CHAP. IV.] THE VOYAGE HOME. 183 



and a good deal crumpled and distorted. It is entirely con- 

 trary to our experience that coal of any value should be found 

 in such beds. Galena may occur in the quartzites, but proba- 

 bly in no great quantity ; and there is no positive reason why 

 gold may not be found, although the beds have scarcely the 

 character of auriferous quartz. 



On our second visit to the town our eyes were refreshed by 

 the vision of a bishop ; not a bishop blunt of speech and care- 

 less of externals, as so hard-working a missionary among the 

 Fuegians and Patagonians might well afford to be, but a bishop 

 gracious in manner and perfect in attire, who would have seemed 

 more in harmony with his surroundings in the atmosphere of 

 Windsor or St. James's. We had great pleasure in the society 

 of Bishop Stirling during our stay at Stanley. Although he 

 takes his title from the Falklands, his diocese is so large — ex- 

 tending round the whole of the southern coast of South Amer- 

 ica — that his visits to Stanley are somewhat rare ; and we owed 

 the pleasure of making his acquaintance to an accident which 

 had befallen his little missionary schooner, the repair of which 

 he was superintending. He is a most active and zealous pastor, 

 and greatly beloved by his scattered flock. A great part of his 

 time is spent in Fuegia, where he has succeeded in establishing 

 a half-civilized missionary station, and it was most interesting 

 to hear him talk of his strange experiences among perhaps the 

 most primitive race in the world. Walking over the breezy 

 " Camp" of the Falklands with Dr. Stirling, one could not help 

 thinking that his great influence in these remote regions might 

 to some extent be referred to the almost exaggerated care with 

 which he maintains the culture and refinement of a gentleman 

 and the dignity of the ecclesiastical office. 



Two vegetable productions of the Falklands, the balsam-bog 

 and the tussock-grass, have been objects of curiosity and inter- 

 est ever since the first accounts of the islands reached us. In 

 many places the low ground looks from a little distance as if it 



