THE WELSH SETTLEMENT IN PATAGONIA.

Southland Times, Issue 661, 24 April 1867, Page 2

THE WELSH SETTLEMENT IN PATAGONIA.

♦ The following are extracts from a report -written by the Eev. Lewis Humphreys, one of the first settlers in the "Welsh colony of Patagonia, addressed to the Secretary of the Welsh Colonising and -General- Trading Company, limited r- 1 - On my return from the Welsh colony I was astonished and grieved to learn that many false accounts have been published throughout Great Britain to our detriment. As one who participated in all the trials and successes of the colony from its commencement (July 26; 1865), to July 2, 1866, 1 deem it to be my duty to furnish a narrative of what took place nnder my own observations. : The unanimous verdict of every one of us is that the climate is delightiul and remarkably healthy. A few among us were ill some weeks after landing, owing partly to the fatigue of carrying and arranging heavy, goods and partly to their frequently getting wet through, and allowing their saturated clothing to dry upon their persons; otherwise no cases of- jsickness occurred, whilst many instances might be given of the perfect restoration to health of invalids: ~lndi-" gestion, headache, toothache, colds, and consumption, arey unknown there, although I and many others have frequently slept in the open air night after night, in the depth of winter, which is so genial that no evil effects followed an amount of exposure which would certainly have proved fatal in any part of Great Britain. Owing, however, to our being compelled to subsist on the salted meat during the passage out and for the first few months after landing, the majority of us suffered more oi* less from scurvy and come of us from boils.. Still, all these inconveniencies did not prevent our enjoying to the utmost the splendid atmosphere, which kept us constantly hungry, and was praised by every one asthe " healthiest a man ever breathed." I believe that every person in the colony ate double what sufficed him at home. With such ah excellent climate, it is not surprising that the land -should be" extremely fertile. We discovered several kinds of edible wild plants, such as wild celery and turnips, and a sort of potato, "". allot which were very good. . - Various unavoidable delays which took place at Liverpool and New Bay, had the effect of preventing our settling ourselves ready for work until about two months after the proper season for sowing wheat, consequently all hopes of a crop the first year had to be abandoned We sowed small quantities of Indian corn, barley, potatoes, pumpkins, and garden seeds, all of wbich grew excellently, and yielded a gratifying crop. It is absolutely noce3sary to sow wheat before the end of the winter, in order that it may fructify before the period of a summer-heat, which would otherwise scorch it rather than ripen it. The wheat iarvest takes place about; Christmas, so r-ha,t the news about the crops cannot reach this country before the end of January next. We labored uuder the •jrave disadvantage of not possessing an adequate stock of implements of husK bandry, and consequently were unable to sow as much as we ought to have done

last season. We had two ploughs from England, and Mr Lewis Jones obtained an American plough at Patagones. We had also a few Argentine ploughs, but they were of very little use. We kept two men constantly at work ploughing, and succeeded in sowing about sixty acres with wheat ; and when I left they were busily engaged preparing ground for a second setting of potatoes,- Indian corn, &c. We had at that time been supplied with many thousands of young trees for planting, among which were 4,000 fruit trees. The people generally were in excellent spurts, and looked forward to success as a certainty. Those among us who at first took a desponding view and neglected to cultivate their farms, now praise the climate and the land, and persevere to work in earnest. Nothing whatever was wanted but a crop in its due season, and every indication appeared to justify our expectations of a favorable harvest. The locality has shown itself to be highly satisfactory, and our faith has given place to the certainty resulting from the possession of tangible proofs. And I may be permitted to observe that, as the products of the Ohupat valley correspond in all other respects to those of the Rio Negro TaJley, there is no reason to suppose that wheat and sheep will prove to be exceptions. At the Spanish settlement on the Negro (Patagones), wheat had been largely grown during the last twenty years on the same ground, and the" increase has been frequently as much as forty-fold. I learnt also that the increase of sheep at Patagones has been very pleasing this year. On one estancia alone there are 100,000 sheep, being an increase of no less than 30,000 in one year. The capital on that place last year was 70,000 sheep. Cattle are fat, and horses plenty, The sheep we had at New Bay were large and well woolled, and no doubt they will have increased in the same proportion as the sheep just mentioned ; in fact they were bought from the very flocks referred to. Our horses and cattle were remarkably fine and fat, even in winter, when they require no housing or other attention, as the pasturage is abundant and excellent all the year round. At the time I left, we had about 100 cattle, sixty of which were milch cows, two full grown bulls, and a number of young ones. We had about forty horses, and each family possessed pigg and fowls, all of which were increasing rapidly. In some of the farmyards the fowls were sufficiently abundant to recall to my mind the homeBteads of Carmarthenshire. None of us chose to kill cattle for food, owing to the paucity of their number; and the pigs and fowls had not increased sufficiently for us to commence eating them ; and, indeed there was not the slightest necessity to interfere with them, for the whole territory literally swarms with game — hares, guanocos, armadilloes, duck, geese, partridge, and ostriches, and the river and bay furnish an ample supply of fish. The hares are very large, and commonly weigh from 18 lbd to 20 lbs, whilst the birds are very fat, and frequently find their way into the cooking kettle. It is an act . of the merest justice for me to state that the Government of the Argentine republic has acted in a most liberal and praiseworthy manner towards the Welsh colony. Our president, Mr William Davies, visited Buenos Ayres near the end of 1865, and obtained from the Government a monthly grant of 700 dollars, to be paid until the colony becomes self-supporting; and supplies have been regularly furnished ever since through the agency of Mr H. Harris, a merchant long established at Patagones. I must also not omit to mention gratefully the valuable assistance afforded us by the native Indians. The chief of the tribe sent us a letter asking us for English saddles and rum, in exchange for skins, &c, and I understand that a treaty of peace and commerce has since been made. Two families of Indians have been several months established in the colony, and to their assistance we owed the greater part of the game we obtained. They bartered large quantities of meat for small pieces of bread, and exchanged mares for horses. The colonists now possess about forty dogs, and the consequence of both these circumstances is that they have begun to tire of a superabundance of flesh meat. When I left, very few persons lived in the fort ; the majority had built brick houses, and many had gone to live upon their own farms. On the 17th September, 1865, the Commandante of Patagones, accompanied by Beveral Argentine officials and a military guard, performed the ceremony of formally giving us possession of the territory and naming our first town Tre Rawson, in honor of Dr William Rawson, the Minister of the Interior, who has manifested a deep and true interest in the establishment of the colony. In March, 1866, a sealer entered New Bay, and two of the settlers availed themselves of the opportunity to migrate to the Falkland Islands. This desertion suggested to others of a similar class the idea of sending a memorial to the Falkland Islands praying to be removed from the Welsh settlement. The memorial misrepresented the state of affairs, and was despatched without the knowledge of the general body of the settlers. In consequence of that memorial H.B.M. ship Triton visited the colony in June last, to-remove the people in a body, if necessary. This offer caused the greatest astonishment in the settlement, and inquiries were instituted to ascertain who among them had been guilty of sending the memorial. The com.-nauder of the Triton produced the document for inspection, when it was found that a very few names had been appended, and the greater part of those individuals denied ther complicity wnen taxed w.ih it. We at on^'e declined to leave ihe colony, aad the Tri urn, havjng assisted us to repair oui* little schooner and presented us with a cask of lime juieo, left us where we cboo-«e »"o rem «in. 1 need h^rdiy point out tbat tliis choice proves cue oumpicie

confidence of the Welsh settlers in the success of their undertaking. In fact, each man there feels that he is a freeholder; he has no fear of rent day or church rates before his eyes, nor does he risk receiving notice to quit.