The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-10-28

all Of these things. Bot the Abundant hhfNesA
Of 1880 and 1881 gave = boom TO the settlement
which the failure Of 1882 only checked tempo
rariiy. The o~olonists went Up stream 70 = valley
thirty miles long beyond a narrow cahon
and took Up land there. II was there
that the head Of the great new ditch
va. located. They have since Vons 10 = third
stni higher. They have, in fact, taken mp all the
available land for seventy miles along the river.
They have go miles Of main irrigating canals
This largest has a cross section measuring ISxSN
20 feet. and the whole go miles cost fiso,ooO.
There are 1850 people in the settlement
some OF the details Of their condition from
time TO time remind one OF the Yankee frontier
settlements. They began their religious Iife In
the colony with union services. and got on COM
fortably until they prosp-red. sectsrisns hoaied
in on the waters Of the irrieating ditch. 20 TO
sneak. and there was q burst Of zeal in building
up denominations that brought q growth In
church outfits quite equal 30 that In the
area p~lanted-rather larger. in fact. Among
the 1000 people OF 1889 there were
two independent congregations with ordained
ministers. who held regular services in chapels,
Of which the walls were baked brick. the roofs
were wooden with . layer Of mud on top. and
the wooden benches had good backs TO them"
As one Of them described the places Of worship.
They had also a s~tone-walled chapel In a third
place. and held regular services in school
houses in other places. The Methodists had a
brick church with an ordained minister at
Rawson, and held services In the upper valley.
The Baptists had a fine chapel at Frondrey. one
Of the little villages that sprang M. and an or
dained minister for It. In fact. there were in
all seven ordained ministers In the colony, and
in 1884 the Episcopalians brought out the
eighth. Every one Of these had his % 24o acres
Of land. and every one worked his owa farm and
- IL 4 lIl ~mNafnn -haN
II is a significant fact that up TO 1884 the COL
ony did not have a single physician. 1t scarcely
needed one. Still some one was sure TO break a
limb every two or three years. and the coloniss
were right glad when, in 1885, a man with a
diploma came there and took mp the usual al
lowance OF land.
Although only handful OF the people were
Fptscopalians, an Episcopal chaplain in the
British navy was able in 1881 to cause more
women 10 weep and more men TO use profane
language than any three men beside who ever
visited the COLONY, 90 they cay. IL was the Rev.
s. 8. Morris Of Her Majesty's ship Garnet. Nor
rs went TO the colony when the Garnet called
at New Gulf. and afterwsrd wrote his expert
ences for a London periodical. This Is what he
wrote that stirred all Chubut:
"Those Of the colonists who wish to marry
have the religious rite performed In the chapen
in the manner adopted by the Nonconformists
at home: but there must exist serious doubts as
20 whether. either according TO English law I'm
the case OF the return home Of a couple married
in the settlement. or according to the laws OF
the Argentine Republic. these marriages are
valid. Hitherto no case has arisen in which the
validity Of the present mode of marriages has
been tested. nor. perhaps, Is one likely to occur
soon; but later OH, in the event OF the continued
material progress OF the colony, much misery
will be caused should the Argentine Government
decline to regard the present mode OF marriage
as valid. The colonists themselves are. with
few exceptions. OF the class that would easily
imagine that being married with the usual re-
ligious practices In the Chubut Valley Is exactly
the same thing as being married at home in Wales
with the same rites, forgetting that In the latter
case the chapel has been licensed by the State
for the Determination OF matr!mony. and that 1t
IL under the supervision of the Registrar OF the
district. while in the case OF Chubut the chapel
Is, In the eyes Of the Government of the Argen-
tine Republic. no more entitled TO confer s0sem-
nifty and validity upon the rite therein per-
formed than any other house in the valley. Two
evils may possibly arise out OF the present state
OF the marriage question: First, an unprin-
cipled man may. on returning home. put aside
his assumed wife and marry again without be-
ing legally guilty OF bigamy. Second. property
will not be able to be claimed by the children OF
such marriages without Wills being made. and
then higher succession duties must be paid"
IL was an artfully written paragraph. II so
and so was 20 happen then something awful
might follow. Though free citizens OF a repub-
lie. the s~imple-minded Welsh miners had grown
up in a monarchy and had had instilled into
their minds a reverence for . minister OF the
Established Church regardless OF his moral and
intellectual worth that a Yankee cannot wellun-
derstand. To increase the sensation the parsons
N.1N ghaN M nm N I've
held their honor more sacred than did these
Welsh girls Of the Chubut Valley, nor did any
men ever esteem the honor OF their sweetheArts
more highly OF protect Il more carefully. or
course the parson might AS well have said that
much misery will he caused should the
British Government decline TO regard the present
mode OF marriage in Canada valid as to have said
what he did say. There was no possibility Whist
ever that the Argentine Government would de-
cline TO recognize the Chubut marriages as valid.
II was an insult TO the Argentine Republic, as
we'll as an outrage on the feelings OF the colo
nists 10 suggest such q thing. but the story
seems we'll worth telling. as showing the feeling
the English have about South American gov
rnments, and also because II created a great
stir in the colony.
In 1883 q number OF Welsh prOspectOrs came
from Chubut 20 the colony and went prospect
ing as far back as the Andes. They found sew
erL groupings of Ignite, which at first were
thought TO be good coal, and that made a stir,
The stun is now used for fuel TO some extent In
the houses, aud IL IL found that nvo tons will
serve for about two tons OF Welsh coal.
Then they found gold and went TO work hling
claims. The gold. however, lies only thirty-one
leagues from a port on the Chill coast where a
German steamer calls once . month, 50 that the
dlgginEs, which include placer as well as quartz
workings, will hardly benefit Chubut save as a
market for produce may be created. About
$50. 900 gold has been invested In the workings
The Yankee traveller is sure 10 he Informed,
too, that "a Texas cowboy named Marshall has
a store at the camp, and lie says the digging-
beat California"
Then II Was observed that the desert plains
above the upper parts Of the inhabited valley
swarmed with guGnacos as the desert plains OF
New Mexico once swarmed with antelopes,
Droyes OF from {. 1000 To 1000 were seen. IL was
rightly argued that sheen could live where the
RuanAco did. The Chubut colonists are going into
the wool business, though slowly. and this Is GER
1T. a.. l.. sha 1raaNazf EonFpR nf wealth IN the