tierra del Fuego Island by the Argentine navy, to kick-start the local fur industry. It was a failure so some tender hearted navy man, instead of killing off the twenty five pairs of beavers, set them loose in the wilderness.

They expanded quickly and adapted marvelously to the new environment. Nowadays they number between 35 and 50 thousand, [1] and their territory occupies a large portion of Tierra del Fuego Island and several smaller ones in both Chile and Argentina.

To make matters worse, beavers have left Tierra del Fuego and colonized the southern tip of the continent at Brunswick Peninsula. The Chilean government is working hard to errdicate this foothold and to create a buffer zone on the Island.
If beavers manage to gain a firm hold on the mainland, the whole ecosystem of the Andean Forests will be at risk.[2]

The local forests made up mostly of Nothofagus (Southern Beech) have not co-evolved with beavers like the Northern Hemisphere's forests. They grow slowly and just can't keep up with the logging habits of beavers.

Furthermore, the guanaco feeds on the new saplings and the combination of flooded forests (beaver dams block the flow of rivers and flood the woods), tree foraging and slow growth / sapling destruction is taking its toll on the Fuegian forests.

American Beaver at Tierra del Fuego. Copyright © 1992- 2009 by Alec Earnshaw. From [3]

Beavers, they can explain the monster at Lake Fagnano

Since beavers have spread along Lake Fagnano into Chile and it occupies the central part of their Fuegian habitat, they may help explain Fañanito, the lake creature that is said to live in it, and which has been described as follows:

[the] large head appeared suddenly and looked at him, and then submerged without leaving any trace. The man screamed, startling the people; the boat turned around but they did not see it again

For someone on a tourist excursion along the lake, a beaver head appearing on the surface would be a frightening experience. One that could easily be attributed to a lake cryptid.

Bibliography.

[1] Lizarralde, M., Escobar, J. and Deferrari, G.Invader Species in Argentina: A review about the beaver (Castor canadiensis) Population Situation on Tierra del Fuego ecosystem.Interciencia Jul 2004. Vol. 29 pp. 356
[2] Parkes, J.; Paulson, J, Donlan, J.; Campbell, K. (2008). Control of North American beavers in Tierra del Fuego: feasibility of eradication and alternative management options. Landcare Research Contract Report LC0708/
[3] Photograph is copyright © by Alec Earnshaw, Fauna of Argentina, it has some beautiful photographs of the Fuegian Fauna.

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Mysterious Fuegian creature: Saapaim

 

Tierra del Fuego island is the southernmost portion of Patagonia. It lies south of the Strait of Magellan between 52° 27' and 55° 03' latitude S.

The Fuegian archipelago comprises many islands, the largest of which is the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Big Island of Tierra del Fuego), which is, size wise the 29^th largest island in the world with an area of 48.000 km² (18,540 sq.mi.).

Its western coast is bathed by the Pacific Ocean and its eastern seabord is on the Atlantic Ocean; Drake's Passage lies to the south.

Its southern and south western regions, one third of the island, are mountainous. The Andes, which reach a maximum height of 2500 m (8,200 ft.)at Mount Darwin. This is the densely forested part of the island. It is also where the imposing Fuegian glaciers can be found. The Northern two thirds are covered with shrub-grass and crisscrossed by rivers that have their sources in the Andes.

Saapaim, the beast

Tierra del fuego was left alone by the Spanish conquistadors and its natives lived in peace until the arrival of the protestant missionaries in the 1840s. After some failures (the natives massacred the missionaries), Thomas Bridges (1842–1898) succeeded in setting up the first Anglican mission on the island, at what is now the city of Ushuaia.

Bridges reported a very strange creature, the saapaim. We know that it was not an otter, which the Yagan natives called aiapuk.[1]

In July 1869, Bridges wrote about this animal recording its Indian name “saapaim” and described it as "very shaggy, about as large as a sheep, has very large and powerful claws and front teeth; it lives in the densest forests on the leaves, fungus and sap of trees. It climbs with ease. I think this animal must be a sloth.[2] (Bold mine).

Previously, in 1866, he had written that there were “beavers” in western Tierra del Fuego,[3] though he later (1886) dropped the sloth/beaver likeness and decided that the animal was a fresh-water otter “called saapai by the natives”.[4]

His son Lucas Bridges, who was the first "European" born on the island, said that it was not an otter, but a “coipo that the Yamana called “sayapie”, a large water rat".[5]

Otter, coipo, sloth? What is it?

Both Bridges, father and son disagreed on what saapaim was. Lets look at each of the animals:

The coipo (Myocastor coypus) is also known as “nutria” (Spanish for otter). Some English texts call it the South American beaver yet it is neither an otter nor a beaver. It is a small and stout vegetarian about 63 cm (25 in.) long and weighing about 7 kg (15.4 lb.). It has strong sharp claws and four of its five toes on its rear paws are joined by a natatory membrane, which the four fingered front paws lack. It is riverine in eastern Patagonia and sea-going in southern Chile. In the following image you can see that it looks like a rat-beaver hybrid. It does not resemble an otter at all.

Coipo. From [7].

The huillín or Patagonian otter (Lontra provocax) on the other hand is nearly twice as long: 110 cm (3 ft. 7 in.), it can weigh up to 14 kg (31 lb.) and being a carnivore is more fearsome and bold. Though endangered, it still can be found in the coastal waters around Tierra del Fuego. On the mainland they lived in fresh water lakes and rivers, but in Tierra del Fuego they adapted to a marine environment. Slender and svelte, the otter is a slim creature, unlike the chubby coipo.

Huillín (Patagonian River Otter). By Fabián Bugnest. From [8].

Two toed sloths are smaller than otters and roughly the same size as the coipo: they measure between 58 and 70 cm (23 to 28 in.)-the three toed sloth is smaller. They weigh between 3.5 and 8 kg (7.7 - 27.6 lb.).[6] Sloths are slow moving arboreal creatures though they also swim across rivers and walk (slowly) along the ground from tree to tree to feed. The following images show sloths, which are very different to an otter or a coipo.

Swimming sloth (above) and walking sloth (below).
Upper image From [9]. Lower image From [10].

Identifying saapaim. A midget giant ground sloth?

Thomas Bridges’ original description is not that of an otter or a coipo (they do not climb trees) and they are not "sheep sized". The creature is definitively something else.

It is also surprising that he believed that it was some sort of sloth. Sloths are tropical creatures, they live in the hot humid rainforests of Central and South America.

Yet thirty years later the remains of an extinct giant ground sloth species (mylodon) were discovered in the region just north of Tierra del Fuego (see my post on the incredible Mylodon saga), so there is the chance that saapaim could be a surviving "giant ground sloth" that grew smaller to adapt to its insular habitat.

Insular dwarfism is a process by which large animals reduce their size when their population is constrained to a small environment such as an island. There are several examples of this kind of dwarfism: dwarf elephants in Malta and Crete, the tiny Hobbit prehistoric man at Flores Island and (interestingly) dwarf ground sloths in Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Coincidence? Maybe. Or perhaps the natives' myths still remembered the bygone ages when sloths prowled the island (at the end of the last Ice Age), before dying out.

Going back to Bridges description of saapaim: the powerful claws are interesting because it agrees with the native myths of clawed monsters (see my posts on these beasts Fuegian Beasts Part 1 and Part 2).

However, having front teeth saapaim can’t be an edentate. Size-wise it seems too small to have been a water tiger yet being "sheep sized", it is much larger than any known otter.

Identifying saapaim. A giant rat?

Besides the giant ground sloth, something else had also been found in the Mylodon Cave: the remains of a very large rodent.

Rodents, also known as Rodentia is an order of mammals that are characterized by having two continuously growing incisors in their upper and lower jaws; these must be kept short by gnawing. These are very similar to Bridge's saapaim (with powerful front teeth).

Though most rodents are small (i.e. mice) the largest extant rodent, the South American capybara or carpincho (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), can weigh up to 80 kg (180 lb.). Carpincho is an aquatic hog-like animal, bulky and with thick bushy reddish hair. This fits Bridges description (sheep sized and shaggy haired) perfectly.

The team that discovered these remains in 1899 contended that “it is very probable that the amphibian that they [the natives] say walks on land as easily as it swims in the water, is a big rodent”.[11] They were refering to the mythical iemisch monster (also known as "water tiger").

Could saapaim be a big unknown rat?

The Mylodon Cave remains belonged to a rodent that was “much bigger than the carpincho […] but a bit smaller than the Megamys patagonensis”. So this creature was a very big “rat”; the M. patagoniensis were real giants; they were four times larger than any living species of Rodentia, roughly the size of an ox.

However, a paper published in 2017 says these remains were mistakenly identified as a rodent but "“Megamys”, belongs to a member of the family Camelidae and probably to a morphotype similar to that of L. guanicoe."

Carpincho or Capibara. From [7].

A big aquatic rodent, though herbivore could be quite a threat if frightened or protecting its young, it may also explain many of the "lake bull" sightings and other mythical beings like the cuchivilu and, of course, our Fuegian saapaim.

Bibliography.

[1] Bridges, T., (1998). Los Indios del último confin. Sus escritos para la South American Missionary Society. Ushuaia: Zaguier & Urruty. pp. 159.
[2] Ibid. pp. 15.
[3] Orquera, L. and Piana, E., (1999). La vida material y social de los Yámana. B. Aires: Eudeba. pp. 144.
[4] Bridges, T., (1998). Op. Cit. pp. 145.
[5] Bridges, L., (2008). Op.Cit. pp. 437.
[6] Sloth Fact Sheet. Xentartha.org
[7] Coipo and Carpincho images source.
[8] Otter image Huillín (Patagonian River Otter). SIB.
[9] Sloth (swimming) image Dawn on the Amazon Captains Blog.
[10] Sloth (walking) image The Bocas Breeze. September 2007. Vol 4 No. 9. Photo by Tim Billo.
[11] Hauthal, R., Roth, S., Lehmann-Nitsche, R., (1899). El mamifero misterioso de la Patagonia, Grypotherium domesticum. Revista del Museo de La Plata, v. ix. pp. 445, 446. Read it online, see below:



Further reading:

Anglican Missionary Endeavour in Tierra del Fuego (1832-1916). Historical Review


Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

Yámana or Yagan

 

Last week I bought a book on Argentina's mythical beings (Seres Mitológicos Argentinos) written by Adolfo Colombres. It is basically a dictionary with over five hundred entries, each one corresponding to a mythical entity. It is superbly illustrated by Luis Scafati.

The mythical creatures span several native cultures from north to south (Guaraní, Diaguita, Toba, Wichi, etc.) as well as some "westernized" ones which belong to Argentina's Creole mythology.

Book Cover Seres Mitológicos Argentinos.

Yet I was unpleasantly surprised by the author's comment "We have not included the Yámanas because they are Chilean".[1]

This is not true. The Yámana (also known as Yagan) lived in the territory that is now part of Argentina and also Chile. They were boat people and moved around in canoes that they made with the bark of the Nothofagus trees.

As the following map shows (the Yámana territory is marked in green), they clearly extended east along the Beagle Channel into Argentina.

Tierra del Fuego Natives. Martin Gusinde c. 1920. From [2].

Furthermore, the name of the capital city of the Argentine Province of Tierra del Fuego (Ushuaia) is a Yagan word! It was here that Rev. Thomas Bridges headed an Anglican mission among the Yagans between 1871 and 1886. He spoke their language fluently and even wrote a Yagan language dictionary.

His son, Lucas Bridges recorded interesting information about these people and the Bridges family, established at their estancia (Ranch) at Harberton, close to Ushuaia, assisted many of the later scientific expeditions sent to Tierra del Fuego to study the place and the native people.

This made me wonder why Colombres overlooked the abundant bibliography available on these now extinct Argentine natives and decided that they were Chilean.

It also raises the question of how deep has he researched the other contents of his book. My suggestion is to us this book as a very superficial introduction to Argentine native and popular myths, but go to the sources if you want deeper or reliable information.

Bibliography.

[1] Colombres, A., (2008). Seres Mitológicos Argentinos. B. Aires: Ed. Colihue. pp. 22.
[2] Distribution of Indian Groups in the Southern Channels by Martin Gusinde, c.1920.

Further reading on the Yagans:

Bridges, L., (2008). El último confín de la tierra. B. Aires: Editorial Sudamericana.
Bridges, T., (1893). La Tierra del Fuego y sus habitantes. Informe de Thomas Bridges publicado por el Instituto Geográfico Argentino. B. Aires: Instituto Geográfico Argentino. 06-08.1893.
Bridges, T., (1998). Los Indios del último confin. Sus escritos para la South American Missionary Society. Ushuaia: Zagier & Urruty Publications.
Canclini, A., (2007). Leyendas de Tierra del Fuego. Mitos de los onas y yaganes, aborígenes fueguinos. B. Aires: Zagier & Urruty.
Gusinde, M., (1961). The Yamana: The Life and Thought of the Water Nomads of Cape Horn. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.
Martial, L., (2005). Mision al Cabo de Hornos, la expedición científica francesa en la Romanche Julio de 1882 a setiembre de 1883. Ushuaia: Zagier & Urruty Publications.
Orquera, L. and Piana, E. (1999). La vida material y social de los Yámana. B. Aires: EUDEBA.
Orquera, L. and Piana, E., (2003). Yámana Canoeros marinos de Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia. Museo del Fin del Mundo, Biblioteca Virtual.

---

Lea este post en español

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Mythical "Magallanica" and the Furufuhue

 

Detail of the 1607 Kaerius World Map, showing an allegorical painting of Magallanica.

The allegory of "Magallanica" drawn in the 1607 World Map drawn by Kaerius, shows some interesting creatures that were believed to live in the mysterious Terra Australis south of America, in the South Polar regions.

Tierra del Fuego was then believed to be part of this unknown southern continent, and the Strait of Magellan was then thought to be the only route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Though Francis Drake had already noted in the 1570s that there may be a passage between both oceans south of Tierra del Fuego, it would be discovered in 1616 by a Dutch expedition led by Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire. They identified an island named by them Cape Horn as the southernmost tip of the Americas and the passage now known as Drake Passage.

Detail of the 1607 Kaerius World Map, showing Magallanica, a part of Terra Australis with its Terra del Fuego region and also, Patagonia just above it.

Surprisingly, "Magallanica" was not portrayed as a frozen icy realm but, quite the opposite, a balmy tropical zone.

The animals depicted in Kaerius' map are definitively not polar creatures: white elephants, a dog (or sheep? or bear?) like creature and a peculiar bird with long flowing feathers which reminds me of a mythical Patagonian bird,Furufuhue.

Furufuhue, the "wind bird"

There is a myth which explains the bitter Patagonian winds as being created by an enormous and mysterious creature resembling a cross between an eagle and a fish.

This bird is the size of a Mapuche hut and its body is covered with shiny scales instead of feathers.[1][2]

Scales are a definitively reptilian feature, which is quite strange for a bird. Furufuhue is seldom seen, but its song is heard at a great distance “even in the whole world”.[3]

Bibliograhpy.
[1] Noticias de Antropología y Arqueología, (2002). El Diccionario de Mitos y Leyendas. Online.
[2] Batic, L., (2005). Seres mitológicos argentinos. Diario 1. Patagonia. B. Aires: Ed. Albatros. pp 54.
[3] Alvarez, G., (1969). Donde estuvo el paraiso, del Tronador a Copáhue. B. Aires: Ed. Pehuen. pp 303.



Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters