The English Narrows. 79 



we did not stop to examine them, but steamed on towards Port 

 Grappler, where we anchored for the night. 



We got under way early in the morning of the following day, 

 and proceeded through the channel as far as Hoskyn Cove, an 

 anchorage just to the northward of the famous English Narrows. 

 The morning had been hazy and showery, but towards noon the 

 mist cleared away, and as we passed the English Narrows, a 

 burst of sunshine completed the dispersion of the hazy vapour and 

 lighted up a scene of surpassing splendour. The scenery here 

 contrasted strangely with that of Chasm Reach, for the steep 

 hillsides now were richly clothed with a luxuriant growth of 

 primeval forest, and rising to a greater altitude, had their summits 

 capped with a broad mantle of snow, which showed to great 

 advantage against the deep blue of the sky. In the narrowest 

 part of the channel, where the flood tide was making southward 

 in a rapid stream, numbers of fur seals were gambolling in the 

 water, and the energetic movements of the cormorants testified 

 to the abundance of the fish. 



Formerly the vessels of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company 



were in the habit of running through these "Narrows," but of 



late years the practice has been discontinued, on account of 



the difficulty of managing the long vessels which are now 



in vogue. Therefore, excepting an occasional man-of-war, the 



only vessels which at the present day make use of the channels 



leading to the Gulf of Penas are the steamers of the German 



"Kosmos" line. The deciduous beech {Fagus antarcticd) here 



formed a great proportion of the forest growth, and as its 



leaves were now withering, their autumn tints gave a variegated 



character to the wooded scenery, a feature not observed farther 



south, where the evergreen beech {Fagus betuloides) predominates. 



The Campsidium chilense, a large trailing plant, was abundant 



and in full bloom, its flowering branches usually depending in 



rather inaccessible places from the upper parts of the trees to 



which it clung ; and here we obtained for the first time specimens 



