Evening star., 1898-10-22

Behrmann. her commander is German, and
so are all the passengers, officers and crew.
We speak German at the table, and are, in
fact a small slice of Germany in one of
the quietest harbors of the coast of Chile
/ go to my cabin. II is No. L. and is as
good room as that OF Atlantic liner.
The cooking is German. Themeats are fresh
AS | sOdown TO dinner | hear the squawk of
a chicken, Our meats are carried alive
on board, so that later on we shall listen
10 the bda-inS of sheep, the grunting of
pigs and the cackling of geese mixed with
the crunchine Of the ice fields as the
steamer makes It's way through them. Be
fore ] pay the so which is my fare to
Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan |
ask if the ship will go via Snyths chan
mel The reply is yes. The kosmos is the
only line that takes this route, the other
ships going through the strait preferring
TO stand the storms which sweep up along
the west coast from Cape Horn to the
narrow, dangerous, slow, but more quiet
land-locked waters of the Patagonian
coast. We shall have to travel very slowly
and must anchor at night. but before we
start let US take a look at our trip. WHAT is
the cargo? We have 5000 tons OF saltpeter
for Germany, 2.UtU barrels of Chilean
honey for different parts of Europe hun
dreds of rolls of Chilean sole leather for
Russia and wheat and wine for Punta
Arenas and Montevideo We are now taking
on 300 tons of coal. BraWny Chilean peas
ants are putting it into the ship. They
stand in lighters or fiat boats and use
shoVels TO throw the coal UP to the plat
forms under the doors of the hold Here
other peasants shovel it in. They swear as
they work. and we hear them still swearing
ana heaving as we go to bed.
In LanG-LOcked Seas
We awake far out in the Pacific. The
steamer is rolling. the white caps are dane
ing over the waves and away off to the
eastward we can make out the faint blue
outline of south Chile. A Gay later in
storm and rain We steam past the long.
narrow island Of Chloe, which the gov
crnment is trying to colonize and on the
evening of the third day we enter the wide
Gulf of Peros and come to anchor at the
entrance TO the channel The water is like
mill pond. The steamer moves SLOWLY
We st en- to be in a great river rather than
In the ocean. We are sailing among the
c'ouds through the water-filIed ravines of
some of the greatest of the world S noun
tains. On our right are grass-clad islands
On our left are rugged, ragged peaks rising
In all shapes out of the sea. There Is one
clothed in green which reminds you OF the
pyramid OF GhiZeh, and there Is another
which Is a fair likeness of the smashed nose
SPHINX. In front the green hills are climb
ing over one another like a troop of giants
playing leap frog, and farther on they
rise upward in fort-like walls of green a
thousand feet high, losing themselves in
'''%NN
them The channel narrows and widens
Now we are in lakes surrounded by snow
capped mountains, now in canons. Now We
sail by a break in the mountain walls "A
deep ford with moss green walls snow
busted thousand feet high and filled with
black water a thousand feet deep As We
look the sun breaks its way into the gorge
and turns the water to silver. 1t paints
diamonds in the snow of its moss-green
sides. Over there is a glacier a great
green mass shining out upon the ragged
sides Of a snowy mountain. See the sun
has struck it and it is now a bed of emcr-
GldS in setting of frosted silver.
The weather and the sky changes every
moment, and before us is an ever-varying
panorama Of sky and sea and land. We
sail out of the sunlight into snow storms
and steam right out Of the snow into the
sun. Now the sky is almost blue overhead,
with fieecy white clouds scattered here and
there through it. Cloud masses here nestle
In the velvety laps of the hills, there they
wrap themselves about the snowy peaks
as though to warm them. and there they
stoop down and press warm kisses
upon their icy lips. Upon the snow
busted hills and dark water are dashes of
silver where the sun has poked its way
through the clouds. The varying light
makes the channel on one side Of the ship
black, on the other side it is of beautiful
yelowish green. and behind where the sun
strikes II the ship has left path of molten
silver. The hills change even as tho water
| Under the sun, Now they are dark The
! sun washes them with It's rays and the
| Terms and moss and trees brighten. The
| ragged volcanic background of the rocks
Sfow out and through the green and black
falling hundreds and sometimes thousands
OF feet almost straight down are silvery