140 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



long walk with him to the summit of the central hill 

 of the island. How beautiful it was when we reached 

 it ! On one side were Cape Vincent, Martha, and Mar- 

 guerita Islands, flooded with the sunset light, their 

 yellowish clay cliffs turned to golden, and on the 

 other the quiet waters of Pechet Harbor enclosed in 

 ranges of hills that grew purple and blue in the dis- 

 tance, while on the far horizon were the snow moun- 

 tains w^ith a broad field of snow looking dim and 

 almost incredible to me. I could not believe that I 

 was getting my first glimpse of glaciers in the Straits 

 of Magellan. I cannot express to you how quiet it 

 seemed on that lonely island. As I sat on the hillside 

 a wild goose walked about within a few feet of me as 

 tranquilly as if no human being were near. Poor fel- 

 low, he learned his mistake too soon, for the men from 

 the boat came up and after a little chase captured 

 him alive. Pourtales found a deserted Fuegian settle- 

 ment on this island, the places where their huts or 

 tents, or whatever shelter they live under, had been 

 marked by square spots some three feet in diameter 

 dug into the ground to a depth of two feet, and in 

 front of each such place a pile of shells, the debris of 

 their food with stones and flints cut roughly to sharp 

 points and used to open the mussels on which they 

 chiefly live. We returned to dinner at about five 

 o'clock and went to bed early meaning to be up 

 with sunrise. At about six o'clock this morning 

 we left our anchorage and kept on to Marguerita 

 Island where we passed several hours. As w^e neared 

 the island, which is very picturesque in outline with 



