STRAIT OF MAGELLAN.--FALKLAND ISLANDS.--A PENGUIN CITY.--SANDY
POINT.--HUNTING THE OSTRICH AND GUANACO.--PATAGONIAN GIANTS.
The voyage southward from Buenos Ayres was uneventful, as the ocean was
calm and the steamer kept well out to sea. There was an agreeable change
in the temperature; it became delightfully cool on the day following
their departure, and continued so until the coast of Patagonia was
sighted, near the entrance of the Strait of Magellan.
Fred was disappointed with his first view of Patagonia. He knew it was a
desolate region, but was hardly prepared for the total absence of all
vegetation on the shore which he scanned through his glass. It was the
shore of the Red Sea without its warmth of sunshine, and the rosy tints
for which its name was given. Coming from the rich verdure of the Amazon
and the Rio de La Plata, he found the gray, barren landscape of
Patagonia doubly forbidding, and his desire for a journey through the
country was by no means great.
The entrance to the Strait of Magellan is about twenty-two miles wide;
the northerly, or, rather, the northeasterly, point around which the
steamer took its course is called Cape Virgens, and the southeastern
Cape Espiritu Santo. Almost due east, and about three hundred miles
distant, are the Falkland Islands, which belong to Great Britain, and
are of more political than practical value. There is excellent pasturage
on the islands, and considerable numbers of cattle and sheep are raised
there, but the climate is not favorable to agriculture.
[Illustration: SEAL OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.]
Fred wanted to visit the Falklands, not so much to examine the country
as to see the seals and penguins, which are killed there in great
numbers. As he was unable to make the journey, he contented himself with
a description given by a fellow-passenger.
[Illustration: PATAGONIA AND TIERRA DEL FUEGO.]
"The penguin is a funny-looking bird," said the gentleman, "and his
breeding-place is as funny as he is. In the first place, he can't fly;
he has two wings, like any other bird, but they are very short, and only
useful for helping him over the ground when on land, and for paddling
him about in the water. He doesn't use his wings much, though, in the
water, as his broad feet are webbed like a duck's, and propel him very
rapidly.
"When I first came to this part of the world I was on a schooner in
search of penguin oil. We went to one of the rocky islands where the
birds make their home, and found a city of probably a hundred thousand
penguins."
"A hundred thousand in one city!" exclaimed Fred, in astonishment.
"Yes, a hundred thousand at least," was the reply, "and I've seen a
penguin city five times as large as that. There was a space of fifty or
sixty acres covered with birds about as thick as they could sit
together; it was laid off into squares by streets running at right
angles, and a surveyor couldn't have made the lines straighter than they
were.
"And not only do they lay the ground out into squares, but they level it
off and pick up all the stones and shells lying around, so that it is as
smooth as a lawn. Then the birds go in pairs, and each pair picks out a
place for a nest; it isn't a nest at all, but simply a spot on the
ground. The hen lays one egg, and only one; the male bird brings her
food from the sea, or if she wishes occasionally to have a swim he sits
on the egg during her absence. He takes such good care of her that she
is always plump and fat, and for this reason the penguins are sought and
killed during their breeding season.
[Illustration: THE PENGUIN.]
"They walk up and down the streets like soldiers, standing erect all the
time, and waddling along on their feet. The fun of the thing is that
they divide themselves off into classes, according to their plumage and
also according to the stages of their incubation; one class never
disturbs another, but whether they keep order without the aid of a
policeman or not I am unable to say."
Fred asked how large the ordinary penguin is.
"There are several varieties of these birds," said his informant, "the
largest being the Emperor Penguin, which weighs twenty-five or thirty
pounds, and I have known them to tip the scale at very nearly forty. The
old birds are so tough and fishy that a dog won't touch them, but the
chickens are good eating. I have tried the eggs, but didn't like 'em, as
they resembled a hen's egg cooked in lamp-oil. Penguins only go on shore
during the breeding season; for the rest of the time they live in the
water, and some varieties of them are frequently found on or near cakes
of ice two or three hundred miles from land."
While this strange bird of the southern hemisphere was under discussion
the steamer passed between the two capes we have mentioned, and entered
Possession Bay; then she passed through the First Narrows, where the
cliffs are not more than two miles apart. On the right was Patagonia; on
the left lay the island of Tierra del Fuego, 'Land of Fire,' presenting
an aspect quite as forbidding as that of the mainland of the continent.
Desolation everywhere, and a leaden sky that threatened wind and rain.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF THE SEA-BIRDS.]
From the First Narrows, which are about nine miles long, they opened out
into a broader stretch of water known as Philip's Bay, and then came to
the Second Narrows and to Elisabeth Island. Wild birds were numerous,
and in some places the shores were covered with them; in the narrows the
water all around the steamer was alive with gulls, and a dozen other
varieties of sea-fowl. Among them Fred recognized the shag, coot, and
cormorant. The gentleman who had told him about the penguins pointed out
a settlement of those birds on the shore, but too far away to enable
them to see much of it.
[Illustration: THE CORMORANT.]
From the Second Narrows the course of the steamer swept to the southward
until she passed Cape Froward, the most southerly point of the
continent; at Cape Froward there is a sudden bend to the northward, and
this course is continued to the outlet of the strait into the Pacific
Ocean, at Cape Pillars, three hundred and fifteen miles from Cape
Virgens.
[Illustration: A STEAMER ENTERING THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN.]
The navigation of the strait is easy enough for a steamer, but very
difficult for a sailing-ship. The water is deep, and there is no danger
of being left on sand-bars, but the tides make strong currents in
various parts of the strait; several of the passages are tortuous, and
require a quick change of helm even for a steamer; and the openings
between the cliffs are liable to gusts of wind that make it dangerous
for a vessel relying on her sails alone. The narrowest place is about
one mile across, and is in "Crooked Reach." This point is the great
terror of sailing captains, as a strong wind generally blows there, and
changes its direction at frequent intervals.
"This strait bears the name of its discoverer," wrote Fred in his
note-book, "or, at any rate, it is near enough to identify him. On the
21st of October, 1520, Fernando Magalhaens, a Portuguese navigator,
entered the strait from the Atlantic, and on the 28th of November of the
same year he emerged into the broad and peaceful ocean which he named
'Pacifico.' Thus the Strait of Magellan and the Pacific Ocean were first
navigated by one and the same individual. He may also be called the
first circumnavigator of the globe. He sailed over the Pacific Ocean to
the Philippine Islands, where he was killed in a fight with the natives;
on a previous voyage he had been eastward to the longitude of the
Philippines, and thus had been completely around the world, though not
in a continuous journey."
A hundred miles from the Atlantic Ocean the steamer came in sight of
Punta Arenas, or Sandy Point; it is best known to English-speaking
people by the latter name, which is a translation of the former. The
steamer was to remain here several hours, and our friends embraced the
opportunity to go on shore.
Sandy Point was originally a convict settlement of the government of
Chili, and was officially called "La Colonia de Magellanes." It was
founded in 1851, and for some years contained only the convicts and the
garrison that watched over them; when steamers began to navigate the
strait the government, seeing that the place was destined to be of
commercial importance, determined to establish a free colony there.
Grants of land were given to German and Swiss settlers; several hundreds
were brought there from the Old World; but the character of the country
is unfavorable, and the colony has never prospered.
From Cape Froward to and beyond the neighborhood of Sandy Point there
are forests of beeches and other foliferous trees, and the hills and
level ground back of them are covered with grass. Agriculture is
limited, and the colonists who went to the Strait of Magellan to make
homes and become rich have been sorely disappointed.
The steamer anchored in front of the little town, and hardly had her
anchor touched the bottom of the bay when a steam tender came alongside,
bringing the captain of the port and the agent of the steamship company.
Dr. Bronson and his nephew were invited to go ashore in the tender; they
had made a bargain with a boatman, but, as the waves were dancing
merrily in consequence of the brisk wind blowing down the strait, they
accepted the invitation, and paid the owner of the boat for doing
nothing. In a quarter of an hour they were landed at a little wooden
pier, and had leisure to study the most southerly town of the western
world.
[Illustration: CHILIAN SETTLEMENT AT SANDY POINT.]
"It didn't take us long to see the whole of Sandy Point," said Fred, in
the account of their visit, "as the sights of the place can be exhausted
in a very little while. There is a beach in front of a high ridge of
hills, and some rising ground intervening between beach and hills. The
town straggles along this beach, and back on the rising ground behind
it; it consists of a fort, a church, some government barracks, a
custom-house, and one or two other public buildings, together with a lot
of one-story houses disposed in lines to form streets. It has a
population of eight or nine hundred--possibly a thousand--and presents a
woe-begone appearance, like that of a half-deserted village.
"There were Germans, Swiss, French, and Italians among the people we met
in the streets; the rest were Chilians and Patagonians, together with
some Fuegians who had paddled over the strait from their native shores.
The Europeans were much like the same people elsewhere, and we paid no
particular attention to them; we were more interested in the Patagonians
and Fuegians, and I prevailed upon some of them to stand to be sketched
under promise of half a dollar each for their trouble. Their
countenances are not prepossessing, and by no stretch of the imagination
could they be called handsome. In fact, I consider them about the
ugliest people I ever saw.
[Illustration: PATAGONIAN DRESS.]
"The Patagonian dress is a poncho or mantle of guanaco skins, which
hangs from the shoulders and has a hole in the centre for the head;
sometimes it is gathered at the waist by a belt, especially when the
wearer is on horseback, and in cold weather those who can afford it have
a smaller garment of nearly the same sort underneath a larger one. The
men pluck out their beards when they have any, and as the dress is the
same for both sexes it is next to impossible for a stranger to
distinguish men from women in a group of natives. I made a sketch of a
girl who was said to be about twenty years old; she was considered a
belle, but I do not believe any belle of New York would be jealous of
her good looks.
[Illustration: A PATAGONIAN BELLE.]
"This Antipodean Langtry wore a guanaco robe which was by no means new;
her black hair was greasy and unkempt at the sides, but cut rather short
on the top of the head; her nose was broad and flat; and her mouth
extended almost from side to side of her face. Her eyes were black and
piercing, and her self-satisfied smile as she stood for her picture told
that she knew how handsome she was.
"I hear some one asking about the height of the Patagonians, and if
they are really the giants they were represented in the school-books of
forty years ago. They are not giants in the ordinary acceptation of the
term, but are certainly above the ordinary height. The governor of Sandy
Point personally measured the height of a great many Patagonian men, and
his experiments covered several years of his residence there. He reports
the average height as between five feet eleven inches and six feet.
"Mr. Beerbohm, the author of 'Wanderings in Patagonia,' says the Indians
he travelled with possess extraordinary strength, and he tells the
following story as an illustration of what they can do:
"'An Indian was leading a horse towards the camp by a lasso, when the
animal for some reason or other stopped suddenly short, and obstinately
refused to stir from the spot. After a few coaxing but ineffectual tugs
at the lasso, the Indian gave a short grunt of impatience, and then
taking the lasso over his shoulder, bent forward, seemingly without
effort, and dragged the horse by main force about twenty yards,
notwithstanding its determined attempts at resistance.'
"From the same writer and from other sources," continued Fred, "I
learned a good deal about the country and the people of Patagonia, which
consoled me for my inability to make a journey through it, and indulge
in hunting the ostrich and the guanaco. Formerly hunting was possible
within a few hours' ride of Sandy Point, but at present the game has
been killed off or driven to the north, and those who would have sport
cannot find it nearer than fifty or sixty miles away. This is too far to
go when we wish to continue on our journey with a steamer that remains
only a few hours in port.
"Patagonia is a desolate region, comprising an area of about three
hundred and fifty thousand square miles; its northern boundary is the
Rio Negro, and there have been disputes between Chili and the Argentine
Republic concerning the right to the country. It has been finally agreed
that Chili may have the west coast and the country along the strait,
while the republic may possess the region bordering on the Atlantic.
Several colonies have been made in Patagonia by the two claimants, but
none of them have succeeded.
[Illustration: THE GUANACO.]
"The population is very small, considering the area; some authorities
place it as low as three thousand, and none higher than ten thousand;
the latter figure is probably excessive. The plains are covered with a
few shrubs and scanty grass, or with nothing at all, and the valleys are
the only places where cattle and horses can find sufficient grazing to
keep them alive. Some of the northern tribes have herds of cattle and
sheep, mostly stolen from the Argentine Republic, but the southern
natives have no cattle and but few horses. Notwithstanding their
desolate character, the plains support countless numbers of ostriches
and guanacos; the feathers of the former and the skins of the latter are
articles of commerce, and their flesh serves as food. When the Indians
are unsuccessful in hunting these animals they live upon horse-flesh,
and many of them prefer it to any other article of food.
"We met at Sandy Point a guacho from the Argentine Republic who had
spent several years in Patagonia, and made a living by hunting. He had a
troop of dogs which he used in the chase of the ostriches and guanaco,
and he told us that it was his plan to start out with two or three
Indian attendants, and be absent for weeks at a time. When he saw an
ostrich he sent his dogs after it, and followed close behind on
horseback; with dogs and bolas he rarely failed to bring down his game,
and the same was the case with the guanaco. He had from six to a dozen
horses; when one was wearied he quickly changed the saddle to another.
When he had gathered a sufficient quantity of ostrich feathers and
guanaco skins to pay for the journey, he came to Sandy Point, and he had
arrived there only the day before we met him.
"He told us that his greatest annoyances came from the wild horses and
the Indians. His own horses had been attacked by the wild ones on
several occasions, and he once lost all except those that he and his
attendants were riding at the time. He said the wild brutes display a
great deal of intelligence in attacking a herd of tame ones; they form a
circle about the latter, and attempt to drive them away, and if they are
very numerous there is great danger of their success. He said the best
way to defeat them was to single out the leader of the attacking force,
and pay no attention to the rest. If you can kill the leader the rest
can be driven off without much trouble, but as long as the head of the
herd is unharmed there is no safety.
"The Indians are usually peaceable, but they had a habit of coming to
his camp, and literally eating him out. They stayed as long as there was
anything to eat, and had no modesty about asking for what they wanted.
He always endeavored to keep as far from them as he could, partly
because they 'ate him out of house and home,' and partly because game
was always scarce and shy when they were about.
"In addition to ostriches and guanacos, there are plenty of armadillos,
pumas, foxes, and skunks. Our guacho generally killed pumas when they
came in his way, but did not go around in search of them. He said the
flesh was good eating, and tasted like veal, but it varied somewhat in
quality, according to the age and condition of the animal. The puma
lives on the ostrich and guanaco; he is very powerful, and can kill a
guanaco with a single blow of his huge paw. He is as cowardly as he is
strong, and when attacked by a hunter he rarely resists unless slightly
wounded and 'cornered.' The guacho said he had frequently ridden close
up to a crouching puma and killed him with a blow from a bolas, or a
shot from a revolver.
[Illustration: SEEKING SAFETY.]
"I asked about the ostrich, and he said there were two kinds in
Patagonia, that of the north being larger and darker than the one
inhabiting the south. While he was talking I turned to Mr. Beerbohm's
book and found the following:
"'The ostrich of southern Patagonia (_Rhea Darwinii_) is smaller than
the "Avestruz Moro" (_Rhea Americana_), as the species which frequents
the country near the River Negro is called by the natives. The color of
its plumage is brown, the feathers being tipped with white, whereas the
moro, as its name indicates, is uniformly gray. The _R. Darwinii_ are
extremely shy birds, and as their vision is remarkably acute, it is by
no means an easy matter to catch them unless one has very swift dogs to
hunt with.'
[Illustration: THE OSTRICH AND HIS HUNTERS.]
"The guacho said the ostrich of America has the same peculiarities that
he is credited with in Africa. He doubles on his pursuer, and sometimes
he will drop flat on the ground, and endeavor to escape by lying
perfectly motionless until the dogs have passed. In some conditions of
the wind this trick succeeds, but if it is blowing the scent towards the
dogs they find the unhappy bird and make short work of him.
[Illustration: SKELETON OF THE OSTRICH.]
"The ostrich makes his nest by scooping a hole in the ground under the
shadow of a bush, and lining it with a few wisps of dry grass to make it
soft for the chickens. There are from ten to forty eggs in a nest; they
are laid by several hens and not by one, as with most other birds, and
it is a curious fact that the male bird sits on the nest, hatches the
eggs, and looks after the young. If the weather is fine he sometimes
grazes an hour or two in the evening in the vicinity of the nest, but he
never goes far away; when it rains he never leaves the nest, and he has
been known to stay there six or seven days without feeding.
"After the hatching season the ostriches lay their eggs all over the
plains without any regard to hatching them. These eggs are a prize for
the hunters; many a meal has been made of them, and, as our guacho said,
many a life had been saved by this habit of the great bird. They keep
perfectly fresh for months; one ostrich egg contains as much as ten
hen's eggs, so that it makes a good dinner for one person. This is the
way to cook it:
"Break a small hole in the top of the egg and remove some of the white.
Beat the rest of the contents up together, and when you have done this
thoroughly, set the egg on its end in the ashes, a little way from the
fire, so that it will roast. Stir the contents frequently to prevent
burning, and turn the egg occasionally to keep the shell from cracking.
Fifteen minutes will cook it thoroughly; add pepper and salt, if you
have any, and your dinner is ready.
"I will close this bird talk by quoting a bill of fare given by Mr.
Beerbohm, of a dinner on the plains:
"SOUP.--RICE AND OSTRICH.
"BROILED OSTRICH WINGS.
"OSTRICH STEAK.
"ROAST OSTRICH GIZZARD.
"OSTRICH EGGS.
"CUSTARD.--OSTRICH EGGS AND SUGAR.
"MORE OSTRICH, IF WANTED."