Customer Reviews

Uttermost Part of the Earth: Indians of Tierra Del Fuego

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The setting is a little known part of the world, Tierra de Fuego, at a little known time in history(about 120 years ago) about the first contact with facinating (and little known) groups of indians. The author was the first white born on Tierra de Fuego and he grew up among the indians with his father, a missionary from England who arrived via the Falkland Islands. Bridges and his father later became sheep ranchers and in their own imperfect way tried to protect the indians (who were doomed to extinction) from themselves and outsiders. Bridges together with his indian friends endured hardships and adventures in a harsh and primative land where the winds blow north from Antartica, all without the benefit of Patagonia equipment!!

No other book has been written, to my knowledge, that is similar to the "Uttermost Part of the Earth." The book is well and evocatively titled. The author was the third white child to be born in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina in 1874. Ushuaia has become today the southernmost city of the world -- a place where 60 degrees F is a hot summer day and the wind never stops blowing.

The author's missionary family came to Ushuaia to convert the Yahgan Indians who eked out a cold existence around the waters of the Straits of Magellan. Growing up, the author became even more fascinated with the Ona Indians who lived in the interior of Tierra del Fuego and hunted guanaco, a wild version of the llama. The author spoke the languages of both tribes, lived with them, and recorded their culture and lifestyles. These two peoples are now culturally extinct. In 1947 the author estimated that their numbers had declined from more than 7,000 when he was born to about 150. Disease brought by the White Man along with White settlement of Tierra de Fuego for sheep herding, mining, and fishing doomed the Indians.

The "Uttermost Part of the Earth" is also an adventure tale, told in a dead-pan understated style that accentuates the extraordinary events in the author's life. There are tales of sailing in waters that probably have the worst weather in the world and of being the first to cross Tierra del Fuego on foot. One does not doubt Lucas's veracity; there is little of the contrived excitement lesser adventurers try to generate. Indeed, he seems guilty of understatement. One would welcome from him more forthright expression of his views.

This book deserves a place on the short bookshelf of travel and adventure classics. "Uttermost" is one of the finest and most unique reads you will find, and one of the most informative also.

Smallchief

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is biography/ history/ anthropology/ natural history/ pholosophy/ adventure. When Dover published The Uttermost--- as a paperback,it was the book I chose most often to give as a gift.It is the story of (Estaban) Lucas Bridges' life in Tierra del Fuego. I enjoyed its intricate character (like I enjoy Pattern Language and the Holy Bible) One friend told me that he did not like the book because it was hard to follow and hard to keep track of the different people. The Uttermost--- is a book that I could read again and again and it would be fresh and new.

An outstanding account of the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. A truly memorable work. A towering achievement to have written such a telling account of life on the edge of civilization. Tschiffely's achievement in persuading E. Lucas Bridges to commit the story to paper has preserved the memory of a lost race.

Why it is out of print is beyond me.

This truly has to be the best book ever written. While it is a non-fiction account of life in and around Tierra del Fuego, the author is able to entertain us and amuse us with stories and anacdotes of his own life and experiences. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to attempt to understand the world of the natives of this heartless place. We often only hear of Tierra del Fuego in the stories and adventures of the sailors who pass her shores. This book allows us to step on the beaches and travel inland to taste the real experience of the land.

I was given an old hardback copy of this title by my husband's granny, who lived in Tierra del Fuego for several years. It's the most rivetting book I've ever read. I'd love to recommend it to my book group, but where is it?

This is the remarkable story of a family which, whilst colonising, nevertheless also became as assimilated into, and trusted by, the native community as it is possible to be. E. Lucas Bridges' account of his family's relationship with the soon-to-be-extinct Indians of Tierra del Fuego is one book I'll read (and be completely absorbed by) again and again.

It left me with enormous respect for the writer, and deep regret for the extinction that incomers (sometimes unwittingly, sometimes consciously) meted out to this fascinating and multi-faceted people.

One very minor lack in this brilliant book is the expression of any emotional response to the events that unfold. The story is narrated very factually and presumably accurately, but I often found myself wanting to know "What did the writer really feel when this or that intriguing or absurd or dangerous sequence of events played out before him?".

No book has more made me want to visit a region than this one. An absolutely unforgettable read.

Lucas Bridges' journal is a fascinating recountal of the founding of Ushaia, the history of modern Argentina and an intricate view into the life and traditions of the Aina Indians (as well as the coastal tribes). I feel extremely fortunate to have located a copy, which I have lent out o many people interested in native American peoples.

I would also strongly recommend "Alla' en la Patagonia", by Maria Brunswig de Bamberg (ISBN 950-15-2062-5, Javier Vergara Editor, Tiempos Vivos, 1999 Editiones B Argentina) - memoires of her youth on Lucas Bridges' sheep ranch in Patagonia (near Lago Ghio), based on letters of her mother, notes from her father and her own recollections. Her mother saved Lucas Bridges' life - an interesting story in itself. This book has some funny and fascinating detail, e.g., as a recent German immigrant (I say "immigrant", though they did not yet realise they, with the exception of Maria, would never return to Germany) her mother fed all the numerous passers-by full meals, let them sleep in family beds and made full meals with baked bread and desserts, etc., totally unaware that all the gauchos expected was a "capon" (hung mutton) to cut their meat from!

I purchased Alla en la Patagonia in Villarica, Chile - and I can, without any hesitation recommend Villarica and nearby Pucon as vacation spots. Georgeous scenery, high snow-capped volcanos, countless lakes, quaint "German" villages, endless forests of towering "alerce" trees (look like eucalyptus), great cafes, outfitters, and above all, hotspring resorts tucked throughout the Andes. The Pucon area looks a little like Sun Valley Idaho, but has (I regret to say) more to offer.

This is one of the true golden nuggets, the rare find that few people know about... it captures an era and a people long gone with poignant, personal anthropology in a voice filled with empathy, objectivity, and humility. How many peoples like the fierce, brilliant Ona will never again walk the earth? What secrets, innovations, and knowledge bred of millenia living within the ecosystem are lost forever? It's an unknowable question, but the depth of the answer is suggested in the unvarnished portrayal of life growing up among the peoples of southern tierra del fuego. This book is a journey into a time and place filled with danger, adventure, enterprise, cultural exchange in the deepest sense, and above all comradeship and family bonds. I have read Uttermost Part of the Earth numerous times and am so grateful for its existence.

This is a fun, true-life adventure book! I started reading it after reading "The Voyage of the Beagle" and reading about Fitzroy and the Voyage of the Beagle in other books, thus becoming interested in the Fuegan indians captured by Fitzroy and taken to London. I stumbled on this book. This book is a sleeper! I don't understand why it is not more well known. This writer has a way of making points through understatement that is quite funny at times. If you like reading about Shakleton in "Endurance" or Josh Sloacum's books you will absolutely love this book. This book gives you a perspective on the american indians from an insider's view I have never seen anywhere else. Absolutely fascinating. I want to drop everything and go see Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.

I read this book years ago. I bougth it in a little museum in Usuahia, and I enjoyed it very much. As a native argentinian this is a part of our history that has been largely ignored. The whole of Patagonia is fascinating and this story of a british boy growing up wild among incredibly primitive indians could have been written by Rudyard Kipling. Is a story of adventure and discovery written by the protagonist himself. I don't have the book anymore and I am looking for a used copy. I am sure my second reading will not disappoint me.