176 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. iv. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE VOYAGE HOME. 



The Strait of Magellan.— Dredging in Shallow Water.— The Falkland Islands.— Their 

 Physical Features. — The Town of Stanley.— The Products and Commerce of the 

 Falklands. — The Balsam - bog. — The Tussock - grass. — The Vegetation of the 

 Falkland Islands. — A Peculiar Mode of Reproduction among the Echinoderms. — 

 " Stone Rivers." — The Temperature Section between the Falklands and the Mouth 

 of the River Plate. — Montevideo. — Low Temperatures between Montevideo and 

 Tristan d'Acunha. — Meridional Section along the Central Ridge of the Atlantic. 

 — Ascension. — Physical Features. — An Island under Naval Discipline. — Voyage 

 to Porto Praya and Porto Grande. — Soundings in the Eastern Trough of the At- 

 lantic. — Vigo Bay. — Arrival at Spithead. 



Appendix A. — Table of Temperatures observed between the Falkland Islands and 



Tristan d'Acunha. 

 Appendix B. — Table of Temperatures observed between Tristan d'Acunha and the 



A9ores. 

 Appendix C. — Table of Serial Temperature Soundings down to 200 fathoms taken 



in the South and North Atlantic in the Year 1876. 

 Appendix D. — Specific-gravity Observations taken on the homeward voyage between 



the Falkland Islands and Portsmouth. 

 Appendix E. — List of the Stations in the Atlantic at which Observations were taken 



in the Year 1876. 



On tlie morning of the 20tli of January, 1876, the Challenger 

 passed through the " first narrows " of the Strait of Magellan, 

 wind and tide in her favor, at the rate of about seventeen knots 

 an hour ; shortly after midday she rounded Cape Virgins, and 

 a long, uneasy swell gave us somewhat unpleasant evidence of 

 the most welcome fact that we were once more yielding to the 

 pulses of the broad Atlantic. 



For the previous three weeks we had been creeping down 

 inside the islands from the Gulf of Penas, through the Messier 

 and the Sarmiento Channel and the Magellan Strait, sounding 



