The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn

is the business centre of the region extending from Port Desire, on the Patagonia coast, to the little island whose southern angle is

ed traveller who visits it for the first time, and, curiously enough, the more he may have r

at it from a ship's deck, is one of the most astonishing statements made about the town. On "the 21st of April, 1843, the Government of Chili planted the

ntimental desire to hold possession of the territory that had been famous in histor

be a very long way from the capital. A penal colony, it was argued, would not only hold troublesome convicts, bu

h century starved to death there. Because of their sufferings, the convicts rose up one day and took possession of the settlement. The Governor was killed. Then a ship happened along and the mutineers boarded it and compelled the crew to sail on, but

stream emptying into the strait some miles north of Port Famine. The new settlement was named from the old one-La Colonia de Megallanes-but because of that tongue of sa

vilized associations because of crimes of which they had been convicted. They were put in charge of men suspected of trying to commit other crimes. In most cases keeper and prisoner were guilty as charged, but in many cases both were inno

e who had known the town twenty-five years ago, "but when I

mpany began running steamers through the Straits of Magellan in 1868, and they all stopped at the colony perforce, because it was a convenient place to take on coal from hulks that were kept there for the purpose. It was natural that a trade in fresh meats and vegetables should g

instance, as told in the last chapter. The gold did not bring

shovel and go dig some gold," said Mr. H. Grey, a Yankee merchant there. As the abundance of food affects

n the rookeries of Staten Island and others farther south. Not that the skipper deserved thanks or praise from the people of Punta Arenas or any other people in this matter. He did not do it intending to promote the prosperity of Punta Arenas or its people. The skipper who helped the growth of Punta Arenas was an infamous scoundrel, who g

S, STRAIT O

talked had been sailors. Not all had bee

early in the seventies, and brought some sheep there from the Falklands. The sheep took kindly to their new home, and increased so rapidly that Mr. Reynard soon had to mov

r as I could learn every man there who had gone into the business and had given it ordinary care had made money. So the sheep spread far and wide over the region, and men came to care for

and, incidentally, to help the soldiers hunt runaway convicts of whom not a few were found brave enough to face the terrors of the Patagonia desert for the sake of liberty. Such tales as may be gathered of the doings and sufferings of these runaways are almost beyond belief. To follow the beach to

r to their situation. It was because officers as well as soldiers of the line and convicts were in exile, and because the worse instincts of the officers were

at the prison gate. With equal animosity they sought the Governor and the chaplain, but both had fled in time, the former deserting his wife and children that he might save his own skin whole. Then the mutineers sacked the town and lived riotously until a Chilian man-o'-war appeared in the offing, when they gathered their plunder together and started away, according to one account, 180 in number, a

t and the next and the next they continued to kill horses. They kept at it till all were gone. Other horses were captured from incoming Gauchos, but these did not suffice. Many mutineers were killed in murderous quarrels, but more died b

tlement on the Chubut River, and these were carried to Buenos Ayres

Arenas vanished. The town was free to rise and flourish as the exubera

s was astonishing, for it was a waterside settlement, backed by grassy, rolling hills, above which rose mountains green with verdure that never fades. Indeed, but for the snow-capped peaks away back in the Cordilleras, one would have had hard work bringing himself to realize that this was the Magellan of which the early navigators drew such bleak pictures. And

black with mud and glistening bright with pools of stagnant water. A stirring population kicked up sand and mud and splashed through the water. Between these streets and facing them were massed, of course, the houses-wall after wall and roof after roof, almost every wall of wood and every roof of corrugated iron, the exceptional w

a big hulk, into which it was discharging coal brought from Cardiff. A handsome little man-o'-war of the cruiser type floated the tri-color flag of Chili above her quarter deck. And besides these a whole fleet-a score or more of schooners, s

ers, and when it went away I went along. It was a clean-lined yawl, with

and, and in the forks of the Red River of the South; I was acquainted with the life of lumbermen in the Adirondacks and the wilds of Nova Scotia; and I had sailed from the Arsuk fiord in Greenland to Chicago.

s of this man were encouraging. He was talking French to one customer and Spanish to another as I entered. He addressed me in English when I came in, and then a moment later opened a door behind the bar and called for hot water in German. Judging from what I saw later still, when a

porting hou

eper smil

st looking girls in the second house bey

nce you've mentioned sporting women, how m

the music. They've got one of these-how do you call them-pianos that turn with a crank, eh? It's a fine

umber of the biggest gang of co

as many a

y have a

et the

they sp

the Lord wo

u seen coming from th

ozen, may

blow in

, rat

dance-house in town and tha

ust the s

ubject of gambling-hous

ne

ave big pl

at they do

t? I'd like

U

oment, and then went to the

said, "but some of them will be in

an introducti

tain

watch it in a

on your card, I dare say, but it pleases the army and navy members to

shepherds, lumbermen, miners, and sailors gather there to waste their substance in riotous living, and do so waste it, but there

en in this town?" sai

twelve

gamblers ever

came. He was a Y

e you thi

tranger dropped in and had a drink, and then we sat around and chatted. But Bray wanted to play billiards, and so pretty soon he asked the s

ray. 'We'll play for the d

ough by doing his best he managed to beat the stranger. I think it was thirty-two or thirty-three

thirty points and bea

game, let me tell you, for both men played well, but at the last Bray ran out, although the stranger

or two hundred, or three hun

ed,' said Bray. It was just w

winked at the crowd, and ran out his string without a break. Then he picked up the cash, stuffed it in h

gambling story worth telling that I heard. I asked if fights and bloodshed were known to t

ers never kil

t," said th

-blooded murde

my day,

never lynched

keeper

s I ever heard of took place in the States. The governme

ent from Santiago. The town ordinances are backed by bayonets. The Texas town marshal in all his glory could not keep the peace as soldiers can. The government has decreed that there shall be no gambling-houses in Punta Arenas of th

who saw them said their trade would probably be larger if they remained behind the bar or wore veils. A more wretched-looking lot of women was never seen in the saloon business. It is in little wooden shanti

sh-American towns has a plaza or public square. The streets are unpaved. This means that near the beach, where there is sand, the wheeling is pretty fair, save in the driest weather, and elsewhe

front wall of the house could be found, in a few places stone, in fewer tile brick, in some well-packed beds of sand, but in the majorit

originally had a shingle roof over all, but the moss-grown shingles had rotted away in patches, and had been replaced with odds and ends of board, tin, and sheet

Fuego rise up in the east beyond the broad waters of the strait. The snow-capped peaks of Mt. Sarmiento and its neighbors appear above the horizon at the south, while in the west the evergreen mountain

ly settlers in the forest districts of the United States called a deadening. The trees seemed to have been killed by some kind of an epidemic. They say in the town that t

re not novel, but the brick-yard is right at hand. I examined the brick, and found a product that I had not seen equalled since I saw the courthou

exploit it. A pier was built at the beach, a railroad laid thence to the mine, and rolling stock brought out from England. This done, they found that they had a lignite instead of a coal mine. The pier has gone

sheep will soon compel the traders to establish a freezing establishment there in order that their surplus sheep may be shipped to market. J

hat it could be profitably exported to the States, but still more profitably used on the ground. The Chili Government will make liberal concessions to any man who knows th

ee. Moreover, the merchants deliver goods to customers by means of sailboats instead of by wagons, as New York merchants do. But, one scarcely need add, there is no free delivery by boats. The navigation of the straits region is hazard

town. The goods are all sold as genuine Indian-made things, and in a way so they are. There are squaws in town who make a living doing work of this kind. I saw one of them deliver an armful of rugs made of guanaco skins to one of the dealers. She was dressed in a tailor-made suit of good material; she had gold jewelry a plenty, and her hair was banged across her forehead. Th

goods. The genuine Indian goods from th

front of that, and there are flowers there in May, at least, if not later. The house is furnished as club-houses are elsewhere, except that it has no kitchen. The annual dues amount to less than a dollar a month gold, and for this the members have a remarkably pleasant resort. The barkeeper thought the play was heavy; this is interesting as showing what is considered heavy play at Punta Arenas.

s and rooms set apart for great masses of potted flowers and shrubs. It has many more flowers in proportion to the population even than the tropical cities like Rio. Flowers grow wil

oo late now. But those who buy now point to the growing traffic through the straits, and refer to the line of huge steam tugs now building in England that will tow sailing ships through the narrow waters and against the winds that vexed and baffled the early navigators; they speak confidently of the spread of sheep ranches on Tierra Del Fuego, and the apparently unfailing discoveries of new gold-fields among the islands to the south; they talk of the increased demand for the wood of the straits. They balance against the frosts and cold rains of midsummer the many Indian summe

y scarce one of whom "would be willing to stay if he could get away." The people there say these remarks were libellous when written. I am bound to say that in 1894, if a man wanted to get to windward of a Punta Arenas ma

ity, and because of the enterprise of its citizens it deserves all the prosperi