It all seemed to be pockets, so that where the gold would be found in considerable quantities for a while, it would soon become so scarce that mining it under the crude conditions prevailing became unprofitable. The prospectors sailed in and out of the stormy and dangerous bays, and many of them lost their lives. The hidden reefs and whirling tornadoes form combinations that made navigation in the small catboats that were used extremely perilous. Many, who were wrecked, were obliged to live upon whatever wild food they could find for weeks, and others were killed by the hostile Indians. The original stories said that nuggets as big as kernels of corn were plentiful, but they were not true to fact. No gold quartz veins were ever discovered, but in all the finds it was simply particles mixed up with the black sand. Gold mining to-day is not prosecuted in that region as much as it was a couple of decades ago, although some gold is washed each year. If the whole story was known, it would probably be found that there were more skeletons of dead miners left on those inhospitable shores than records of wealth acquired in Tierra del Fuego. Most of those who did find wealth got no farther than Punta Arenas with it, for that city was to that region what San Francisco was in the early days of California, and mining prospectors are the same the world over.
The first attempt to establish a settlement on the Straits of Magellan was in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was placed in command of this expedition. His instructions were as follows: “For the honour and glory of God and of the Virgin Mary, His Mother and Our Lady, whom you, Captain Pedro Sarmiento, are to take for Advocate and Patron of the ships and crews under your orders for this discovery and enterprise in the Straits of Magellan.” After several narrow escapes from shipwreck the expedition landed, and established a settlement not far from the present city of Punta Arenas. From the very first misfortune seemed to follow the colonists, and the Indians soon became hostile. At the end of the second winter the three hundred or more colonists had dwindled to eighteen, who were finally rescued. They had been obliged to live on berries, shell-fish, oysters, and such other ocean life that they were able to catch. The Indians had driven the guanaco and other wild game into the interior where the colonists could not reach them.
GENERAL VIEW OF PUNTA ARENAS.
The continent of South America extends much farther south than Africa. The southernmost point is Cape Frowards, which is a dark mass of rock five hundred feet high joined by a low neck of land to snow-clad mountains. At almost the southernmost point of the mainland lies the little city of Punta Arenas (Sandy Point). It is situated on the Straits of Magellan, which is sheltered from the worst storms by the many islands that lie between it and the Antarctic seas. Punta Arenas is the southernmost city in the world, eight hundred miles farther south than Cape Town. There is plenty of building space left in this city still, but a few years ago, when the boom was on, the people had visions of a southern Chicago. Fabulous prices were asked for building lots, and real estate agents were almost as plentiful as the Indians. That time has passed, and the town has dwindled in population. Its latitude is about that of Labrador, but it is much more equable than that country and the weather is not so severe as many imagine. It is so named because built on a sandy beach that runs out into the Straits. It is now a city of twelve thousand people, and they seem to be contented. It is a very mixed population. You can hear Spanish, English, German, Italian, Russian and even the Chinese mingled with the guttural tongues of the Indians. The Scotch are probably the most thrifty of the inhabitants, and many of them have lived there two or three generations.
There are many rough characters in Punta Arenas, some even who have drifted from the mining camps of our western states. It is said to be bad policy to ask a man where he came from, or what his name was before his arrival, as it might be an embarrassing subject. The loafing places are the bars, where many brawls occur during the long winters. There are probably as many saloons to the number of inhabitants as in any other place on the globe, for nearly every other door seems to bear such a sign. Much gambling is also done at these and in the clubs. There are clubs, where the well-to-do gather and have their games just as they do the world over. The principal club is the Cuerpo de Bomberos, which means the Society of Firemen, and was organized as a volunteer fire department. Most of the buildings are cheap one-story affairs, frequently being built of the corrugated iron so common in this land. Punta Arenas is a free port, and this fact has aided in its prosperity. All the vessels passing through the Straits call there for supplies and coal, and this business, together with the trade in whaling products, wool and furs, furnish the inhabitants with employment. It is one of the great wool-exporting ports of the world, having shipped more than sixteen million pounds of that commodity in a single season, and four hundred thousand pelts. The trade in furs is very large. One of the prettiest things sold here is an ostrich robe made of the breasts of the young birds.
PORT FAMINE, IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.
Punta Arenas is the business centre of the region extending from Port Desire, on the Patagonian coast to Cape Horn, and from the Falkland Islands on the east to the westernmost limits of Chile. The little settlement that originally was established there was called La Colonia de Magellanes. On the 21st of April, 1843, Chile first planted her tri-coloured banner at a place near here, which was called Port Famine, because of the disastrous end of the Sarmiento settlement, which had been located there a couple of centuries previously.
Chile had a double purpose in establishing this post. One was its desire to hold the territory as a national possession, and the other was to establish a penal colony which would be so far away from the capital that the prisoners, even if they escaped, could not return. Several hundred prisoners were generally confined there, who were kept in subjection by a small company of soldiers. On two occasions the convicts rebelled and took possession of this settlement. On one of these the governor and many of the guards were killed and the mutineers boarded a ship that chanced to be in the harbour, but they were overtaken by a Chilean man-of-war and overcome. The men were hung, and it is said that a man was seen hanging from every yard-arm of the war-ship. After the first revolt a new settlement was established on the present site of Punta Arenas, which was given the old name. The tongue of sand there, however, the English-speaking people called Sandy Point, and thereafter the name Punta Arenas, which means the same in Spanish, was given it; at least it is entirely known by that name now.