region, and is being rapidly settled. European
colonies have been established there, and they are highly prosperous.
The native Indians are disappearing, hurried to extinction chiefly by
King Alcohol, which, once tasted, seems to conquer them. Traders know
the weakness of these savages, and exploit it for all they are worth.
The articles which the Indians chiefly barter are skins, pelts, and
ostrich feathers.

The Indians are well supplied with horses, the descendants of those
brought to South America by Spanish explorers. They are wonderful riders
and excel in the use of a peculiar lasso called the bolas. It consists
usually of three balls of stone or metal covered with rawhide and
attached to one another by twisted thongs of the same material. In
fighting as well as in capturing wild animals, this instrument is
indispensable. The operator, holding one of the balls, swings the others
over his head and when sufficient momentum has been obtained lets them
go. If well aimed, the connected balls circle around the legs of the
animal to be caught, entangling and throwing it down.

The Indians of the mainland are strong and tall. Unlike most South
American Indians, they go about well clothed. Occasionally they kill
their horses for food, but their chief reliance for both food and
clothing is the guanaco.

Although the Indians have inhabited this part of South America for
centuries, they follow well-beaten trails. They live in a superstitious
dread of evil spirits, who they believe dwell in the densely wooded
mountain slopes of the Cordillera.

[Illustration: Fuegians]

The Indians of Tierra del Fuego archipelago are much inferior to those
of the mainland. They go almost or entirely naked and subsist on fish.
The canoe Indians, as those in the western part are called, build boats
of bark sewn together with sinews. The boats are about fifteen feet
long, and in the centre a quantity of earth is carried, upon which a
fire is built. The canoe Indians have neither chief nor tribal
relations; each family is a law unto itself. They spend most of their
time during the day in rowing among the different channels where fish
may be obtained. At night they generally go on shore to sleep. A hole
scooped out of the ground or a sheltered rock with a few boughs bent
down suffices for a house where all can huddle close together for
warmth. Seldom do they sleep more than one night in a place, fearing
that if they do not move on an evil spi