Then there is the pleading of the baby act in literature--the offering of apologies for shortcomings and asking for the leniency of the reader. I do not think I ought to do it. It is as if a dairy farmer, while asking full price for his butter, should say: "I've a realizin' sense that the smell haint just right. The dinged cows was eatin' leeks afore I know'd it, but I done my best at the churnin' an' I hope ye'll make allowances." If a buyer is looking for a book with the odor of flowers and new-mown hay in it I do not think it is becoming to ask him to take one flavored with garlic instead. Save for the matter manifestly from books and records I obtained the facts herein by observation and interviews; and I am willing to abide by the press law that a blunder is inexcusable. It is, of course, the honest intent of the news-gatherer to write his facts so that they will not be ignored or misunderstood or forgotten, but when he fails to reach that standard he loses his market, and he ought to lose it. And the man who essays the creation of something permanent ought not to ask that he be judged by a lower standard than that of the writers for "ephemeral publications." I am under great obligations to many of the people whom I met in the course of the journey, for assistance in gathering facts, but of the whole number Mr. E. L. Baker, the American Consul at Buenos Ayres; Herr Bruno Ansorge, of the Paramo Mining Company; Mr. Adolph Figue, a merchant at Ushuaia; and Revs. John Lawrence and Thomas Bridges, missionaries, were at especial pains to help me. I should like to thank them again for what they did. And were I not prohibited from doing so I would include one other name--that of the runaway sailor boy from New York whom I found in the desolate harbor at the east end of La Isla de Los Estados. Having said this much I can very cheerfully face the inevitable--the fact that the work will be judged by its merits. If it succeeds I shall be glad, of course; if it fails I shall know better what to do next time. J. R. S. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. AFTER CAPE HORN GOLD 1 CHAPTER II. THE CAPE HORN METROPOLIS 27 CHAPTER III. CAPE HORN ABORIGINES 47 CHAPTER IV. A CAPE HORN MISSION 79 CHAPTER V. ALONG-SHORE IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO 107 CHAPTER VI. STATEN ISLAND OF THE FAR SOUTH 137 CHAPTER VII. THE NOMADS OF PATAGONIA 151 CHAPTER VIII. THE WELSH IN PATAGONIA 168 CHAPTER IX. BEASTS ODD AND WILD 183 CHAPTER X. BIRDS OF PATAGONIA 201 CHAPTER XI. SHEEP IN PATAGONIA 215 CHAPTER XII. THE GAUCHO AT HOME 228 CHAPTER XIII. PATAGONIA'S TRAMPS 250 CHAPTER XIV. THE JOURNEY ALONG-SHORE 260 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE