IN THE end of May, 1834, we entered for a second timethe eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan. The countryon both sides of this part of the Strait consists ofnearly level plains, like those of Patagonia. Cape Negro, alittle within the second Narrows, may be considered as thepoint where the land begins to assume the marked featuresof Tierra del Fuego. On the east coast, south of the Strait,broken park-like scenery in a like manner connects these twocountries, which are opposed to each other in almost everyfeature. It is truly surprising to find in a space of twentymiles such a change in the landscape. If we take a rathergreater distance, as between Port Famine and Gregory Bay,that is about sixty miles, the difference is still morewonderful. At the former place, we have rounded mountainsconcealed by impervious forests, which are drenched with therain, brought by an endless succession of gales; while atCape Gregory, there is a clear and bright blue sky over thedry and sterile plains. The atmospheric currents,

During our previous visit (in January), we had an interviewat Cape Gregory with the famous so-called giganticPatagonians, who gave us a cordial reception. Their heightappears greater than it really is, from their large guanacomantles, their long flowing hair, and general figure: on anaverage, their height is about six feet, with some men tallerand only a few shorter; and the women are also tall; altogetherthey are certainly the tallest race which we anywheresaw. In features they strikingly resemble the more northernIndians whom I saw with Rosas, but they have a wilder andmore formidable appearance: their faces were much paintedwith red and black, and one man was ringed and dotted withwhite like a Fuegian. Captain Fitz Roy offered to take anythree of them on board, and all seemed determined to be ofthe three. It was long before we could clear the boat; atlast we got on board with our three giants, who dined withthe Captain, and behaved quite like gentlemen, helpingthemselves with knives, forks, and spoons: nothing was so muchrelished as sugar. This tribe has had so much communicationwith sealers and whalers that most of the men can speak alittle English and Spanish; and they are half civilized, andproportionally demoralized.

The next morning a large party went on shore, to barterfor skins and ostrich-feathers; fire-arms being refused,tobacco was in greatest request, far more so than axes ortools. The whole population of the toldos, men, women, andchildren, were arranged on a bank. It was an amusingscene, and it was impossible not to like the so-called giants,they were so thoroughly good-humoured and unsuspecting:they asked us to come again. They seem to like to haveEuropeans to live with them; and old Maria, an importantwoman in the tribe, once begged Mr. Low to leave any oneof his sailors with them. They spend the greater part of theyear here; but in summer they hunt along the foot of theCordillera: sometimes they travel as far as the Rio Negro750 miles to the north. They are well stocked with horses,each man having, according to Mr. Low, six or seven, andall the women, and even children, their one own horse. Inthe time of Sarmiento (1580), these Indians had bows andarrows, now long since disused; they then also possessedsome horses. This is a very curious fact, showing theextraordinarily rapid multiplication of horses in South America.The horse was first landed at Buenos Ayres in 1537, and thecolony being then for a time deserted, the horse ran wild;

June 1st. -- We anchored in the fine bay of Port Famine.It was now the beginning of winter, and I never saw a morecheerless prospect; the dusky woods, piebald with snow,could be only seen indistinctly, through a drizzling hazyatmosphere. We were, however, lucky in getting two finedays. On one of these, Mount Sarmiento, a distant mountain6800 feet high, presented a very noble spectacle. I wasfrequently surprised in the scenery of Tierra del Fuego, at thelittle apparent elevation of mountains really lofty. I suspectit is owing to a cause which would not at first be imagined,namely, that the whole mass, from the summit to the water'sedge, is generally in full view. I remember having seen amountain, first from the Beagle Channel, where the wholesweep from the summit to the base was full in view, and thenfrom Ponsonby Sound across several successive ridges; andit was curious to observe in the latter case, as each freshridge afforded fresh means of judging of the distance, howthe mountain rose in height.

Before reaching Port Famine, two men were seen runningalong the shore and hailing the ship. A boat was sent forthem. They turned out to be two sailors who had run awayfrom a sealing-vessel, and had joined the Patagonians. TheseIndians had treated them with their usual disinterestedhospitality. They had parted company through accident, andwere then proceeding to Port Famine in hopes of findingsome ship. I dare say they were worthless vagabonds, but Inever saw more miserable-looking ones. They had been livingfor some days on mussel-shells and berries, and theirtattered clothes had been burnt by sleeping so near their fires.They had been exposed night and day, without any shelter,to the late incessant gales, with rain, sleet, and snow, and yetthey were in good health.

During our stay at Port Famine, the Fuegians twice cameand plagued us. As there were many instruments, clothes,and men on shore, it was thought necessary to frighten themaway. The first time a few great guns were fired, when theywere far distant. It was most ludicrous to watch through aglass the Indians, as often as the shot struck the water, takeup stones, and, as a bold defiance, throw them towards theship, though about a mile and a half distant! A boat wassent with orders to fire a few musket-shots wide of them.The Fuegians hid themselves behind the trees, and for everydischarge of the muskets they fired their arrows; all, however,fell short of the boat, and the officer as he pointed atthem laughed. This made the Fuegians frantic with passion,and they shook their mantles in vain rage. At last, seeingthe balls cut and strike the trees, they ran away, and we wereleft in peace and quietness. During the former voyage theFuegians were here very troublesome, and to frighten them arocket was fired at night over their wigwams; it answeredeffectually, and one of the officers told me that the clamourfirst raised, and the barking of the dogs, was quite ludicrousin contrast with the profound silence which in a minute ortwo afterwards prevailed. The next morning not a singleFuegian was in the neighbourhood.

When the Beagle was here in the month of February, Istarted one morning at four o'clock to ascend Mount Tarn,which is 2600 feet high, and is the most elevated point in thisimmediate district. We went in a boat to the foot of themountain (but unluckily not to the best part), and thenbegan our ascent. The forest commences at the line of high-water mark, and during the first two hours I gave over allhopes of reaching the summit. So thick was the wood, thatit was necessary to have constant recourse to the compass;for every landmark, though in a mountainous country, wascompletely shut out. In the deep ravines, the death-likescene of desolation exceeded all description; outside it wasblowing a gale, but in these hollows, not even a breath ofwind stirred the leaves of the tallest trees. So gloomy, cold,and wet was every part, that not even the fungi, mosses, orferns could flourish. In the valleys it was scarcely possibleto crawl along, they were so completely barricaded by greatmouldering trunks, which had fallen down in every direction.When passing over these natural bridges, one's course wasoften arrested by sinking knee deep into the rotten wood; atother times, when attempting to lean against a firm tree, onewas startled by finding a mass of decayed matter ready tofall at the slightest touch. We at last found ourselves amongthe stunted trees, and then soon reached the bare ridge, whichconducted us to the summit. Here was a view characteristicof Tierra del Fuego; irregular chains of hills, mottled withpatches of snow, deep yellowish-green valleys, and arms ofthe sea intersecting the land in many directions. The strongwind was piercingly cold, and the atmosphere rather hazy, sothat we did not stay long on the top of the mountain. Ourdescent was not quite so laborious as our ascent, for theweight of the body forced a passage, and all the slips andfalls were in the right direction.

I have already mentioned the sombre and dull character ofthe evergreen forests,

There is one vegetable production deserving notice fromits importance as an article of food to the Fuegians. It is aglobular, bright-yellow fungus, which grows in vast numberson the beech-trees. When young it is elastic and turgid, with

[picture]

a smooth surface; but when mature it shrinks, becomes tougher,and has its entire surface deeply pitted or honey-combed,as represented in the accompanying wood-cut. This fungusbelongs to a new and curious genus,

The zoology of Tierra del Fuego, as might have beenexpected from the nature of its climate and vegetation, isvery poor. Of mammalia, besides whales and seals, there isone bat, a kind of mouse (Reithrodon chinchilloides), twotrue mice, a ctenomys allied to or identical with the tucutuco,two foxes (Canis Magellanicus and C. Azarae), a sea-otter,the guanaco, and a deer. Most of these animals inhabit onlythe drier eastern parts of the country; and the deer has neverbeen seen south of the Strait of Magellan. Observing thegeneral correspondence of the cliffs of soft sandstone, mud,and shingle, on the opposite sides of the Strait, and on someintervening islands, one is strongly tempted to believe that theland was once joined, and thus allowed animals so delicateand helpless as the tucutuco and Reithrodon to pass over.The correspondence of the cliffs is far from proving anyjunction; because such cliffs generally are formed by theintersection of sloping deposits, which, before the elevationof the land, had been accumulated near the then existingshores. It is, however, a remarkable coincidence, that in thetwo large islands cut off by the Beagle Channel from therest of Tierra del Fuego, one has cliffs composed of matterthat may be called stratified alluvium, which front similarones on the opposite side of the channel, -- while the other isexclusively bordered by old crystalline rocks: in the former,called Navarin Island, both foxes and guanacos occur; but inthe latter, Hoste Island, although similar in every respect,and only separated by a channel a little more than half a milewide, I have the word of Jemmy Button for saying thatneither of these animals are found.

The gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds: occasionallythe plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher(Myiobius albiceps) may be heard, concealed near the summitof the most lofty trees; and more rarely the loud strangecry of a black wood-pecker, with a fine scarlet crest on itshead. A little, dusky-coloured wren (Scytalopus Magellanicus)hops in a skulking manner among the entangled massof the fallen and decaying trunks. But the creeper (Oxyurustupinieri) is the commonest bird in the country. Throughoutthe beech forests, high up and low down, in the mostgloomy, wet, and impenetrable ravines, it may be met with.This little bird no doubt appears more numerous than itreally is, from its habit of following with seeming curiosityany person who enters these silent woods: continually utteringa harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, within a fewfeet of the intruder's face. It is far from wishing for themodest concealment of the true creeper (Certhia familiaris);nor does it, like that bird, run up the trunks of trees, butindustriously, after the manner of a willow-wren, hops about,and searches for insects on every twig and branch. In themore open parts, three or four species of finches, a thrush,a starling (or Icterus), two Opetiorhynchi, and several hawksand owls occur.

The absence of any species whatever in the whole class ofReptiles, is a marked feature in the zoology of this country,as well as in that of the Falkland Islands. I do not groundthis statement merely on my own observation, but I heard itfrom the Spanish inhabitants of the latter place, and fromJemmy Button with regard to Tierra del Fuego. On thebanks of the Santa Cruz, in 50 degs. south, I saw a frog; andit is not improbable that these animals, as well as lizards, maybe found as far south as the Strait of Magellan, where thecountry retains the character of Patagonia; but within thedamp and cold limit of Tierra del Fuego not one occurs.That the climate would not have suited some of the orders,such as lizards, might have been foreseen; but with respectto frogs, this was not so obvious.

Beetles occur in very small numbers: it was long before Icould believe that a country as large as Scotland, coveredwith vegetable productions and with a variety of stations,could be so unproductive. The few which I found werealpine species (Harpalidae and Heteromidae) living understones. The vegetable-feeding Chrysomelidae, so eminentlycharacteristic of the Tropics, are here almost entirelyabsent;

If we turn from the land to the sea, we shall find the latteras abundantly stocked with living creatures as the former ispoorly so. In all parts of the world a rocky and partiallyprotected shore perhaps supports, in a given space, a greaternumber of individual animals than any other station. Thereis one marine production which, from its importance, isworthy of a particular history. It is the kelp, or Macrocystispyrifera. This plant grows on every rock from low-watermark to a great depth, both on the outer coast and within thechannels.

The number of living creatures of all Orders, whose existenceintimately depends on the kelp, is wonderful. A greatvolume might be written, describing the inhabitants of oneof these beds of sea-weed. Almost all the leaves, exceptingthose that float on the surface, are so thickly incrusted withcorallines as to be of a white colour. We find exquisitelydelicate structures, some inhabited by simple hydra-likepolypi, others by more organized kinds, and beautiful compoundAscidiae. On the leaves, also, various patelliform shells,Trochi, uncovered molluscs, and some bivalves are attached.Innumerable crustacea frequent every part of the plant. Onshaking the great entangled roots, a pile of small fish, shells,cuttle-fish, crabs of all orders, sea-eggs, star-fish, beautifulHoluthuriae, Planariae, and crawling nereidous animals of amultitude of forms, all fall out together. Often as I recurredto a branch of the kelp, I never failed to discover animalsof new and curious structures. In Chiloe, where the kelpdoes not thrive very well, the numerous shells, corallines, andcrustacea are absent; but there yet remain a few of theFlustraceae, and some compound Ascidiae; the latter, however,are of different species from those in Tierra del Fuego:we see here the fucus possessing a wider range than the animalswhich use it as an abode. I can only compare thesegreat aquatic forests of the southern hemisphere with theterrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in anycountry a forest was destroyed, I do not believe nearly somany species of animals would perish as would here, fromthe destruction of the kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plantnumerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could findfood or shelter; with their destruction the many cormorantsand other fishing birds, the otters, seals, and porpoises, wouldsoon perish also; and lastly, the Fuegian savage, the miserablelord of this miserable land, would redouble his cannibalfeast, decrease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist.

June 8th. -- We weighed anchor early in the morning andleft Port Famine. Captain Fitz Roy determined to leave theStrait of Magellan by the Magdalen Channel, which had notlong been discovered. Our course lay due south, down thatgloomy passage which I have before alluded to as appearingto lead to another and worse world. The wind was fair, butthe atmosphere was very thick; so that we missed muchcurious scenery. The dark ragged clouds were rapidly drivenover the mountains, from their summits nearly down to theirbases. The glimpses which we caught through the duskymass were highly interesting; jagged points, cones of snow,blue glaciers, strong outlines, marked on a lurid sky, wereseen at different distances and heights. In the midst of suchscenery we anchored at Cape Turn, close to Mount Sarmiento,which was then hidden in the clouds. At the base ofthe lofty and almost perpendicular sides of our little covethere was one deserted wigwam, and it alone reminded usthat man sometimes wandered into these desolate regions.But it would be difficult to imagine a scene where he seemedto have fewer claims or less authority. The inanimate worksof nature -- rock, ice, snow, wind, and water -- all warringwith each other, yet combined against man -- here reigned inabsolute sovereignty.

June 9th. -- In the morning we were delighted by seeingthe veil of mist gradually rise from Sarmiento, and display itto our view. This mountain, which is one of the highest inTierra del Fuego, has an altitude of 6800 feet. Its base, forabout an eighth of its total height, is clothed by dusky woods,and above this a field of snow extends to the summit. Thesevast piles of snow, which never melt, and seem destined tolast as long as the world holds together, present a noble andeven sublime spectacle. The outline of the mountain wasadmirably clear and defined. Owing to the abundance oflight reflected from the white and glittering surface, noshadows were cast on any part; and those lines which intersectedthe sky could alone be distinguished: hence the massstood out in the boldest relief. Several glaciers descended ina winding course from the upper great expanse of snow tothe sea-coast: they may be likened to great frozen Niagaras;and perhaps these cataracts of blue ice are full as beautifulas the moving ones of water. By night we reached the westernpart of the channel; but the water was so deep that noanchorage could be found. We were in consequence obligedto stand off and on in this narrow arm of the sea, during apitch-dark night of fourteen hours long.

June 10th. -- In the morning we made the best of our wayinto the open Pacific. The western coast generally consistsof low, rounded, quite barren hills of granite and greenstone.Sir J. Narborough called one part South Desolation, becauseit is "so desolate a land to behold:" and well indeed mighthe say so. Outside the main islands, there are numberlessscattered rocks on which the long swell of the open oceanincessantly rages. We passed out between the East and WestFuries; and a little farther northward there are so manybreakers that the sea is called the Milky Way. One sight ofsuch a coast is enough to make a landsman dream for a weekabout shipwrecks, peril, and death; and with this sight webade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego.

The following discussion on the climate of the southernparts of the continent with relation to its productions, onthe snow-line, on the extraordinarily low descent of theglaciers, and on the zone of perpetual congelation inthe antarctic islands, may be passed over by any onenot interested in these curious subjects, or the finalrecapitulation alone may be read. I shall, however, heregive only an abstract, and must refer for details to theThirteenth Chapter and the Appendix of the former editionof this work.

On the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fuego andof the South-west Coast. -- The following table gives themean temperature of Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands,and, for comparison, that of Dublin: --

The equable, humid, and windy climate of Tierra delFuego extends, with only a small increase of heat, for manydegrees along the west coast of the continent. The forestsfor 600 miles northward of Cape Horn, have a very similaraspect. As a proof of the equable climate, even for 300 or400 miles still further northward, I may mention that inChiloe (corresponding in latitude with the northern partsof Spain) the peach seldom produces fruit, whilst strawberriesand apples thrive to perfection. Even the crops ofbarley and wheat

An equable climate, evidently due to the large area of seacompared with the land, seems to extend over the greaterpart of the southern hemisphere; and, as a consequence, thevegetation partakes of a semi-tropical character. Tree-fernsthrive luxuriantly in Van Diemen's Land (lat. 45 degs.), and Imeasured one trunk no less than six feet in circumference.An arborescent fern was found by Forster in New Zealandin 46 degs., where orchideous plants are parasitical on thetrees. In the Auckland Islands, ferns, according to Dr.Dieffenbach

On the Height of the Snow-line, and on the Descent ofthe Glaciers in South America. -- For the detailed authoritiesfor the following table, I must refer to the former edition: --

The descent of glaciers to the sea must, I conceive, mainlydepend (subject, of course, to a proper supply of snow in theupper region) on the lowness of the line of perpetual snowon steep mountains near the coast. As the snow-line is solow in Tierra del Fuego, we might have expected that manyof the glaciers would have reached the sea. Nevertheless,I was astonished when I first saw a range, only from 3000 to4000 feet in height, in the latitude of Cumberland, with everyvalley filled with streams of ice descending to the sea-coast.Almost every arm of the sea, which penetrates to the interiorhigher chain, not only in Tierra del Fuego, but on the coastfor 650 miles northwards, is terminated by "tremendous andastonishing glaciers," as described by one of the officers onthe survey. Great masses of ice frequently fall from theseicy cliffs, and the crash reverberates like the broadside of aman-of-war through the lonely channels. These falls, asnoticed in the last chapter, produce great waves which breakon the adjoining coasts. It is known that earthquakes frequentlycause masses of earth to fall from sea-cliffs: howterrific, then, would be the effect of a severe shock (and suchoccur here

[picture]

Rafael, some Spanish missionaries

In Europe, the most southern glacier which comes downto the sea is met with, according to Von Buch, on the coastof Norway, in lat. 67 degs. Now, this is more than 20 degs. oflatitude, or 1230 miles, nearer the pole than the Laguna de SanRafael. The position of the glaciers at this place and in theGulf of Penas may be put even in a more striking point ofview, for they descend to the sea-coast within 7.5 degs. oflatitude, or 450 miles, of a harbour, where three species ofOliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, are the commonest shells,within less than 9 degs. from where palms grow, within 4.5 degs.of a region where the jaguar and puma range over theplains, less than 2.5 degs. from arborescent grasses, and(looking to the westward in the same hemisphere) less than2 degs. from orchideous parasites, and within a single degreeof tree-ferns!

These facts are of high geological interest with respect tothe climate of the northern hemisphere at the period whenboulders were transported. I will not here detail how simplythe theory of icebergs being charged with fragments of rock,explain the origin and position of the gigantic boulders ofeastern Tierra del Fuego, on the high plain of Santa Cruz,and on the island of Chiloe. In Tierra del Fuego, the greaternumber of boulders lie on the lines of old sea-channels, nowconverted into dry valleys by the elevation of the land. Theyare associated with a great unstratified formation of mudand sand, containing rounded and angular fragments of allsizes, which has originated

On the Climate and Productions of the Antarctic Islands.-- Considering the rankness of the vegetation in Tierra delFuego, and on the coast northward of it, the condition of theislands south and south-west of America is truly surprising.Sandwich Land, in the latitude of the north part of Scotland,was found by Cook, during the hottest month of theyear, "covered many fathoms thick with everlasting snow;"and there seems to be scarcely any vegetation. Georgia, anisland 96 miles long and 10 broad, in the latitude of Yorkshire,"in the very height of summer, is in a manner whollycovered with frozen snow." It can boast only of moss, sometufts of grass, and wild burnet; it has only one land-bird(Anthus correndera), yet Iceland, which is 10 degs. nearer thepole, has, according to Mackenzie, fifteen land-birds. TheSouth Shetland Islands, in the same latitude as the southernhalf of Norway, possess only some lichens, moss, and a littlegrass; and Lieut. Kendall

The case of the sailor's body perfectly preserved in the icysoil of the South Shetland Islands (lat. 62 to 63 degs. S.), in arather lower latitude than that (lat. 64 degs. N.) under whichPallas found the frozen rhinoceros in Siberia, is veryinteresting. Although it is a fallacy, as I have endeavoured toshow in a former chapter, to suppose that the larger quadrupedsrequire a luxuriant vegetation for their support, neverthelessit is important to find in the South Shetland Islandsa frozen under-soil within 360 miles of the forest-clad islandsnear Cape Horn, where, as far as the _bulk_ of vegetation isconcerned, any number of great quadrupeds might be supported.The perfect preservation of the carcasses of theSiberian elephants and rhinoceroses is certainly one of themost wonderful facts in geology; but independently of theimagined difficulty of supplying them with food from theadjoining countries, the whole case is not, I think, soperplexing as it has generally been considered. The plains ofSiberia, like those of the Pampas, appear to have been formedunder the sea, into which rivers brought down the bodiesof many animals; of the greater number of these, only theskeletons have been preserved, but of others the perfectcarcass. Now, it is known that in the shallow sea on the Arcticcoast of America the bottom freezes,

Recapitulation. -- I will recapitulate the principal facts withregard to the climate, ice-action, and organic productions ofthe southern hemisphere, transposing the places in imaginationto Europe, with which we are so much better acquainted.Then, near Lisbon, the commonest sea-shells, namely, threespecies of Oliva, a Voluta, and a Terebra, would have atropical character. In the southern provinces of France,magnificent forests, intwined by arborescent grasses and withthe trees loaded with parasitical plants, would hide the faceof the land. The puma and the jaguar would haunt thePyrenees. In the latitude of Mont Blanc, but on an island asfar westward as Central North America, tree-ferns andparasitical Orchideae would thrive amidst the thick woods.Even as far north as central Denmark, humming-birds would beseen fluttering about delicate flowers, and parrots feedingamidst the evergreen woods; and in the sea there, we shouldhave a Voluta, and all the shells of large size and vigorousgrowth. Nevertheless, on some islands only 360 miles northwardof our new Cape Horn in Denmark, a carcass buriedin the soil (or if washed into a shallow sea, and covered upwith mud) would be preserved perpetually frozen. If somebold navigator attempted to penetrate northward of theseislands, he would run a thousand dangers amidst giganticicebergs, on some of which he would see great blocks of rockborne far away from their original site. Another island oflarge size in the latitude of southern Scotland, but twice asfar to the west, would be "almost wholly covered witheverlasting snow," and would have each bay terminated byice-cliffs, whence great masses would be yearly detached: thisisland would boast only of a little moss, grass, and burnet,and a titlark would be its only land inhabitant. From ournew Cape Horn in Denmark, a chain of mountains, scarcelyhalf the height of the Alps, would run in a straight line duesouthward; and on its western flank every deep creek of thesea, or fiord, would end in "bold and astonishing glaciers."These lonely channels would frequently reverberate with thefalls of ice, and so often would great waves rush along theircoasts; numerous icebergs, some as tall as cathedrals, andoccasionally loaded with "no inconsiderable blocks of rock,"would be stranded on the outlying islets; at intervals violentearthquakes would shoot prodigious masses of ice into thewaters below. Lastly, some missionaries attempting to penetratea long arm of the sea, would behold the not lofty surroundingmountains, sending down their many grand icy streamsto the sea-coast, and their progress in the boats wouldbe checked by the innumerable floating icebergs, some smalland some great; and this would have occurred on our twenty-second of June, and where the Lake of Geneva is now spreadout!