The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-05
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 kvSUs0 day he has made a record that GSzeasAD he may well be proud of. This Is my achievement, and as I by no means admit to the encroachments of age my readers may rest assured that my journal was commenced before 1 had reached my teens It is matter of regret with me that my notes taken when rounding Cape Horn are not at present available but am sure that my memory of the voyage Is sufficiently accurate to indite paper that will not be entirely void of interest
 When a mere child l was taken by 8 warm personal friend of my gran;l- fathers, who had been appointed min 1ster to Peru, on trip to that country, and we approached 1t by way of tho Horn. We did not visit Patagonia, ex- cept a call of a few hours at Puntas Ar enas. but as we were skirting the coast for days and as many of the natives came abroard ship while we were tied up for the night I obtained considerable knowl- edge of the sublimity of the country and some acquaintance with the strange peo- pie who inhabit it.
 It must be remembered that geograph- ioal and meteorological conditions existing on the other side. of the equator are just the reverse of those to which we are ac- customed: that is, the farther south one travels the colder becomes the climate, the more rugged the country and the
  the year of my first visit to the South American countries l saw two longest days of the year in one and the same year-June N north of the equator and December 21 south of that geographical line.
 In the southern portion of Patagonia it freezes every night and a perpetual snow takes the place of rain. The climate is inhospitable in the extreme and while the scenic beauty of the land is sublime the atmosphere is so charged with mois- ture and clouds to obscure much. of the vision. The country resembles Switz- erland to remarkable degree and upon the coast the scenery is almost replica of that presented by Norway owing to the presence of innumerable fjords and ice-capped eminences that rise directly from the water.
 There are two passages around the Horn-the inside route and the outside route. The former is formed by an ex- ceed1ngly narrow thread of water that winds its way between the mainland and a row Of islands that stretch for a long distance and closely resemble the verte- brae of a human spine. The inside chan nel Is. of course much tie quicker route and its waters are deep and smooth, but 1t is dangerous owing to it's extreme nar- rowness, the powerful currents which fre- quent it and the great number of snow- storms which obtain. At some points the waterway is so narrow that two steamers are unable to pass one another between the mighty rocks which flank the course as walls of adamant and the snow ob- structs the vision of the steersman in rounding the circuitous turns and seeking for icebergs. Thus the ship always lays by during a snowstorm and rests at an- chor every night. These dangers and ob- structions cause most seamen to make the outward passage in rounding the Horn. but the minister who had me in charge preferred the channel route and l heve always been glad that such was the case
 Geologists say that the channel was scooped out by action of the ice during the glacial period; they used to say the same concerning the origin of the fjords of Scandinavia, but modern research has proven that they were in error and 1t is more than probable that study of the channels of Patagonia would also prove them wrong concerning the manner of gtheir fashioning.
 The glaciers of Switzerland and Nor way pale into insignificarce when com pared to those of the Strait of Magellan They are mountains of pure ice of deep blue and dazzling green. with crests of unusullied snow and they skirt the chan mel for 15 and 20 miles, and while not so high as those of Europe they surpass