Around and about South America . storm of wind andrain, so characteristic of this bleak, outlying station. Pass-ing Port William, we headed almost directly clue north forour destination, twelve hundred miles distant, with a strongfavorable breeze on the quarter. Ours was a lonely bound for the Strait of Magellan pass between usand the continent, while sailing-ships bound around CapeHorn mostly pass to the eastward of our route. Upon themainland of South America was Patagonia, a country athousand miles in length, the Andes forming its western andthe Atlantic its eastern border. I
Around and about South America . storm of wind andrain, so characteristic of this bleak, outlying station. Pass-ing Port William, we headed almost directly clue north forour destination, twelve hundred miles distant, with a strongfavorable breeze on the quarter. Ours was a lonely bound for the Strait of Magellan pass between usand the continent, while sailing-ships bound around CapeHorn mostly pass to the eastward of our route. Upon themainland of South America was Patagonia, a country athousand miles in length, the Andes forming its western andthe Atlantic its eastern border. It belongs to the ArgentineRepublic, and the chief town is Chupat, with a population ofsome two hundred souls. Patagonia is not the dreary andwholly barren country it was once supposed to be. The sur-face is a series of enormous terraces, stretching back to theAndes, and though the aspect of the open country is ratherdesolate, the valleys are covered with rich vegetation andmany lakes and streams of clear water appear. Along the. TEE FORLORN FALKLANDS. 141 Bio Negro, wheat, maize, and pulse are cultivated. Theestimated Indian population is twenty-five thousand. Thesepeople are tall and straight, with a reddish-brown were named Patagonians by Magellan, on account ofthe supposed magnitude of their feet—patagon, in Spanish,signifying large foot. Later travelers, however, have notobserved that their feet were out of proportion to their largestature. They wander all over the country, subsisting uponwild animals, fish, and mushrooms. The Fuegians differfrom the Patagonians in very many characteristics, to saynothing of the great physical and moral differences. ThePatagonians are greatly addicted to drink, whereas the Fue-gians can seldom be induced to do more than taste any beer,wine, or spirits. The Indians of the western archipelagoesappear to live mostly in their canoes, and to depend uponfishing and shell-fish for a subsistence. The Indians ofPatagonia five mostl
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1895
