Evening star., 1898-11-05

rather like that of the temperate than the
rigid zone. The mountain slopes up to
about one thousand fest are walled with a
growth of trees. ferns and moss so thick
that 1t is almost impossible to get through
1t. Upon the sides of the sleeper noun
tains the trees, instead of going straight
up, crawl upon the earth, so that tres
with a trunk as thick as your waist is not
more than three feet high, but spreads over
large tract of ground. This is probably
due to the mountain snow, which presses
the trees down to the ground and still
keeps them warm enough not to impede
their growth.
And what kinds of trees do they have
down here at the tail-end of creation? The
most common is the beech. There are vast
forests of antarctic beaches in Chilean
"Tierra del,' the trees of which are eighty
feet tall and six feet thick. They make ex-
cellent lumber, and am told some ara now
being cut down and shipped to Buenos
Ayres. One of the beech tree species is of
cur evergreen variety, ard anothef is the
common beech, much like those of our CEN
trail states. There are also trees of the
magnolia species. There are twenty-five
different varieties of shrubs and bushes in
TERRA del Fuego, and wild gooseberries and
wild raspberrieS Wild Strawberries of
great size and delicious flavor are found in
their season, and there are also wild grapes
and wild celery. Ferns are to be seen al
most everywhere, and one man says that
the tree fern is Indigenous to certain parts
OF the country. The sheep farmers raise
ca abbages, potatoes, turnips and peas in the
gardens connected with their stations, and
they tell me that in the spring and sum-
mer the ground is spotted with wild flow
ars.
The klOndike of the South.
TERRA del Fuego has been called the
klondike Of South America. So far, how
ever there IS no justification of the term.
There is plenty of gold, but up to now no
large quantities have been discovered and
that found is difficult to mine The gold is
all placer gold. Some of it is in the shape
of nuggets as large marrowfat peas,
but the greater part of 1t is in leaflets or
scales. The most of the mines are in the
southern part of TERRA del Fuego proper
and the islands adjacent The gold is found
on the shore, the clay containing ii running
down under the water and being exposed
only at low tide. The gold is covered with
shingie and sand, which must be removed
before bed rock is reached. At the Slogget
bay diggingS. for instance. there is six feet
of sand and gravel above the bed rock
This has to be shoveled off, and when the
tide comes iii the sold-bearing clay is again
covered. Almost similar conditions exist at
the washings on the Island of Navarino
and elsewhere From what | can learn
here there are only a few places where
gold has been found in any quantity and
these are nothing in comparison with the
great gold deposits of our western states.
There are two three companies who
work sluiCe boxes with machinery pumping
the water from the sea and gathering the
gold dust with machinery on copper plates.
The most of the mining, however. is spas
modic and uncertain. The territory is ex-
tremeiy difficult 10 reach and the prospect
ing is coupled with such haruaiIirs and ex-
penses in the way Of getting supplies that
l would advise the American miner 10 stay
at home. FRANK G.. CARPENTER