The morning call., 1891-03-25
TERRA DEL FUEGO.
An Untrayeled Part of the South.
ern Continent.
An Old Salts Yarn-Experience Of a Captains
wife-How British War-ship Pun
ished the Savages.

A little knot OF merchants and captains
were discussing Stanley the other day in the
Merchants Exchange, when an old salt re-
marked that there were parts of the New
World of which less was known than of the
Dark Continent.
"You can count on the fingers Of one
hand all the men who have ever gone far
into the interior of Patagonia and Terra del
Fuego," he said 1.-THE natives are as wild
as any to be found on the earth to-day, and
God help the crew unfortunate enough to
be cast ashore on their desolate coast.
1.-The Chilean Government has sent sew
eral expeditions to explore the interior, but
none of them ever penetrated far. The in
terror is barred by ranges Of lofty noun
tains covered by a tangle of brush that a cat
could not get through; treacherous boys
and morasses fill the valleys, and, worse
than all, the fierce tribes of warlike natives
of immense stature disputed every foot Of
their march. and the expeditions, without
exception, have all been failures.
STORY OF A CAsTAwAY.
eStrange as it may seem woman was the
first and. as far as l can learn, the only
white person that ever penetrated the in
terror and lived to tell the story. She was
the wife of an American captain whose
ship was driven ashore With several of
the crew she escaped the perlls OF the deep,
but as soon as they touched dry land all,
with the exception OF the woman, were at
once killed by the natives.
after the massacre the unfortunate lady
was carried far into the interior and cl osely
guarded by the chief into whose hands he
mad fallen. For twelve years she was COM
PEELED to live with the tribe, and during
that time saw much of the country. She
DC aovprp6 nv hiOh
mountains and as truly land OF fire,
large number of volcanoes being visible on
all sides.
MATED TO THE CHIEF.
SIT was not until after she had borne two
children to the savage chief who claimed
her as his wife that she was allowed to visit
the coast on the annual trip of the tribes
men. Then, fortunately for her, she was
seen and rescued by passing steamer,
which took her to England, whence she was
sent to her home, where she had long been
mourned as dead.
lin 1876" continued the captain, 'the
British sloOp-of-war Tened0S had TO teach
the tTeacherOuS natives lesson, and so
completely WAS it done that they are not apt
to forget it for some time to come. The
ship was going through what is known as
Smiths Straits, and before getting IN had
had some heavy weather outside. On COM
ing to anchor the vessel had only quarter
watch on deck. The anchor was hardly
down before a number OF canoes went
alongside to trade, and were allowed on
board.
NATIVE CUNNING.
''The willy natives seeing only a few men on
deck concluded that there were no Others on
board. So, while part OF them kept the
watch engaged, the rest Signaled TO their
friends on shore, who quickly pushed out
and in a short time there were couple of
hundred savages on deck or in the canoes
alongside.
The crew never dreamed of danger and
consequently offered no opposition to the
savage band as they swarmed aboard. Sud
denly, with a wild YELL the club OF the chief
flashed through the air, the officer of the
watch fell with his skull crushed, the watch
itself was quickly surrounded by the blood
thirsty mob and in few seconds half their
number was stretched on deck dead or dying.
BATTLE WITH THE sAvAGEs.
alarmed at the tumult, the men below
tumbled out in quick order and rushed to
the assistance of their shipmates. Fer q
short spell the fight was hot one. There
were as many natives as there were sailors,
but the clubs of the mufderUuS sayage5 were
no match for the cutlasses and revOlvers in
the hands of the blue-jackets, so the fight
soon became a butchery.
''Ihe sight of their murdered friends
made demons of the sailors, and the natives
were cut down on deck or shot in the water
as they tried to swim ashore. The officers
wefo entirely pOwerlesS to restrain them,
and by the time the fight was over the deck
was StreWn with dead.
AN EXPENSIVE VICTORY.
How many were killed in the water will
never be known, but after the decks were
cleared burial party was sent ashore to