Page:A history of Chile.djvu/431

 CHILE OF TO-DAY 385 to pick up. On the mainland, the Indians sell skins and furs, puma, huanaco, and silver fox skins and os- trich feathers, to traders at Punta Arenas. Dwelling as they do in these cold, inhospitable, barren and rainy regions, they are the most miserable of earth's inhabi- tants, not even excepting the Esquimaux. They are related to the Indians of the Chilo^ Archipelago, but are far below them in intelligence and in their habits and manner of living. Including the Indians, southern Chile has but a scanty population. Punta Arenas on the Straits of Magellan is a town of one thousand inhabitants, where the Euro- pean steamers touch. The business of the place is carried on principally by English and Germans. The town is the centre of a considerable extent of sheep- raising country and a market for various settlements on the islands of Tierra del Fuego, Southern Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. Slieep farming is the prin- cipal industry of this southern country and there are several large ranches. Gold dust is found in consid- erable quantities in the streams and the shepherds fre- quently bring in enough of it to buy what they want in town. There are also silver and coal mines, but they have not, as yet, been worked with success. For the most part, this country is given up to seals, otters, seafowl and savages. The whole vast extent of the Territory of Magellan contains about two thousand people, of whom one half are foreigners. V,