Evening star., 1925-02-15

| line OF our sheepskins made another
hazard in the skiff's frantic career. We
tried to pull the skiff alongside, to draw
it or board. but 1t had taken too much
water to be manageable.
The confusion astern deferred us
from coming up to the wind to take
another reef, SO sailing as we were be-
! fore the gale, we attempted to lower
! the mainsail When the peak dropped,
the sail filled like a balloon and the
| throat stuck fast. In an instant the
mate was up the mast and trampling on
! 1t. Down with a run it came while the
loose canvas beat wildly over every
thing. We hauled the plunging boom on
board and secured it.
X X X r
MEANWHILE from behind a little
AvA wooded island some buildings had
| come into view on the western shore.
We changed our course a few points to
windward and held for them under the
staysaiI: that was sail enough. There
under the land we found the meaning
Of that smoking sea- The wind beat
down upon us from the mountain side
in furious squalls, lashing tho water
| into spray and driving It over US In
drenching clouds.
We near the land: and yet, beside
the scant shelter Of the island, no har
! Dor reveals itself. But in the lee of
that two boats lie tugging at their
moorings. Riding high on a foaming
sea, through streaming kelp and driving
spray, we're there.
| Peering out at us from the sheltered
| cover of a mill shed stood a man. On
| our rowing ashore, he met us at the
waters edge with the most winning
smile of welcome, wading into the surf
to seize our skiff and help US draw
it up the beach.
'Bienvenida,' said he, shaking our
| hands: and he bade us enter the house
| to get warm.
There in the kitchen Of the bunk
house. with another man who present
ly appeared, we tasted OF hospitality
that was to last for weeks and began
friendship that is not forgotten.
These two young Chilean lumberJacks
Don Antonio and Curly" cit was all
we ever learned to call him), revealed
to us that gentlemen, in that romantic
| sense of "thoSe who are possessed Of
good manners, kindness OF heart and
strict integrity and honor" do flower in
| life beyond the reach of education and
| the traditions of culture
The world has today become too small
| for some knowledge of the customs of
| all lands not to have penetrated even
to the remotest wilderness. While our
| friends in Bahia Blanca knew nothing
OF our American political constitution
and little of our commercial and scien-
tiflc achievements, they had been reach
ed and impressed by North American
| art.
! Curly's hair was of a years growth
he was a bit ashamed Of it. 1t was in
deed as immense a shock of curls, ex-
| uberant and black, as one might ever
see. On learning that ! was a barber
be begged me to shear him. I had a
perverse desire to crop those locks, but
| he deferred me.
"Give me-" he said, "a real North
American haircut" And he described
it minutely.
| Accordingly, adhering strictly to his
instructions, / clipped the lower hair
up to sharp line about an inch above
the ears, clipped it SO close that the
bleached scalp showed blue through the
coarse stubble. Above that 1 left the
black mass to flower like a huge chry-
santhemum upon it's stalk. With a pro-
fessional flourish l removed the towel
| from my patrons neck, and presented
him with the mirror.
'Lindo!'' he cried, and 'Lindo."
| echoed Don Antonio coming in to view
it, And smiling with all the happiness
| Of pride, Curly thanked me, saying there
was no one like a North American to
cut hair. And that is what in TERRA del
| FueSO tney KNOW OF ANleTlCd
| X 4 X
InNE afternoon l sat upon a sheltered
~ hillside and viewed the varied
beauty of the scene veiled in mistlike
rain; the gray mist became transfused
with golden light and In the broad gap
where my eyes were fixed cleaned a
pale rainbow. 1t was only for a mo-
ment; then the mists dispersed and sun
light flooded everything. That was
November the twenty fourth.
| Under that date my diary reads: THE
wind blows straight in upon us from the
| northwest: 1t never changes. We have
given up all hope OF sailing west and
southwark. for we could never beat out
through this sound and Gabriel Chan
mel. 1t is a conclusion that we have
| found hard to face.
| However, we will continue south
ward-on foot; and on the day after to-
| morrow we will start up the valley
| from the head OF Bahia Blanca"
Before dawn Of the momentous day
we were up and dressed. Energy again
possessed us, for the decision to aban-
| don the boat had broken the inertia that
had become the habit Of our days, and
set US free again for action. We left
the Kathleen; was never, as 1t proved,
to tread her deck again.
The equipment for our expedition had
| been made into two packs, each weigh
| ing sixty pounds. We struck inland
across the marshland and bog that con-
posed the border of the morraine.
! We had heard and read too much OF
the virtual impenetrability of the noun
| tain regions of TERRA del Fuego and
in our short inland excursions had ex
perienced enough of the difficulties Of
| travelling there not to have realized that
| in attempting to cross the virgin wild
erness of Brecknock Peninsula our en-
durance might be taxed to its very
| limit
| We began the ascent Of a succession
of steep hills. whose tangled slopes. the
guanaco paths having eluded us, offered
| the most trying obstacles to progress
We struggled through thickets of
dwarfed trees choked with thorny under
| brush and fallen trunks. across a small
stream. and up sheer banks and hill
sides. And every hill we climbed, while
it appeared to be the last, proved but
the threshold Of another
| At thirteen hundred feet we reached
~ xIN y ~