120 [October. 1884. 



enclosed in an almost complete circle of snowy mountains, though its shores are 

 comparatively low and open, and afford much better walking than usual. I spent 

 the remainder of daylight on shore, but observed only a few grubs of a moderate- 

 sized Lamellicorn beetle, and a minute Helix. Mussels of excellent quality were 

 abundant, and were brought on board and devoured in almost incredible quantities 

 We left at 6 a.m. on the 2nd, and the day being clear and still (a very rare circum>i 

 stance here) we were at last able to fully appreciate the wild grandeur of thtij 

 unrivalled scenery of the western Channels of Patagonia. The Cordillera o; 

 Sarmiento, a snowy range of mountains on the mainland, over 6000 feet high, war 

 seen to great advantage : its summits being broken into the most extraordinary aw 

 fantastic shapes, and every valley filled with a deeply crevassed glacier, of the moai 

 lovely blue tint : while away to the southward, Mount Burney, a grand, solitaryil 

 truncated pyramid, 5800 feet high, appeared to close up the Channel in thai 

 direction, the whole forming a scene of indesci'ibable magnificence, never to b 

 forgotten. We put into Isthmus Bay for the night, but I did not land here : leavini 

 again early next morning, the weather soon became thick and squally, and we wei* 

 compelled to anchor in Otter Bay, among some small islands in Mayne Channfi 

 Here we were weather-bound until the morning of the 5th : it rained and snowec 

 good deal, but I took advantage of a party going for mussels, to land on one of t| 

 islands, and to procuj'C a few nice sea-shells. 



We entered Magellan's Straits at 11 a.m. on the 5th, and anchored in Po| 

 Angosto, on the Fuegian shore, at 4 p.m., too late to land. This is a most beautif J 

 harbour, extending inland about a mile, with a width of barely 250 yards, aijj 

 completely shut in by wooded cliffs, 600 to 1500 feet in height. Leaving Q,gm 

 early next morning, with a strong breeze against us, we got as far as Fortescue B^j 

 on the Patagonian side of the Strait : here I landed, but got nothing whatev 

 Next day (June 7th), we rounded Cape Fro ward, the grand promontory whil'j 

 terminates the South American Continent, at 8 a.m., and reached the Chili] 

 settlement of Punta Arenas (Sandy Point) in the afternoon. 



The weather had been steadily getting colder during our progress southwa>j 

 and in the Straits of Magellan the country was covered with snow to the watei 

 edge : at Punta Arenas everything was frozen hard, with ice on the pools and lago<: 

 thick enough to admit of skating. In spite of this, in an afternoon's ramble!! 

 found sundry Geodephaga and Ehynchophora (mostly of species oblained here ? 

 me in December, 1880) abundant under logs of wood, &c., as were also the larval 

 a species of Agrotis, these being, like the beetles, quite lively. The pretty gri 

 Carahus suturalis (not unlike a small C. auratus) occurred rarely, and I founci^ 

 good many cocoons of a species of Macrompluilia attached to the under-side of Lj?- 

 The only Lepidopterous imago I saw was a small Gelechia? hihevnSitmg in or 

 panics of seven or eight under bark. |i 



We left Punta Arenas on the morning of the 10th, having stayed only just 1 !g 

 enough to procure coal, &c. ; but owing to contrary tides and short daylight, wefd 

 not get fairly out into the Atlantic until 9 p.m. on June 11th. After a somev'^ 

 rough passage, we arrived at Monte Video on the evening of the 21st. We I'/ 

 here for four or five days, and then leave for St. Vincent, Madeira, and Plymoife* 

 where we hope to arrive before the end of August. — J. J. Walkee, Monte Viij'^ 

 June, 1884. \ 



