466 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES LEGIONS. 



pure drinkable water in Port Eden south of the English Narrows, in Puerto Bueno 

 at the northern entrance of Smyth Strait, and at Midioz Gomero at the southern 

 entrance of the same channel in King William's Land. 



Till recently the shores of Magellan Strait and of Tierra del Fuego were 

 regarded as condemned to perpetual solitude and death. The frequent shipwrecks 

 that have taken place about the headlands and fringing reefsof the insular groups, 

 the reports of mariners regarding the storm-tossed waters, the torrential rains and 

 intense cold of the Cape Horn archipelago — lastly, the vast deserts of the interior, 

 the snows and glaciers of the surrounding mountains, had earned for these terminal 

 lands of the South American continent a terrible reputation, as attested by such 

 local names as Port Famine in Magellan Strait, N'Entre Pas ("Enter Not") in 

 Dawson Island and Anxious Point in Tierra del Fuego. 



Nevertheless such a passage as Magellan Strait, 340 miles long, much fre- 

 quented by sailing-vessels and offering special advantages to steamers, could not 

 permanently remain without some maritime station. So early as the close of the 

 eighteenth century the illustrious Galician pilot Sarmiento had attempted to found 

 a colony on the shores of the strait, and but for a series of untoward incidents 

 which the daring and persevering pioneer was unable to overcome, the " City of 

 San Felipe," well situated on the strait, had every prospect of maintaining itself. 

 But the failure of supplies to arrive in time transformed it to the " Port Famine " 

 of sad memories. 



Before the establishment of permanent stations a signal, placed at the extremity 

 of Cape Fro ward, indicated the spot wljere an ocean letter-box would be found, 

 entrusted to the care of seafarers of all nations. 



In 1843, when the Chilian Government revived the project of Sarmiento, it 

 established a convict station at Puerto Hambre (Port Famine), which was after- 

 wards removed to a position a little farther north, but on the same side of the strait 

 in the Brunswick peninsula. Here was founded in 1852 the town of Pilnta 

 Arenas ("Sandy Point"), a penal settlement which at first made but slow progress. 

 But as soon as it became a centre of free industry it developed rapidly. 



Situated, as indicated by its name, on a sandy beach, Punta Arenas presents 

 no very inviting prospect, but possesses immense resources as a victualling station. 

 Since 1868 the neighbouring auriferous deposits have been worked. A still more 

 useful discovery was that of carboniferous beds, also in the vicinity, from which 

 passing steamers can replenish their bunkers. Another flourishing industry is 

 stock-breeding, which is now carried on not only on the mainland, but also in 

 Tierra del Fuego, and especially along the shores of Gente Grande Bay. Ranches 

 are springing up in every direction, and from these sources Punta Arenas draws 

 the supplies required for its victualling stores, and even for an increasing export 

 trade. In 1882 the German scientiiic expedition despatched to observe the transit 

 of Venus had its headquarters in this terminal town on the American mainland. 



The oceanic islands which belong politically to Chili have but a scant popula- 

 tion, and some are even quite uninhabited. Such are San Felix and San Anibrosio, 

 where nothing is found except a few shrubs and some guano beds deposited by the 



