Evening star., 1898-10-29

good, considering the population. The gov
ernor of the Magelans lives here. He is
appointed by the president of Chile and he
rules not only the Magellans, but the whole
or thes fslSrdS of the TERRA del Fuee:ln
archipelago He has four hundred soldiers
stationed in the city. You hear the mill
tary bands playing at . in the morning,
When they begin their drill, and again at
sunset. or at about o'clock in the after
neon The soldiers act as the police Eacn
OF them has a long sword at his side and
ne does not scruple to use it in making an
arrest OF late some of the soldiers have
beeh using sword-canes. You think they
have nothing but a walking stick but if
you resist them they jerk the stick apar.
ana give you a thrust under the fifth rib
with sharp blade of steel.
A Town of Clubs
1t seems funny to think of a club down
here on the Magellans. in the home of the
guanaco, the seal, the whale and the naked
abCrigines! But Punta Arenas has its
clubs, where the better classes of men meet
for social good time. game of poker and
4 bit of liquid refreshment The club is
also the fire company for here as in rnanv
OF these South American cities, the fire
conn any is composed of the best rnAn i'm
the place. In Punta Arenas the club mar.
lOrs are over the engine room They are
well furnished. They have two billiard IA
oles. '"o poker looms. a 1eading room and
tn 10
found in every club and in every hotel in
South America. 1t is, as a rule mach pat-
tronized. AT the German hotel wbo|e I
am living in Punta Arenas you can get
anything from q bottis OF chlrnDacac to
a Manhattan cocktail, from a sherry and
Dltters 10 a glass of NermCuth or a 6niIgse
cafe. There is a great deal of drinking at
the motel. We are so far south here that
II is dark now at pm. The gHests have
no loahng place but the bar room and
every night at about four sheen farmers
mel eiChants, clerks and others dron i'm ~
get their nip before dinner. As dinner dos
not come on until half-past thew ba,o
plenty OF time to fill up before thai 'rhe
favor1te method of buying drinks is hv
eacE man in the party throwini. die and
the loser paying the bill. Liquors are very
iisn mere ms is so, Notwithstanding
mat Punta Arenas is a free port and no
duty Is charged. Champagne costs twelve
silver dollars a bottle. This last 7 i,nn,v
70 my sorrow. for in a generous mood while
last night l ordered champasne for The
crowd The bill was astounding.
sheep Farming in TERRA Del Fuer.
You can't tell man down here bv his
clothes. One Of these sheep farmers, a
young fellow Of thirty, whose income rms
INTO the tens of thousands a year. wears
a faded so velveteen suit, 75-cent wool
shlrt' siouch hat and pair of high boots
HAN the time his shirt is unbuttoned at
the neck and to look at him YOU wonld not
thlhk MN worth cent. His sheen farm
Is as Dig as an Ohio county and AT the
!ast counting his sheep numbered 90 nt0
mead Another of the party was a vonpa,
EhSilShman, who was dressed In n cost;In1o
that would not have been out of Mac in
Hyde Park. He had swell riding boots
with a well-cut suit of Scotch tweed Ha
was only an employe at a big sheen sta
ton A third man was dressed much HlSe
an American business man. He was the
manager OF the biggest sheen ranch in
Tierra del Fuego. He had the supervision
or more than hundred thousand sheen
and of a grazing territory of two ana one.
half million acres Of land
sheep farming has now become the great
INDUSTRY or this part OF the world LARGE
part of lower Patagonia is given up to Il
and all of the available lands in tha
Chi!ean territory Of the Magellans, includ-
bought or leased 1t will give YOU some
idea OF the growth of the Industry WHOM
l tell you that In 1878. Just twenty wears
ago there were only 1856 sheep In ali the
Megellans. Seven years later there were
4o,Oo, and In 1892 The number had increas
go 20 fSoo"o, In 1873 1t was estimated that
there were 100000. and now on this islan5
alone there are considerably more than a
million sheep. The sheen farmers rio
iraiiy came here from the Fal land Islands
but stree then Australians French ,;er
mans. Russians and others have ioined
with them In gobbling up the lands The
majority, however. are English and Scotch
One of the largest owners of sheen bers is
our American consul. who Is also inter-
esteG In many other things. His name ts
Maurice Braun. He Is a Russian by birth
but the most of his life has been spent In
the Magellans He has $40. 600 acres In
TERRA del Fuego. and is Interested in a
m ~