The Yaghan (also Yámana, Yagan) were an indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego. The term is also used for their language, which is apparently a language isolate. They were first reported by Charles Darwin.
Jemmy Button and his three fellow captives were Yaghan taken to England on HMS Beagle in 1830 and returned the next year with Darwin on the same boat.
A. H. Keane , writing in the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica reports them to have been between 4ft 10in and 5ft 4in in height, with low brows, large lips, flat nose, loose wrinkled skin and a top-heavy gait. He further reports that their mental qualities are indicated "by the almost total absence of clothing under such inclement skies, by the brutal treatment of their women, who when old and useless are often eaten, by the lack of human affections or love of offspring, who in rough weather are thrown overboard, either as a peace offering to the spirits of the storm or to lighten the canoe, and by many repulsive practices connected with their food and social habits".
But Keane also reports that they have a language of 30,000 words, "although the numerals stop at five".
- Source
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th edition - 1888
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