310 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



food or shelter ; with their destruction the many 

 cormorants and other fishing birds, the otters, seals, 

 and porpoises, would soon perish also ; and lastly, 

 the Fuegian savage, the miserable lord of this 

 miserable land, would redouble his cannibal feast, 

 decrease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist. 



June Sth. — We weighed anchor early in the 

 morning and left Port Famine. Captain Fitz Roy 

 determined to leave the Strait of Magellan by the 

 Magdalen Channel, which had not long been dis- 

 covered. Our course lay due south, down that 

 gloomy passage which I have before alluded to, as 

 appearing to lead to another and worse world. 

 The wind was fair, but the atmosphere was very 

 thick, so that we missed much curious scenery. 

 The dark, ragged clouds were rapidly driven over 

 the mountains, from their summits nearly down to 

 their bases. The glimpses which we caught through 

 the dusky mass were highly interesting ; jagged 

 points, cones of snow, blue glaciers, strong out- 

 lines, marked on a lurid sky, were seen at different 

 distances and heights. In the midst of such scen- 

 ery we anchored at Cape Turn, close to Mount 

 Sarmiento, which was then hidden in the clouds. 

 At the base of the lofty and almost perpendicular 

 sides of our little cove there was one deserted wig- 

 wam, and it alone reminded us that man sometimes 

 wandered into these desolate regions, but it would 

 be difficult to imagine a scene where he seemed to 

 have fewer claims or less authority. The inanimate 

 works of nature — rock, ice, snow, wind, and water 

 — all waning with each other, yet combined against 

 man — here reigned in absolute sovereignty. 



June 9th. — In the morning we were delighted 

 by seeing the veil of mist gradually rise from Sar- 

 miento, and display it to our view. This mountain, 

 which is one of the highest in Tierra del Fuego, 



