Captain Gardiner's first effort in Tierra del Fuego was at Banner Cove, Picton Island, where he tried to establish a station. The natives plundered him of everything, and he left in order to save his life; he returned to England, where he lectured, and obtained sufficient money to make another trial of the inhospitable land, under the circumstances narrated in the preceding paragraph. Here is what he writes concerning his arrival at Banner Cove: "On Friday, the 6th of December, 1850, we erected our tents, and on the 7th we constructed a strong fence of trees around our position, leaving only one small opening. This night and the next day the number of natives increased. Their rudeness and pertinacious endeavor to force a way into our tents, and to purloin our things, became so systematic and resolute that it was not possible to retain our position without resorting to force, from which, of course, we refrained." The natives became so hostile that Captain Gardiner and his party abandoned the place, and attempted to go along the coast to a more favorable spot. Three of their boats were lost in this journey, together with a considerable part of their stores, and they were in great distress. One by one the members of the party died of hunger and exposure, some of them at Banner Cove, and others at a point which has since been known as Starvation Beach. [Illustration: THE "ALLEN GARDINER" IN BANNER COVE.] A few years later a ship was built in England for missionary work in Tierra del Fuego, and named the _Allen Gardiner_, in honor of the lamented missionary. This was the ship which the natives plundered, after murdering her crew; she was recovered by Captain Smiley and taken to the Falkland Islands for repairs, and afterwards made several voyages to the "Land of Fire," but without advancing the condition of the natives to any noticeable extent. [Illustration: STARVATION BEACH.] The Fuegian is about as inhospitable as his country and climate can well make him. The region is subject to heavy rains and severe cold; the snow-line on the mountains is only four thousand feet above the sea, and Mr. Darwin says it is difficult to find an acre of level ground in the whole country. The lowland is covered with peat swamps and forests of beeches, and some of the scenery is quite pretty, but the general aspect is forbidding and desolate. There are glaciers along the sides of the mountains, and there are fresh-water lakes in the interior, frequented by great flocks of ducks and other aquatic birds. Along the coast are islands which are the resort of fur seals, and occasionally a rich haul is made by enterprising sealers.