Synopsis:
"When I was very young," writes Author Bridges, "stories of little boys being adopted by wolves fascinated me . . . I yearned to live in the woods, far from whatever civilization existed in Ushuaia."
The "civilization" that young Lucas Bridges resented was a tiny scattering of houses and shanties at the tip of South America, in desolate Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia's closest contact with the outside world lay 400 miles away in the Falkland Islands, where Author Bridges' father had begun his career as an English missionary. The senior Bridges had sailed westward with his bride, and in 1871 arrived at his mission at Ushuaia harbor, in Beagle Channel. There he set about the business of building a few houses, civilizing the Indians (whom Naturalist Charles Darwin called, says Bridges, "if not the missing link, then the next thing to it") and raising a family. Lucas was his second son.
Guanaco Country. Like his father, young Bridges was determined to learn the" Indians' language, which was "infinitely richer and more expressive than English or Spanish." By the time his father had resigned the missionary post and moved his family about 40 miles down the channel to Harberton, where he started a sheep and cattle ranch, young Bridges was able to make out most of what the Yahgan Indians were talking about. But an even bigger challenge confronted him. In rugged, unexplored northeastern Tierra del Fuego lived the fierce Ona tribe. Naked under their calf-length, guanaco-skin capes, the nomadic Ona stood as high as six feet in their fur moccasins, hunted their game (mostly guanaco) with bow & arrow, and spoke a language that sounded like "a man clearing his throat."
Young Bridges learned a little about the Ona from the few tribesmen who came to the ranch for handouts, but he wasn't satisfied. In his 20s, hardened by years of outdoor life, he determined to cross the mountain range into Ona-land. With the help of his brothers and a couple of Indians, he succeeded on his third attempt. After that, with gifts and with demonstrations of his own prowess, he won the suspicious Ona's admiration.
Down with Tyranny. One of the Ona sports was killing off members of strange tribes, but now & then they settled for huge intra-tribal wrestling matches. When Author Bridges heard that an Ona was going to challenge him, he trained for weeks, then bested his opponent when the match came off. But his most important asset was courage in the face of Ona threats. He once flabbergasted some savages, who had bought rifles for the purpose of killing him, by walking into their camp and reproaching them for their unfriendly attitude. Bridges frankly adds: "I have never felt more frightened in my life."
Lucas Bridges was a son of Thomas Bridges, a missionary who had the courage to establish a mission at Ushuaia in 1871, at a time where the Yamanas still lived their traditional lives. Lucas was born there in 1874, and as he grew up, played and worked with the natives, first the Yamanas, later the Onas. He spoke their languages and, as adult, witnessed the decline and extinction of these tribes. Near the end of his colourful life, he sat down to write an eye-witness account that is both fascinating and enlightening. |
