Sandy Point and Port Famine. 35 



ducks, some small birds, and a young fox. The ground was for 

 the most part covered with a sort of rank grass, through which 

 bushes of the Berberry, Empetrum rubrum t and Myrtus nitmmu- 

 laria, grew luxuriantly. A very pretty dwarf calceolaria was also 

 abundant. The only quadruped seen was a fox, but the tucutucos 

 (Ctenomys] must have been very numerous, for the ground was 

 riddled in all directions by their burrows. Some of our party, 

 who strolled along the beach towards Gregory Bay, found a small 

 settlement of Frenchmen, who, it seemed, had recently come out 

 here to try their hands at farming. After our arrival on board, 

 one of the men brought me a specimen of a Myxine, which 

 had come up on his fishing line, not attached to the hook, but 

 adhering by its viscid secretion to the line at some distance 

 above the hook. Of this curious fish I subsequently obtained 

 many specimens in the western Patagonian channels. 



We got under way again before daylight, and about eight 

 in the morning we arrived at Sandy Point. This interesting 

 little Chilian settlement was established in the year 1843, and 

 although a great portion of it was burnt to the ground during 

 the mutiny of 1877, it yet shows signs of ultimately becoming 

 a place of considerable importance. Great credit is due to the 

 Chilian Government for their perseverance in maintaining a 

 settlement in this wild region, notwithstanding the sad fate of 

 the colony which was established by Sarmiento in 1580, at a 

 bay to the westward of Sandy Point, which he named " Bahia 

 de la Gente." On Sarmiento's return, eight years subsequently, 

 it was discovered that nearly all the colonists had perished of 

 starvation. That bay has since been called Port Famine. Of 

 late years the Straits of Magellan have been largely availed of by 

 men-of-war and merchant steamers. Two lines of mail steamers, 

 viz., the P. S. N. C. and the Kosmos line, now run bi-monthly 

 through the Straits ; and as all these vessels touch regularly at 

 Sandy Point, the colonists are kept in frequent communication 

 with the rest of the civilized world. For some years after 



