Lamalera - whale hunters

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SWISS OF THE LOETSCHENTAL VALLEY

The Loetschental Valley, nearly a mile above sea level in an isolated part of

the Swiss Alps, had been for more than a dozen centuries the home of some

two thousand people when the Prices first visited in 1931. The people lived

in a series of small villages along a river that wound its way along the valley

floor. The completion of an eleven-mile tunnel shortly before had made the

valley easily accessible for the first time.

The people lived as their forebears had. Wooden buildings, some centu-

ries old, dotted the landscape, with mottoes expressive of spiritual values ar-

tistically carved in the timbers. Snow-capped mountains nearly enclosed the

valley, making it relatively easy to defend. Though many attempts had been

made, the people had never been conquered.

They had no physician, dentist, policeman, or jail. Sheep provided wool

for homespun clothes, and the valley produced nearly everything needed for

food.

Price examined the teeth of all children in the valley between the ages of

seven and sixteen. Those still eating the primitive diet were nearly free of cavi-

ties- on the average, one tooth showing evidence of ever having had decay

was found for every three children examined.

Many young people examined had experienced a period of rampant tooth

decay that suddenly ceased, often having first lost teeth. All had left the valley

prior to this period and spent a year or two in some city. Most had never had

a decayed tooth before or since.

Tuberculosis at this time took more lives in Switzerland than any other

disease. Yet Swiss government officials reported that a recent inspection of the

valley had not revealed one single case. Astonishingly, a thorough study of

records of death certificates demonstrated clearly that no deaths had occurred

from tuberculosis in the history of the valley. This is evidence of profound

natural forces at work.

Upon returning to America, Price had samples of the dairy products sent

to him twice a month throughout the year. A pioneer in developing methods

for measuring fat-soluble vitamins in foods in the early 1920s, he had written

extensively on the subject and was a recognized authority. His analyses found

the samples higher in minerals and vitamins, particularly the fat-soluble

D-complex vitamins, than samples of commercial dairy products from the rest

of Europe and North America.

The vitamin D-complex helps regulate utilization of calcium and other

minerals. Price believed the D complex and another unidentified nutrient

he called "activator X" played crucial roles in the excellent general health,

immunity to dental disease, and splendid physical development of the people

of the Loetschental Valley. The quality of the foods was apparently respon-

sible for the presence of rich amounts of these nutrients.

The Swiss people Price had studied recognized the crucial importance of

their foods. The clergymen told of how they thanked God for the life-giving

qualities of butter and cheese made in June when the cows ate grass near the

snow line; their worship included lighting a wick in a bowl of the first butter

made after the cows reached this summer pasturage. Price's analyses showed

butter made then was highest in fat-soluble vitamins and minerals.

This early-spring butter obviously had a special place in the culture; it was

in a sense considered a sacred food. I believe it is no coincidence that this

butter contained the same fat-soluble nutrients of animal source found in other

sacred foods in other traditional cultures and native hunter-gatherer cultures.

We will learn more about these foods and nutrients in ensuing chapters.

Spiritual values dominated life. Part of the national holiday celebration each

August was a song expressing the feeling of "one for all and all for one." Price

wrote: "One wonders if there is not something in the life-giving vitamins and

minerals of the food that builds not only great physical structures within which

their souls reside, but builds minds and hearts capable of a higher type of

manhood in which the material values of life are made secondary to individual

character."

' He found evidence of this throughout the world.

Health conditions in the Loetschental Valley were in stark contrast with

those in the lower valleys and plains country in Switzerland--modernized ar-

eas where rampant dental decay, misshapen dental arches with crowding of

the teeth, and high incidence of tuberculosis and other chronic health prob-

lems were the norm. The people of the valley clearly were protected by the

quality of their native foods.

Although few of the other traditional groups Price studied used dairy prod-

ucts (those who did were certain African tribes, including the Masai), raw,

whole milk (both fresh and cultured), cheese, and butter were used in quan-

tity by the people of the Loetschental Valley. This milk, from healthy, well

exercised animals, was unpasteurized and unhomogenized. Such foods may

play a major role in a health-building diet for people genetically able to uit-

lize them well. For the people of the Loetschental, their milk products pro

vided fat-soluble nutrients and minerals essential in maintaining their health.

Maasai Tribe. The Maasai are tall and strong. Fig. 39 shows a typical belle, also a Masai man who is much taller than our six-foot guide. It is interesting to study the methods of living and observe the accumulated wisdom of the Maasai. They are reported to have known for over two hundred years that malaria was carried by mosquitoes, and further they have practiced exposing the members of their tribes who had been infected with syphilis by the Arabs to malaria to prevent the serious injuries resulting from the spirochetal infection. Yet modern medicine boasts of being the discoverers of this great principle of using malaria to prevent or relieve syphilitic infections of the spinal cord and brain.

I saw the native Maasai operating on their cattle with skill and knowledge. The Maasai have no currency and all their transactions are made with cows or goats. A valuable cow was not eating properly, and I observed them taking a thorn out of the inside of her mouth. The surgical operation was done with a knife of their own making and tempered by pounding. The wound was treated by rubbing it with the ashes of a plant that acted as a very powerful styptic. Their knowledge of veterinary science is quite remarkable. I saw them treating a young cow that had failed to conceive. They apparently knew the cause and proceeded to treat her as modern veterinaries might do in order to overcome her difficulties. For their food throughout the centuries they have depended very largely on milk, meat and blood, reinforced with vegetables and fruits. They milk the cows daily and bleed the steers at regular intervals by a unique process. In Fig. 40 we see a native Maasai with his bow and arrow, the latter tipped with a sharp knife which is guarded by a shoulder to determine the depth to which the arrow may enter the vein. If the animal is sufficiently tame, the blood is drawn while it is standing. If the animal is frightened it is quickly hobbled, as shown below. In this figure the stream of blood may be seen spurting from the jugular vein into a gourd which holds about a gallon. A torque is placed around the neck before the puncture is made. The animals did not even flinch when struck by the arrow, the operation is done so quickly and skillfully. When sufficient blood was drawn, the torque was removed and the blood immediately stopped flowing. A styptic made of ashes referred to above was used. This serves also to protect the wound from infection. The blood is defibrinated by whipping in the gourd. The fibrin is fried or cooked much as bacon or meat would be prepared. The defibrinated blood is used raw just as the milk is, except in smaller quantities. When available, each growing child receives a day’s ration of blood as does each pregnant or lactating woman. Formerly, the warriors used this food exclusively. These three sources, milk, blood and meat provide them with liberal supplies of body-building minerals and the special vitamins, both fat-soluble and water soluble. Their estimate of a desirable dairy stock is based on quality not quantity. They judge the value of a cow for keeping in their herd by the length of time it takes her calf to stand on its feet and run after it is born, which is only a very few minutes. This is in striking contrast with the practice of our modern dairymen who are chiefly concerned with the quantity of milk and quantity of butter fat rather than with its value as a source of special factors for nutrition. Many of the calves of the modern high-production cows of civilized countries are not able to stand for many hours after birth, frequently twenty-four. This ability to stand is very important in a country infested with predatory animals; such as lions, leopards, hyenas, jackals and vultures.

Weston Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (1939)

Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle. Note that the Maasai cattle are of the Zebu variety. In the summer of 1935 Dr. Weston A. Price visited the Maasai and reported that according to Dr. Anderson from the local government hospital in Kenya most tribes were disease-free. Many had not a single tooth attacked by dental caries nor a single malformed dental arch. In particular the Maasai had a very low 0.4% of bone caries. He attributed that to their diet consisting of (in order of volume) raw milk, raw blood, raw meat and some vegetables and fruits, although in many villages they do not eat any fruit or vegetables at all. He noted that when available every growing child and every pregnant or lactating woman would receive a daily ration of raw blood. Dr. Weston A. Price also noted the government efforts back in 1935 to turn the Maasai into farmers. An ILCA study (Nestel 1989) states: "Today, the stable diet of the Maasai consists of cow's milk and maize-meal.[citation needed] The former is largely drunk fresh or in sweet tea and the latter is used to make a liquid or solid porridge. The solid porridge is known as ugali and is eaten with milk; unlike the liquid porridge, ugali is not prepared with milk. Animal fats or butter are used in cooking, primarily of porridge, maize, and beans. Butter is also an important infant food."[88]

Studies by the International Livestock Centre for Africa (Bekure et al. 1991) shows a very great change in the diet of the Maasai towards non-livestock products with maize comprising 12–39 percent and sugar 8–13 percent; about one litre of milk is consumed per person daily. Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk (a by-product of butter making). Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards. The needs for protein and essential amino acids are more than adequately satisfied. However, the supply of iron, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin A, thiamine and energy are never fully met by a purely milk diet. Due to changing circumstances, especially the seasonal nature of the milk supply and frequent droughts, most pastoralists, including the Maasai, now include substantial amounts of grain in their diets.[89][90]

The Maasai herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep, as well as the more prized cattle.[91] Electrocardiogram tests applied to 400 young adult male Maasai found no evidence whatsoever of heart disease, abnormalities or malfunction. Further study with carbon-14 tracers showed that the average cholesterol level was about 50 percent of that of an average American. These findings were ascribed to the amazing fitness of morans, which was evaluated as "Olympic standard".[92]

The mixing of cattle blood, obtained by nicking the jugular vein, and milk is done to prepare a ritual drink for special celebrations and as nourishment for the sick.[95] However, the inclusion of blood in the traditional diet is waning due to the reduction of livestock numbers. More recently, the Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal, rice, potatoes, cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves) etc. The Maasai who live near crop farmers have engaged in cultivation as their primary mode of subsistence. In these areas, plot sizes are generally not large enough to accommodate herds of animals; thus the Maasai are forced to farm.[96]

Last of all he came to the wine, and having learnt their way of making it, he drank a draught, which greatly delighted him; whereupon he asked what the Persian king was wont to eat, and to what age the longest-lived of the Persians had been known to attain. They told him that the king ate bread, and described the nature of wheat- adding that eighty years was the longest term of man’s life among the Persians. Hereat he remarked, “It did not surprise him, if they fed on dirt, that they died so soon; indeed he was sure they never would have lived so long as eighty years, except for the refreshment they got from that drink (meaning the wine), wherein he confessed the Persians surpassed the Ethiopians.”

The Icthyophagi then in their turn questioned the king concerning the term of life, and diet of his people, and were told that most of them lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age- they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk.

Herodotus, Histories, Book III (440 BC)

The buffalo meat, however, is the great staple and “staff of life” in this country, and seldom (if ever) fails to afford them an abundant and wholesome means of subsistence. There are, from a fair computation, something like 250,000 Indians in these western regions, who live almost exclusively on the flesh of these animals, through every part of the year. During the summer and fall months they use the meat fresh, and cook it in a great variety of ways, by roasting, broiling, boiling, stewing, smoking, etc.; and by boiling the ribs and joints with the marrow in them, make a delicious soup, which is universally used, and in vast quantities. The Mandans, I find, have no regular or stated times for their meals, but generally eat about twice in the twenty-four hours. The pot is always boiling over the fire, and any one who is hungry (either of the household or from any other part of the village) has a right to order it taken off, and to fall to eating as he pleases. Such is an unvarying custom amongst the North American Indians, and I very much doubt, whether the civilised world have in their institutions any system which can properly be called more humane and charitable. Every many, woman, or child in Indian communities is allowed to enter any one’s lodge, and even that of the chief of the nation, and eat when they are hungry, provided misfortune or necessity has driven them to it. Even so can the poorest and most worthless drone of the nation; if he is too lazy to hunt or to supply himself, he can walk into any lodge, and any one will share with him as long as there is anything to eat. He, however, who thus begs when he is able to hunt, pays dead for his meat, for he is stigmatised with the disgraceful epithet of a poltroon and a beggar.

George Catlin, North American Indians, pg. 137-138 (1880, originally published in 1841)

• The Mongolians had no cuisine as we might think of it. They had simple cooking that was the same for everyone: mostly boiled, unseasoned meat. Yet the cook was one of the highest-ranking officials of the empire and in charge of running the court.

• The cook was also important in keeping the peace, since the order in which people were served food could lead to great fights and food riots. For this reason, no one could come to a meal with a weapon (but they still threw dishes and anything else at hand).

• Mongols categorized food into two groups. Ulaan Idee were red foods (like meat), mainly eaten in the winter and spring. Tsagaan Idee were white foods (like dairy products), mostly eaten in the summer and fall. Vegetables were considered a form of grass and called “goat food.” The Mongols were thoroughly disgusted that farmers ate plants that grew in the dirt and had often been fertilized with excrement.

• The Mongols were very particular about butchery. The butcher (usually a young boy) made a small incision in the chest of the goat or sheep, reached inside and pinched off the aorta, which immediately killed the animal. It had to be done outdoors, but in a shadow, so that the sun would not see it, and without spilling the blood, so that the earth would not feel it. Large animals like oxen would be killed by hitting them between the horns with a sledgehammer, so as not to spill any blood. Normally an animal would be consumed within three hours.

• Because the Mongols cooked over dung fires, they usually boiled meat rather than roasting or frying it. When on the move, the Mongols often cooked an animal in its own skin by stuffing it with heated rocks. Genghis Khan and his men once avoided starvation by killing a wild horse and cooking it in its hide.

• Genghis Khan’s first killing was over food. He killed his half-brother for taking a bird and a fish he’d caught.

• In the fall, when the men took the animals far from home to graze and fatten them for the winter, they lived mostly on fermented horse or camel milk supplemented by wild marmots, which they cooked in their skin. Fermented camel and horse milk produce nearly constant diarrhea, but since the men lived outside, it was not considered too big a problem.

“The Mongol Diet”, adapted from correspondence with Professor Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

The low caries prevalence for all the samples is in accord with populations which did not rely extensively on cerealbased diets. Conversely, there is a high degree of dental calculus in all samples which may be related to diets high in protein and is also indicative of an alkaline oral environment which would deter the formation of carious lesions. In addition, the presence of caries in some samples does indicate that cariogenic foods were available and consumed by particular groups. The low to moderate frequencies of other pathological conditions, such as AMTL, abscesses and periodontal disease, indicate relatively good standards of group health based on dental pathology. This is also supported by the relatively low occurrence of LEH. Moderately low attrition rates indicate diets low in abrasive particles and lesser degrees of masticatory stress. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14581/1/569193.pdf

The Nenets (in Nenets - Neney «real man» or «true man») are an Indigenous people of the Russian Federation, who live in the North of European Russia and North-western Siberia. Nenets have retained much of their traditional nomadic way of life, moving with their reindeer through the seasons. This chapter will present a snapshot of the knowledge and culture of Yamal Nenets reindeer herders, who have maintained their family based traditional economy, language and culture, including their rich, though little documented, food culture. The Nenets people are known for their generosity and hospitality. Whenever a guest comes to a traditional camp, there will be always a warm welcome. In this way, herders going on a long journey would never bring a lot of products with them. Nenets herders regularly visit each other’s remote camps and stay for a long time. When guests arrive, the hosts always do ŋayabad.

In this case it would be the Nenet paradox. The Nenets, the indigenous reindeer-herding people of this part of Siberia, have a menu that sounds like just the opposite of what the doctor ordered: They eat reindeer meat, most of it raw and frozen. From September to May they eat very little else, apart from the odd piece of raw, preferably frozen, fish. One would think that this extreme protein- and fat-driven diet would lead to a lot of health problems – obesity, cardiovascular diseases – but the opposite is true.

“It is my experience that the further away you come from the city centers of the Arctic, the healthier people look,” says Lars Kullerud, president of the University of the Arctic, a network of more than 100 universities and colleges. He researches the diets of the region’s indigenous people.

Another hour or so away by reindeer sled, the connection between the land, the people and the diet is even more evident than in Schuch'ye. As the guest of Nicolai Laptander and his wife, Ustinia, I spend the night in a chum, a traditional tent made from reindeer skins not unlike a Native American tepee, where they live with their seven children. The children look extraordinarily healthy. And although the diet is a challenge, even for this omnivore, it is exceedingly clear that the Laptanders don't eat only the reindeer's meat; they eatjust about every part of the animal. To see an 8-year-old child reach for another piece of raw liver, then a helping of raw, frozen meat, then the marrow of a cooked bone, brings warmth and envy to any parent with a picky offspring. But it also tells a lot about the secret of the Nenet diet.

When we in the industrialized world discuss nutrition and health, the focus is often on balancing broad categories of food. A healthful diet, we are told, should consist of a good mix of grains, vegetables, fruits and fish and a moderate amount of red meat. But although that probably is the best rule where food of all types is plentiful, it is not really an option in the Arctic, especially not on the Siberian tundra.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051300583_2.html?sid=ST2008051302252

The Netsilik Eskimos inhabit a vast area over 300 miles in length and over 100 miles in depth north and west of Hudson Bay.' The region is barren, covered with innumerable rocky hills, lakes, sea inlets, and vast stretches of flat tundra. The climate is arctic, characterized by extremely cold winters and short cool summers. The local tundra bears no trees and its vege­ tation consists of creeping shrubs, tufted grass­ like plants, lichens, and mosses. When travel­ ing through this cold desert in 1923, Knud Rasmussen counted 259 Eskimos of whom 150 were males and only 1 09 females. They lived a nearly traditional life, having had only mini­ mal contact with Europeans up to that time and having obtained guns only a few years before. The Netsilingmiut hunted the caribou, the musk-ox, and the seal, they fished the salmon trout and, with the exception of some berry picking in August, did no gathering.

In winter, after the caribou had left the country, the Netsiling­muit had to rely almost exclusively on the seal for survival. Since the seal keeps open a large number of breathing holes, it was advantageous to have numerous hunters, with harpoons in hand, to control an equal number of holes. Large hunting parties had maximal chances for a speedy catch. Hence the rationale for extended igloo communities consisting of over sixty people and comprising several distantly related extended families. Winter was the season of intense social life, spectacular shaman­izing and other ceremonial activity (Fig. I , Camps 1 and 2). Early in June when the seals came lying on the ice, the large winter camp broke up into smaller social units having usually an extended family as a core. Tents were set up on the shore and group sealing continued at the large breathing holes ( Camp 3) . In July, the restricted groups moved inland, fishing with the fishing harpoon and occasionally hunting caribou with the bow and arrow. After the first week of August, the stone weirs were built across rivers and the salmon trout running up­ stream were caught in large amounts with leisters (Camp 4) . At the end of August began the vitally important caribou hunts from kayaks at the caribou crossing place (Camp 5) . This was a collaborative activity involving a division of tasks between beaters and spearers. Early in October the restricted groups moved camp to some larger river and fished salmon trout with leisters through the thin river ice ( Camp 6) . As winter came on the larger groups re-formed for sealing through the breathing holes (Camps 1 and 2 ) .

The adaptive processes described here can be best understood in relation to the almost continuous ecological pressure to which the Netsilik were subjected. Traveling and moving camps was a very arduous task. Lack of dog feed severely limited the keeping of dogs to only one or two per family. The heavy sledges had to be pulled or pushed by both men and women. Only very small children were allowed to sit on the sledge. Old people had to drag themselves behind, and were often left behind to sleep out on the ice if they had not caught up with the others. Seal hunting involved a motionless watch on the flat ice under intense cold maintained for many hours. In order to build the stone weir, the stones had to be carried in the ice-cold water for several days. Beating the fast-running caribou over great distances in the tundra was an exhausting task. Stalking the caribou with the bow and arrow also involved endless pursuits across the tundra, the hunters lying on the wet grass and trying to approach the game while hiding behind tufts of moss . The nomadism of the hunting life in this extremely rigorous climate imposed a constant strain on the humans. Hunting was a never-ceasing pursuit, the game had to be brought to camp at all cost, and the hunter had to stay out until a successful kill: "The man that is wise never lolls about idle when the weather is good; he can never know when bad days may eat up his meat caches and drive him and his family into starvation" (Rasmussen, 1931 , p. 134). At a camp of Kuggup­pamiut, Rasmussen observed that for the whole of the winter twelve hunters caught about 150 seals : "this may well be said to have been dearly bought food."

Among the ethnographies of the area, Drucker's ( 1951 ) on the Nootka (see also Drucker, 1965, chap. 7, for a dramatic account of Nootka whaling) and Elmendorf's ( 1960).

In the extreme south, the Yurok and the Tolowa proportions of gathering/ hunting/fishing are 40/10/50 percent and 40/20/40 per cent, respectively. This is an area where acorns were used and naturally the proportion for gathering is greater. From here northward the most common figure for gathering is 20 percent ; only the Puyallup and Kwakiutl have 30 per cent, while the Coos, Quiieute, Twana, and Klallam have 10 per cent. The Puyallup are a coast Salish group living inland from Puget Sound who quite likely did depend more on roots and bulbs than did their salt-water neighbors, though with the complex exchange systems of the area we cannot be sure. But there seems no reason at all to give the Kwakiutl a higher figure than the Nootka, Bella Coola, and coast Salish of northern Georgia Strait, all of them adjacent to Kwakiutl and all given 20 per cent.

(excerpt about plants)

 Altogether it does not seem to me that the Kwakiutl would have been very different from the Nootka, of whom Drucker writes :

There was a tremendous emphasis on fats--oils and greases-in the dietary pattern. Probably the fats made up for the virtual lack of starch and sugar forms of carbohydrates. Prior to the introduction of potatoes, flour, and pilot bread in historic times, starch foods were limited to the very occasional meals of clover and fern roots, and the few other roots. It is obviously impossible to judge at this late date, but one receives the impression from informants that if the average person ate a dozen or two meals of roots in the course of a year, it was a lot. Berries provided the only sugar prior to the introduction of molasses, and were highly prized. But the berry season was rather short, except for that of salal berries, and the few baskets of them women picked seem to have adorned rather than materially augmented the diet. Instead of these things, one hears constantly of fats and oils ( 195I , pp. 62-63).

To me this statement hardly implies the 20 per cent gathering given the Nootka by the Atlas. On the other hand, some of the coast Salish groups probably did have more vegetable food in their diet than the Nootka and Kwakiutl, yet two of them ( Klallam and Twana) were assigned only 10 per cent-my original guess for those I am calling the "central" groups, which include the Lummi, who are given 20 per cent by the Atlas. I can only conclude that the question should be left open. I agree with Lee that shellfish gathering has more in common with the gathering of plant foods than with fishing. Both plants and shellfish are immobile and were collected (on the Northwest coast) mainly by women using digging sticks and baskets. They differ only in food value. But sea-mammal hunting and fishing can

The Ona bands of northern Tierra del Fuego survived into the first decade of the present century in an unacculturated condition. Here we find people with good hunting territories which they jealously defended from all outsiders. The larger part of their caloric intake was from game (the guanaco being the prime source), and only minimal use was made of vegetable foods. Interestingly enough, all of the classic stigmata of "hunting peoples," which have been brought into question at this symposium, were strongly developed among the several Ona bands, which were in fact patrilineal. Patri­ lineages were clearly defined and strictly exogamous. Each held a sharply delineated territory with absolute rights over the included economic resources. The facts of the case are reasonably clear since we have a good account of the culture written by Bridges ( 1 949) who actually lived with Ona bands while the culture was still flourishing. There are also more formal and detailed ethnographies culled from the memories of Ona informants who had participated in the aboriginal situation (Gusinde, 1931-39; Lothrop, 19�8). With regard to the question of the "hunter's mentality" the Ona are particularly instructive. Ona culture stressed emotional control, and Bridges' account makes it clear that this particular ethical imperative was observed far more often than it was breached. There were a number of ingenious institutions which were effective in minimizing intraband hostilities and in channeling aggression toward outsiders or toward wives, who in strict sense were outsiders. The Ona both preached and practiced the support of the aged . When we cor.sider projecting cultural traits and modal personality structures backward to a time when most hunters presumably found themselves in favorable circumstances, we might find the example of the Ona more instructive than that of the handful of still extant hunting groups who are scarcely making a go of it as hunters.

Traditionally, the Selk'nam were nomadic people who relied on hunting for survival. They dressed sparingly despite the cold climate of Patagonia. They shared Tierra del Fuego with the Haush (or Manek'enk), another nomadic culture who lived in the south-eastern part of the island. Also in the region were the Yámana or Yahgan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selk%27nam_people

The Selk'nam had little contact with ethnic Europeans, mainly British, until settlers arrived in the late 19th century. These newcomers developed a great part of the land of Tierra del Fuego as large estancias (sheep ranches), depriving the natives of their ancestral hunting areas. Selk'nam, who considered the sheep herds to be game rather than private property (which they did not have as a concept) hunted the sheep. The ranch owners considered this to be poaching, and paid armed groups or militia to hunt down and kill the Selk'nam, in what is now called the Selk'nam Genocide. To receive their bounty, such groups had to bring back the ears of victims.

Salesian missionaries worked to protect and preserve Selk'nam culture. Father José María Beauvoir explored the region and studied the native Patagonian cultures and languages between 1881 and 1924. He compiled a vocabulary of Selk'nam of 4,000 words and 1400 phrases and sentences, which was published in 1915. He included a comparative list of 150 Ona-Tehuelche words, as he believed that there were connections to the Tehuelche people and language to the north.[7] German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche published the first scholarly studies of the Selk’nam, although he was later criticized for having studied members of the Selk’nam people who had been abducted and were exhibited in circuses.[8]

Relations with Europeans in the Beagle Channel area in the southern area of the island of Tierra del Fuego were somewhat more cordial than with the ranchers. Thomas Bridges, who had been an Anglican missionary at Ushuaia, retired from that service. He was given a large land grant by the Argentine government, where he founded Estancia Harberton. Lucas Bridges, one of his three sons, did much to help the local cultures. Like his father, he learned the languages of the various groups and tried to provide the natives with some space in which to live their customary lives as "lords of their own land". The forces of change were against them, and the indigenous people continued to have high fatality rates as their cultures were disrupted. Lucas Bridges' book, Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948), provides sympathetic insight into the lives of the Selk'nam and Yahgan.