CHAP, x.] CAPE HORN. 153 



the waters flowed to the sea in opposite directions. We obtained a 

 wide view over the surrounding country : to the north a swampy moor- 

 land extended, but to the south we had a scene of savage magnificence, 

 well becoming Tierra del Fuego. There was a degree of mysteriouj 

 grandeur in mountain behind mountain, with the deep intervening 

 valleys, all covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest. The atmo- 

 sphere, likewise, in this climate, where gale succeeds gale, with rain, 

 hail, and sleet, seems blacker than anywhere else. In the Strait of 

 Magellan, looking due southward from Port Famine, the distant channels 

 between the mountains appeared from their gloominess to lead beycno 

 the confines of this world. 



December 2isf. The Beagle got under way ; and on the succeeding 

 day, favoured to an uncommon degree by a fine easterly breeze, we 

 closed in with the Barnevelts, and running past Cape Deceit with 

 its stony peaks, about three o'clock doubled the weather-beaten Cape 

 Horn. The evening was calm and bright, and we enjoyed a fine view 

 of the surrounding isles. Cape Horn, however, demanded his tribute, 

 and before night sent us a gale of wind directly in our teeth. We stood 

 out to sea, and on the second day again made the land, when we saw 

 on our weather-bow this notorious promontory in its proper form 

 veiled in a mist, and its dim outline surrounded by a storm of wind 

 and water. Great black clouds were rolling across the heavens, and 

 squalls of rain, with hail, swept by us with such extreme violence, 

 that the Captain determined to run into Wigwam Cove. This is a 

 snug little harbour, not far from Cape Horn ; and here, at Christmas- 

 eve, we anchored in smooth water. The only thing which reminded 

 us of the gale outside, was every now and then a puff from the moun- 

 tains, which made the ship surge at her anchors. 



December 2$th. Close by the cove, a pointed hill, called Kater'a 

 Peak, rises to the height of 1,700 feet. The surrounding islands all 

 consist of conical masses of greenstone, associated sometimes with 

 less regular hills of baked and altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra 

 del Fuego may be considered as the extremity of the submerged chain 

 of mountains already alluded to. The cove takes its name of " Wigwam " 

 from some of the Fuegian habitations ; but every bay in the neigh- 

 bourhood might be so called with equal propriety. The inhabitants, 

 living chiefly upon shell-fish, are obliged constantly to change their 

 place of residence ; but they return at intervals to the same spots, 

 as is evident from the piles of old shells, which must often amount to 

 many tons in weight. These heaps can be distinguished at a long 

 distance by the bright green colour of certain plants which invariably 

 grow on them. Among these may be enumerated the wild celery 

 and scurvy grass, two very serviceable plants, the use of which has 

 not been discovered by the natives. 



The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a haycock. 

 It merely consists of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and 

 very imperfectly thatched on one side with a few tufts of grass and 

 rushes. The whole cannot be the work of an hour, and it is only 

 used for a few days. At Goeree Roads I saw a place where one oi 



