The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-28

CT were CanllDalS tlnOuEn Illdl AdiAivNS American, Captain Smiley. declares that he once visited chief of one of these islands with whom he was on friendly terms, and found him superin- tending the cooking of his oldest wife); but they would certainly rob us of eve rything, even the clothes upon our backs, and leave us to perish like the ill-fated Gardiner party, if they did not mereifully murder us in some quicker manner.
 It was fine, mild morning for this latitude when we found ourselves in the western end of what is known to seamen as Spaniard's Harbor, and cast anchor near a shady beach upon which surf was breaking with sullen roar. Before us were grassy plains and a winding river; beyond were low hills covered withtrees, and to the left dense forest.This is Starvation Beach, the Mecca of all English-speaking peo- pie who find themselves in these wa ters. We noticed dark mass of rock close by, looming up from the waters edge fifty feet or more, dotted on top with scanty shrubs, and instantly re- cognized it as the entrance to that gloomy cavern so minutely described in the missionary annals, within which Captain Gardiner and his friends tried to make home, a la Robinson Crusoe in his castle. Just beyond reach of the surf a mound of stones marks a grave, and on the flat surface of the upper rock Captain Gardiner's name is paint T oe I,s 10 pf date not being known. Near this rude cairn grows giant beech tree, to which a board has been firmly lashed, which bears upon it the names of all the party, and asserts that they de parted this life after much fatigue and privation from want of food,'' and that their remains are buried beneath. It would have been more exact to have painted the full truth, Died of starva- tion because forgotten by the home mission" A little farther up the beach one can plainly see where the Pioneer, the martyrs boat, routed away in the sand. It seems that while the seven Englishmen were perishing by inches, they kept a daily record of their thoughts and doings; and months after they were dead, a tardy rescuing party found the journals, which have been preserved in an almost miraculous manner from winds, rains and thieving natives. Half sheets of paper, written with lead pencils, contained intelligible sentences, though saturated with wa ter. torn and otherwise defaced. have been permitted to read a printed copy of those words traced by dying men, and I wish I could transcribe them for you entire, so full of cheerful faith and even happiness are they, down to the last moment. From time to time other missionaries have labored among the F'uegoans, in different parts of the archipelago, but in every case results have been very meagre. Perhaps the most notable effort was that which is described in Darwins Voyage of the Beagle' Four Fuegoans were taken to England, where one of them died and the others remained for three years and were educated One of these
 was called "Jimmy Button" because
 his mother sold him to the Europeans
 for brass button cut from an officers
 coat. He was fairly intelligent and
 gave promise of future usefulness; so il was decided to send him back to his ma. tive land as a sort of assistant mission.
 ary. Before starting for his formel
 home Jimmy received a great many
 substantial gifts from charitable Eng fish people, which rendered his wei.
 come the more cordial when he arrived
 at his native island. The ships car. penter built comfortable house fol
 the missionary and Jimmy; a garden ol seeds was sown; the natives who f1oeked around the ship were we'll treat. ed, and all went swirnmingly as long a: superior force remained on the side oi
 the whites. But hardly was the shir out of sight before the natives robbed
 Jimmy of all his treasures and forciby
 reduced him to his original condition o1 |a savage like themselves. They burned lup his fine clothes and compelled hin to dress-or rather to undress-like his own people; and the missionary would
 doubtless have been murdered had mol the ship called again after few days
 absence, to see how things were going and took him away. The next visitors to Tierra del Fuego found that Jimmy Buttons taste of civilization had only made him cutter rascal than before
 His tribe was the worst on the island
 who stole everything they could lay
 hands on; the same who, a few years later, massacred the crew of shil sent out by the London Missionary SO ciety.
 During our cruise we went ashore or
 a sequestered island to view what tho captain called a penguin city" Sure
 enough, the whole island, comprising perhaps fifty acres, was laid off in reg
 ular squares, by streets running a right angles, the lines straight ant true as a surveyor could have drawr them. As is well known, penguin!
 spend their lives on the water exeep
 during the breeding season, when the. are obliged to seek the shore. You vii
 hardly believe me, but it is neverthe Hess true, that the birds not only lay
 out their city in blocks, but pick up al the loose stones, till the whole place is
 smooth as board floor. Then they take possession, in couples, each pail I selecting a honeSite not to bl1iid