The sun., 1908-03-26


end, but the power Of the suns rays had
set tho forces Of perpetual motion in those
leaps and bounds and the same streams will
dash down to the sea doubtless a. long as
the suns power lasts to heat the edges Of
the glaciers and try to rob them OF their
strength, You saw great peaks and short
ranges Every one had a different light
upon II; every one differed from another
in formation.
DIFFICULTIES or NAVIGATION.
But this is an account Of navigation rather
than a description Of scenery. The ships
went along In the slack water easily and
smoothly and again you wondered at the
stories Of the difficulty Of steahing through
this wide deep strait You passed through
Froward Reach into English Reach, and
miles away, straight ahead you saw the
Thornton Peaks, where Jerome Channel
cleaves way into the large mysterious
and only half explored Otway Waters, a
body Of water like one Of the Great Lakes at
home. You saw no channel ahead.
As you approached these mountains il
was like the turn in the Hudson up In the
Highlands. where you seem TO be headed
for the rocks with no way OF escape except
by turning back. You knew from the
chart that you we're then approaching
Crooked Reach, that runs beside the island
! called Carlos III. Soon you saw bend
toward the left and then you stihened your
self little. for you knew that in less than
half an hour you would be in the one dan
gerous place Of navigation in the western
half Of the strait II is necessary to make
an s curve in Crooked Reach, something
like the one in the subway at Fourteenth
street, only II is one six or eight miles long
and not Of few hundredfeet.
Just before you reached the line running
from Jerome Point TO the upper end Of the
island Of Carlos III. you saw black lines in
the water running from shore TO shore,
now only a little more than a mile apart
These lines we're foam crested and they
marked the meeting place Of the tides OF
the Atlantic and the Pacific. The officers
had no time now to look at scenery. Here
was serious work. The Connecticut crossed
the first one and 50 intent were you in watch
ing preparations 10 cross on your own ship
that you scarcely noticed her movements.
But what was the matter with the Kansas
directly astern9 She was swaying on 10
starboard violently. Then she made
swoop TO port. Queer kind Of steering 1t
seemed! Perhaps il was the Connectcu
that had swayed THE way and that. Wait
a moment!
Soon the Kansas got fairly straight with
the Connecticut and then the Vermont
took to dancing sidesteps this way and
that The helm was being shifted con-
stantly in the endeavor to keep in the mid
die Of the road II was the Louisiana's
turn next. Standing on the bridge you
scarcely noticed any deviation, but when
you looked at the line Of ships behind you
knew that the Louisiana was having its
troubles keeping straight and when you
saw the quartermaster twisting the
wheel about. now this way and now that,
you knew that this ship had been doing
fancy stunts far from home.
Then you looked al those behind, On,
they came, and that straight line, the pride
OF any one who has seen II from day to day,
went zigzagging, twisting aed turning,
thrust here and there until il resembled
the twists Of a snake crawling along the
ground rather than a feet Of majestic
ships sailing in a straight line. Once again
a similar performance Of the feet occurred
and you began TO realize what the dangers
Of navigating Magellan meant. You real
lied that with high powered vessels such
a.. .kt "a 10 fhs
swaying Of the tides and currents, but
YOU understood what smaller ships had 20
contend with.
We we're going through at the most favor
able season OF the year, but you shuddered
10 think what II must be to be caught here
in the winter, perhaps with darkness COM
ing on, no place TO anchor and binding
snowstoum or fog hiding the way and
your steamer having hard work even TO
hold it's own against the terrific current that
might be running against you. Oh, yes,
then you knew what TASK a dangerous
task it was TO brave the peris OF Crooked
Reach and yod we're glad you we're on a
warship with strength enough to scorn
natures effort to hurl il against the rocks.
OLD POST OFFICE or THE STRAIT
You passed dangerous Anson Rock and
you soon glided out into Long Reach, an
arm of the strait that runs for fifty or sixty
miles TO the northwest almost as straight
az taut rope, and you then took up your
glasses 70 look around You saw the little
island just on Borja Bay, where the famous
post office Of the strait was situated, a
place where sailors rowed ashore TO leave
their letters TO be mailed and their news
papers months old TO be read by those
who followed them. You could see the
signs nailed to the trees giving the names
Of ships that had called, the dates and the
ports TO which they were bound. All that
is done away with now that Punta Arenas
looks after the mails and gives hospitable
welcome 10 sailormen, but those signs,
some Of them half century old. told tales
Of hardship, Of shipwreok, Of misery 20
many q man who could read what they
really meant.
Then you began again to watch the noun
tains. Far down Snowy Inlet you saw
the sloping sides OF Mount Wharton and
magnificent blue glacier sloping down its
broad reaches. IL had teeth all over the
lower part where il had cracked under the
suns rays, but back for miles and miles,
a. far as the eye could reach, the blue ioe
extended until II hid itself In the vast snow
fields Of the mountains top, You we're
glad that the suns rays came out from