Aborigines in Patagonia
The Selk'nam
The Selk´nam, better know as onas, inhabited Tierra del Fuego. They
also belonged to the Tehuelche race. They excelled as hunters of guanacos, on
which they based their economy.
Body paint was one of their most important
cultural expressions, as well as the male initiation through the Hain Rite. They
did not have chiefs, only an elite of "shamanes", wise men and prophets that enjoyed
privileges and social recognition, inspired in the fear of the supernatural. They
did not have a structured religion and feared death by sorcery. The
estimated population before the European arrival was estimated in 10,000 in the
whole island (17th. Century). But in 1919, 50 years after the white
settlement in Tierra del Fuego, there were only 350 natives left. At present this
race does not exist. The last direct descendant of the onas died a few years
back.
The yámanas lived on the coast and islands of the
canals of Tierra del Fuego. They fed with mollusks, mussels, crabs and
fish. They moved in canoes made with bark. The canoe carried the whole family
on board, while the man with harpoon in hand waited for the prey, the woman rowed
and the children kept a fire burning in the canoe on a base of soil and stones.
They lived in huts made with branches, that had an excavation in its center, so
they were semi-underground. They wore seal or otter skins.
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