The Press., 1917-07-05
The Demon
 Of the Strait An Experience In ROund-
 ing the Horn
By R. A. MITCHELL

There are two capes breaking the cir ele of water that extends around the | globe south of the equator, each or which has from time immemorial been A terror to mariners. The Cape of Good Hope divides the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at one point and Cape Horn divides them at another. It Is question which of these eapes is the more difficult to round by sailors. Good Hope was in early times called the cane of storms. The Portuguese, who were then great seamen, tried for six ty-nine years to round 1t without sue cess. It was first rounded by Vasco da Cana in 1497.
 My own experience is with Cape Horn, and can only say that If Good Hope is any worse am quite willing | to let it alone. There is an additional danger to mariners rounding the Horn in this: The passage Is usually made through the strait of Magellan, the shores of which are inhabited by the Tierra del Fuegans, who are the low est race of men on the face of the earth. So barbarous are they that they do not worship any divinity. Of course they know nothing of morals, and mur- der for booty is with them matter or no moment whatever.
 In 1S9- 1 sailed from MOnteVideO with a cargo of miscellaneous articles for Valparaiso The ship, the Wasp, WAS a little hundred ton schooner, and my crew consisted of but one man be- sides myself. l aimed to pass through the strait In the month of October, which in the southern corresponds to April In the northern hemisphere. If there was any of the ethereal mlldness of spring In that region I hoped to get 1t.
 We entered the narrow waters after rounding Cape Vergin. We had no sooner turned the Wasp from south to west than we were received by the demon of the strait, a storm of sleet and snow, that drove us back into the Atlantic, and we were a week getting again to the point from which we had been driven.
 As we entered the strait a second time we began to experience the many expedients the demon uses to keep mar iners from trespassing on his domain. The first were two tide races, which met, but did not mingle. Instead they fought each other, and the Wasp was caught between them. We had taken in one reef and in trying to lower a staysail my crew was washed over board. It would have been useless to try to go about and pick him up in such boiling waters. 1 threw a line to him, but he failed to grasp 1t. l suppose it was the ugliness of con tention that led me to keep on without turning back, though would be no better off for the time being by return Ing than going forward. was tempt ed to the former course, but as soon as I got past the tide races struck . calm water, and, with a favorable breeze and a boiling sea behind me, il looked easier to go forward than back ward. The demon was turing me on. 5 I had sailed no great distance when the wind began tD blow a gale-it seemed to me from all directions at once. I found anchorage at the foot - of a mountain, where there was a dead calm. But I had not got half rested when down came a gust of wind called in that region a wtlliwan.
 have given these samples of what I experienced all along my voyage through the strait to show what I en cOuntered from winds and waters. My chief danger in making the passage was the savages. They inhabited both the north and south shores. and was obliged to look out for them or all occasions. I had brought seyera rifles along. and, having met a man il MOntevideo who had had experience in the strait, he advised me to provide myself with a stock of Jacks to scat ter on deck at night, In case l and my crew should both be asleep at the sam, time, to warn me if we were bOardet by savages. After losing my only mal ,s overheard these defensive weapOn | seemed to me to be doubly valuable. It The first sight had of the Fuegan il was one morning when I was sailin in smooth water in a narrow passag between the northern mainland and al island. I saw a canoe padded by say
 
 weather kept rife on deck and now laying my hand on it. brought it to m shoulder and fired a shot across tn bows of the canoe. The Fuegans stoI ped padding and approached no neal - CT the line on which I was sailing.
 hoped to be able to get through tn strait without killing any one, for tn spirit of cupidity was enough for 10
 to contend with without exciting r,
 Venge. I was much relieved, therefor
 when I saw that Rad scared off en,
 mics who, in order to appropriate whf
 I possessed, would not have hesitate
 to murder me if they could.
 One evening when laid up In call
 water was taken i'll. took the pr
 caution before getting into my bun to protect myself against boarders | scattering tacks over the deck. I hs brought with me a supply of medic stores and a few surgical instrument
 the former to be used in case of sic ua ness, the latter of accident. Amor ~ the liquids was one to be taken
 drops diluted with water. I didn
 know what 1t was, but did know tn
 1t was very fiery.
 III During the night I heard a yell { ou deck knew that n savage had ste an red on my taeks. but had little dou ie. that 1t would drive him and those WI lts might be with him back to his cano
 And it did. The sayages knew that
 must have been warned of their COT = ing by the cry and, dreading the co
 tents of my rife, took themselv .m away The rest of the night WI yg passed in quiet.