MUTINY AT SANDY POINT.—TIERRA DEL FUEGO.—MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES THERE.—CAPTAIN GARDINER.—CRUISE OF THE "WATEREE."—SIDE-WHEEL DUCKS.—UP THE PACIFIC COAST.—THE MEETING AT VALPARAISO.—THE END.
Sandy Point has not been without its tragedy, in spite of its youth as a colony. In November, 1877, the convicts and soldiers mutinied, and for two days the place was a scene of bloodshed and robbery. About sixty of the officers, soldiers, and colonists were killed and many others were wounded; the arrival of a Chilian gunboat, on the third day, put an end to the revolt and restored order. The mutineers fled to the pampas, where many of them died of starvation and exposure, and the remnant of the band was captured near the mouth of the Santa Cruz River. Many of the buildings in the town were burned, and the destruction of property was estimated at half a million dollars.
CAPTAIN SMILEY.
Dr. Bronson inquired for Captain Smiley, an American who was once famous in this part of the world; he learned that the captain died some years before, but not until he had reached very nearly the hundredth year of his age. An officer of the United States steamer Wateree described the captain as known to everybody from Uruguay round to Chili, and says he rendered numerous and invaluable services to vessels shipwrecked anywhere within a thousand miles of the strait. One sea-captain who was wrecked on the eastern coast of Patagonia declared that Smiley scented the disaster six hundred miles away, and came to his assistance. He once rounded Cape Horn alone in a fifty-ton schooner, and his life was full of extraordinary experiences in the southern hemisphere.
MOUNTAINS AND GLACIERS IN MAGELLAN'S STRAIT.
As the Doctor and his nephew returned to the steamer they met a boat-load of Fuegians on their way to Sandy Point, from the other side of the strait. Fred had considered the Patagonians very low in the scale of humanity, but on seeing the Fuegians he was inclined to rank the Patagonians among the crême de la crême. Though the weather was cold, they were not more than half clad, and the few garments among them were the merest apologies for clothing. The boat was a frame of wood covered with seal-skins sewn together, and was far more attractive to the eye of the stranger than were its occupants.