GLACIERS ENTERING THE SEA. 289 



casional barking of a dog, heard in the distance, re- 

 minds one that it is the land of the savage. 



January 29th. — Early in the morning we aiTived 

 at the point where the Beagle Channel divides into 

 two arms, and we entered the northern one. The 

 scenery hero becomes even grander than before. 

 The lofty mountains on the north side compose the 

 granitic axis, or backbone of the country, and bold- 

 ly rise to a height of between thi'ee and four thou- 

 sand feet, with one peak above six thousand feet. 

 They are covered by a wide mantle of perpetual 

 snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters, 

 through the woods, into the narrow channel below. 

 In many parts, magnificent glaciers extend from the 

 mountain side to the water's edge. It is scarcely 

 possible to imagine anything more beautiful than 

 the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially 

 as contrasted with the dead white of the upper ex- 

 panse of snow. The fragments which had fallen 

 from the glacier into the water were floating away, 

 and the channel, with its icebergs, pi'esented, for the 

 space of a mile, a miniature likeness of the Polar 

 Sea. The boats being hauled on shore at our din- 

 neV-hour, we were admiring from the distance of half 

 a mile a perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing 

 that some more fragments would fall. At last, 

 down came a mass with a roaring noise, and imme- 

 diately we saw the smooth outline of a wave trav- 

 elling towards us. The men ran down as quickly 

 as they could to the boats, for the ch'ance of their 

 being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the 

 seamen just caught hold of the bows as the curling 

 breaker reached it: he was knocked over and over, 

 but not hurt; and the boats, though thrice lifted on 

 high and let fall again, received no damage. This 

 was most fortunate for us, for we were a hundred 

 miles distant from the ship, and we should have 



Vol. 1—19 B b 



