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leaves and axillary clusters of yellow flowers. The same Ane- 

 mone and Accena as at Gregory Bay were abundant. The currant 

 {Ribes Magellanica), the barberry bushes and the PernettycE were 

 thickly covered with festoons of a gray lichen {Usnea barhataf\ 

 which gave to the vegetation somewhat the aspect of that of the 

 Oregon coast region ; and as the northern barberries are often 

 attacked by fungi, so here the young leaves of Berberis buxifoha 

 were of a bright scarlet color, and much distorted from the 

 attacks of a parasitic ^cidium. 



The woods behind the settlement were made up chiefly of 

 two species of beech and the Winter's bark, a tree very much 

 like a Magnolia. Fagus antarctica^ the antarctic beech, is here 

 fast becoming extirpated. I saw hundreds of trunks of this spe- 

 cies, and dead trees, like whitened skeletons, still standing, some 

 of which were very large. Two saw-mills have been erected at 

 Sandy Point, but I was glad to see they were not in operation. 

 Fagtis antarctica is by far the largest and most valuable tree for 

 timber in the region of the Straits. In the western part it grows 

 higher up the mountain side than the Fagus betiiloides^ and there 

 it never attains the size that it does near Sandy Point. Fagus 

 betuloides, th^ ** Qvergre^n beech/' is a much smaller tree. It 

 has a whitish gray trunk which branches many times, the ultimate 

 divisions bearing a flat dense crown of small, glossy, compara- 

 tively stiff leaves. 



From our anchorage we had a grand view of the western 

 mountains. Beyond Sandy Point there arose on every side a 

 wild combination of rock and tree and hill. When it was clear, 

 we could even see the snowy crest of Mount Tarn. 



I will venture here to give a short extract from Darwin's 

 Journal, describing his ascent of Mount Tarn, in which he pre- 

 sents an excellent picture of the country: ''The forest com- 

 mences at the line of high water mark, and during the first two 

 hours, I gave over all hopes of reaching the summit. So thick 

 was the wood that it was necessary to have constant recourse to 

 the compass; for every landmark, though in a mountainous coun- 

 try, was completely shut out In the deep ravines, the death- 

 like scene of desolation exceeded all description ; outside, it was 

 blowing a gale, but in these hollows not even a breath of wind 





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