EXPLOEATION OP FUEGIA. 



403 



most successful plundering expedition ever undertaken by any rover, Drake 

 completed his voyage round the globe by the Moluccas and Cape of Good Hope 

 route, thus acquiring both wealth and fame. 



Next year followed the far more fruitful, if less famous, expedition of 

 Sarmiento de Gamboa to Magellan Strait. Gamboa was the first to introduce a 

 spirit of scientific observation into his surveys. He carefully explored all the 

 lands separating the large island of Madre de Dios from the strait, studying the 

 channels, the bays and inlets, determining the exact position of the havens, sounding 

 the depths, measuring the mountains, recording the directions of winds, tides 

 and currents. Most of the names given by him have remained in the local 

 geographical nomenclature. Then, passing into the strait, he dreams of a great 



Fig. 151. — Magellan Strmt. 

 Scale 1 : 6,000,000. 



Depths. 



to 250 

 Fathoms. 



250 Fathoms 

 and upwiiids. 



124 miles. 



city with its towers and domes rising above its waters, and feels himself pre- 

 destined to realise the vision. So he returned a few years later, in 1584, but 

 with only one ship, solitary survivor of a considerable fleet with which he had 

 sailed from Cadiz. Penetrating into the strait he founded two cities in succession, 

 one, Nombre de Jesus, near the eastern entrance ; the other near the middle, on a 

 long peninsula terminating in the headland of Cape Froward. 



The latter, which was henceforth to hold the key of the strait, arresting all 

 passing vessels hostile to Spain, received the name of San Felipe, or Philippopolis, 

 and here were settled 400 colonists, including 30 women. Unfortunately, 

 •Sarmiento, despite prodigies of energy and perseverance, was unable to keep 

 them in supplies. The corn sent from Spain failed to germinate, and the 



