Sir Francis Drake, following Magalhaens by the same route into the South Sea, and taking much treasure and many ships from the people of Chili, Peru and Mexico, it was determined by the Spanish court that the newly discovered passage should be explored and fortified. With this view Sarmiento, the best naval officer in the service, was selected in Peru to pass the Straits from the South Sea into the Atlantic; he accordingly performed this voyage; and so plausible were the representations he made to the cabinet of Madrid, that Philip II. ordered twenty-three ships to be fitted out, with 3500 men, under Don Diego de Valdez, and Sarmiento with 500 veterans was directed to settle and fortify such positions as he deemed the best. It was more than two years before this fleet arrived at its destination: but as soon as it entered the straits, Sarmiento built a town and fort at the eastern entrance, which he named _Nombre de Jesus_ and in which he left 150 men; fifteen leagues farther to the west he erected another fortress, in the narrowest part of the straits, and In 53° 18' south latitude, where he built his principal town, which he called _Ciudad del Rey Felipe_. This was a regular square, with four bastions, and is said to have been excellently contrived. In it was placed a garrison of 400 men and thirty women, with provisions for eight months: but on the return of Sarmiento into the Atlantic he was taken by an English ship. The garrison, for want of succour, fell a prey to disease and famine, and on January the 7th, Sir Thomas Candish found only one Spaniard, out of twenty-three who had remained alive, which were all that had escaped of the whole colony; the twenty-two others had set out to find their way to the Rio de la Plata over land: but as they were never heard of, it is conjectured they must have perished miserably in the deserts of Patagonia. Thus ended this seemingly well-ordered expedition; since which time the Spaniards have not attempted to resume the colony; finding that the straits were too wide to fortify, and that other passages existed to the south, which were equally good for the purposes of the navigator. _ISLANDS ON THE COASTS_ OF SPANISH SOUTH AMERICA.