THE BEAGLE CHANNEL
In Punta Arenas everything looked the same. Times were still bad though
somewhat better than in the preceding winter when paper money was worth
nothing--the peso was then down to sevenpence instead of eighteen; now
it varied between nine and ten. The great fluctuation in the value of
Chilean money is of course a great drawback to commercial development;
one never knows from day to day how much one has, and the first look in
the morning paper is at “el cambio,” printed on the first page in large
type. Not a few persons speculate in money, and more than one fortune
has been made only by buying and selling notes. I believe the market
has become more steady now.
[Illustration: THE BEAGLE CHANNEL LOOKING WEST.]
[Illustration: USHUAIA AND MARTIAL MOUNTAINS.]
[Illustration: GLACIER IN N.W. ARM OF BEAGLE CHANNEL.]
Long in advance we had made preparations for our last expedition, the
visit to the Beagle Channel. “El apostadero naval,” the naval station,
had a new chief, for Mr. Rojas had been pensioned and was succeeded
by Rear-Admiral F. Valenzuela. He had got orders from Valparaiso and
received us with great kindness, offering us the small but convenient
steamer _Porvenir_ for the trip. The Government had purchased it during
the winter, when, owing to the bad times, more than one Punta Arenas
ship changed owner. The officers started at once to equip the vessel.
The town was in a state of rejoicing. It was a carnival time and
festive processions passed through the windy streets, but I think it
was a hard job to raise carnival-spirits on the shores of Magellan
Straits. Dancing saloons had been rigged up for the occasion, and were
filled all night long. We had no time, however, for things of that
sort. We had to go through all the luggage sent from Puerto Montt in
October; another equipment had to be got together and I was running
all day long between the ports, the telegraph-office and the Argentine
consulate to arrange an important piece of business, the transport of
ourselves and our luggage from Punta Arenas to Buenos Aires. There is
regular communication between the latter place and Ushuaia. One of
the steamers, however, had just run ashore on the Atlantic coast, the
other, _Primero de Mayo_, had just passed on her way south, and the
Argentine Consul, Mr. Margueirat, told us that her commander had orders
to take us on board if this would suit us. But she ought to be back in
Punta Arenas long before we had finished our exploration in the Beagle
Channel and we had to leave without knowing anything for certain. I
wired to Buenos Aires asking if there would be any other possible ship
besides the _Primero de Mayo_, but could not wait for the answer.
The summer had been uncommonly dry, it was difficult to get water, and
not until March 3 did the _Porvenir_ get her supply. In the evening we
went on board, and before sunrise were under way towards the Magdalena
Channel. The commander was Mr. P. Acevedo, captain in the navy, an able
officer and good companion. In a short time we got into the familiar
old fog again. It is said in the tale of creation, that the water in
the air was separated from the water on the earth but in the west of
Tierra del Fuego one is inclined to believe that the separation never
was completed, so difficult is it to see where the sea ends and the
sky begins. On clear days the magnificent Mt. Sarmiento, the highest
peak in Tierra del Fuego, shines like a gigantic beacon visible far
north of Punta Arenas on Elisabeth Island at a distance of ninety-six
nautical miles. We anchored the first night in Puerto Barrow, and
found time to go on shore; I had never visited this part of Tierra del
Fuego before. At dawn we weighed anchor. The weather was not nice, but
not bad, and in any case good enough to clear the sometimes critical
passage round the Brecknock peninsula. For a while one gets a broadside
from the Pacific, which for a small steamer may be dangerous. We had
vivid recollections of the Swedish expedition in 1896, whose journey
in the _Condor_ was nearly disastrous owing as far as I can gather to
the carelessness or ignorance of the officers. The open passage with
its black, storm-beaten rocks and reefs produces a terrifying and
desolate impression. The whole business only lasted a couple of hours
and then we came into smooth water again. We had just entered the
Brecknock Sound, when we met the _Primero de Mayo_ on her way to Punta
Arenas--far too early for us; we saluted her with the flag, continued
through Whaleboat Sound and anchored in Puerto Fortuna on the north
coast of Londonderry Island.
We had heard much of the beauty of the Western Beagle Channel; but
it almost surpassed our expectations. It is mainly the same sort of
country as we had seen before with steep shores covered with evergreen
forests or bogs and with snow-clad crests and summits. But down here
a new and important feature is added, the glaciers. In the Patagonian
Channels it is only in the inlets penetrating into the main range
of the Andes that the glaciers come down into the sea. But in the
west part of the Beagle Channel nearly every valley is occupied by a
blue stream of ice coming down through the forest and causing that
contrast between the eternal ice and eternal green extolled by Darwin
and all travellers after him. Not only are the larger valleys that
run down into the sea thus ice-filled but any small depression on a
mountain-side has become a refuge for a wee tongue of ice.
As we wanted to see a little more of the glaciers we went into a bay
called Glacier Sound. Probably no ship was ever in here, for the
depth was unknown. We sounded, but the water suddenly shallowed so
that we ran aground on the loose clay. Of course we got off again.
Unfortunately the way to the glacier was barred by closely packed
drift-ice, so we soon left the place and went to spend the night in
Romanche Bay. We had now reached the most magnificent part of the
Beagle Channel, the Northwest Arm, where glacier follows upon glacier.
Opposite Romanche Bay there is one especially worthy of attention. Blue
as only ice can be, it floats out over the mountain ledge, sending
a vertical tongue down into the water; from the edge higher up the
river rushes out of its vault, at once forming a waterfall playing with
the miniature ice-floes. The conditions at the Darwin glacier further
east were very favourable, making it easy to study the moraines as
well as the vegetation round the ice border. Nature itself had come
to our help. The ice does not extend down to the water, but ends in
the forest. Some years ago the river changed its course owing to some
accidental damming-up; the obstacle disappearing, it returned to its
old bed again and left the new one free of access. It formed quite a
natural road across the forest and we could walk up to the ice very
comfortably. The distance from the ice-border to the first stunted
trees is about ten feet.
After a short visit to Yendagaia, we anchored in Lapataia, a place
well known to me, where I had spent some time with Dr. K. Andersson in
1902. The saw-mill was still there, but the old manager had gone long
ago. It was Sunday and work was stopped, but we met the new boss and
asked him to lend us a boat, for Quensel and I intended to pull across
Lago Acigami or Roca, as the lake north of Lapataia is called. We saw
at once that he was a stranger in the country, and we chose English to
speak with him; however Quensel and I exchanged some remarks in Swedish
and at once he joined in telling us that he also was a Swede, by name
Lundberg. Another Scandinavian, a Norwegian, also worked in the small
saw-mill.
The next morning we pulled up a rapid stream, the outlet of Lago
Acigami. Without warning one is out on the bosom of the lake, hitherto
hidden behind dense foliage. The eastern shore slopes gradually and is
covered with dense forests down to the water, into which the trees dip
their branches. The western shore is very different, rising abruptly
like an immense wall of stone with snow-patches in all crevices to a
very considerable height; the highest peaks, nearly 4000 feet, cast
their dark shadow over the whole lake. It was rather strange after an
absence of six and a half years to plough the waters of Lago Acigami
once more--once more to catch sight of the pretty points where we
rested upon the oars to breathe. Probably I shall not come back for the
third time....
The boundary between Argentina and Chile crosses this lake, cuts
straight down to the Beagle Channel, following it to the Atlantic.
In the morning we started in Argentina and landed in Chile at the
other end of the lake. Here we had a hasty meal, standing, or even
running about to get clear of the innumerable mosquitoes. The
Acigami-depression is continued by a broad valley of exactly the same
nature as the Betbeder Valley, traversed by a river. The bottom is
impassable on account of the swamps and we worked our way through
the forest alongside it till we reached a point from where we could
overlook the neighbourhood. We made out that we were in the Rojas
Valley, whose river we had discovered the previous year, and thus had
reached our goal. The same night we were back on board.
To judge from the big mussel-banks Lapataia was once a main resort
for the Yahgan tribe. Halle made some excavations and found some
bone-prickers.
The next day we continued eastward. We saw Ushuaia at some distance,
but left it behind and went into the passage between the Navarin and
Hoste Islands, the Murray Narrows. We knew that the English mission
station formerly installed in Tekenika Bay had been moved to a place
opposite this, and found it in Douglas Bay. There is no shelter here
from the prevailing wind, but otherwise Nature is prettier than in the
old place. A heavy sea was running, but soon a small yawl came from
the station pulled by two Indians and in the person in the stern I
recognized the English missionary, Mr. Williams, whose acquaintance I
had made in Tekenika in 1902. He was greatly astonished at seeing one
of the fellows from the _Antarctic_ once more. We followed him ashore.
What an agreeable contrast between this place and Dawson Island.
Here the last remnants of the Yahgan tribe are collected, numbering
a hundred and seventy. Is it possible that only seventy-five years
ago their fires blazed all along the Beagle Channel and round the
archipelago of Cape Horn? They have been extinguished for ever. But
before all the Yahgans gathered on the stations the French Cape Horn
expedition spent one year in Orange Bay; quite a colony of Indians
stayed with them and were studied from every point of view. I must
also mention the valuable observations on their habits and language
made by the late Thomas Bridges of Ushuaia, through which we possess
a fairly complete account of this people. In Douglas Bay they are
very well treated and get permission to make long excursions hunting
and fishing. Mr. Williams is a practical man, whose enthusiasm for
preaching the gospel has not led him astray, and the Indians seem to
have confidence in him. He speaks their language fluently--well, this
might be considered a matter of course, though the Salesian padre on
Dawson Island hardly knew a word of it. We had to leave Mr. Williams’
pleasant home helter-skelter--for suddenly a south-west gale came on
and it was all we could do to get back on board. We had to weigh anchor
at once and seek shelter under Hoste Island, where we anchored in Allen
Gardiner Bay, on the same spot where the lamented _Antarctic_ lay in
1902. There were hardly any traces of the mission station, for all the
houses had been moved to the new place.
Here Halle had an important task to fulfil. Dr. J. G. Anderson had
found fossilized wood and shells embedded before the folding of the
Fuegian Cordillera took place; thus an investigation of the fossils
would give certain indications as to the age of the mountain chain.
The collections were lost in the _Antarctic_, and we had come there
to get new ones. Halle was left there with a tent, a boat, provisions
and two men. We on the _Porvenir_ went south. We were interested to
visit the old station in Orange Bay; the commemorative pyramid with
its marble plates was left intact and a few steps from there was one
of the pillars of the magnetical observatory. At night two boats of
Indians came; they asked us to take them to the Wollaston Islands. They
were abundantly supplied with provisions, flour, sugar, &c., and had
also brought a rifle. We went there the next morning. The southernmost
of these Islands is Hoorn Island with the famous cape. The forest is
limited to small groves and thickets and the vegetation much reminded
me of what I had seen in certain places on the West Falklands. We
only landed at two places and then crossed again to Packsaddle Bay,
as Quensel wanted to study some of the localities where the French
expedition had been. When we came back to Tekenina we found that Halle
had got comrades, several Yahgans, who had made a hut of sticks and
bundles of grass. They were on their way to the mission, but could not
help stopping, curious to see what the white men were doing. One of the
sailors from the _Porvenir_ had shown a rifle to them, which made them
come to Halle assuring him of their exceptionally friendly sentiments.
He was pleased with his results, and in the afternoon of March 13 we
went to Ushuaia. The capital of Tierra del Fuego has a very pretty
situation on the channel at the foot of the Martial Mountains and
everywhere surrounded by roble forests. The harbour is formed by the
woodless peninsula, where the houses that once belonged to Mr. Thomas
Bridges’ mission station are still left.
Ushuaia is of importance as the Argentine deportation-station. When I
was here in 1902 the deported were just building a new prison, which
was finished now long ago. The chief, Major Herrera, came on board and
welcomed us in the name of the Governor; he and the judge were the
only officials left, for all the rest had gone to Buenos Aires in the
_Primero de Mayo_.
During the seven years that had gone by since my first visit the place
had been greatly developed. A new street behind the strand “Avenue”
and several buildings, above all a new police station, had been added,
but the Government House looked as shabby as ever and the jetty was
even more ramshackle than before. Street lamps and policemen had
increased in number and my old friends looked well and had grown fat,
which proves that the prison gives sustenance also to its employees.
It was indeed funny now and then to meet a face, half forgotten in the
mists of past years. Naturally there was a very hearty welcome, and we
gathered in Club Ushuaia--another step towards culture--and drank a
toast to the merry and unexpected encounter.
We had not much to do here, but I wanted to return to a place where I
made some fine collections in 1902, and Halle went to look for ancient
shore-lines, indicating a post-glacial upheaval of the land. Nature in
this part of the Beagle Channel is rather different from that further
west. The total amount of rainfall is much smaller and the evergreen
beach has nearly disappeared altogether. The mountains get lower, the
Martial range is the last prominent part, where a miniature glacier may
be found at a great height; the highest summit, Mt. Olivia, 4350 feet,
attracts attention through its peculiar form. We made an excursion to
a little stream coming from the foot of this mountain; in the forest
it forms a small waterfall; round it grow some fine evergreen beeches
and there is an uncommonly rich cryptogamic vegetation. But then we had
no reason to stop in Ushuaia, so we continued on the 15th under loud
protests from the inhabitants who wanted to keep us there.
We stopped some hours outside Gable Island, where Halle went on shore
to collect quaternary fossils in the barrancas; the material gathered
by J. G. Andersson had shared the fate of the Tekenika collections. We
anchored in Harberton Harbour, where once more I found myself among
old friends. Harberton is the only important farm on the Channel. When
Argentina founded Ushuaia the English mission pined away, and when
Thomas Bridges left his place, the Government gave him a piece of land
at Harberton, where he and his sons have created a model establishment
evoking the admiration of every visitor. Old Bridges had long been dead
and only his son Willie was left in Harberton; his brothers had moved
to a new farm on the Atlantic Coast, to which they had made a road past
Lago Fagnano. In 1902 we saw many Ona Indians in Harberton; now only
a few were there, as most of them had gone to the new farm, which is
developing rapidly; soon it will be possible to keep a stock of 100,000
sheep there.
A few years ago the Onas were the absolute masters of Tierra del Fuego,
where they had vast hunting-grounds. Most certainly they are a branch
of the Tehuelche people--but prolonged isolation and the lack of boats
in which to cross the Straits have gradually changed their habits and
language. Their tall forms and good-looking faces remind one much of
the Tehuelches of Patagonia.
If we consider how much this people has been in contact with white men,
it is strange that they have not been properly studied until recent
years. The Salesian mission has a station at Rio Grande, but there are
very few Indians. Some live on Dawson Island, some families live in
the forest north of Lago Fagnano, but the rest are probably scattered
over the land south of Rio Grande. Not a few work on Bridges’ farm. We
were told that Modesto who went with J. G. Andersson to Lago Fagnano
and then with both of us to Gable Island had been promoted “Capataz” of
the carts. Also Anikin was alive and lived as shepherd out in the camp.
The brothers Bridges never put any constraint upon the natives. They
simply received them, gave them work and of course tried to eradicate
bad customs, but never kept them against their will or tried to convert
them. The result has been mutual satisfaction. Messrs. Bridges had
cheap labourers and the natives felt happy with some regular work.
Their number is said to be slowly increasing at present--a glorious
exception to the rule.
Originally we intended to spend much more time in Tierra del Fuego
studying the Indians. But we had been informed that the well-known
anthropologist and ethnographer, Professor Lehmann-Nietsche of La
Plata, had made extensive studies and Mr. Bridges told me that an
American, Mr. Furlong, had visited him and made observations on the
natives. Thus we had reason to shorten our stay in these parts.
Among the interesting information I got from Mr. Bridges there is one
thing especially worthy of notice. This was the story of a fourth
Indian tribe, hitherto not known to me. It was called _Hush_, and
lived along the Straits of Le Maire. Probably it was a branch of
the Ona people, perhaps originally a mixture of Ona and Yahgan, but
had a language different from either of theirs and lived mainly on
shell-fish and seal, wandering along the beach. Canoes were not used.
There is no pure Hush left. In Harberton I saw an old man looking
more like a Yahgan; his mother was of the Yahgan tribe. He had been
married to a Hush woman, the last of her race, and was a widower; he
had two unmarried daughters. They are the last of a small people that
disappears without leaving any traces behind. We know nothing of their
habits or of their language. Probably the Fuegians Darwin found in Good
Success Bay belonged to this people.
We left Quensel in Harberton and continued east in spite of a falling
barometer in order to try a landing in Slogget Bay. This place also
had been visited by J. G. Andersson and is of importance for the
determination of the age of the Cordillera. After having passed the
woody Picton Island, we came out into open water. We got a gale of
wind, and turned back to land on Picton, but had not gone far before
the weather looked better again, so we started to run our old course.
Slogget Bay is quite open to winds from south and east which often
make landing impossible. Inside the point we saw a good landing-place,
where two men soon appeared. We hurriedly got hold of some necessary
things and rowed on shore. The two fellows were the only people left
of the gold-digging company; one of them was in charge of the place
and invited us to come to his house. We had an hour’s hard walk along
the broken rocks covered by decaying seaweed, spreading a nauseous
smell. The establishment looked very imposing: numerous buildings in
two lines; near the mouth of a stream stood a large dredge; but no
work was going on. The men were left to look after the place and keep
the machinery from rusting. Still they did not know if the company was
going to continue the work or not.
Gold has been found in many places in Tierra del Fuego. Nearly all
rivers carry some though only in small quantities; and in several
places in the loose coastal barranca the precious metal has been found.
At such places at first very rich finds were made, but no one thought
that these might be the result of the sea’s carrying down and washing
the sand for thousands of years and thus would not believe that after
the first rich harvest had been gathered, it would become much more
difficult to get anything. The gold fever broke out, hundreds of people
hastened there. In the parts where we were just now it was Slogget Bay
and Lennox Island that attracted special attention. The gold deposits
had been discovered by a certain engineer, Popper, famous in the
history of Tierra del Fuego, a real _conquistador_ on a small scale.
At first people washed by hand and the yield was good. But the future
was not quite so golden. One company after the other was formed and
expensive machinery purchased. This was the end of it all; the best
finds had already been made and worked and the result was not even
sufficient to pay the expenses. How many companies were formed I do not
know, but in Punta Arenas alone there were thirty. During our visit
to Patagonia the newspapers almost every day contained the report of
some “Sociedad aurifera” winding-up--only in name was it “aurifera.”
When we left Punta Arenas to go home people had still some belief in
the establishment of Lennox Island, and the descriptions we got from
some shareholders sounded very promising. One thing we understood that
quite as much money had been spent in fine dwelling-houses, electric
light, hot and cold water in all bedrooms, &c.--as in Cutter Cove,
which I am not inclined to consider a good omen for the future. The man
in charge of Slogget, Mr. Dafonte, could tell beautiful stories of the
administration of that company.
We started at once to look for the fossiliferous deposits, which
we found just east of the bay, near a solitary rock rising like a
fantastic obelisk out of the water some fifty yards from the shore.
It is very narrow at the base and gradually widens upwards. There is
a marine flora the like of which I had not seen since we were on the
Falklands, and I secured a very rich harvest. Both Halle and I were
very pleased with our visit, and I am sure that Mr. Dafonte enjoyed
the change offered by strangers’ company. We returned to Harberton on
the 17th to fetch Quensel and spend the night there. How comfortable I
found myself in this truly English family! The conversation was about
old times, when the old _Antarctic_ was at anchor in the bay, and I had
to tell all I knew about my comrades and promise to convey greetings to
them all. I said good-bye to Harberton with great regret, and it would
be a matter of great satisfaction to go there again.
In order to return the kindness of the Argentiners we went to Ushuaia
and gave a dinner on board. The best of spirits prevailed in spite of
the dispute between the two republics over the boundary farthest south,
not settled by the Award. The Argentine experts had found out that the
Beagle Channel as a boundary was all right, but the question was: where
does the channel go to the extreme east? north or south of the Picton
and New Islands? They insist that it goes south of these islands which
should thus belong to Argentina.
When we left Ushuaia we had the most lovely weather, bringing out
all the splendours of the Northwest Arm. Even Halle who is a great
enthusiast for the Pampas expressed his admiration. The last night was
spent in Puerto Edwards, a typical Fuegian cove on the south coast of
the Brecknock peninsula. Without any adventure we rounded it, cast a
last glance on the channel scenery that had become so familiar to us,
and for the last time beheld the menacing silhouette of Cape Froward.
Late in the evening, on March 20, we were back again in Punta Arenas.
Again I had to find out means of getting to Buenos Aires in the
cheapest manner possible with all our bulky luggage. I went to the
Argentine Consul, who told me that he had just purchased a steamer
for his Government, and after some time it would proceed to Buenos
Aires to be delivered to the authorities. I wired to the Minister of
Marine and got his permission to use the steamer. But all this would
have been quite unnecessary had I only got the telegrams waiting for
me on my arrival. I got them the next day. There was an answer from
the Argentine Government saying that, as there was no steamer running
from Punta Arenas, cabins on the first Kosmos steamer passing were put
gratuitously at our disposal. Of course we were very grateful for this
new proof of Argentine generosity. Our luggage was brought up by the
above-mentioned steamer, which carried nothing else.
On the 25th we went on board the fine steamer, the _Thessalia_, and
in the most agreeable weather and company we left Punta Arenas for
good, the town of iron-houses, gramophones and cocktails, but also of
strenuous work and commercial industry. It was not without regret we
saw it disappear. How much friendship, sympathy and assistance had we
not met with there. To the very last moment the Consul, Mr. Manns,
whose home was always open to us, helped us in every way, and thanks to
him and all the others, too numerous to mention, we could look back on
a Magellanic Expedition brought to a happy end. On the 30th we arrived
in Montevideo, where the Consul, Mr. Rogberg, came on board to welcome
us and took us round the town once more. The next morning we were in
Buenos Aires.
* * * * *
Already before we left Sweden Halle had made up a scheme to visit Rio
Grande do Sul in Brazil before going back, in order to study certain
deposits belonging to the _Glossopteris_-series that had been the
object of his special attention during the journey.
[Illustration: PANORAMA SOUTH-WEST SIDE OF LAKE ACIGAMI. TIERRA DEL
FUEGO.]
[Illustration: “THE WINTER’S BARK.” TIERRA DEL FUEGO.]
I had planned another trip for Quensel and myself, a voyage to South
Georgia, the remote island on the verge of the Antarctic Sea. I knew
this island well enough, but had important reasons for a second visit,
and Quensel very much wanted to see this supposed outpost of the
Andes. Anyhow, it is closely connected with the region we had just left.
When in December 1903 the members of the _Antarctic_ Expedition
returned to Buenos Aires, rescued by the Argentine ship, the _Uruguay_,
Captain Larsen who had got news of the Norwegian law against whaling
was able to interest some people there to make a try south and later
the “Compañia Argentina de Pesca” started. With the permission of Great
Britain the company built a station on South Georgia and commenced
work in 1905. We had generously been granted passages on one of the
company’s vessels. The s.s. _Cachalote_ was ready to sail when we came
to Buenos Aires, and on April 2 we again left the metropolis of South
America and the civilized world.