Fernando de Magelhaens, although of Portuguese birth, had entered the Spanish service. In charge of a fleet of five small ships, the largest of only one hundred and thirty tons, boarded and manned by a crew of sixty-two men, he sailed from Seville on the 10th of August, 1519. The voyage was an arduous one, and was beset not only with terrific storms at sea but mutinies among the sailors that were scarcely less terrifying. Only two of his vessels remained faithful, but he conquered the mutiny with the loss of only one vessel. On the 21st of October, 1520, he entered the eastern entrance of the channel, and it was a month later, after almost unheard-of difficulties, that he emerged into the broad Pacific. Of the subsequent expeditions that attempted this route the experiences were most unfortunate. In nearly every instance almost one out of every three vessels was wrecked, some in one channel and some in another, for there is a perfect labyrinth of channels around and between the many islands. Some of the names indicate the experiences or impressions of these early navigators. Fatal Bay, Port Famine, Famine Reach, Escape Beach, Last Wreck Point, Dislocation Harbour, Thieves Island, Useless Bay, Fury Islands, Breakneck Peninsula, Desolation Harbour, Preservation Cove, and last, Hope Inlet, are a few of the names that may be located on the map. In 1578, Sir Francis Drake, an English explorer as well as freebooter, by accident found the route by the way of Cape Horn. This great discovery stimulated navigation around South America, for the Spaniards guarded the Straits route to the best of their ability. The Spaniards described Drake as “a man of low condition, but a skilful seaman and a valiant pirate.” The Fuegian Archipelago covers a goodly territory. The islands contain as much land as Nebraska, and are several hundred miles long from east to west. A perfect labyrinth of tortuous, wind-swept waterways separate the hundreds of islands which form this group. They are not all a desolate mass of ice and snow, however, but contain plains which are covered with succulent grasses, and slopes which are thickly wooded. The Chilean portion of these islands, and the mainland along the coast beyond the fiftieth parallel of latitude, is included in the territory of Magellanes, the largest territorial division in the republic. The largest island, called Tierra del Fuego, land of the fire, is half as large as Illinois. It is divided longitudinally between Chile and Argentina, by far the largest portion belonging to the former nation, and the best part of it too.