CHAPTER II. 



EXPERIENCES IN PATAGONIA. 



WE left the Falkland Islands on the evening of the 2;th, 

 and sailed to the westward. On the morning of the 1st 

 of January, 1879, we entered the eastern entrance of the Straits 

 of Magellan, passing within easy sight of Cape Virgins and 

 Dungeness Point. As we approached the latter, we noticed 

 a herd of guanacoes browsing quietly near the beach, as if 

 a passing ship were an object familiar to their eyes. This, our 

 first impression of the famous Straits, was certainly favourable. 

 A winding channel, the glassy smoothness of whose surface was 

 only broken by the splashing of cormorants, steamer ducks, and 

 other sea-birds, stretched away to the westward. On the north 

 side were the low undulating plains of Patagonia, covered with 

 their summer mantle of greenish-yellow vegetation ; while to 

 the southward a few widely separated wreaths of blue smoke, 

 ascending from the gloomy shores of Tierra del Fuego, marked 

 out the dwelling-place of one of the most remarkable varieties 

 of the human species. Favoured by the tide, we passed rapidly 

 through the first Narrows, and at 6.30 in the evening had got 

 as far as Cape Gregory. Here the flood-tide setting strongly to 

 the westward, fairly brought us to a standstill, so we steamed in 

 towards the north shore, and anchored close under Cape Gregory. 

 A party of us who were bent on exploring soon landed, and pro- 

 ceeded in various directions in quest of game, and in the few 

 remaining hours of daylight we succeeded in getting several 



