1 8 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



more northerly channels. The temperature of the air followed in a 

 general way that of the water. 



While there was a great deal in the way of birds and flowers to 

 suggest familiar objects, our surroundings in other respects were 

 strange. The trees of the forest, the smaller forms of sea shore life, 

 the utterly barbarous look of the natives, the wildness of the scenery, 

 left strong impressions. Even the constellations were altogether un- 

 familiar. The navigating officer pointed out the Southern Cross, the 

 beautiful nebulous mass called the Cloud of Magellan, the " Coal Sack," 

 that dark starless area close to the Milky "Way, and the bright stars 

 Canopus and Achenas. 



I know of no more forbidding headland than Cape Froward, the 

 southern point of the continent.' The scenery reminds one in many 

 ways of the inland passage of Alaska and is probably finer, as there are 

 more high cliffs of exposed rock. As in Alaska, the vegetation of the 

 forest comes uniformly down to sea level, and here we find it actually 

 overhanging and touching the surface at high tide. 



After passing through Magellan Straits and turning northward into 

 Smythe Channel and the series of inland passages beyond, the channels 

 become narrower and the scenery wilder. The evergreen coniferous 

 forests of the north are here replaced by evergreen beeches, which give 

 a new and strange aspect. There are, however, the same high, tumbling 

 waterfalls in the foreground with snow-topped ranges beyond. 



No ordinary description can convey a clear idea of the generally 

 impenetrable character of the forests, which are more tangled and diffi- 

 cult than those of the tropics. Fallen trees and branches cover deeply 

 the whole forest floor, these in turn being mostly concealed with mosses 

 and large plants, the whole always saturated as if by a recent rain- 

 storm. After clambering over decayed logs, heavily blanketed with 

 mosses, one may land waist deep in boggy vegetation. Progress is pos- 

 sible only by constant and laborious climbing over obstructions. 



In this western section of nearly four hundred miles, the open ocean 

 is seen only once, so completely is the long stretch of coast protected by 

 the lofty islands of the archipelago. Passing gradually northward, 

 glimpses of lofty snow ranges become more frequent, and at the mouth 

 of the last narrow channel the white Andes are exposed to full view 

 and may be enjoyed during the forty-mile voyage across the Gulf 

 of Penas. 



Before leaving Eyre Sound we made fast to one of the small icebergs 

 drifting away from adjacent glaciers terminating in tide water, and 

 took on board seven tons of ancient Andean ice for our voyage north- 

 ward to the Galapagos Islands in the tropical Pacific. 



