New-York tribune., 1908-01-26

so they lay; bul ms lengIhenlng or the
0are is accepted in preference to the perils OF
" ~ trait The storms of Cape Horn are, in
M nie onanion of many nagivators, the worst in the
id 8ut OF the Horn ship has a fighting
,a,oe in the open sea which is denied her in
fbe narrow and tortuous winnings from Cape
I7-cin 10 Cape Pillar.
srTbe strait said a retired sea captain, who
.,r7rnanaed wind-jagnmers in the waning days
:. she clipper ships and who now runs q school
= tnavigation in New York The strait? Well,
.t 1ou can imagine a passage as crooked as
1,oo-l street lined with cliffs four times high
= +te Singer Building. with wind like the one
ga. sprints al around the Flatiron at I'D
..-aet vou'li know something Of how hard it is
N take g sailing vessel through it Maybe I've
,-ad Oh shore here so long that I'm more IA
ilia- with New York scenery than some other
,,oces I once saw: but then you'll understand
no the better for that OF course, tin pot
nth a crew OF electricians and journeymen
11-7F,ers and steamfitters can go through all
;gAt but she'd better anchor when night falls
and al any time she can find an anchorage when
.. looks s-uaIly over those n. .ountains Why,
.tev have q sort Of wind down there that they
,sad 10 call 'yhirlaways' when sailors first made
their acquaintance. but they never became
4-5ands. in a way Of speaking They call 'em
-tings. for they are as twisting, shifting and
uncertain as a woman. They make a whistling
mise that's mournful like no other sort of wind
I ever heard. Going round the Horn is no
Conev Island excursion. but it gives a ship a
fair show 10 win her way"
stiu, with all its history of hard luck. starva-
tioD and missing ships, the strait has a thirty
ing city Of nearly ten thousand inhabitants
Pz,nta Arenas. Despite the fact that il is thirty
miles from the Second NarTows the people of
this place are preparing TO entertain the battle
shin feet Accordingly, the jack tars may be
eble II spin yarns when they reach san IRAN
cisco 4 how they feasted on Famine Reach-
Resides, il is about interesting an outpost OF
civilization as white men have established any
where
= .ra sa11t hernrlost city IN the world Like
s- or the others in that part OF the world IL
rrocass77-elv bore the names of most OF ti'e
80 of me calendar. until at last one John
Byron. an English navigator ana the sIaiiu
~ or The poet. came along and called IL
- 17,f--" Inasmuch as the immediate
.,,7i,r.s .,f the town are more suggestive
= s.r7 than saints. the English name. changed
o-7, n its Spanish equivalent, Punta Arenas
has survived
4,vr-a Arenas lies about half way between the
atlantic and me Pacific and the densely wooded
IN e--e-1-7 5lr;e. the city do much TO mitigate
-bo -ipors OF what would otherwise be very
sa,a-,a winters By cutting off the heavy winds
that sweep I'D from the Antarctic. The range OF
ts-7T,e-7atu-s is not great for while the ther-
r,o-7eter does not often go a great deal below
ven Fahrenheit in winter. il summer il rarely
registers above a mean Of forty. This gives the
citv one Of the rnildest winter climates, and one
IF the coolest summer climates as well, Of any
mimi Of similar latitude in either hemisphere
Although this month is practically midsummer
so,,-l ~ -ha equator. there is little doubt that
after exTe-iancinE the heat OF the tropics, the
men Of The feet viii be doing a deal Of shiTer-
ing even IN heavy winter oyercOats-
The geographical position Of the city makes
# 2 natural coaling point for most Of the West
Coas1. steamers Two years ago the discovery
n -icf1 a,1rtferous deposits in closely adjacent
na-+s of TERRA del FUego turned IL into one Of
the Iveliest bonanza mining camps Of recent
times Expeditions were fitted out and sent
there from almost every country Of South Amer
jea- while the South African mining camps, then
AZ = loz- ehb OF prosperity, contributed numerous
rjctI,resr.ya Ca--irSents- The rush was, per
hans tfe most cosmopolitan in history and the
Characteristic volatility Of the predominating
latin element kept the excitement fast and
furious.
In the first days Of the rush. ii was knife and
revolver revolver and knife. UP one street and
down another For fully TWO months every man
was his own law. and the cutters fairly ran with
America has ever known.