690 



R. A. F. PENROSE, JR. 



In addition to the Porvenir region, mining on a smaller scale, but of 

 more or less importance, is still going on at some of the other localities 

 already mentioned. 



The chief center of civilization in the whole region is the Chilean 

 town of Punta Arenas, a name which in English means Sandy Point, 

 and which refers to the spit of sandy land on which it is built. The 

 town is on the Patagonian side of the Strait of Magellan and has a 

 fairly good harbor. It is the seat of government in this part of the 



Fig. 5. — Gold-bearing alluvium on the Rio del Oro, Tierra del Fuego. 



Chilean possessions and is a very active place of some 12,000 people. 

 (See Fig. 4.) It is the only large town in the Magellan region. The 

 settlement of Ushuwaia, which is the seat of government of the 

 Argentine part of Tierra del Fuego, is only a very small place, while 

 several small mining or fishing camps, of which Porvenir is the largest, 

 together with a few missionary posts, none of them containing more 

 than a few persons, complete the list of settlements in this region. 

 Punta Arenas is in 53° g' ^2" south latitude, and has the distinction 

 of being the most southerly town of any considerable size in the 

 southern hemisphere. Some of the places mentioned above are still 



