A Lonely Burial Place, 41 



were compelled to put in for shelter, and accordingly anchored. 

 On landing, we found the trees placarded in various places with 

 wooden records of ships that had called there ; and on pushing 

 our way through the bushes adjoining the beach, we were not 

 a little surprised at stumbling across a coffin, which from its 

 position seemed to have been hurriedly deposited there by a 

 passing ship. It bore an inscription stating that it contained 

 the remains of some person who had belonged to the Chilian 

 man-of-war Almirayite Cochrane, Animal life was at a dis- 

 count ; only a few moths, a Cinclodes, a brace of duck, and a 

 few gulls being seen. The vegetation was luxuriant, and the 

 Philesia, berberry, and diddle-dee plants were in full bloom. 

 We stopped for only a few hours ; for on the wind lulling we 

 again proceeded on our course. Passing through the " Long 

 Reach," the scenery became of a most imposing character ; several 

 straggling, highly inclined glaciers creeping down on eithe* side 

 through the deep mountain gorges, their dazzling whiteness con- 

 trasting strikingly with the richly verdured hillsides, and the 

 lofty snow-covered mountain summits beyond fading away imper- 

 ceptibly into a hazy sky. Later in the evening we anchored 

 in Playa Parda Cove, a beautiful little land-locked basin, and 

 most of us landed at once, to spend the last few remaining hours 

 of daylight. A solitary steamer-duck was seen, but for the rest 

 animal life was unrepresented. As at Borja Bay, several little 

 billets of wood, attached conspicuously to trees bordering the 

 shore, recorded the visits of previous explorers to these out 

 landish regions. 



On the morning of the 1 oth we left Playa Parda, and steamed 

 northward through the Sarmiento Channels. In the afternoon, 

 as we were passing by Fortune Bay, we sighted and exchanged 

 signals with the Chilian man-of-war Chacabuco, a vessel which 

 was now employed in surveying certain portions of the Straits. 

 Our halting-place for this evening was at Isthmus Bay, where 

 we anchored about six p.m. At the head of this bay, where a 



