GOLD REGIONS OF STRAIT OF MAGELLAN 



691 



further south, and Ushuwaia is in almost 55° south latitude, but they 

 are all very small settlements. 



Punta Arenas was started by the Chilean government as a penal 

 colony in 1843, but its location at that time was somewhat further 

 south than at present. A few years later, in 1849, the settlement 

 was moved to where it now stands. In the early days of Punta Arenas 

 it was the scene of much disturbance, and on more than one occasion 

 frightful bloodshed and massacre on the part of the convicts have 



Fig. 6. — Gold-bearing alluvium on the Rio Pararich, Tierra del Fuego. 



blackened its history. The Chilean government finally ceased using 

 it as a penal colony and encouraged its settlement by free Chileans. 

 For a long time it was the headquarters for sealing and whaling 

 vessels, until the seals and whales became so nearly exterminated 

 that the industry began to wane. It was also the wrecking head- 

 quarters for the Magellan region, and the many ships that were in 

 distress or were dashed to pieces in the storms of this inhospitable 

 region received the attention of the Punta Arenas wreckers. 



In recent years, however, Punta Arenas has prospered greatly along 

 other lines, first by the development of the sheep industry in Patagonia 



