The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-10

black csoGds scud5ees across the heaTSns
and squalls OF rain and nail accompanied
CT terE4ae wind made Il in apostolic 20
stand upon the deck that was constantly
washed ny sheets Of spray. Ice hung
upon tie rigging. and huge pillows, ilxe
moving Alps with deep valleys between,
came laundering toward us n an unorok-
en- line; While screaming sez-birds swept
round and round in narrowing circles. 80
those birds will when q severe gale ap-
proscnss. One moment We were
almost oecalmed n the hollow Of
the seas: the next we were on
their summit. caught by unseen
hands thai seemed about 10 LIT the
tiny ship II malicious sport and dash Il 70
destruction And SO, IS discretion seemed
70 Dc Sy al odds the better part o. Eaior.
We Turned our backs on the caprIclous
sound TIL calner weather SooodT
thought Of resiring on thar terrible EigaF,
tnogsa probably IL vas no TorSe than
hundreds upon hundreds Of other yoya ayers
AAve experienced II these waters; and
w2en the mysterious sea. with lfs dark
nasses and snowy eresEs, Yields up y.
dead, greater company VIII arise from
tnss Locality than from any other on the
face OF the earth. Daylight found rs IN
Eyrie sound. with ieeDergs Jostling one
another on either hand. ali Eioating out
ward toward TIE sea Some days alter
ward We actually did reach Hoorn island
and went ashore. though only tor mo
ment, Drawing 3 drenchlng IN the raging
surf for she satisfaction of having IL 10
say that our feet had touched the south
ernmost Lands ead-the very jumping-oh
place OF ali creation. am yet too much
oppressed by the horror OF it-hy feeling
AKIN 70 that one experiences after night
mare-to give you lucid description OF
the scene. Ny mind retains only con-
fused impression OF bare heights, desolate
beyond the power Of imagination TO con-
ceIye, terminating In awful preclplces,
around whose summit seabirds shrieked
for prey. and at whose feet restless pillows
dashed with deafening tumult; the whole
detached link of the mighty Andes-the
last link, dropped OF into an unknown
ocean, surging toward an undiscovered
pole.
We are now at Ushuwaia pronounced
Oo-noo-ee-ah), Protestant mission sta
ton on the north bank of Beagle channel,
which separates King Charles South Land
from the southernmost islands. This Gel
ebrated channel-w hich is, perhaps, better
known historically than any other portion
OF the archipelago, not only from the ac-
counts OF Fitzroy and Darwin, but because
on all pilots charts il is marked as the one
place OF safety which seamen should
endeavor TO reach whose ships
have been wrecked in rounding
the Horn-is only about one hun
dred miles north OF the cape, but with
many small islands intervening. It is
narrow passage, hardly more than q mile
across in he widest part, but very deep,
running in nearly strais hit line east and
west 10 miles, between magnificent
ranges OF snow-capped mountains. Its
course is strewn with outlying rocks and
tiny islands, making navigation impossible
except for the smallest steam-craft and
g.
doubtful good the missionaries may have
accomplished for the souls of the Indians,
they have certainly saved the lives of
many mariners who would otherwise have
persisted on these stormy coasts, and it has
come 10 De matter of course that when
ever asdisabled ship must be abandoned in
the neighborhood Of Hoorn island, as num-
bers are every year, the great effort of the
survivors is TO find their way through the
labyrinth of sounds and inlets TO Ushuwaia
Early in 1888, the Rev. Thomas Bridges
then in charge of the Protestant mission,
reported marked change in the charac-
ter of the inhabitants; that the Yahgans,
or Indians, of this part of TERRA del Fue-
60, instead OF numbering unfortunate way.
farers as formerly, might safely be trusted
by strangers, either singly or in companies,
TO pilot them TO the mission station; and
now il is asserted with equal confidence
that all the natives, from Hoorn island
away up the Breaknock peninsula, are
friendly TO the whites when fairly treated
The statement may be true. but il
looks are an indication of character,
one would prefer TO trust to Providence for
plotting and steer clear of these savages as
far as possible. The archipelago is peo-
pied by three distinct tribes OF Indians,
who speak three entirely different Ian
guages. Near the center of the main
island there is 3 Catholic mission. which
also includes the Patagonian district of
Punta Arenas. under charge of the Jusuit
Hermanos de Carload, brothers of Char
ity), from the order in Santiago de Chile
We shall visit the station N a few davs
and can tell you more about it. Before the
coming of missionaries to these islands
the natives had no religion at all nor any
idea OF Supreme Being--only dark and
gloomy faith in evil spirits which
came TO do them harm and must
be placated and appeased. Hence
the wind that nearly troze their naked
bodies was believed to be an evil spirit;
smallpox. which sometimes makes fright
ful havoc upon the islands, was the work
of another; and white-skinned strangers
so different from themselves, were sup
posed 10 be malicious powers in tangible
forms, which must be exterminated at once.
All the missionaries agree on one point
that these Indians were never cannibals
and that they had considerable excuse for
the crueitles they used TO perpetrate upon
all foreigners who fell into their hahds
the conduct of many reckless sailors has
been such as 10 carry out the idea that
they were bad spirits disguised in human
form; for they thought no more of shoot
ing an Indian child or woman in wanton
sport than Of killing a snake.
FANNIE B. WARD.