Tierra del Fuego consists of a group of several large and numerous small islands, lying off the south extremity of South America, in 54° S. lat., 70° W. long., and separated from the continent by the Strait of Magellan. Its farthest south point is formed by Cape Horn. The principal island, Tierra del Fuego, sometimes known as King Charles South Land, is divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic, to the latter of which Staten Island also belongs. All the other islands and islets are included in Chili. The shores of the archipelago are generally much broken by and indented with bays and arms of the sea, with mountains rising abruptly from the water. These fjords, as a rule, contain deep water at their shoreward extremities, with bars, or, more properly, banks at the sea entrances: in this feature, as well as in their scenery, resembling many of the salt-water lochs on the west coast of Scotland. The whole group is mountainous, the high hills of the mainland (Tierra del Fuego) attaining a height of 7000 feet, the snow-line being at an altitude of 4000 feet above sea-level. There are some dreary plains and a few fertile river-valleys, with areas of marshy ground between Useless and St Sebastian Bays. None of the rivers are important, unless it be the Juarez Celman, which is believed to be navigable for a considerable distance above its mouth. Towards the north the plains produce good pasturage, and attempts at sheep-farming have been made in the district, the Jesuit missionaries on Dawson Island having a farm with nearly 20,000 sheep and over 6000 cattle. Forests of beech, winter's bark, magnolia, and cypress cover large areas, with dense growths of such bushes as Berberidæ, Escallonia, Ribes magellanica, Embthrium, Myrtus mummularia, and Salicemix on the hill slopes. Lichens grow abundantly at greater heights, and cover much of the low grounds, where, apparently, nothing else can flourish. The more common and old-fashioned English garden flowers come to perfection in the settlers' enclosures in the extreme north. Few island groups situated so close to continental land exhibit a poorer fauna than is here presented, the guanaco, tucn-tucn (a small rodent), dog, fox, and rat being the only quadrupeds, with the exception of the lately introduced farm stock. The dog is semi-domesticated, and is kept by the natives in immense numbers. Birds, however, are abundant and various, including Vanellus cayanus, Sturnia funerea, owls, gulls, falcons, and a great variety of sea-birds. Seals and sea-lions, once almost innumerable along the shores, have grown scarce and wild, especially in the northern portion.
The land of Tierra del Fuego is rapidly rising, and the coast-line has advanced 3 kilometres since the date of the surveys of Captains King (1826-28) and Fitzroy (1831-36). The rocks are principally volcanic, but sedimentary strata are not uncommon on the principal island, and probably on some others. Granite, syenite, porphyry, quartz, serpentine, trachyte, diorite, and sandstone comprise the principal rocks. Some coal, of a poor description, and a little gold have been found. The situation of the islands exposes them to a series of conditions which render their climate the most tempestuous in the world. The prevailing winds are from the west, beginning to blow with the rise of the sun, and increasing in violence until dusk, when a calm may generally be looked for with confidence. During the short summer the winds blow from the north. Settled weather never lasts for more than a fortnight at a time. December, January, and February are the warmest months. March is exceedingly boisterous always, and during its course occur the most destructive gales.
The people are savages of a low type, divided into three tribes, the Onas (or Aonas), the Yaghans, and the Alakalufs, the Yaghans being now supposed to be the aborigines. The Onas are tall, the others short and stunted in stature. The charge of cannibalism once brought against them appears to be unfounded. They number about 8000 souls.
See Burney, Voyages, ii.; Fitzroy, Survey of the Straits of Magellan; Macdonall, Voyage to Patagonia; Weddell, Voyage towards the South Pole; Snow, Two Years' Cruise; Darwin, Voyage of a Naturalist; Popper, Exploration of Tierra del Fuego; Margrinn, La Terre de Feu; Cunningham, Straits of Magellan; Coppinger, Cruise of the Alert; Ball, Notes of a Naturalist; Scot. Geog. Mag., vols. iv. vii.; Compte Rendu, Paris Geog. Soc. (1891); Reports of French Transit of Venus Expedition (vol. vii., 1892); U.S. Sailing Pilot, No. 85; J. R. Spears, The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn (1895).