1832.] SMALL BEECH-TREES. 213 



a difference : for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of 

 Life, seemed the predominant spirit. I followed tlflfc water- 

 course till I came to a spot where a great slip had cleared a 

 straight space down the mountain side. By this road I 

 ascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained a good 

 view of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong to one 

 kind, the Fagtcs hetuloides ; for the number of the other 

 species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark is quite in- 

 considerable. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the 

 year ; but its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, 

 with a tinge of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus 

 coloured, it has a sombre, dull appearance ; nor is it often 

 enlivened by the rays of the sun. 



December 20th. — One side of the harbour is formed by a 

 hill about 1500 feet hi^h, which Captain Fitz Roy has 

 called after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous 

 excursion, which proved fatal to two men of his party, and 

 nearly so to Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which was the 

 cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, 

 corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham ! 

 I was anxious to reach the summit of this mountain to collect 

 alpine plants ; for flowers of any kind in the lower parts are 

 few in number. We followed the same watercourse as on the 

 previous day, till it dwindled away, and we were then com- 

 pelled to crawl blindly among the trees. These, from the 

 effects of the elevation and of the impetuous winds, were low, 

 thick, and crooked. At length we reached that which from a 

 distance appeared like a carpet of fine green turf, but which, 

 to our vexation, turned out to be a compact mass of little 

 beech-trees about four or five feet high. They were as 

 thick together as box in the border of a garden, and we were 

 obliged to struggle over the flat but treacherous surface. 

 After a little more trouble we gained the peat, and then the 

 bare slate rock. 



A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some 

 miles, and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying on 

 it. As the day was not far advanced, I determined to walk 

 there and collect plants along the road. It would have been 

 very hard work had it not been for a well-beaten and 

 fraight path made by the guanacos ; for these animals, like 

 lieep, always follow the same line. When we reached the 



ill we found it the highest in the immediate neighbourhood, 



nd the waters flowed to the sea in opposite directions. We 

 obtained a wide view over the surrounding country : to the 



