A DESOLATE COAST. 311 



has an altitude of G800 feet. Its base, for about 

 an eighth of its total height, is clothed by dusky 

 woods, and above this a held of snow extends to 

 the summit. These vast piles of snow, which 

 never melt, and seem destined to last as long as 

 the world holds together, present a noble and even 

 sublime spectacle. The outline of the mountain 

 was admirably clear and defined. Owing to the 

 abundance of light reflected from the white and 

 glittering surface, no shadows were cast on any 

 part ; and those lines which intersected the sky 

 could alone be distinguished : hence the mass stood 

 out in the boldest relief. Several glaciers de- 

 scended in a winding course from the upper great 

 expanse of snow to the sea-coast: they may be 

 likened to great frozen Niagaras ; and perhaps 

 these cataracts of blue ice are full as beautiful as 

 the moving ones of water. By night we reached 

 the western part of the channel, but the water was 

 so deep that no anchorage could be found. We 

 were, in consequence, obliged to stand off and on in 

 this narrow arm of the sea during a pitch-dark 

 night of fourteen hours long. 



June iWi, — In the morning we made the best of 

 our way into the open Pacific. The western coast 

 generally consists of low, rounded, qviite baiTen 

 hills of granite and greenstone. Sir J. Narborough 

 called one part South Desolation, because it is " so 

 desolate a land to behold :" and well indeed might 

 he say so. Outside the main islands there are 

 numberless scattered rocks on which the long swell 

 of the open ocean incessantly rages. We passed 

 out between the E. and W. Furies ; and a little far- 

 ther northward there are so many breakers that the 

 sea is called the Milky Way. One sight of such a 

 coast irs enough to make a landsman dream for a week 

 about shipwrecks, peril, and death ; and with this 

 sight we bade farewell forever to Tieri-a del Fuego. 



