Bridges, Thomas (1892) - Incidentes Comunicados A Su Amigo P. Moreno (Revista Del Museo de La Plata)

Iñciíeits ii tle Ufe of M. TI.
Briijes
COMMUNICATED BY HIMSELF TO HIS FRIEND
K. VrORENO Esq.
Diiector of the Museum La Plata.
Some 12 years ago when re.sident Missionary at Ushuaia,

in the midst of .some 500 natives, a party of natives arrived
from the south in their canoes to tell us that a shipwrecked
party was on an exposed headland of their country Atduaia
«New Year's Sound» where they liad been living a considera-
ble time, but at length had all died of starvation, and were
lying unburied. One of these unfortunates was a woman.
The natives had spent considerable time in their passage to us,
in which it had been necessary to haul their canoes over a
neck of land. Furthermore we learned that Iwo men with their
families had visitad the scene of the sad fate of the brave
English seamen, but too late to save life. For though Iwo of
them still lived, and the natives tried to induce the stronger
of the survivors to trust liimself witii them, they could not
prevalí, but they left lieside the poor men a bucket of water, &
a roast and then took their departure, as they could not
stag,
haul up their canoe on such an exposed & rugged shore. For
several days after, they were unable to return because of a
gale, & when they did, both of the survivors were dead.
The natives had many days before seen the spread of
white canvas, under which the dying men were slielíered from
the weather, but they were ah-aid to go eariier, fearing trea-
chery from the western Indians, ^^•ho some years before had
beguiled a number of them & killed them. At the earliest
possible day we went in the Yawl Mission Vessel to ascertain
the truth, & to do what we could for the dead. But though our
vessel was specially adapted for her work in those tempestuous
— 28 —
regions, \\c fituad wc could not Ijeat lo ^\ill(l\\•a^(l IVoiii False
Cape Horn. The second time we driÜcd dowii ainong tlie
Wollaston Islands & were in considerable danger, drifting liopc-
lessly before the S. W. gale during Ihe night among Lslets bul
little known.
However the Aveather moderated, & we determined to return
to the Mission Station, and reach Blaclc Head tlie scene of the
Catastropliy í'rom the Avestward. This we did successfuUy afler
many delays owing to bad weather, & ancliored noar liy. ^^"e
then i'owed to the headland & found the dead bodies lying in
a row, l'uUy dressed. The captain's wife was among them.
The natives had before this repeatedly visitcd the spot, &
taken away for their use all that they could find, but had
not touched the dead, save to bring the last two and place them
wilh the rest. As far as I can remember there were eleven bodies.
On looking about, a diary kept l)y the captain was found, in
which we learned that his vessel was the «San Rafael» of Li-
verpool, bound to Valparaíso with a cargo of coal. This took
fíre, & the ship's party had to ieave her lo her fate. They left
in two boats, and the other boat was picked up by a passing

vessel. But unhappily at night & during a snow-storm the
boats separated, and the captain & his party only too glad to
rest, landed on the first land they could reach, and after their
boat AA'as smashed against the rocks of their dreadful prison
did they flnd out the hopelessness of their lot. They found the
promontory abrupl all round, and cut otf froni the land at the
back by an impassable cleft, Ihrougli which the rough sea surged
continually. They landed there at night in a snow-storm. So
they began the lite of death, dealing out with a sparing hand
the few stores they had, eking them out with the meagre
sliellfish their rocky home supplied. Fortunately they could
get firewood, but not of good quality as the busli there was
of dwarfed evergreen trees. However they lived there some sewen
weeks, when they all rapidly failed & passed away. the living
being too weak to bury the dead.
The poor captain wrote to his son a day or so before his
death telling him that he was then almost blind, and deplora-
bly weak and wretched, yet he expressed his carnest wish that
his son would live as a Christian should.
Wefound it a difficult matter to bury the dead, because
the rock immediately underlay the scanty soil, Avchich was an
inseparable nctwork of roots, for owing to Ihe excessive hu-
midity the vegetalion was truly wondcrful. We
did this last
— 29 —
sad duty lo un fnrt uñates as bcst \\c could, according lo
(lie
llie rites of tlie C'nurch of Englnnd. Such property as we could
collect & recover from the poor natives we did, & sent it liomo
to the authorities and in due time the poor natives were recom-
pensed for tlieir humanity & trouble, with a present of £ 40
worlh of clotliing from tlie British government, & we workers
in the Mission service were encouraged by a gracious lelter of
appreciation of our A\-ork from the Queen.
On another occasion we heard a report from the Eastern

natives that there was a company of shipwrecked men wan-
dering among the outer Islands, & I went to seck& lielp
lliem. The season was late in Autumn & the weather was
wintry, and frost & snow were everywhere. Our vessel \\'as
away in the Falklands. So with a good crew of five Indians
and a kid of 14 yiars of aje the son of one of our Catechists I went
in (juest of these men. The day was sno^^•y & very cold, and at
night overeóme by cold & wet we landed for rest & refresh-
ment. It was quite dark, but the natives managed admirablx-,
tSc we spent a good night. It frose sharply that night, and tlio
next morning the cold was intense, but the air was quite calm
& clear. We
made all the haste we could round the Eastern &
Southern shores of Navarin Island & also circumnavigated Len-
nox Island We
found traces of the seamen, but they had, as we
afterwards learned got safely oñ" to some passing vessel. We
were absent from home in our small boat for ten days, & our
natives greatly commended themselves to us for their good
qualities.
On another occasion wisliing to know more of the country

I look a boat-voyage with a Calechist, my eldest son, & a crew
of six natives in a large whaleboat. The weather was al times
as pleasant as at others was adverse & disagreeable, and
it
we were absent from home, doing much of our tra\elling by

night, because the days are so very stormy.
The first day Avas so rough that our stores were welted, &
we could only get to the westward against prevailing AX'inds
by rowing.
We met with vorious nativos on our voyage all bcing
most friendly. At last we reached Oaiacirr, our furthest point
west, and where was the isthmus over which we had deter-
mincd to haul our boat, & so get into the inner waters of a
large district called Aghaia. It required two days hard work to
haul our boat over, and the weather was very stormy & snow
— 30 —
fell rre(|ueiill\ . We liad to camp in a bñ'^, liul llie next day
none of us were the worse for our hardships.
As we were sailing down the waters of Agaia wc carne
across natives, bul they were so frightened that they hastened
away for their lives. They had not seen the boat ascend, & how
it carne there they had no idea, and thougli one of our crew
was known to them, and a near neiglibour he could not prevail
upon tliem to stop, for they were afraid we were « Asasin »
íVom the west, wliose only object could be to kill all we met.
So we landed at the head of a long creek, and found every
thing saturated. During the night it snowed much, but owing to
our native crew we had a good night, & they were as always.
very cheerful and lielpful. The next day we walked across an
isthmus leading us to one of the creeks of Atduaia on the South
coast of Hoste Island But it was a perfect scene of desolation in
spite of the rank forest growth. As everywhere in western
Fireland animal & bird life was \ev\ scarce, and we saw very
few signs of human life. We then returned to our hut, and
having breakfasted departed, and the weather being fine we
rowed well. On the way we landed here & there & to our
surprise found cultivation where the natives grew potatoes &
turnips.
The next day we reached Wullaia the scene of the mas-
sacre of the Mission party of cight persons in 1859. Here we also
found cultivations & spent a pleasant day. We were surprised
to gather ripe & good raspberries as this bush has become
quite wild there, having been brought from the Falkland Mission
station many years before.
During the afternoon which was very fine we spent our
time admiring the beautiful scenery, fishing for Saj or Rock cod
of wliich we caught some fine specimens, and also in gathe-
ring a supply of Shapi. This is a bivalve, with very thin &
transparent shells, which are able al pleasure to change their
quarters. They adhere by clipping the leaves of the kelp A\'ith
their shells, and when conscious of danger by our puUing up
however gently the kolp which they weighed down, for they
\\-ere a numerous colony, they darted backwards & forwards
Initalways do\\nward so that it was somewhat difficult to cap-
lure them. The natives have reason to speak of them so highly
as they do, They are only plenliful in a few favorite places.
We reached home at midnight of the tentli day, having rowed
most of the way.
On another occasion, when the natives were in a highly
— 31 —
excited state because of blood quairels of many months stan-
ding in which many had tuken a chief part, now on one side,
noM" on another, aware oí' danger I liad convened a special
meeting to guard against an increase of the evil. At Ihis meeting
^^•e were able so to realise to the native mind the danger they
were in, & the folly and sin of the course they had been so long
following that they at our instigation solemnly promised to
help no side, & to do their best to sto[) all l'urlher tlghting &
mui'der. No sooner Avas this impression made & these promises
given than a large parly of mon prepared for a murderous tlglit
with a party then resident at the slation. But they had come too
kite, and in a short time they scattered among our people, &
no fighting took pkice. It Avas an important crisis. Murders
& thefts were numerous, & few men indeed there were whose
persons did not attest by many a scar of the quarrelsomeness
of the people as a race. They were very ready to take offence,
and they ordinarily were very careful not to give offence. Their
relations to each other were very much improved when they
came under Christian influences, lile & property became secure
and each ones rights lespected, and public opinión ruled the
community for good. This opinión was however largely rided
by US, at our daily meetings for instruction & divine worship.
In proof of the superstition that used to prevalí I mention
the following.
An elderly, and very strong man, and a great rogue had
brought me some fish for sale. I let him into the kitchen, &
had occasion to go into another room to get the wherewith to
purchase it. Having paid him to his saíisfaction he left. Some-
time after liaving occasion to use a knife I went to tlie kitchen
table to find it, but it was not there. After thinking, 1 carne to
the assurance that my fishman had stolen it. I forthwith went
alone to his wigwam to accuse him, & regain my knife. Howe-
ver he disclaimed knowledge of the knife, and I could only
all
State the reasons 1 had to believe that he had taken the knife
I said I should speak to the people tomorrow on this subject
unless the knife was reíurncd. I Ihen went up to my house.
Not long afterwards I lieard a great noise of coughing & Vomí-
ting, and on opening the door was surprised to find my culprit
with my knife in his hand, but all wet. He had just coughed
it up he told me. He said he had not stolen the knife, but
wishing to convince me he was a true wizzard, his spirit had
taken the knife, and now he had brought it up again. He as-
ked me not to speak of the subject tomorrow.
- 32 —
On another occasion a native asked me to speak un liis
him an axe that Aruj^awaian had stolen

behalf to reclaim for
from him, because this Arupawaian was a very violent man,
& he was afraid to speak to him. Accordingly that afternoon
I went Arupawaian's wigwam, & after some general &
into
plcasant conversation mentioned tlie object of my visit, and clai-
mcd the axe for my client. But tlie man was excessively violent
& excited, and would not give up the axe, though he did some
time afterwards, when 1 got some of his own friends to back me
in my demands.
Thomas Bridges.

Bridges, Thomas (1892) - Incidentes Comunicados A Su Amigo P. Moreno (Revista Del Museo de La Plata)

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Iñciíeits ii tle Ufe of M. TI.

COMMUNICATED BY HIMSELF TO HIS FRIEND

Some 12 years ago when re.sident Missionary at Ushuaia,

in two boats, and the other boat was picked up by a passing

llie rites of tlie C'nurch of Englnnd. Such property as we could

On another occasion we heard a report from the Eastern

On another occasion wisliing to know more of the country

we were absent from home, doing much of our tra\elling by

him an axe that Aruj^awaian had stolen

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