The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-02
IN SOUTHERN SEAS.
OFF THE SOUTHERN COAST or
 CHILLI.

smy,h's Channel That Leads Into sae
 straits of MasclIan-Tip End e
 south America.
 Special Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier)
 Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Feb. IS, 1904. -Smythe's Channel begins just beyond Chloe, which is. the northernlnost is land of that wonderful chain of arehi- peIagoes extending from about latitude forty-two degrees southward of Cape Horn. The channel is barely seventy five miles long. but we were three days in passing through it, coming to an- ehor every night at sunset. There are many Patagonian channels besides this named "Smythe," all remarkably alike in general features, some broadening out four or five miles, abrupt shores, showing innumerable peaks and head lands. whose dark and rugged shapes lend an appearance of gloomy gran deur rarely seen elsewhere. Probably the weather has much to do with the prevailing dreariness for the sun never shines brightly upon this forbidding corner Of creation where it snows or rains every day in the year and twilight falls at four o'clock. The only species of verdure found so far from the equa- tor are evergreens and Antarctic beeeh- es. and those are everywhere, blacken- ing the mountain sides, from the water s edge to height of several thousand feet, adding world of shadows to eve " landscape despite eternal snpws. Underfoot is always a tangled under growth, springing out of deep moss, soaked like sponge with eeaseiess moisture. The island of Chiloe is by it. self province of Chill, one hundred and twenty miles long by fifty miles wide. Though its interior has never been explored, the island is divided into five compartments" or districts, Of which Anoud is the capital. It is a tol- erably well built town a bishops see, with even some pretentions to elegance, and population of about eight thou sand. Garcia de Mendoza discovered the island and it's adjacent archipelago in 1858, and took possession in the name of the king of Spain. When the Spanish forces were expelled from the rest of Chili, Gin 1S1S) they fled to Chiloe, but abandoned the island about eight years later The whole southward coast ot the island is one inaccessible preeipice, three thousand feet high, against which the Pacific thunders with ceaseless up roar. The interior .Is hilly and mostly covered with dark forests of Gillian ce- dar, the Fitzroya patagoniea known to commerce. But a comparatively small portion of it has been cleared; and though its scanty population have con siderable trade with passing vessels money is almost unknown among them
 all business transactions being conduc. ted by barter The most valuable arti cle of commerce is the cedar above men, toned, which is exported in small blanks. Next in importance is the indi. genous potato, which is annually pro duced in increasing quantities as the forests are cut away. 1 am told that coal beds of considerable size and value have lately been discovered, which promise to give Chiloe a new impor- tance.
 The largest island off the coast oi Chili is Wellington good deal farther southward, which is one hundred anc forty miles long by some thirty to fifty wide The home of the penguin and the sea-lion, where cold winds blow and snow-storms prevail during the greater portion of the year. it has never beer explored to any great extent and seems to support nothing better than several kinds of evergreens, growing in soft spongy moss, into which those who ven. ture ashore sink to their knees. Tht highest peak of this region Is Mount Sariento, in what is known as Cock.
 burn channel. which rears a cone o1 spotless snow nearly seven thousand feet straight up from the blue Pacific al it's feet Its beauty is enhanced by nu merous blue-tinted glaciers, descending from it's summit, as Darwin, who oncs
 saw it, said Like hundred frozen Nj
 agaras' On the coast of southern Chi l Ii, as on that of Norway, the fiords art
 not only narrow, but very deep. and th' | tides run with resistless force. By a1t 1 By we come to aciers,-mountains o
 green and blue ice, with crests of snow stretching ten. fifteen and twent, miles in unbroken grandeur, besidt which those of Switzerland and Nor
 way dwindle to insignificance.
 I Before entering the channel known al l English Narrows, every vessel swing
 out it's boats, half lowered, to be read. l in case of running upon rock or reef l The entire crew is told off for specia service in case of any emergency. J number stand in the stern, prepared t rig the auxillery steering apparatus il l the twinkling of an eye, should that il customary use give way. The boat
 swain and carpenter remain at tn
 windlass in the prov, ready to let g
 the anchor at moments notice. Al
 this is done every time a vessel zoe through; but in spite of precaution | the shore is strewn with wrecks. Il
 one place this cannnel is barely si l hundred feet across, with slack wate
 on one side and a powerful current o l the other.
 Messer Channel is not much wider 1 with walls of perpendicular rock O | both sides from two to four thousan feet high. Near it's farther end is | hIlpp 1Onle- Sha rnd f1ooi1nta ain a m a c