Ona

By John Beierle

Ona (O'ona, Aona, Aoniks, Oens), Selk'nam (Shilk'nam, Shilkenam, Shelknam, Schelkenam, Shikl'anan, Shelk'enum, Shil'k'enum Shilkanan), Haush (Haus), Foot Indians.

The Ona, as of the 1990s, are an extinct society of hunters and gatherers who formerly occupied the major portion of the large island of Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America, located between 65 degrees to 70 degrees W. longitude and 53 degrees to 56 degrees S. latitude. A small part of the island, however, was shared with the Alacaluf who occupied intermittently the shores of Useless Bay and Admirality Sound, and with the Yahgan who lived along the strip of land between Beagle Channel and the mountain range paralleling this channel.

Since first European contacts (ca. 1880) the Ona population has taken a disastrous drop in number. Lothrop estimates that around 1850 the Selk'nam population was about 3,600, with approximately 300 Haush. Seventy- five years later, at the time of Lothrop's field work (1924-1925), he reports that there were only 60-70 Selk'nam and 2-3 Haush (3: Lothrop, p. 25). These figures, however, are disputed by Father Martin Gusinde who claims that Lothrop was "inaccurately informed", for in his (Gusinde's) census of 1919, 279 pure-blooded Indians were counted as well as 15 of mixed Indian-white blood (1: Gusinde, p. 206). Gusinde's own population estimates give a figure of 3,500-4000 for the combined Selk'nam-Haush prior to 1880, dropping to about 500 for the period of 1880-ca.1905 (5: Chapman, p. 2). In 1980 there are about five individuals of mixed blood on the great island (Tierra del Fuego), and one person whose parents may have been Indian. The Haush are completely extinct (Olson 1991: 326). "There are a number of people having one Indian grandparent (usually grandmother) but they are completely assimilated to modern life" (5: Chapman, p. 12). It is likely that by the middle of the twentieth century, the Ona had ceased to exist as a distinct ethnic-cultural group. The reasons for the rapid decline and evident extinction of the Ona population are no mystery. They are clearly etched in the history of Ona-White relations, and range from the introduction of new diseases to deliberate campaigns of extermination against the Indians.

The Ona language, generally considered a separate and independent linguistic stock, is rather closely related to Tehuelche to the north with which it forms the TSHON (CHON) language family. Although dialectical differentiation between northern and southern Selk'nam is only slight, linguistic differences between the Selk'nam and the Haush are very distinct (2: Cooper, p. 108). The linguistic diversity of Haush and Selk'nam would seem to indicate that separation into distinct groups took place a very long time ago since language structure in that part of the world is relatively stable. Voegelin places the Ona language in the Andean-Equatorial Macro-Phylum (Voegelin 1977).

Tierra del Fuego was first discovered by Magellan on his voyage of world circumnavigation in 1520, and his presence was made known to neighboring tribes by the Selk'nam by the lighting of huge signal fires. As the result of these numerous fires the Spaniard dubbed the island "Tierra del Fuego", or "Land of Fire". Actual contact with the Selk'nam probably did not take place until 1579 when they were first met by the Spanish explorer Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. The Selk'nam's close neighbors, the Haush, were contacted by Spanish explorers in 1619. During the following 250 years, various Spanish, English, and Dutch explorers made contact with the Selk'nam as well as a number of commercial and fishing expeditions. Many of these encounters were quite violent (Olson 1991: 326). Despite these often violent confrontations, the Selk'nam survived relatively intact until the late 1880s. In the period of the 1880s and 1890s large numbers of European settlers were attracted to the Tierra del Fuego area by alluvial gold discoveries and the broad grasslands which were ideal for the raising of sheep. To gain control of the land and rid themselves of the native population, farmers, sheep ranchers and gold miners hired professional killers to hunt down and kill the Selk'nam in what amounted to as a genocidal war of extinction. In the 1890s Salesian missionaries gathered the remnants of the native population into missions to protect them, but the rapid change from nomadic hunting to a sedentary and confining mission life was too much emotionally for the tribe, and the population rapidly declined. Diseases brought into the country by Europeans, such as influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and measles, accomplished what the hired killers did not do - effectively wiping out the remaining population (Olson 1991: 326).

Much of the knowledge we have of the Selk'nam or Ona dates from 1875 when they were first visited by the missionary Thomas Bridges. Additional progress was made in the study of Ona culture and language through the work of Lucas and William Bridges, sons of Thomas Bridges, during the early 1900s, by the Selesian fathers, particularly Zenone and Borgatello, and the field studies of Father Martin Gusinde in 1919-1923, and of Lothrop in 1924-1925. Gusinde's monumental monograph entitled "Die Selk'nam" (appearing in English translation in 1: Gusinde, this file), contains practically all that we know of the traditional Selk'nam-Ona culture.

Because of the nomadic nature of the Ona there were no permanent settlements. Families followed hunting parties, settling temporarily at the locations where games animals were killed, and then, in a few days, moving on once again. Dwellings were of two kinds. The ones used in the north, which was the open treeless region, were merely a windscreen. In the wooded south where timber was available, conical shaped true huts were constructed. Each family constructed their own hut which consisted of a circle of inward leaning poles, arranged closely together and covered with a large piece of leather tied in many places to the framework. Clumps of sod or earth were laid around the bottom, on the outside of the structure, to serve as insulation against the cold. The windsdreen was made from 6-10 poles rammed slantwise into the ground, in a half or three-quarter circle. A large piece of leather was then laid over the poles and fastened to the forked pole ends (1: Gusinde, p. 277 ff.).

Subsistence was based primarily on hunting, particularly of the guanaco (a deer-like South American mammal), which was the basic staple in the Ona diet. This major food source was supplemented by the flesh of foxes, wild fowl and marine animals. The gathering of edible fungi, plants and berries, the collecting of shellfish, other marine products and fishing (to a limited extent), completed the basic subsistence pattern of the Ona. The Ona had no knowledge of agriculture and the only domesticated animal that they knew was the dog.

As with many other hunting-gathering societies the Ona recognized a distinct division of labor in their daily activities. Hunting with bows and arrows was an exclusively male enterprise, although hunting with simpler weapons (e.g., pointed sticks, rocks) could be done by both sexes. Men also made bows and arrows and manufactured stone, bone, and wood tools. Gathering was primarily women's work. They also manufactured baskets, prepared and sewed hides for clothing, did the cooking, took care of the children, gathered firewood, fetched water, constructed the dwellings, and transported household goods on their backs during trips from one camp to another. Fishing was often done by both men and women. Occasionally men would aid the women in their tasks.

The Selk'nam had a keen sense of territoriality. Prior to 1880 Tierra del Fuego was divided into eighty territories each occupied and considered to be the property of a specific lineage. There was no unclaimed land on the island. Land ownership was of vital importance to the Selk'nam, for the larger the piece of land owned, the greater the resources of fauna and flora available in the subsistence economy. Every man of the lineage had the right to hunt on the land whenever he chose, but exploitative trespass by outsiders was deeply resented and often led to bloodshed and war. Hunters from other family groups (i.e., lineages) could be received as guests, however, and would be allowed the use of the land.

Descent among the Ona was bilateral. Eskimo cousin terminology was employed, with all cousins being equated with each other and distinguished from siblings. The basic social unit was the independent nuclear family. Real authority among the Ona was vested in the male head of the family who recognized no higher authoritative headship, and did not accept orders from any other man. The next and highest level of organization consisted of the patrilocal, exogamous band, with the nuclear families grouped into 39 such bands. Each band was independent, had its own separate, well-defined territory, and recognized the moral leadership of an elder in the group, who was not actually called a chief and had no real authority. His office was not hereditary and his influence was persuasive rather than coercive. In addition to the absence of chiefs, there also were no social castes or classes, no sibs or moieties, and no other organized group or secret society.

Gusinde states that, with the exception of band exogamy and a prohibition against consanguineous relatives, the Ona had complete freedom of choice in selecting a mate. Ideally, the farther away a bride lived the more suitable she became as a wife. After a temporary period of matrilocal residence, the couple, almost without exception, moved to live permanently with the husband's band. Although monogamy was the general rule, sororal polygyny did take place on occasion. But only a small minority of the older men had two wives and it was even more rare to have three. Sometimes a man would marry a woman and her daughter by a previous marriage. Public opinion, however, generally disapproved of polygynous unions. The average age of marriage was 20 years for a man and 15-19 for a girl. However, a man first had to be tested in the secret ceremonies of the kloketen before he was permitted to marry and a girl must have had her first menses. Divorce was relatively rare.

From the available accounts, Ona religion may have been monotheistic in nature with a belief in a supreme being called Temaukel. Prayers were addressed to Temaukel at the time of grave illness and two simple, almost nonreligious, sacrifices were made to this deity on particular occasions. Other elements of the religion involved mythological ancestors, forest spirits, and the kloketen spirits. The Ona also conceived of the existence of a human soul (kaspi) and its continuance after death in the realm of the supreme being. Ceremonialism was primarily confined to the kloketen celebration in which young men were initiated into manhood.

Shamanism was well-developed among the Ona, the shaman being called xon or yohon. The call to office came through a dream in which the spirit of a deceased shaman appeared to a person, invited him to seek the vocation, and finally bestowed upon him its own special songs and power. Training for this office took two to three years. Since there was no shaman society or organization, each shaman worked independently, frequently in deadly rivalry with other shamans. The shaman cured, controlled the weather and hunting, and helped his group in warfare. He also functioned as a sorcerer and was often called on to bring harm to his own or his clients' enemies.

Gusinde (1931), which is properly considered a classic in anthropological literature, provides a good syntheses and summary of Ona ethnography.

This culture summary was prepared by John Beierle.

• ASKA -- the close family -- Category 596

• HARUWENS --a territorial unit occupied by Selk'nam families -- Categories 423, 631

• HOOWINS -- spirits -- Category 776

• KAS-WAIUWEN-JIR -- shamanistic competitions at KUASH-KETINS -- Category 756

• KASPI -- souls or spirits of the dead -- Category 775

• KAUWI -- dwellings -- Category 342

• KEMAL -- a warrior who achieved great fame -- Categories 701, 554

• KLOKETEN celebration -- Category 881

• KUASH-KETIN -- a reunion of families from all parts ot Tierre Del Fuego to exchange objects and to engage in shamanistic and sporting competitions -- Categories 574, 571

• LAILUKA -- sages -- Category 554

• SHO'ON (SKY) -- territorial divisions -- Category 631

• WAIUWIN -- the shaman's power -- Category 778

• XO'ON -- shamans -- Category 756

Cooper, John Montgomery. The Ona. In Julian H. Steward, ed. Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 1. The Marginal Tribes. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1946: 107-125.

Greenberg, Joseph H. The languages of Africa. Bloominton, Indiana University, 1966.

Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland Indianer. Band. I. Die Selk'nam; vom Leben und Denken eines Jagervolkes auf der grossen Feuerlandinsel [The Fireland Indians. Vol. 1. The Selk'nam, on the life and thought of a hunting people of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego]. Modling bei Wien, Verlag der Internationalen Zeitschrift "Anthropos", 1931. 32, 1,176 p. illus., maps.

Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland. The Indians of Tierra del Fuego. Note on anthropometry by E. A. Hooten. New York, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1928. 244 p. illus., maps, tables.

Steward, Julian H. Native peoples of South America. By Julian H. Steward and Louis C. Faron. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1959.