Three hours after leaving Sandy Point the steamer passed Port Famine, which owes its name to a melancholy incident in its history. In 1584 a Spanish colony was founded there by Sarmiento; out of three hundred men who formed the colony all but two died of starvation within four years. In the early part of this century the Chilian government made a convict settlement there; the convicts revolted, killed their guards, and then seized a trading schooner and sailed away, after killing its crew. They were afterwards captured and properly punished by the government authorities.
One of the officers of the steamer called Fred's attention to a "side-wheel" duck, whose performance in the water resembled that of the steamer from which it takes its name. This bird is said to be found only in Patagonia; it does not use its wings for flying nor its feet for paddling, but when pursued it rushes through the water with great speed by means of its wings. The officer said he had never seen one of these ducks attempt to fly; an examination of its wings showed a cartilaginous projection at the elbow, but when in motion its movements were so rapid that the mode of propulsion could not be distinctly defined. The feet could be seen trailing behind; and there was a sort of mist at the side of the bird, while the wake in his rear was exactly like that left by a paddle steamer.
Mountain peaks were visible on both sides of the strait. In many places the cliffs were almost perpendicular, and hundreds of feet in height. There were many little harbors opening out from the strait, but Fred was informed, by the officer who had called his attention to the ducks, that many of the harbors were useless, as the water was too deep to permit ships to anchor. But where anchorage is possible the shelter is perfect, the surrounding mountains completely shutting out the winds. The geologists say these harbors are probably the craters of volcanoes that were extinguished ages and ages ago.
BORGIA BAY.
They passed near Port Gallant, Borgia Bay, and other harbors which are marked on the chart, but without making a pause at any of them. Before the days of regular steam navigation it was the custom for those passing through the strait to leave the names of their ships, with short records of their cruises, at the different anchorages. A favorite place for thus informing those who followed them was at Borgia Bay, where sometimes dozens of boards could be seen fastened to the trees. The historian of the cruise of the Wateree says that one captain recorded his vessel as a "whaling skuner."
