The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1892-01-29

sEaoFs IL SHOWS Or Esain1 Essry Day aud
twilight EaIls * EGur o'CIoclz.
The Patagonian channels, Of which
there sre many, are remarkable alike
in general Seasures-some broadening
out four or i've miles, Others narrowing
60 . ships length An OF them have
high, abrupt shores show ing innumer-
able pealzs and headlaudl, whose dark
and rugged shapes lend an appearance
OF gloomy grandeur rarely 90 be seen
elsewhere.
Probably the weather has much 20 do
with the prevailing dreariness, for the
sun never shines brightly upon this for
bidding corner OF creation, where IL
SHOWS or rains every day in the year
and twilight fallz at four o'clock. The
only species Of verdurs found so far
from the equator are evergreen and
antartic beeehes. and those are from
the waters edge to a hsighth Of several
hundred feeti like a sponge with cease
less moisture. By and by we come TO
glaciers-mOuutEin Of green and blue
/ ice. with crssts Of snow, ten, fifteen,
and twenty miles IN unbrolzen gran
deur, beside which those Of Switzerland
and Norway dyvindis 70 insignifcaucs.
The highest peak of this region is
| Mount SaFmientO, in what is known as
CoclEburn Channel, which rears q cone
of spotiess snow nearly seven thousand
/ feet straight up from the blue Pacific at
its feet Its beauty is enhanced by
numerous blue-tinted glaciers descend
I ing from its summit-as Darwin, who
once saw IL, said, Like q hundred
/ frozen Niagaras-" On the coast of
| Southern Chilli, as on that Of Norway,
[ the fiOrda are not only narrow but very
/ deep. and the tides run with restless
/ force.
Before entering the English NarEows
/ every vessel slings out It's boats, half
o
upon rock or reef The entire crew is
/ told OF for special services in case of
/ any emergency. A number stand in the
stern prepared to rig the auxiliary steer
/ ing apparatus in the tvinlciing OF
an eye should that In customary use
| give way. The 5ostswain and CaFPen-
ter remain at the yyindlass in the PROV
ready to let 80 the anchor at q mo
| ments notice. In one place this chan
| mel is barely six hundred feet across,
I with slack vvBtsr On one side and pow
/ eTful current on the other.
Messicr Channel IS not much wider,
with walls Of perpendicular rock on
both sides from two thousand to three
! thousand feet high Near its farther
end is a huge dome-shaped mountain,
a mass of solid granite without a sign
| OF verdure, down which cascades
tricIzie, some Of them frozen into mini
atUre glaciers
Every afternoon, immediately or
coming TO anchor SO as TO make the
most Of the short twilight, the captain
allowed his passengers TO go ashore
himself selecting the best landing
places Sailors wera detailed TO take
care Of the picIrniclzsrs. to build huge
! fires by piling brushwOod around som,
tall pine trees, and TO roast in the asheI
the musssls that literally line the
rOctlA
On these unCanny excursions nobody
= Vsntured far inland, deferred as mucl
, by fear OF PrOwling Patagoniaus as by
the deep, wet moss, There ara neithe
reptiles nor dangerous beasts to be en-
7 countered here, for animals know bet
2 ter than to make their homes so nea
the inhospitables south pole But on
has reason to be afraid OF the indigen
Gus human species, though rarely met
unless his party outnumbers theirs.
8 The nOmadic Indians Of this section
Eubsisting upon berries and raw SCI
food, roam from place to place, accord
ing to the season. They build huts &
@ favOrite localities for use wheneve
8 they return Decentralization house
made by planting both ends OF litti
poles, interlaced in the. ground, on TO
OF which skins can be spread when tn
. owners wish TO occupy them Fac
hat was about three feet high by per
haps five feet across, shaped preCisel
= | like an inverted basket