The Cordillera of the Andes, which is known to extend from the northern part of the continent almost to its southern extremity, decreases in elevation near the higher southern lat.i.tudes. In the neighbourhood of Quito, Chimborazo and Pinchincha rear their summits to the height of nearly twenty-two thousand feet above the level of the sea; near Santiago de Chile the highest land is supposed to be fourteen thousand feet; farther south, near Concepcion, it is lower; and near Chiloe there are few parts of the range exceeding seven thousand feet. Between Chiloe and the {570} Strait of Magalhaens the average height may be taken at three thousand feet; though there are some mountains which may be between six and seven thousand feet high.
By a reference to the chart it will be seen that about the parallel of 40 the coast begins to a.s.sume, and retains to its furthest extremity, a very different appearance from that which it exhibits to the northward, where the sea, which is kept at a distance from the Cordillera by a belt of comparatively low land for continuous intervals of some hundred miles, washes a long unbroken sh.o.r.e, affording neither shelter for vessels nor landing for boats; but, to the southward of that parallel, its waters reach to the very base of the great chain of the Andes, and, flowing as it were into the deep ravines that wind through its ramifications, form numerous channels, sounds, and gulfs, and, in many instances, insulate large portions of land. In fact, the whole of this s.p.a.ce is fronted by large islands and extensive archipelagoes, of which the most conspicuous are the great island of Chiloe, Wellington Island, the Archipelago of Madre de Dios, Hanover Island, and Queen Adelaide Archipelago. The last forms the western entrance of the Strait on its north side. The land of Tres Montes, however, is an exception: it is a peninsula, and is the only part of the continent within the above limits that is exposed to the ocean"s swell. It forms the northern part of the Gulf of Penas, and is joined to the main by the narrow isthmus of Ofqui, over which the Indians, in travelling along the coast, carry their canoes, to avoid the extreme danger of pa.s.sing round the peninsula. It was here that Byron and his shipwrecked companions crossed over with their Indian guides: but it is a route that is not much frequented; for this part of the coast is very thinly inhabited, and the trouble of pulling to pieces and reconstructing the canoes,[216] an operation absolutely necessary to be performed, is so great, that I imagine it is only done on occasions of importance. In this way the piraguas which conveyed the missionary voyagers to the Guaianeco Islands were transported {571} over the isthmus; the particulars of which are fully detailed in their journals.[217]
The river San Tadeo, although of small size, being navigable only for eleven miles, is the largest river of the coast south of the archipelago of Chiloe, and therefore merits a particular description. At seven miles from the mouth it is fed by two streams or torrents, the currents of which are so strong that a fast-pulling boat can hardly make way against it. One of these streams takes its rise in a mountainous range, over which perhaps the communicating road pa.s.ses; and the other is the drain of an extensive glacier or plain of ice of fifteen miles in extent. The river falls into the Gulf of St. Estevan over a shallow bar, upon which there is scarcely two feet water, and at low tide is probably dry.
At the head of St. Estevan Gulf is St. Quintin Sound; both were examined and found to afford excellent anchorage, and they are both of easy access should a ship, pa.s.sing up the coast, find herself upon a lee sh.o.r.e and not able to weather the land, as was the case with the ill-fated Wager.[218]
The Guaianeco islands form the southern head of the Gulf of Penas; then follows Wellington Island, separated from the main by the Mesier Channel, which had not been previously explored, its mouth only being laid down in the charts, compiled from the information of Machado, a pilot who was sent in 1769 by the Viceroy of Peru to examine the coast from Chiloe to the Strait {572} of Magalhaens.[219] This channel is also noticed in one of the two missionary voyages above mentioned; but the object of these expeditions being for the purpose of converting the Indians to Christianity,[220] and not for the extension of geographical knowledge, little information of that nature could be obtained from their journal: the entrance of the Mesier, however, is described by them; and on one occasion they were obliged to take refuge in it for fifteen days.[221] With this exception I cannot find that it had ever been entered before our visit.
The length of the channel is one hundred and sixty miles, and it joins the Concepcion Strait behind the Madre de Dios archipelago, at the Brazo Ancho of Sarmiento. Lieutenant Skyring, who superintended this particular part of the survey, called the land which it insulates, Wellington Island; the seaward coast of which is fronted by several islands. Fallos Channel, which separates the Campana and Wellington Islands, was examined, from its northern entrance, for thirty-three miles, and was conjectured, after communicating with the sea at Dynely Sound, to extend to the southward, and fall into the Gulf of Trinidad by one of the deep sounds which were noticed on the north sh.o.r.e.
About thirty miles within the Mesier Channel, from the northern extremity, the west side appears to be formed by a succession of large islands, many of which are separated by wide channels leading to the south-west, and probably communicating with the Fallos Channel. On the eastern sh.o.r.e the openings were found to be either narrow inlets or abruptly terminating sounds.
On both sides of the channel the coast is hilly, but not very high, and in many places there is much low and generally thickly wooded land. This character distinguishes the Mesier from other channels in these regions.
The trees here are nearly of the same description as those which are found in all parts between Cape Tres Montes and the Strait of Magalhaens. Of these the most common are an evergreen beech (_f.a.gus betuloides_), a birch-like beech (_f.a.gus antarctica_), the Winter"s bark (_Winterana aromatica_[222]), and a tree with all the appearance and habit of a cypress, of which the Indians make their {573} spears. Among others there is one, the wood of which being extremely hard and weighty, answers better than the rest for fuel: the sealers call it "the red wood," from its colour. From the great quant.i.ty of timber which grows here it would be naturally supposed probably that spars for masts could be easily obtained, or at least wood useful for less important purposes; but although many trees were found that were sufficiently large at the base, they grew to no great height; and, in consequence of the moisture of the climate, and the crowded state of the forests preventing the admission of the sun"s rays, the wood generally proved to be decayed in the heart; besides being very apt, even after a long seasoning, to warp and split when exposed to a dry air.
Ten miles beyond White-kelp Cove, which is fifty miles within the entrance, the character of the Mesier Channel changes entirely; the sh.o.r.e on either side being formed of mountainous and precipitous ridges rising abruptly from the water. After this, at Halt Bay, twenty-three miles beyond White-kelp Cove, the channel narrows for a considerable distance, and in three particular places is not more than four hundred yards wide. This part of the channel is called in the chart the English Narrow. It is long and intricate, with many islands strewed throughout; and preserves its tortuous and frequently narrow course to its junction with the Wide Channel, in which the breadth increases to two miles and a half; and then, running thirty-four miles with a direct and unimpeded course, falls into the Concepcion Strait as above stated.
At the point where the Mesier and the Wide Channels unite, a deep sound extends to the N. N. E. for forty-six miles. It was named Sir George Eyre Sound. An extensive glacier sloping into the sea from the summit of a range of high snowy mountains, that are visible from many parts of the Mesier Channel, terminates this sound; and near the head of it several large icebergs, containing no inconsiderable blocks of granite, were found aground.[223]
{574}
Of the archipelago of Madre de Dios we know very little. It has probably many deep openings on its seaward face, and is fronted by islands and rocks. Its character is rocky and mountainous, and by no means agreeable.
The wide and safe channel of Concepcion Strait separates it from the main land, which in this part is much intersected by deep sounds, the princ.i.p.al of which, the Ca.n.a.l of San Andres, extends to the base of the snowy range of the Cordillera, and there Lieutenant Skyring describes it to be suddenly closed by immense glaciers.
Behind Hanover Island, which is separated from Madre de Dios by the Concepcion Strait, the main-land is very much intersected by sounds like the San Andres Channel, extending to the base of the Andes.
South of Hanover Island is Queen Adelaide Archipelago, through which are several channels that communicate with the Strait of Magalhaens; of which the princ.i.p.al, Smyth Channel, falls into the Strait at Cape Tamar.
In the winter of 1829, Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, then commanding the Beagle, in examining the Jerome Channel, which communicates with the Strait in that part called Crooked Reach, discovered "Otway Water," an inland sea fifty miles long, trending to the N.E., and separated from the eastern entrance of the Strait by a narrow isthmus; the actual width of which was not ascertained, for in the attempt the boats were nearly lost. The south-eastern sh.o.r.e is high and rocky, and generally precipitous, but the northern is formed by low undulating gra.s.sy plains, free from trees, and precisely like the country about the eastern entrance of the Strait. At the north-west corner of the water a pa.s.sage was found leading in a north-west direction for twelve miles, when it opened into another extent of water, about thirty-four miles long and twenty wide. This he called the Skyring Water. Its southern and western sides are bounded by mountainous land, but the northern sh.o.r.e is low, apparently formed of undulating downs and gra.s.sy plains, and in some places watered by rivulets. At the western extremity of the water two openings were observed, separated by a remarkable castellated mountain which was called Dynevor Castle. Beyond the southernmost opening there was no land visible, not even a distant mountain, which induced Captain Fitz-Roy to suppose that it was a channel communicating with the {575} western coast; but from what we now know, it is not probable that it can lead to anything of consequence. It is, perhaps, backed by low marshy land reaching to the hills at the bottom of Glacier Bay, which, from the distance being seventy miles, were not visible above the horizon. The northern opening probably pa.s.ses Dynevor Castle, and, perhaps, nearly reaches the bottom of Obstruction Sound. The Skyring Water was not further explored; partly from want of a sufficient quant.i.ty of provisions to undertake it with any prospect of succeeding, and partly from a strong south-westerly gale, from which there was no shelter for the open boats in which this examination was performed. The remainder, therefore, of Captain Fitz-Roy"s time was spent in completing what he had commenced; and, after an absence of thirty-two days, he rejoined his ship at Port Gallant.
At the western end of the pa.s.sage, which unites the waters, the sh.o.r.e is well clothed on the north side with luxuriant gra.s.s and trefoil, with here and there a sprinkling of brushwood, but is entirely dest.i.tute of trees.
The soil, although dry, is light, and tolerably good; but the ground is perforated everywhere by some burrowing animal, probably skunks, or _cavias_. The tracks of horses were noticed in many places, and the bones of guanacoes were scattered about. Water was not very plentiful, but several small brooks and springs in the sides of the hills were observed, sufficient for all useful purposes.
On the south side of the pa.s.sage the land is low, but wooded: the banks are from five to forty feet high, sloping to the water, and covered with gra.s.s.
In the entrance the tide ran five or six knots at the neaps, but inside with only half that rapidity. On the north side, at the distance of a mile and a-half, there is a ridge of hills, to the summit of which Captain Fitz-Roy made an excursion, which is described in the Narrative.
In consequence of the supposed communication of the Skyring Water with some part of the western coast, a careful examination was made of every opening trending into the interior behind the islands and archipelagoes that line the western coast; the result of which has proved that the hypothesis so naturally formed was not confirmed by fact. A reference to the chart will show how carefully the search was carried on, and with what want of success it was concluded. The deep opening discovered by Sarmiento, and {576} named by him, "Ancon sin salida," was found, upon examination, to extend so far into the interior, and in the direction of the Skyring Water, that the most strict investigation of the numerous sounds and ca.n.a.ls was made, in the perfect conviction of finding the desired communication. But after a patient, laborious, and minute examination, particularly of those openings which led to the southward, among which Obstruction Sound held the most flattering appearance, Lieutenant Skyring, who performed this service, was obliged to give up the search and return. At one part, near the south-eastern end of the sound, he entered an opening, which at first had an appearance that was favourable to the desired communication, but it terminated in low, woody land. There was, however, a hill near the sh.o.r.e, which he ascended with the hope of obtaining a view of the country; but the sides and summit of the hill were so thickly wooded as to obstruct his view, and with the exception of some distant high land in the south-east quarter, and a sheet of water about six miles off in the same bearing, nothing was discerned to repay him for the fatigue and trouble of the ascent. Whether the water is a lagoon, or a part of the Skyring Water, or whether it communicates with the opening trending round the north side of Dynevor Castle, yet remains to be ascertained.
Being foiled in this attempt, Lieutenant Skyring proceeded onward in a S.S.W. direction, and after a pull often miles came to the bottom of the sound, which was terminated by high, precipitous land encircling every part. Neither wigwams nor traces of Indians were seen, another proof, were one required, of the sound not communicating with the Skyring Water; for the Indians very rarely visit these deep inlets, but are always to be found in narrow straits or communicating channels, where, from the strength of the tide, seals and porpoises, which const.i.tute the princ.i.p.al food of the Fuegian Indians, abound. Sarmiento"s name, therefore, of "Ancon sin salida," which we had hoped to have expunged from the chart, must now remain, a lasting memorial of his enterprising character, and of a voyage deservedly one of the most celebrated, as well as most useful, of the age in which it was performed.
The termination of Obstruction Sound is one of the most remarkable features in the geography of this part of South America.
In this examination the southern extremity of the Cordillera was {577} ascertained. The eastern sh.o.r.es of the interior channels were found to be low plains, with no hills or mountains visible in the distance; and such being characteristic also of the northern sh.o.r.es of the Otway and Skyring Waters, it is probable that all the country to the east of the sounds is a continued plain.
Recent traces of Indians were seen in some places; but at the time our party was there, they were either absent or had concealed themselves. I should not think that these interior sounds are much frequented by them; a family was, however, met in the pa.s.sage between the Otway and the Skyring Water, clothed with guanaco skins, like the Patagonian tribes, but in manners and disposition resembling the wandering inhabitants of the Strait and Tierra del Fuego; and they had canoes, which the Patagonians do not use. They had probably come thus far for the purpose of communicating with the latter tribes, with whom they frequently have friendly intercourse. No guanacoes were seen either on the sh.o.r.es of the inland waters or of the sounds within the "Ancon sin salida," although the country, being open and covered with luxuriant gra.s.s, was peculiarly suited to their habits; but as several large herds of deer were observed feeding near the sea-sh.o.r.e of Obstruction Sound, and the neighbouring country, the presence of these latter animals may probably be the cause; for on the eastern coast, where the guanacoes are every where abundant, the deer do not make their appearance. Sea-otters were the only other animals that we met with; but they were only occasionally noticed, swimming about the kelp. The sh.o.r.es of the sounds were in many places crowded with the black-necked swan (_Anas nigricollis_, Linn.), and there were a few seen, but only one captured, whose plumage, excepting the tips of the wings, which were black, was of a dazzling white colour. I have described it in the first part of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society as a new species (_Cygnus anatodes_.)
The Strait of Magalhaens, being a transverse section of the continent, exhibits a view of its geological structure. The Strait may be divided into three portions; the western, the central, and the eastern. The western and central are of primitive character, rugged and very mountainous; but the eastern portion is of recent formation and low. The western tract is composed of a succession of stratified rocks, a difference at once distinguishable by the form {578} and nature of the ranges, and the direction of the sh.o.r.es: the hills are irregularly heaped together; the sounds are intricate and tortuous in their course, and the sh.o.r.es are formed by deep sinuosities and prominently projecting headlands: the channels, also, are studded with innumerable islands and rocks extremely dangerous for navigation. In this portion the rock is, for the most part, granite and greenstone.
Near the centre of the Strait, the rock being clay-slate, the mountains are higher, and more precipitous and rugged in their outline; and consequently not easily to be ascended. They are in general three thousand feet, but some are found to be four thousand feet, in height; and one, Mount Sarmiento, is upwards of six thousand feet high, and is covered throughout the year with snow. The line of perpetual snow in the Strait seems to be about three thousand five hundred feet above the sea: the mountains, whose height does not exceed three thousand, are, during the summer, frequently free from any, excepting in holes, where a large quant.i.ty is acc.u.mulated by drifting, and protected from the sun. The Strait here is quite free from islands, and it is a remarkable fact, that where the greenstone formation terminates, there the islands cease to appear.
The slate formation continues as far as Freshwater Bay, where the stratified rocks leave the coast and extend in a north-west direction. The soil then becomes apparently a mixture of decomposed slate and clay; the slate gradually disappearing on approaching to Cape Negro, where the rock partakes of the character of the east coast. Here again we observe, along with the change of geological character, the re-appearance of islands, the soil of which is clayey, but with ma.s.ses of granite, hornblende rock and clay slate protruding in many places through the superficial soil, which, although it yields a poor gra.s.s, is entirely dest.i.tute of trees.
In that portion of the Strait to the eastward of Cape Negro the hills are remarkable for the regularity and parallelism of their direction, and their general resemblance to each other. On the north sh.o.r.e, near Cape Gregory, a range of high land commences suddenly, with rather a precipitous ascent, and extends for forty miles to the north-east, where it terminates in detached rocky hills. The south-western end of the range is a ridge of flat-topped {579} land covered with soil, but with here and there a protruding ma.s.s of primitive rock: one of these appeared to be of sienite or granite. The north-eastern end of this range is perhaps more bare of soil, and, therefore, exposes the rock, which shows itself in detached hills. Precisely similar in appearance and direction is a range on the south sh.o.r.e, about fifty miles in length, commencing at Cape Monmouth and terminating in detached hills in the vicinity of the south side of the First Narrow. The courses, also, of both the First and Second Narrow, which are just within the eastern entrance of the Strait, are nearly parallel with these hills; and the smaller ranges of eminences, Elizabeth Island and the cliffy land of Cape Negro, where the clay formation commences, all trend to the N.N.E., preserving a general resemblance of form and character to the two ranges above mentioned.
The irregularity of the topographic features of the western portion of the Strait, combined with its confused a.s.semblage and immense number of islands and rocks;--the regularity of the strata--the coinciding parallelism of all the bays, channels, and sounds,--and the total absence of islands in the central portion or slate formation;--together with the remarkable similarity of the direction of the hills and coast line, and the stratification of the north-eastern tract, which is very different from that of the centre;--are very striking facts, and, geologically considered, are of great interest.
No less remarkable, however, and equally interesting, is the character of the vegetation; not so much in the variety of plants, as in their stunted growth to the westward, their luxuriance in the centre, and the total absence of trees to the eastward. For this modification the following reasons seem to me to account sufficiently. To the westward the decomposition of granite, and the other primitive rocks which are found there, forms but a poor, unproductive soil; so that, although the land is thickly covered with shrubs, they are all small and stunted: the torrents of water also that pour down the steep sides of the hills, wash away the partial acc.u.mulations of soil that are occasionally deposited; consequently, few trees are to be found, excepting in clefts and recesses of the rock, where decomposed vegetable matter collects and nourishes their growth; but even there they are low and stunted, for the most luxuriant seldom attain a larger diameter than nine or ten inches. {580}
From the regularity of the direction of the strata in the slate districts the vallies are very extensive, and, being bounded on either side by precipitous mountains much intersected by deep ravines, receive large streams of water, which, uniting together in their course to the sea, form no inconsiderable rivers. During the winter months these rivers become swollen and overflow their banks, and deposit a quant.i.ty of alluvium, which, blending with the fallen leaves and other putrescent substances, produces a good superficial soil, in which trees grow to a large size, and the shrubs and smaller plants become particularly luxuriant and productive.
At Port Famine, and in its neighbourhood, the evergreen beech (_f.a.gus betuloides_) grows in the greatest abundance, and reaches a very large size. Trees of this species, of three feet in diameter, are abundant; of four feet, there are many; and there is one tree (perhaps the very same noticed by Commodore Byron[224]), which measures seven feet in diameter for seventeen feet above the roots, and then divides into three large branches, each of which is three feet through. This venerable tree seemed to be sound, but from our experience of several others that were cut down, might be expected to prove rotten in the centre. This tendency to decaying in the heart may be attributed to the coldness of the schistose sub-soil upon which the trees are rooted, as well as to the perpetual moisture of the climate above alluded to.
The slate formation ceases at Port St. Mary, but there is no decided change in the vegetation until we come to Cape Negro, where the clay commences; and from thence onwards there is not a tree to be found. The nature of the soil is not favourable to plants which take a deep root, and, therefore, only shrubs and gra.s.ses are found: the former are thinly scattered over the extensive plains which characterise this country; but the gra.s.ses are abundant, and although of a harsh and dry appearance, must be nourishing, for they form the chosen food of numerous and large herds of guanacoes.
Besides the evergreen beech above-mentioned, there are but few other trees in the Strait that can be considered as timber trees. Such an appellation only belongs to two other species of beech and the Winter"s bark. The last, which is also an evergreen, is to be found mixed with the first, in all parts of the Strait; so that {581} the country and hills, from the height of two thousand feet above the sea, to the very verge of the high-water mark, are covered with a perpetual verdure which is remarkably striking, particularly in those places where the glaciers descend into the sea; the sudden contrast in such cases presenting to the view a scene as agreeable as it seems to be anomalous. I have myself seen vegetation thriving most luxuriantly, and large woody-stemmed trees of Fuchsia and Veronica[225] (in England considered and treated as tender plants), in full flower, within a very short distance of the base of a mountain, covered for two-thirds down with snow, and with the temperature at 36. The Fuchsia certainly was rarely found except in sheltered spots, but not so the Veronica; for the beaches of the bays on the west side of San Juan Island at Port San Antonio are lined with trees of the latter, growing even in the very wash of the sea. There is no part of the Strait more exposed to the wind than this, for it faces the reach to the west of Cape Froward, down which the wind constantly blows, and brings with it a succession of rain, sleet, or snow; and in the winter months, from April to August, the ground is covered with a layer of snow, from six inches to two or three feet in depth.
There must be, therefore, some peculiar quality in the atmosphere of this otherwise rigorous climate which favours vegetation; for if not, these comparatively delicate plants could not live and flourish through the long and severe winters of this region.
In the summer, the temperature at night was frequently as low as 29 of Fahrenheit, and yet I never noticed the following morning any blight or injury sustained by these plants, even in the slightest degree.
I have occasionally, during the summer, been up the greater part of the night at my observatory, with the internal as well as the external thermometers as low as freezing point, without being particularly warmly clad, and yet not feeling the least cold; and in the winter, the thermometer, on similar occasions, has been at 24 and 26, without my suffering the slightest inconvenience. This I attributed at the time to the peculiar stillness of the air, although, within a short distance in the offing and overhead, the wind was high.
Whilst upon this subject, there are two facts which may be {582} mentioned as ill.u.s.trative of the mildness of the climate, notwithstanding the lowness of the temperature. One is the comparative warmth of the sea near its surface, between which and the air, I have in the month of June, the middle of the winter season, observed a difference of 30, upon which occasion the sea was covered with a cloud of steam. The other is, that parrots and humming-birds, generally the inhabitants of warm regions, are very numerous in the southern and western parts of the Strait--the former feeding upon the seeds of the Winter"s bark, and the latter having been seen by us chirping and sipping the sweets of the Fuchsia and other flowers, after two or three days of constant rain, snow, and sleet, during which the thermometer had been at freezing point. We saw them also in the month of May upon the wing, during a snow shower: and they are found in all parts of the south-west and west coasts as far as Valparaiso. I have since been informed that this species is also an inhabitant of Peru; so that it has a range of more than 41 of lat.i.tude, the southern limit being 53 south.[226]
Tierra del Fuego is divided by several channels; a princ.i.p.al one of which is opposite to Cape Froward, and another fronts Port Gallant. The easternmost, called Magdalen, trends in a due south direction for nineteen miles, and separates the clay slate from the more crystalline rocks, which seem to predominate in Clarence Island, and are chiefly of greenstone; though, at the eastern end, there is much mica slate. At the bottom of Magdalen Sound the channel turns sharply to the westward; and, after a course of about forty miles, meets the Barbara Channel, which, as above-mentioned, communicates with the Strait opposite to Port Gallant, and both fall into the sea together. Magdalen Sound and its continuation, c.o.c.kburn Channel, are almost free from islands and rocks; but the Barbara Channel, which separates {583} the granite from the greenstone and mica slate districts, is throughout thickly strewed with islands, which reduce the channel in some parts to a mile, and, in one place, to not more than fifty yards in width. Here, of course, the tide sets with great strength.
Several vessels, however, have pa.s.sed through it under sail; and one ship, a whaler belonging to Messrs. Enderby, working through the Strait, and finding much difficulty in pa.s.sing to the westward, bore up, and, the wind being fair and the distance to sea only fifty miles, ran through it without accident. The land to the westward of the Barbara Channel is high and rugged; and although in the vallies, ravines, and sheltered nooks, there is no want of vegetation, yet, in comparison with the eastern part of the Strait, it has a very dismal and uninviting appearance. It was called by Sarmiento, "Santa Ines Island";[227] but Narborough called it, "South Desolation; it being," as he says, "so desolate land to behold."[228]
Clarence Island, which is fifty-two miles long and twenty-three broad, although equally rocky, is much more verdant in appearance. The uniform direction of the headlands of the north sh.o.r.e of the island is remarkable.
Upon taking a set of angles with the theodolite placed upon the extremity of the west end of Bell Bay, opposite to Cape Holland, the most prominent points to the south-east, as far as could be seen, were all visible in the field of the telescope at the same bearing. The same thing occurred on the opposite sh.o.r.e of the Strait, where the projections of Cape Gallant, Cape Holland, and Cape Froward, are in the same line of bearing; so that a parallel ruler placed on the map upon the projecting points of the south sh.o.r.e, extended across, will also touch the headlands of the opposite coast.
The eastern island, which had been previously called, and of course retains on our chart the name of King Charles South Land, extends from the entrance of the Strait to the outlet of the Barbara and c.o.c.kburn Channels, at Cape Schomberg. The northern part partakes of the geological character of the eastern portion of the Strait. The centre is a continuation of the slate formation, which is evident at a glance, from the uniformity of the direction of the sh.o.r.es of Admiralty Sound, the Gabriel Channel, and all the bays and mountain ranges of Dawson Island. The south sh.o.r.e, or seaward coast line, is princ.i.p.ally of greenstone, {584} excepting the sh.o.r.es of the Beagle Channel, which extends from Christmas Sound to Cape San Pio, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles, with a course so direct that no points of the opposite sh.o.r.es cross and intercept a free view through; although its average breadth, which also is very parallel, is not much above a mile, and in some places is but a third of a mile across. The south sh.o.r.es of Hoste and Navarin Islands are of horn-blende rock, which is also the princ.i.p.al component of the islands in the neighbourhood, as well as of the island itself of Cape Horn. The eastern part of King Charles South Land is low, with plains like the Patagonian coast; but the range of high land interrupted at Port Famine extends down the north side of Admiralty Sound, and perhaps, with some few intervals, continues to the south-east extremity of the land, near Cape Good Success, which is the south cape of the west side of Strait Le Maire, and there terminates in lofty mountains covered with snow, one of which, called in the charts "The Sugar Loaf," is probably four thousand feet high.
The eastern sh.o.r.e of King Charles South Land, towards the south part, is lofty, but near the northern part is very low. The interior is also low, with extensive plains, abounding with guanacoes, some of which also were found, and shot by the officers of the Beagle, within fifty miles of Cape Horn.
The eastern coast of Patagonia, from the entrance of the Strait of Magalhaens to the River Plata, is comparatively low. From Cape Virgins to Port St. Julian, where porphyritic claystone commences, the coast is formed of clay cliffs, horizontally stratified, and the country is undulating, with extensive plains, or pampas, covered with gra.s.s, but without trees. At Port St. Julian, the country becomes hilly, and continues so as far to the northward as lat.i.tude 44, the rock being porphyritic. The clay formation to the southward has been likened to the appearance of the coast of Kent, and at a short distance it bears certainly a very great resemblance to it; but the cliffs, instead of being of chalk, are composed of a soft marly clay, without any gravel or impressions of organic remains, excepting at Port St. Julian, where fossil sh.e.l.ls, both bivalves and univalves, are found imbedded in clay cliffs; and on the surface are lying, strewed about, large oyster-sh.e.l.ls.
In the clay formation there are two rivers: the Gallegos, in lat. 51 38"; and Port Santa Cruz, in lat. 50 7". The Gallegos, at {585} high water, may be easily entered, but at low water the banks are dry to a great extent; a channel, however, is left on its south side, of sufficient depth for a small vessel: the tide rises forty-six feet, and the stream is very strong.
Port Desire, in 47 45" south lat.i.tude, has a narrow entrance with strong tides; but affords in the offing very good anchorage as well as shelter from the prevailing winds, which are offsh.o.r.e, or westerly. The inlet extends up the country, nearly in a west direction, for eighteen miles; but the land is dry and parched, and very unsuitable for the establishment which the Spanish government formed there not many years since, and of which evident traces remain to this day.
St. George"s Gulf, called in the old charts "Bahia sin Fondo," or Deep-Sea Gulf, was formerly considered to be a deep sinuosity of the coast, into which a river emptied its waters after winding through a large tract of country; for, until the Descubierta and Atrevida"s voyage of discovery, very vague accounts had been given of this, or indeed of any other part of the coast. The Gulf, upon that examination, was found to possess no river or creek in any part excepting on the north side, where there are several deep bays and coves, which are, and have been frequented by our sealing vessels. The country about is dry and parched, although partially covered with small shrubs, and a wiry gra.s.s on which large herds of guanacoes feed.
According to Falkner (the Jesuit missionary, who resided many years among the Indian tribes inhabiting the country about Buenos Ayres), the eastern coast between the lat.i.tudes of 41 and 51 is frequented by the natives for the purpose only of burying the dead: they have, however, been occasionally met with travelling along the coast, apparently without any particular object in view. Near Port Desire I have seen the graves of the Indians on the summit of the hills, but the bodies had been removed, probably by the Indians themselves; for we are informed by Falkner, that, after the dead have been interred twelve months, the graves are visited by the tribe, for the purpose of collecting the bones and conveying them to their family sepulchres, where they are set up and adorned with all the beads and ornaments the friends and family of the deceased can collect for the occasion. The ceremony {586} is performed by certain women of the tribe whose peculiar office it is to attend to these rites.
In the year 1828, from the commencement of January to the middle of August, the Adventure (the ship I commanded) was at anchor at Port Famine, in the Strait of Magalhaens, in lat.i.tude 53 38" south, and longitude 70 54"
west of Greenwich; and during the whole of that time a careful meteorological journal was kept. The temperature was registered from a very good thermometer of Fahrenheit"s scale, suspended within a copper cylindrical case of nine inches diameter, and perforated above and below with holes, to admit a free current of air. The cylinder was fixed to the roof of a shed, thatched with dried leaves to shelter it from the sun, while the sides were open. The barometer (a mountain barometer made by Newman, with an iron cylinder) was hung up in the observatory, five feet above the high-water mark, and both instruments were examined carefully and regularly at the following hours, namely: six and nine o"clock in the morning, at noon, and at three and six o"clock in the evening. The state of the atmosphere was observed daily, by Daniel"s hygrometer, at three o"clock in the afternoon. The maximum and minimum temperatures were also observed twice in twenty-four hours, from a Six"s thermometer, namely: at nine o"clock in the morning, and at nine in the evening. From this journal the following abstract has been drawn up:-- {587}