The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-04-16

NOW that the mail steamers plying De- tween Europe and the west coast oi South America had adopted this route through the Straits of Magellan. bring ing a rapid increase of trafic, the pa iternal government recognized it's impor. tance as a station of call and supply Soon afterwards liberal grants of land were made to immigrants and a new governor was sent out with three hun dred settlers. Timber for building pur- poses was taken along. and plenty oi supplies to last until the immigrants could clear and cultivate farms fol themselves. During the next war with Peru. when Chili found herself in need of all the soldiers she could muster, the military guard was withdrawn from the old convict station and all the prisoners who would consent to fight the Peruvi- ans got an honorable discharge and tieket-of-leave and marched gaily away with their late keepers, to cut the threats of their neighbors on the north In 1868 the population of Punta Arenas was hardly two hundred; in 1888 it was two thousand. In 1883 the district was organized into a province of Chili Gts nineteenth). and now it is no disgrace though somewhat ineonvenient to be a Punta Arenian. A Washington news paper man who recently visited Sandy Point, says this of it: The town is fn- teresting because it is the only one in the Strait. It is about four thousand miles from the southernmost town on the west coast of South America to the first port on the eastern coast-a yoy- age which ordinarily requires fifteen days, and as Punta Arenas is about midway of that long distance, it natu- rally presents attractions. There are a few decesnt people here. ship agents and traders, who came here for business reasons; a consul or two, and among them an Irish physician, Doctor Fen ton, who is the host and oracle sought by every stranger who arrives. Ocea- sionally some yachting party stops here or it's voyage around the world, or a man-of-war cruising from one ocean to the other; and steamers bound from Europe to the Pacific ports of South America pass every day or two, so that communication is kept up with the rest of the universe and the people who live at the antipodes, where the sun is seen 1 in the north, and the Fourth of July comes In the depths of winter, are pret- ty well informed to affairs at the other end of the globe The emotions that come with the contemplation that you are about as far from anywhere as you can possibly go, are novel; but in the midst of them you are comforted by the older fact that the world is not so large as it looks to be, for here is a man who used to live where you came from, and another who once worked in the of fee where you are employed. There is a newsstand in Punta Arenas where you can purchase New York and Lon don papers, often three. or four months old but still fresh to the long voyager: :: and shops in which Paris confectionery and other luxuries of life can be had at Patagonian prices"
 How does the place look? We'll, there lis sandy beach in front of high ridge of hills with some rising ground inter- vening. Several hundred houses are set in the mud and slush along this beach and on the rising ground behind it- mostly one-storied built,of wood, with out regularity, yet disposed in lines so as to form streets and a miserable att tempt at a plaza. There is a fort, a big, bare church, custom house and fey other public buildings-not emitting the post office. at which every traveller in this region drops letters to far-away friends, simply because they will bear the nearest possible post-mark to the south pole. The governor now resides in what was once the convict barrack, and horses are corralled in what used to be the stockade. Adjoining the town are desolate, wind-swept fields covered with the wet, spongy moss peculiar to Patagonia: the low hills back of them are blackened by charred timber and the range of mountains beyond. though not more than a thousand feet high, are buried in perpetual snow. There is a long, rickety wharf in the foreground, over which you must pick your way with care to avoid sudden plunge into the icy water beneath; and in the road stead numbers of vessels are always anchored-coal barges, Argentine and Gillian gunboats French, German and Italian ships, and perhaps a great Eng fish steamer or dispatch boat. As be- fore remarked, it is always either snow ing or raining at Punta Arenas, mud or slush is always ankle deep, and you might sarch the world over to find more dreary and altogether uninviting place. Among it's two thousand inhab- itants, 1t is said that an interpreter for every modern language in the world may be found Certainly a more poly glot community was never gotten to- gether. Though the place belongs to Spanish-speaking Chill, English is the language most generally spoken; and there are Chinamen, Germans, Poles, Swedes, French, Swiss, Italians, Ameri- cans, negroes. Portuguese, primeval In- dians-human fiotsam and jetsam rep resenting all sorts and conditions of men; deserters from all navies, con- victs, fugitives from justice and ship wrecked mariners, the majority of whom would not be willing to tell you where they came from and what their true names were in some other part of the world. There are few good wo- men in the settlement, but as for most of the females here-poor things, drink ing, fighting, swearing creatures of eve ry nationality-the least said about them the better.
 FANNIE B. WARD.
 THE LAND OF INCENSE.