May.] P0RT FAMINE. 85 



protect the new colonists from the neighbouring savages, and a small 

 town built for the families of the Spanish emigrants. This infant set- 

 tlement, which was called Philipville, in honour of the then reigning 

 monarch of Spain, was intended to command this passage to the Pacific, 

 and their valuable possessions on the western coast of the continent ; 

 a passage round Cape Horn not being known at that period. The site 

 was judiciously selected, being about one hundred and twenty miles 

 from the eastern entrance of the strait, having a good harbour, with a 

 back country susceptible of much improvement. Had not the inviting 

 riches of Peru, Mexico, and the West Indies diverted the attention of the 

 Spanish government from this project, it could not have failed of suc- 

 cess, and none but Spanish ships would have been permitted to pass 

 the strait without paying for the privilege. 



Here these unfortunate settlers were left, without a sufficient stock 

 of provisions to sustain them, until the land could be prepared and 

 crops produced by labour and perseverance. Spaniards are pro- 

 verbially indolent, and are seldom willing to work, until driven to it by 

 necessity. Expecting to be regularly supplied from the mother country, 

 they probably did not exert their faculties much to provide for the 

 future. Had they been such men as are daily emigrating from the 

 New-England states to our western wilderness, so far from suffering 

 from famine, they would in a few years have converted this region of 

 Patagonia into a fruitful garden, and Philipville would at this moment 

 have been a splendid city. 



About seven years after the establishment of this colony, it was 

 visited by the celebrated English navigator Cavendish, who entered 

 the strait in 1587. On arriving at Philipville he found the colony 

 annihilated, only one individual out of the original four hundred being 

 left alive ! All had perished by famine, except twenty-three ; who, to 

 avoid such a horrible fate, had undertaken to explore their way through 

 the wilderness to Rio de la Plata ; and no doubt fell victims to the 

 savage ferocity of the natives, as they were never again heard of. To 

 perpetuate the sad fate of this colony, Cavendish called the place 

 Port Famine, and took the unhappy survivor to England. 



In this harbour, or rather in this fine capacious bay, twenty ships 

 of the line might be moored in perfect safety, and supply themselves 

 with wood and water with very little trouble. The bay abounds with 

 fish of various kinds, and a plenty of birds may be had at the expense 

 of a little powder and shot. By this means, during our whole passage 

 through the strait, our table was daily furnished with a tempting 

 variety ; such as geese, duck, teal, snipes, plovers, race-horses, &c. 

 embellished with wild celery, which may be gathered in any quantities. 

 The banks of Ledger River, which empties into this bay, abreast of the 

 anchorage, are covered with trees of various kinds, and the finest that 

 I ever saw. Here are white-oak, red-oak, beech, and a sort of bastard 

 cedar, which, in my opinion, would make the finest masts for line-of- 

 battle ships that have ever yet been stepped in a kelson. Some of 

 them are of great height, varying from five to seven feet in diameter. 



In a subsequent voyage, I explored this river for about twenty-five 

 miles from its mouth, and found the country on both sides extremely 



