Rapturous praise met the publication of Lucas Bridges marvellous chronicle of Tierra del Fuego when it first came out in 1948 & that praise has hardly abated these past 60 years nor has a book been written that supplants Uttermost Part of the Earth" as the classic work on Tierra del Fuego & the little-known culture of the near-vanished native Fuegians. When the author was born in Tierra del Fuego in 1874 it was truly an unknown l&. On the southern coast was the small settlement established by his missionary parents; the rest of it over 18 000 square miles of mountain forest marsh & lake was the hunting ground of fierce & hostile tribes. Bridges grew up amongst the coastal Yaghans learning their language & their ways. In young manhood he made contact with the wild inland Ona tribe became their friend & hunting companion & was initiated into the mens lodge."