Climate of Patagonian Channels. 45 



The greater part of the subsequent four months was spent 

 in the vicinity of the Trinidad Channel, which it was our special 

 duty to survey ; and as our movements during this period were 

 most erratic, and we frequently paid five or six different visits to 

 the same parts, I shall for a time abandon all chronological 

 order, and speak of events according to the places in which they 

 occurred. 



But in the first place, in order to render my narrative more 

 intelligible, I shall here give a brief general description of this 

 region, referring to its climate, natural features, and inhabitants. 



The weather is peculiar, for the rainfall is excessive, and as a 

 rule there is not more than one moderately dry day out of the 

 seven. 



The peaks and ridges of the broken-up range of mountains, 

 of which the islands and coast are formed, intercept the moisture- 

 laden clouds which are being continually wafted from seaward by 

 the prevailing westerly winds, frequent and long-continued down- 

 pours being the result. From observations taken with the rain 

 gauge, we estimate the average daily rainfall to be 0*4 1 inch, 

 and that of the wettest month of which we have had experience, 

 viz., the month of April, 0*522 inch. The annual rainfall, esti- 

 mated from the mean of eight months' observations, we find to 

 be I49"65 inches. The mean annual temperature, estimated simi- 

 larly from observations extending over the months of Januarj^, 

 February, March, April, May, (nine days of) October, November, 

 and December, we found to be 49' 2, the extremes of temperature 

 being 36° and 60°. When we refiect that the annual rainfall 

 in London is about 23*5 inches, while the yearly average of tem- 

 perature is 46'9 Fahr., we can realize the extent to which rainy 

 weather prevails in this land, and the comparative coldness of its 

 nevertheless equable climate. We were told by the master of a 

 sealing schooner that the climate of Western Fuegia varied but little 

 throughout the year, and that in his opinion the finest weather 

 was to be found in mid-winter ; and, indeed, on entering the 



