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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Harriet Chalmers Adams 

 THE START ACROSS THE ANDES IN WINTER SNOWS 



The author's party leaving the train at the Chilean station of Juncal for the start on 

 mule-back over the Andes, at a time when the line was blocked by avalanches. The unbeaten 

 trail, over slippery ledges and through deep snowdrifts, brought the travelers through the two- 

 mile tunnel in the heart of the Andes into Argentina. There was then a second day's ride 

 over icy wastes to the Argentine railhead where train traffic could be resumed. 



The metropolis' of Magallanes has taken 

 on a pleasing, prosperous air. 



This has long been an important fur 

 market. Guanaco skins, pampa fox, Cor- 

 dillera wolf, white hare from the ice- 

 fields, and muskrat are on sale. Belgian 

 hares, introduced in recent years, have 

 become such a pest that the government 

 has placed a bounty on their heads. 



In the old days seals, sea-lions, and 

 otters were unmercifully hunted, the seal 

 rookeries to the south eventually being 

 destroyed. The seals used to devour the 

 crabs which, with other shell-fish, swarm 

 Fuegian beaches. 



The most characteristic animal of the 

 region, the guanaco, is now freed from 

 the fear of the Indian-with-his-arrow, the 

 enemy he has survived ; but there is still 

 the sheep ranger's shotgun. It is a pity 

 that this animal has not been domes- 

 ticated as was its cousin, the llama. 

 Herds of several hundreds of these grace- 

 ful, ruddy, dappled creatures may still 

 be seen occasionally in the interior of 



Tierra del Fuego. Wild cattle, de- 

 scended from those introduced by early 

 settlers, are found in the mountains. 



In the eighties there was a rush of 

 miners to this part of the world. The 

 prospector bought a boat instead of a 

 burro and headed into the labyrinth of 

 canals south of the Strait. Gold was to 

 be found in the black beach sands beneath 

 the frowning precipices and in the river 

 beds. The gold fever now has passed, 

 but dredges are still at work. Some of 

 the disappointed miners took to sheep- 

 farming. 



One of the largest sheep-farming com- 

 panies in the world is located in Punta 

 Arenas, its dividends in the last four 

 years amounting to $14,000,000. There 

 are five canning and freezing plants in 

 this territory. 



Most of the Chilean sheep-ranges are 

 on the Island of Tierra del Fuego, where 

 the cold climate makes for firm flesh 

 and thick fleece. Were we to marshal 

 the Chilean sheep in one straight line, it 



