42 Cruise of the "Alert." 



narrow neck of lowland separated us from the waters of Oracion 

 Sound, was the remains of a Fuegian encampment, which, to 

 judge from the appearance of the shell heaps, could not have 

 been left for more than a year uninhabited. Across the 

 isthmus was a "portage" for boats, consisting of rudely-cut 

 stakes laid on the ground parallel to each other, and a few 

 yards apart, like railway sleepers. The aspect of the green 

 forest encircling this charming little bay was variegated with 

 a luxuriant display of really beautiful flowers, among which were 

 conspicuous the Philesia buxifolia, Fuchsia magellanica, Gaul- 

 theria antarctica, Berberis ilicifolia, and a number of composites 

 of different species. A kind of cedar, the Libocedrus tetragonus 

 (" cipres " of the Chilotes), was here also very abundant, furnishing 

 good straight poles suitable for various purposes. Its four-sided 

 arrangement of leaves at once attracts attention. 



We got under way early in the morning, and proceeded up 

 the Sarmiento Channels, passing by the Chilian ship Chacabuco 

 in the midst of a rain squall. No natives were to be seen. The 

 channel here narrowed, and the scenery of the opposing shores 

 became of a grand yet rather sombre character, the round-topped 

 granite mountains which seemed to overhang us, with their streaky 

 patches of forest creeping up the gullies, being enveloped in a 

 hazy mist, and presenting a sort of draggled appearance, as if rain 

 had been falling over their rocky faces for ages. 



About five in the evening we entered Mayne Harbour, a few 

 cormorants and steamer-ducks sheering off with much splashing, as 

 we slipped between the islets that almost block up the entrance. 



So we continued to wend our way through these desolate 

 channels, looking into nearly every anchorage on the way, and 

 usually anchoring for the night, until the 14th of January, when 

 we reached " Tom Bay," which was to be our base of operations 

 for the ensuing survey of the Trinidad Channel. Some hours 

 after we had anchored, a native boat suddenly emerged from a 

 narrow channel opening into the bay, and paddled towards the 



