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Rating: 
Summary: Uttermost Part of the Earth
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Uttermost Part of the Earth
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The Uttermost Part of the Earth
Review: Argentina is a perfect place to live, pitty its economy. But it has beautiful and astonishing sceneries. This book describes one of the most gorgeous parts of the earth. I realy enjoyed reading it. If you have the chance visit Argentina
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Summary: Unexpected
Review: 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.
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Summary: Good resource on early missionarys in Chile
Review: I visited Tierra del Fuego & Patagonia in March of 2004. When attending a lecture aboard ship regarding the early settlement of this area I was told a good resource book on this area was Lucas Bridges book "The Uttermost Part of the Earth" - it was a great recommendation. I was able to obtain the book via Interlibrary loan (believe it came from a library in Minnesota). A great read! Lucas was one of 6 children of Thomas Bridges a missionary sent from England to Christianize the natives. 5 of his 6 children were born there. The book doesn't deal that much with actually missionary (ie: church) work as it does the experiences of Bridges family members with the native tribes. What endurance those people had! I'd recommend it to anyone interested in that part of the world.
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Summary: Why is this book out of print?
Review: 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.
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Summary: A note to those interested in Luca Bridges
Review: I would strongly recommend reading "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 (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!
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Summary: a unique and important book
Review: 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
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Summary: Amazing and Informative a true literary gem!!
Review: 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!!
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