I
I
S<ut/y J\)inf and Pori P'aniine.
ducks, sonic snuill |,i,ds, luul a young fox. J'he ground was for
(hc most part covered with a .sort of rank grass, through wliicli
huslics of the Mcrlicn-y, Enipctrnm riibntm, and Myrtus nummn-
laria, grew luxuriantly. A very pretty dwarf calceolaria was also
abuiulant. d'hc only cjuadrupcd seen was a fox, but the tucutucos
{Ctaion/ys) must have been very numerous, for the gi'ound was
riddled in all directions by their burrows. Some of our party,
who strolled along the beach towards Gregory Hay, found a small'
settlement of h'rcnchmcn, who, it seemed, had recently come out
here to try their hands at farming. After our arrival on board,
one of the men brought me a specimen of a Myxine, which
had come np on his fishing line, not attached to the hook, but
adhering by its viscid secretion to the line at some distance
above the hook. Of this curious fi.sh I subsequently obtained
many specimens in the western Patagonian channels.
We got under way again before daylight, and about eight
in the morning we arrived at Sandy Point. This interesting
little Chilian settlement was established in the year 1843, and
although a great portion of it was burnt to the ground during
the mutiny of 1877, it yet shows signs of ultimately becoming
a place of considerable importance. Great credit is due to the
Chilian Government for their perseverance in maintaining a
settlement in this wild region, notwithstanding the sad fate of
the colony which was established by Sarmiento in 1580, at a
bay to the westward of Sandy Point, which he named “ ’Bahia
de la Gente.” On Sarmiento’s return, eight years subsequently
It was discovered that nearly all the colonists had perished of
starvation. That bay has since been called Port Famine. Of
late years the Straits of Magellan have been largely availed of by
men-of-war and merchant steamers. Two lines of mail steamers,
v^z., the P. S. N. C. and the Kosmos line, now run bi-monthly
bi.ough the Straits ; and as all these vessels touch regularly at
Sandy Point, the colonists are kept in frequent communication
wit the rest of the civilized world. For some years after