Page:A history of Chile.djvu/450

 404 A HISTORY OF CHILE now claims, also Mocha, Santa Maria and Quiriquina, lying close to the coast between Chilo6 and Concepcion Bay. Chiloe is a veritable garden, possessing a humid atmosphere, a soil exceedingly fertile, a temperature at all times like spring, where snow or frost is seldom known. Fine crops of wheat, "barley, potatoes and other grains and vegetables are raised. There are fine herds of domestic animals, and the waters are filled with fish, shellfish and fur-bearing animals. Farther south the islands are for the most part moun- tainous and the climate wet, cold and disagreeable. Guaitecas, Guaianeco, Magellanes and Tierra del Fuego are given up to seals, whales, wild fowl and Fuegian Indians. The Indians roam at will over the west coast and the islands of Chonos and Guaianeco, a most mis- erable lot of human beings. Smyth's Channel is as picturesque as the Hudson. It is a narrow passage between the islands and the mainland, extending three hundred and thirty-eight miles from the Gulf of Penos to the Straits of Magellan, and averaging about two miles in width. Peaks, rocks and glaciers constitute a rugged picture upon each side, while further in the background the mountains rise from three to six thou- sand feet in height. In some portions of the channel a vessel can scarcely pass through between the cliffs and around the tortuous curves, so that navigation by night is unsafe. For this reason onl}' one line of steamers follows this route, other lines preferring to encounter the storm-swept ocean without, rather than to pass up this sheltered channel. The Straits of Ma- gellan are wide and through them all the steamers pass ; sailing vessels must still round the terrible Cape Horn, where the mighty Andes rise up in Mt. Sarmiento 7,000 feet into the clouds and then fall prostrate be-