NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 
871 
this also, however, was so rickety that it probably will not last long. From the pier 
a tramway runs to the coal mines to facilitate the transport of that mineral, which can 
be brought right clown in trucks and discharged into barges alongside the pier. The 
price was $6 a ton, but as the coal is of inferior quality and gives but little heat, there 
was not; much sale for it. 
The Chilians originally established the colony at Port Famine, and afterwards at 
Sandy Point as a penal settlement, but in consequence of the increase of steam traffic 
through the Strait of Magellan, grants of land and other advantages were promised to 
immigrants, and in January 1869 a new Governor arrived in a vessel of war with some 
300 settlers. In 1876 the colony appeared to be thriving ; some of the land in the 
vicinity of Sandy Point was being cleared, vegetables were being cultivated, and in 
Freshwater Bay corn had been successfully grown. Bullocks and sheep were fairly 
plentiful, and beef and mutton could be procured at 7 d. per pound. Mushrooms were 
plentiful in the vicinity of Sandy Point, and large quantities were gathered and fully 
appreciated by all on board, as were also the ducks and snipes brought back by the 
shooting parties. 
Several members of the Expedition visited the coal mines ; six different seams of coal 
were counted in riding up the valley, some of them being 7 feet in thickness. There are 
gold mines in the same locality, but they hardly paid the expense of working. 
The Governor of the colony, Don Diego Duble Almeida, presented some Fuegian 
skulls to the Expedition, and received the officers with great hospitality. Some time 
after the visit of the Expedition this little settlement was the scene of a terrible 
massacre. On the 11th November 1877 the artillerymen mutinied and liberated the 
convicts; a massacre of the inhabitants and destruction of the greater part of the town 
followed. The Governor, who behaved with great bravery, barely escaped with his life, 
after being severely wounded and suffering great hardships. 
On the 18th January the vessel left Sandy Point for Elizabeth Island, anchoring off 
that island at 11 a.m. in 5| fathoms, with its west point S. 52° W., Sylvester Point 
S. 46° E., Quoin Hill N. 58° W., left extremity Santa Marta S. 72° E., and Sweepstakes 
Foreland N. 56° E. 
Exploring parties landed on the island, which is without trees but covered with grass, 
and since, the Expedition’s visit has been occupied as a sheep and cattle run. The island 
is the breeding place of large numbers of wild Geese ( Chloephaga patagonica), which 
were very abundant. Wild-goose shooting in Elizabeth Island is a very different matter 
from what it is at home, for when the sportsman has shot nine geese he finds that 
he has no light task before him in carrying them to the . boat at the end of the island, 
over the soft and yielding soil. In the Falkland Islands similarly the sportsman finds 
himself early in the day with a heavier bag than he can stagger under. The geese 
at Elizabeth Island showed some wariness, and some little trouble had to . be 
(narr. chall. exp. — vol. i. — 1885.) 110 
