408 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 



Description of the Strait. — Western Entrance. — Point Dungeness. — The Narrows. — Saint Philip's Bay. 

 — Cape Froward. — Grand Scenery. — Port Famine, — The Sedger River. — Darwin's Ascent of Mount 

 Tarn. — The Bachelor River, — English Reach. — Sea Reach. — South Desolation. — Harbor of Mercy. — 

 Williwaws. — Discover}- of the Strait by Magellan (October 20, 1521). — Drake. — Sarmiento. — Cav- 

 endish. — Schouten and Le Maire. — Byron. — Bougainville. — Wallis and Carteret. — King and Fitz- 

 roy. — Settlement at Punta Arenas. — Increasing Passage through the Strait. — A future Highway of 

 Commerce. 



^T^HE celebrated strait which bears the name of Magellan is generally pic- 

 tured as the scene of a wild and dreary desolation ; but though its climate 

 is far from being genial, and its skies are often veiled with mists and rain, yet 

 nature can smile even here. 



A glance at the map shows us the extreme irregularity of its formation, as 

 it is constantly changing in width and direction ; now swelling almost to the 

 magnitude of a Mediterranean Sea, and then again contracting to a narrow 

 passage ; sometimes taking a rapid turn to the north, and at others as Sudden- 

 ly deviating to the south. Islands and islets of every form — some mere naked 

 rocks, others clothed with umbrageous woods — are scattered over its surface ; 

 promontories without number, from the Patagonian mainland or the Fuegian 

 archipelago, protrude their bold fronts into its bosom, as if with the intention 



