140 Cruise of the "Alert." 



prepared for. The surrounding country bore recent signs of 

 having been devastated by a great fire, the mountain sides for 

 miles being covered with the charred remains of a dense forest. 



Owing to its proximity to the FZnglish Narrows, Gray Harbour 

 is probably frequently used as a stopping place by passing 

 steamers, whose occupants amuse themselves by firing the forest. 

 It is rarely indeed in this habitually wet region that the forest 

 is sufficiently dry to allow a fire to spread over any great extent 

 of country. 



We got under way at an early hour on the following morning 

 (April i ith). It was a fine clear day, and the channels showed to 

 great advantage, so that we were able once more to confirm the 

 remark of old Pigafetta, that in fine weather there is in no part 

 of the world scenery more lovely. At about four o'clock in the 

 afternoon we anchored at Hale Cove, a port situated close to the 

 northern outlet of the Patagonian Channels, and here for the last 

 time we anchored in Patagonian waters. Rain awnings were now 

 stowed away, top-gallant masts were sent up, boats were topped 

 and lashed, and all other requisite arrangements were made for 

 our final departure from the Magellan region, and for encounter- 

 ing the long heavy ocean swell which we were sure to find await- 

 ing us to seaward. 



I had a run on shore for a few hours before nightfall, and was 

 much gratified at finding two plants which I had not previously 

 met with in these channels. One was a tall branching fern of 

 the genus Alsophila, whose long slender woody stems, rising 

 obliquely from the ground to a height of six feet, were crowned 

 with a magnificent spray of dark-green glossy fronds. The other 

 was a shrub of creeping habit, probably of the family Vacciniacece, 

 with smooth ovate-acute leaves resembling those of the laurel, 

 and bearing clusters of an egg-shaped fruit. No flowering 

 specimens were seen. The trunks of the large trees were 

 clothed with the beautiful fronds of the delicate Hymenophyllum 

 cruentum, which here grows in great abundance. On the morning 



