Chile had a double purpose in establishing this post. One was its desire to hold the territory as a national possession, and the other was to establish a penal colony which would be so far away from the capital that the prisoners, even if they escaped, could not return. Several hundred prisoners were generally confined there, who were kept in subjection by a small company of soldiers. On two occasions the convicts rebelled and took possession of this settlement. On one of these the governor and many of the guards were killed and the mutineers boarded a ship that chanced to be in the harbour, but they were overtaken by a Chilean man-of-war and overcome. The men were hung, and it is said that a man was seen hanging from every yard-arm of the war-ship. After the first revolt a new settlement was established on the present site of Punta Arenas, which was given the old name. The tongue of sand there, however, the English-speaking people called Sandy Point, and thereafter the name Punta Arenas, which means the same in Spanish, was given it; at least it is entirely known by that name now. In 1877 the last revolt occurred, when the convicts revenged the cruelties to which they had been subjected upon the commander of the garrison and many of the soldiers. When a man-of-war appeared they fled into the interior, where most of them died from starvation and hardships. The establishment of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was the cause of the abandonment of this place as a penal colony. It proved to be a convenient stopping place for the steamers to take on coal and supplies, and this gave it a new life. Later came the discovery of gold, which brought many to the settlement. Still later a Scotchman brought some sheep from the Falkland Islands, and found that the region around Punta Arenas and on the island opposite was well adapted for sheep raising. Others took advantage of this experience, until the neighbourhood around became noted for its sheep culture. Some day, if a freezing establishment should be established here, Punta Arenas will become a still more important place, and it is undoubtedly only a question of time until such will be done. The town itself makes a poor foreground for the magnificent setting of nature. It is laid out on the usual checkerboard plan, with several streets running from the shores back up the hills. It has a plaza and the streets are unpaved. The beach is sandy and the streets are either filled with loose sand or mud.