IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.
The eastern entrance to the Straits lies between Cape Virgenes, on the mainland, and Cape Espiritu, on the island, a distance of about fourteen miles. For some distance the channel is wide, with the mainland gently undulating and covered with grass. Then come the first narrows, and afterwards the second narrows. These narrows are about two miles in width, and there is generally a strong current through them. In the spring the tides are thrown up to a height of fifty feet, and this is the reason sailing vessels prefer the open waters around Cape Horn, even though the seas are more tempestuous. When nearing Punta Arenas the mountains become higher, and at times the way seems blocked by them. Stunted bush and underbrush appear. After leaving Punta Arenas the shores grow bolder and more picturesque. The snow-covered mountains and glaciers resemble the Alaska coast or that of Northern Norway. The islands are as numerous as in the St. Lawrence or Georgian Bay.
Nodales Peak and Mt. Victoria lift their hoary heads on the mainland, while Mt. Buckland and Mt. Sarmiento rise to a still greater height on the islands. The latter beautiful and majestic peak is the noblest of them all. Its snowy head rises to a height of seven thousand three hundred feet, with a broad base and two distinct peaks. It is generally more or less hidden by vapour. The three Evangelistas keep their lonely vigil where straits and ocean join on the north. Cape Pillar, the western end of the Straits, is two hundred and forty-five miles from Cape Virgenes, but the steamer route is almost half as long again. Old voyagers were wont to take eighty days in this passage when the weather was a little unfavourable. The western end is the stormiest, and the pilot books give it a very bad reputation. South of them the Antarctic seas are seldom free from the storm king. The weather is nearly always bad, and oftentimes worse. In one recent year it is said that eighty-two sailing vessels and thirty-nine steamers were lost—a fearful toll claimed by old Neptune.
Fernando de Magelhaens, although of Portuguese birth, had entered the Spanish service. In charge of a fleet of five small ships, the largest of only one hundred and thirty tons, boarded and manned by a crew of sixty-two men, he sailed from Seville on the 10th of August, 1519. The voyage was an arduous one, and was beset not only with terrific storms at sea but mutinies among the sailors that were scarcely less terrifying. Only two of his vessels remained faithful, but he conquered the mutiny with the loss of only one vessel. On the 21st of October, 1520, he entered the eastern entrance of the channel, and it was a month later, after almost unheard-of difficulties, that he emerged into the broad Pacific. Of the subsequent expeditions that attempted this route the experiences were most unfortunate. In nearly every instance almost one out of every three vessels was wrecked, some in one channel and some in another, for there is a perfect labyrinth of channels around and between the many islands. Some of the names indicate the experiences or impressions of these early navigators. Fatal Bay, Port Famine, Famine Reach, Escape Beach, Last Wreck Point, Dislocation Harbour, Thieves Island, Useless Bay, Fury Islands, Breakneck Peninsula, Desolation Harbour, Preservation Cove, and last, Hope Inlet, are a few of the names that may be located on the map. In 1578, Sir Francis Drake, an English explorer as well as freebooter, by accident found the route by the way of Cape Horn. This great discovery stimulated navigation around South America, for the Spaniards guarded the Straits route to the best of their ability. The Spaniards described Drake as “a man of low condition, but a skilful seaman and a valiant pirate.”
The Fuegian Archipelago covers a goodly territory. The islands contain as much land as Nebraska, and are several hundred miles long from east to west. A perfect labyrinth of tortuous, wind-swept waterways separate the hundreds of islands which form this group. They are not all a desolate mass of ice and snow, however, but contain plains which are covered with succulent grasses, and slopes which are thickly wooded. The Chilean portion of these islands, and the mainland along the coast beyond the fiftieth parallel of latitude, is included in the territory of Magellanes, the largest territorial division in the republic. The largest island, called Tierra del Fuego, land of the fire, is half as large as Illinois. It is divided longitudinally between Chile and Argentina, by far the largest portion belonging to the former nation, and the best part of it too.
Thirty years ago this entire island was roamed and hunted over by the aborigines. The fact that the northern part consisted of open country, with few ranges of hills, caused the white man to look upon it with envious eyes, as it promised good pasturage for sheep. Then began a warfare against the Indians which almost resulted in their extermination. Thousands of sheep now quietly graze in the rich valleys and on the verdant plains, and thrive very well indeed. Very little of the land is cultivated, although probably susceptible of cultivation, but the marketing of the products would be a difficult feature at the present time, and the season is short. Its latitude is about that of Southern Greenland, but the climate is probably milder, and its longitude is approximately that of Eastern Massachusetts. In the summer the grass is green, but in the winter the chilly winds change it to a rich brown. The ground rats are a terrible nuisance to the farmer, as they burrow in the fields so much that they destroy half the usefulness of a good meadow. The mountain slopes are covered with a thick growth of trees, ferns and mosses up to a height of a thousand feet or more, due to the great amount of rainfall, but above that distance the growth is very stunted. It seems strange to see green trees and green grasses amid snows and glaciers, but such is the contrast offered by this “land of the fire.” The trees are mostly evergreen, not very high, but very close together. A deep bed of moss, into which a man may sink knee-deep, generally surrounds them, and large ferns with leaves a yard long grow in places otherwise bare. Even bright flowers make the sombre landscape seem almost gay when the sun shines on a summer day.
Desolation Island, on the Chilean side, is a bleak and barren island well indicated by its name, while other names are Clarence, St. Inas, and Navarin. There are many others, from islands twenty miles in length to some so small that a good baseball pitcher could toss a stone clear over them. Cape Horn is a monster rock which thrusts its jagged outline into the Antarctic seas. It is a couple of hundred miles south of the Straits of Magellan, and more than a thousand miles nearer the undiscovered South Pole than the Cape of Good Hope. It is surrounded by waters that are tossed by terrific storms which mariners fear. The hulks of wrecked vessels can be seen on every hand as reminders of the terrible tribute which has been here levied. Glaciers are always in sight, and masses of ice hundreds of feet high are frequently seen, seeming to threaten the venturesome mariner for invading those beautiful waters.
A WRECK ON THE COAST OF CHILE.
A number of years ago a steamer was wrecked on these shores, but the crew managed to save sufficient provisions to sustain all those rescued for some time. While sinking shallow wells they discovered a strata of black sand that sparkled with particles of gold. Their reports led to great excitement over the discovery of gold on Tierra del Fuego. Although adventurers had sailed through the Straits for centuries, looking for the wealth that they might obtain either honestly or dishonestly, yet the gold deposits remained undiscovered until 1867. Their covetous eyes had gazed upon the gold-bearing shores, and they had even filled their water-casks in the gold-bearing rivulets without seeing the wealth. In the few years following a number of Argentine explorers visited that region, and found the source of some of the gold. The gold was almost exclusively found in free particles in a layer of black sand, which was found under the surface sand. As soon as the report of their find reached the settlements, a number of expeditions were fitted out and sent to that region. The best payings were found right on the beach, which was washed by the waves of the sea at a high tide and during storms. It was also found that the tides brought in fresh gold-bearing sands from the seas. The miners used to sit down and smoke their pipes until the storms passed, and then dig up the black sand with the gold in it after the surf had gone down.