In spite of the snow-clad mountains the temperature is usually not extreme. The jungles will rival the Amazonian jungles. It is a perfect compress of hollys, ferns, beeches, orchids, vines and countless thorny bushes. It is indeed “The silent wilderness, Where the soul need not repress Its music, lest it should not find An echo in another’s mind.” The surface is a spongy mass, and a foothold less than knee deep is rare. This exuberant vegetation is caused by the excessive moisture which is here precipitated. Flower-bearing bushes are numerous, and genuine field daisies are as plentiful in places as on a New England meadow. Cataracts are everywhere in sight and mark the mountain sides like long white streaks. At times when the boat is near the shore their roar can be heard. An occasional wreck may be sighted, but more of them lie unseen, buried beneath countless fathoms of water, for the shore descends down in an almost perpendicular line to fathomless depths. Few vessels thread these narrows, but it is a sight never to be forgotten by one who has had the privilege of making the trip. The future of this great undeveloped region remains to be seen. At present there are no inhabitants, except occasionally a stray settlement of Indians. Exploring itself is no child’s play, and there are still tracts of untrodden forest, although the government has had numerous surveying parties in the field. The boundary commission has done a great deal in making this territory better understood. It differs widely from the broad reaches of pampa of Argentine Patagonia, where rain is scant and desert stretches are not uncommon. When development has taken place it may far exceed in fertility and wealth the eastern slopes, and the broad leagues of rich plain between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean. CHAPTER VI THE LAND OF THE FIRE “Tierra del Fuego,” meaning the land of the fire, exclaimed the followers of Magellan, as they saw the wreaths of smoke ascending through the frosty air. It was merely the signal fires of the Indians dwelling on one of the islands of that remote southern archipelago, when they beheld the strange white-winged vessels of Magellan sailing through the Straits, since named after him. The name has clung to the group of islands during the succeeding centuries, although thousands of white people have since placed foot on them and the name is known to be a misnomer, for no volcanic fires exist there.