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.

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

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.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

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

Patagonian Bigfoot?

 

I have been asked if there is a "Bigfoot" in Patagonia.

The correct answer is: no. Bigfoot is a North American creature. But, Patagonia does have its share of strange beings (dwarfs, monsters, the gigantic "Patagons") and these include "wild men" or hominids.

In today's post we will look into the Patagonian "Bigfoot".

The Fuegian Yagans feared several man-like "ogres" that lived in the forests: the Selk'nam's one was Hashi, very similar to the Yagan's "Hannush", also known as "wild men".

Reverend Thomas Bridges described Hannush as:

a sort of demented or wild man of the forests […] similar to man in shape, living alone or in groups, but without wife or children; they were always stalking, trying to come upon men, women or children to kill them.[1][2]

A very credible witness mentions them; English naturalist Charles Darwin (of evolutionary fame) who in 1833 visited Tierra del Fuego aboard Captain Robert FitzRoy’s H.M.S. “Beagle”. Darwin wrote:

What the "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me most mysterious […] I should have thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their tribes; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes imagined that the most probable explanation was that they were insane.[3]

FitzRoy also wrote about the “wild men”, pointing out their “black” color: “A great black man is supposed to be always wandering about the woods and mountains […] who cannot be escaped”.[4]

He also reported that among the Chono his pilot Mr. William Low recorded that: “[They] believe in an evil spirit, called Yaccy-ma, who they think is able to do all kinds of mischief, cause bad weather, famine, illness, &c.: he is supposed to be like an immense black man”.[4]

Could these evil dark (i.e. black) men be some kind of fur clad hominid?

“Mwono” the southern abominable snow man.

The Yagan’s neighbors, the Alakaluf, feared Mwono, a “snow man”. Theirs was a land of jagged fjords and islands where the glaciers reach the sea calving icebergs into treacherous waters. Mwono reigned supreme inhabiting “the summits of the mountains and glaciers” where his tracks could be found.[5]

Chilean ethnolinguist Oscar Aguilera believes that this “‘snow man’ is a fabulous and mythical animal that the [Alakaluf] say lives in the glaciers and whose footprints they say that they have seen”.[6] What these prints look like, unfortunately, no one knows.

Potentially dangerous, its reclusive nature made it quite harmless; Mwono was a reclusive and peaceful being that would only hurt those who dared to enter his territory.[7]

Further north, the Mapuche believed in several gigantic beings; one was the Trauko -do not mistake with Chiloé’s Trauco dwarf which we will describe in a future post- which dwelled along the banks of Collón Curá River -stone mask in Mapuche language- in Neuquén (40°00’ S, 70°49’ W). This was a monster, a “terrible giant, man eater” described as hairy and having “a very long beard and his hair that seemed like rush stalks were fire red color”.[8]

Their myths also included the Chilludo, Carcancho and Huitanalhue.

The Chilludo is a very large and hairy creature. A bearded “bogey man”. Ape-like and covered with a long sheep-like fleece, it may be frightening, but is said to be harmless. It can be found in the isolated mountain regions of northern Patagonia in Chile and in western Neuquén province, Argentina.[9]

The Carcancho. These hairy men led a solitary existence in the mountains and meadows feeding on tubers. They could measure up to 2 m (6 ft. 7 in.) tall in the mountains, but were dwarfish (1 m – 3.3 ft.) in the lowlands, where they lived burrowing underground. This may indicate that they were two different kinds of being or that perhaps they were not men but some kind of wild animal.

They walked in the snow and their large foot-prints were the only clues of their existence (exactly like the Mwono but 2.000 km further towards the north - 1,240 mi.).[10]

Huitranalhue is a kind of undead, a zombie, described as a big man, which like a vampire attacked people to drink their blood or eat their flesh.[11] Its name means “alien ghost” (huitran = stranger, alien; alhue = spirit, ghost).

This hermit carried a wooden sword (perhaps a club), and did not speak. It was easily concealed as it kept to the forest and was dressed in dark clothes (perhaps animal furs). Later the Mapuche would “Europeanize” it giving it the appearance of a well groomed Spaniard riding a horse.

I have already mentioned the "Tailed men" of Patagonia, which are another variety of "primitive men".

Wild men, what were they?

We could, as Darwin, believe that these “wild men” were just that, crazy wild men; it is also very plausible that the Hannush and the Hashi were simply “homeless” Yagans living alone in a very harsh environment or even displaced Selk’nam, Alakaluf or Haush who had wandered into their enemies’ territory and tried to remain concealed to avoid attack and if necessary for survival, murdered any potential threats.

Apes and Homo erectus

Another option, not as far-fetched as believing that wild men are enormous bipedal apes that evolved separately in America, involves our distant relative, Homo erectus, which became extinct worldwide when modern humans, Homo sapiens, moved out of Africa about 100,000 years ago.

Erectus moved out of Africa and spread into Asia about 1.2 million years ago. There are no traces of erectus in America, so we do not know if they reached this continent.

However, it may be possible (though this theory is unproven)that H. erectus, our distant ancestor, entered and settled in America, adapting to its particular environment and surviving there for 200,000 years in splendid isolation until the arrival of modern men. An event that would have sealed H. erectus fate as it did all over the world. Unable to compete with man they disappeared.

Club wielding, fur clad H. erectus, with perhaps a limited capability for vocalization could easily explain all of these mythical wild men (Chilludo, Carcancho, Huitranalhue, etc.), and account for the dark "black" wild men reported by FitzRoy and Darwin.

Bibliography.

[1] 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.
[2] Bridges, T., (1998). Los indios del último confin. Sus escritos para la South American Missionary Society. Ushuaia: Zaguier & Urruty Publications. pp. 152.
[3] Darwin, C., (1987). The Voyage of the Beagle. Ware: Woodsworth Editions. pp. 205.
[4] FitzRoy, R., (1839). Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836…. London: Henry Colburn. v. ii. pp. 180+ and pp. 191.
[5] Emperaire, J., (1963). Los Nómades del Mar. Santiago: Ediciones de la Universidad de Chile. pp. 156.
[6] Aguilera F., Lenguas y culturas de Chile – Kawéscar. Online.
[7] Grebe, M., (1974). La música alacalufe: aculturación y cambio estilístico. Revista musical chilena. Nº 126-127 pp. 80-111.
[8] Koessler-Ilg, B., (2000). Op Cit. pp. 71.
[9] Eberhart, G., (2002). Misterious Creatures: A guide to Cryptozoology. S. Barbara: ABC Clio. pp. 82.
[10] Batic, L., (2005). Seres mitológicos argentinos. Diario 1. Patagonia. B. Aires: Ed. Albatros. pp. 119.



Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters

Fuegian Beasts - Part 2

 

Yagan's “Cushpij”

The second group of Fuegians, the Yagan boat people also had their own “clawed” beasts stalking them; they believed in the aggressive Kíshpix (or Cushpij), a “spirit” that was “evil and with a horrible shape”[1] and which, according to Lucas Bridges, “terrified them”.[2]

Besides Cushpij, there were other monsters such as the one that lived in a cave on Gable Island, the largest in the Beagle Channel [54°53’ S, 67°29’ W]. It was “a monster, a sea lion or seal that attacked anyone who came close to the island, sinking their canoes and eating those on board”; it was finally slayed by a young Yagan hero named Umoara.[3]

He also killed another monster, a cruel giant that kidnapped women (this seemed to have been a common trait among the Patagonian monsters) and lived on Hoste Island; its only weak spot was its ankle.[3] This Achillean ankle is a remarkable coincidence, identical to that of another monster, feared by the Aonikenk of southern Patagonia: Oókempam, of whom we will about in our next post, tomorrow.

See map here with Gable and Host islands.

Alakaluf: “Ayayema” and “Kawtcho”

The Alakaluf boat men of the western coast of Tierra del Fuego and southern Chile also had their own monstrous beings. Besides their relatively benign “snow man” Mwono, there were others not so harmless.

One of them was Ayayema that hunted prowling in the night; during daytime it lived in a bog called “Papi” and emerged when darkness fell stalking along the shore concealed by the gloomy thick forests. It also had a horrid stench, smelling like rot.[4]

Another beast was Kawtcho; a nocturnal spirit that also had a putrid smell that was so strong that it awoke the dogs and made them howl. It was like a very tall man with a gigantic brawny body and sharp claws. Its head was covered with “hair hard and straight as nails”.[4] During the day, just like the Mapuche’s evil púlli fucha, it walked under the ground -a cave perhaps or a burrowing creature?- and at night, like Ayayema, it would lurk along the beaches, coming upon its solitary victims from behind (it only attacked from the rear) emptying their eyes out of their sockets and killing them.

They Alakaluf avoided lighting fires in the open at night not to disclose the location of their campsites to both Kawtcho and Ayayema and only dared to do so inside their huts, to keep the beasts out, because both feared light.[4]

These mythical Fuegian creatures share many similarities with those of the mainland’s Tehuelche people, as we will see in the next post: they were large, dangerous, man-eating, arrow-proof; they were fearsome creatures.

Bibliography.

[1] Orquera, L. and Piana, E., (2003). Yáana Canoeros marinos de Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia. Museo del Fin del Mundo, Biblioteca Virtual.
[2] Bridges, L., (2008). Op. Cit. pp. 159.
[3] Martial, L., (2005). Mision al Cabo de Hornos, la expedición científica francesa en la Romanche Julio de 1882 a setiembre de 1883. Ushuaia: Zaguier & Urruty Publications. pp.245-246.
[4] Emperaire, J. and Oyarzún, L., (2002). Los nomades del mar. Santiago: Lom Ed. pp. 299-300 & 305.


Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters

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