Evening star., 1898-11-12


been made and with
in A few years at the farthest John Bulls
gunboats Will command the passage around
Cape Horn and the entrance to the Straits
of Magellan. The distance between Cape
Virgins. the last point We saw of the
South American continent, and the
Falklands is three hundred miles or
less than a days steam for one of
EnSland's fast war vessels. The Falk-
lands lie even nearer the track of the sail
ing ships about Cape Horn so that these
great trade routes. over which hundreds
OF millions OF dollars worth of freight goes
every year. Will practically be at the mercy
OF England. Outside Punta Arenas. which
Is midway through the Magellans there
Is no chance for coaIing stations within a
Thousand miles of Port Stanley Monte
yldeo Is i thousand miles north and the
cape OF Good Hope 4.2JO miles way to the
northeast Punta Arenas belongs to Chile
and by the neutrality laws it could not fur
nIsh coal except in peace and even then il
VIII charge eX"rbitant prices. as it did in
Ille case OF the Oregon. The establishment
OF q naval station here will bring A protest
from the Argentine Republic 1t has for
years claimed the Falklands as a part of
us territory. 50 that altogether the pros
pect tor trouble. diplomatic and otherwise.
Is refreshing.
The FaIklands.
find tie Falklands Interesting They
II
Atlantic Travellers seldom visit them
Their only connection with the outsid..
world is 10y a German steamship line. which
Is under subsidy from the English GOV
eminent 10 call once every three weeks TO
carry the mails. These ships come bore op
thelr way TO and from Hamburg an1 the
west coast of South America. so that the
Faiklander has a chance every sfy weeks
10 go TO Europe via Muntevideo and on AL
Stfhats SIX weeks 10 the Pacific via the
Straits. Now and .hen a Wbaler or saaI
hItHter comes 10 the islands and occasion
any OF late the English gunboats have
DTeh visiting them in the summer
II was in one of the Kosnos steamers
that came from the Strait of Magellan tl
Port Stanley. We sailed one whole rieht
along the north coast of the islands for
they extend from east to west about two
hundred miles There are two hundred of
them. consisting of Two large islands ana
many SO small that they do not even make
dot on the map. Some of the, smaller
islands are inhabited only by pene1Iins
there being 50 many of these curious birds
that the governor of the FaIkIands has
been called the king of the penguins
The islands altogether have about two
-hiruS as inuch land as the state of Massa-
chusetts. and East and West Falkland. the
TWO larger islards, are about FIVE times as
big as Rhode Island. All of the larger
Islands are covered with sheep farms of
such immense size that twenty-seyen mon
II Is said, own the whole country The
total population is about two thovsaud
and oY=- nineteen hundred of these work
IN one way or another for these twenty
seven men The Inhabitants are nearly al
scotennen. and the Islands are a little slice
OF Scotland in the South Atlantic.
sheep Farms
The pastdrase of the islands comprises
Z,Z-'"" acres Upon them more than
three-euarteTs OF a million of the finest
sheep Of the world are feeding. ana from
them half a million dollars worth of wool
Is exported every year. One COMPANY alone
mas 2in,SJ sheep. and the man who owns
small farmer indeed
outside Of sheep raising there are no
oiher indus tries. There are only fiftv pigs
IN the whole territory, and although the
grass Is good for cattle there are but few
III the Falklauds. Not enough U-heat is
raised To make a Maryland biscuit and the
only sign 9f agriculture is the little garden
Of cabba@rS. potatoes and turnfps witch
you Sc" back Of each Of the houses of the
shepherds on the mOoTs, at the capital
Port Stanley. and at the other small set
Elements scattered here and there
The Falklands are Il very cave of Acolus
The cold winds blow almost an eay ar,i
every day They sometimes blow IL Is
sali- the vegetables out of the ground.
They blow 50 hard that not a tree can live
and today tbere are not enough bushes
here I" furnish the switches for a country
school
Vegetable Cocktails and BaIsam BogS
The pasture. however grows luxurfantly
and the sheep keep fat If the land is not
oVcrst7cked. They breed so fast that tens
or thousands are killed and thrown into the
sea every year, their skins only being
saved There is a curious grass here which
acts as a tonic as we'll as food for the
animals eating 1t. II is to sheep and cat
tie sort of vegetable cocktail II is call
ed tussock grass. 1t has a stalk from four
to six feet high and its blades are abont
seven feet long. The plants grow in
punches close together as many as 80
roots springing from one plant Animals
eat the roots as well the leaves and
feeding upon them speedily become fat
The roots are even eaten by men, and it is
said that two Americans once lived for
fourteen months upon them on one of the
smaller islands. The roots decay in the old
plants and raise the grass upward so that
IL grows upon q cushion of manure as IL
Were Some of these cushions are six feet
hiSn and hve feet i'm diameter so that the
grass sprineing from them makes them look
IN the Instance like a grove of low palm
trees This tussock grass grows along the
coast even down TO high-water mark. 1t
Is fast'dlsappearing. however. as the sheen
are SO fond of il that they eat it far down