THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 



415 



the Magellans. The difficulties encountered by them were surpassed by those 

 of Wallis and Carteret. The former spent nearly four months (from^ Decem- 

 ber 17, 1766, to April 11, 1767) in a perpetual conflict with stormy weather 

 while slowly creeping through the strait ; and the latter required eighty-four 

 days for his passage from Port Famine to Cape Pillar. No wonder that the 

 next circumnavigators, Lutke, Krusenstern, Kotzebue, preferred sailing round 

 Cape Horn, and that adventurous seal-hunters became for a long time the 

 sole visitors of these ill-famed waters. At length the British Government came 

 to a resolution worthy of England, and resolved to have the Magellanic regions 

 carefully surveyed, and to conquer them, as it were, anew for geographical 

 science. Under the command of Captain King, the " Adventure " and the 

 "Beagle" were engaged in this arduous task from 1826 to 1830; but such 

 were the dangers they had to encounter, that Captain Stokes, the second in 

 command, after contending for four months with the storms and currents which 

 frequently threatened to dash his vessel against the cliffs, became so shattered 

 in mind and body, that after his return to Port Famine he committed suicide in 

 a fit of melancholy. 



From 1831 to 1834 Captain Fitzroy was engaged in completing the survey 

 of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and the result of all these labors was a col- 

 lection of charts and plans which have rendered navigation in those parts as 

 safe as can be expected in the most tempestuous region of the globe. 



While formerly the passage round Cape Horn Avas universally preferred, the 

 more accurate knowledge of the Strait of Magellan, for which navigation is in- 

 debted to the labors of King and Fitzroy, has since then turned the scale in 

 favor of the latter. 



For a trading-vessel, with only the ordinary number of hands on board, the 

 passage through the strait from east to west is indeed very difficult, and even 

 dangerous ; but in the opposite direction, the almost constant westerly winds 

 render it commodious and easy particularly during the summer months, in 

 which they are most prevalent. 



For small vessels — clippers, schooners, cutters — the passage in both directions 

 is, according to the excellent authority of Captain King, much to be preferred. 

 Such vessels have far more reason for fearing the heavy seas about Cape Horn ; 

 they can more easily cross against the west winds, as their manoeuvres are gen- 

 erally very skillful, and they find in the Sound itself a great number of anchor- 

 ing-places, which are inaccessible to larger vessels. 



For steamers the advantage is entirely on the side of the Strait, and they 

 consequently now invariably prefer this route. Here they find plenty of wood, 

 which enables them to save their coals ; and moreover, from Cape Tamar as far 

 as the Gulf of Penas, an easy navigation for about 360 sea miles through the 

 channels along the west coast of America. 



As the trade of the Pacific is continually increasing, and the Strait of Magel- 

 lan more frequented from year to year, we can not wonder that the old project 

 of settling a colony on its shores should have been revived in our days. About 

 the year 1840 the Government of Chili established a penal colony at Punta Are- 

 nas and Port Famine, which miserably failed in consequence of a mutiny ; but 



