1769. ROUND THE WORLD. 67 



CHAP. VI. 



A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE S. E. PART OF TERRA DEL 

 FUEGO5 AND THE STREIGHT OF LE MAIRE ; WITH SOME 

 REMARKS ON LORD ANSON's ACCOUNT OF THEM, AND 

 DIRECTIONS FOR THE PASSAGE WESTWARD, ROUND THIS 

 PART OF AMERICA, INTO THE SOUTH SEAS. 



Almost all writers who have mentioned the island 

 of Terra del Fuego, describe it as destitute of wood, 

 and covered with snow. In the winter it may pos- 

 sibly be covered with snow, and those who saw it at 

 that season might, perhaps, be easily deceived, by its 

 appearance, into an opinion that it was destitute of 

 wood. Lord Anson was there in the beginning of 

 March, which answers to our September, and we 

 were there the beginning of January, which answers 

 to our July ; which may account for the difference 

 of his description of it from ours. We fell in with 

 it about twenty-one leagues to the westward of the 

 Streight of Le Maire, and from the time that we first 

 saw it, trees were plainly to be distinguished with 

 our glasses : and as we came nearer, though here 

 and there we discovered patches of snow, the sides 

 of the hills and the sea coast appeared to be covered 

 with a beautiful verdure. The hills are lofty, but 

 not mountainous, though the summits of them are 

 quite naked. The soil in the valleys is rich, and of a 

 considerable depth : and at the foot of almost every 

 hill there is a brook, the water of which has a red- 

 dish hue, like that which runs through our turf bogs 

 in England j but it is by no means ill tasted, and, 

 upon the whole, proved to be the best that we took 

 in during our voyage. We ranged the coast to the 

 Streight, and had soundings all the way from forty 

 to twenty fathom upon a gravelly and sandy bottom. 

 The most remarkable land on Terra del Fuego is a 



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