226 SURVEYING BEAGLE CHANNEL, [chap, x. 



Captain FItz Roy determined to send the yawi and one 

 whale-boat back to the ship ; and to proceed with the two 

 other boats, one under his own command (in which he most 

 kindly allowed me to accompany him), and one under Mr. 

 Hammond, to survey the western parts of the Beagle 

 Channel, and afterwards to return and visit the settlement. 

 The day, to our astonishment, was overpoweringly hot, so 

 that our skins were scorched : with this beautiful weather, 

 the view in the middle of the Beagle Channel was very 

 remarkable. Looking towards either hand, no object 

 intercepted the vanishing points of this long canal between 

 the mountains. The circumstance of its being an arm of 

 the sea was rendered very evident by several huge whales * 

 spouting in different directions. On one occasion I saw 

 two of these monsters, probably male and female, slowly 

 swimming one after the other, within less than a stone's 

 throw of the shore, over which the beech-tree extended its 

 branches. 



We sailed on till it was dark and then pitched our tents 

 in a quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our 

 beds a beach of pebbles, for they were dry and yielding to 

 the body. Peaty soil is damp ; rock is uneven and hard ; 

 sand gets into one's meat when cooked and eaten boat- 

 fashion ; but when lying in our blanket-bags, on a good 

 bed of smooth pebbles, we passed most comfortable nights. 



It was my watch till one o'clock. There is something 

 very solemn in these scenes. At no time does the conscious- 

 ness in what a remote corner of the world you are then 

 standing come so strongly before the mind. Everything 

 tends to this effect ; the stillness of the night is interrupted 

 only by the heavy breathing of the seamen beneath the 

 tents, and sometimes by the cry of a night-bird. The 

 occasional barking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds 

 one that it is the land of the savage. 



January 2<^th. — Early in the morning we arrived at the 

 point where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms ; 

 and we entered the northern one. The scenery here 

 becomes even grander than before. The lofty mountains 

 on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone 

 of the country, and boldly rise to a height of between three 



* One day, off the east coast of Tierra del Fuego, we saw a grand sight in 

 several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the water, with the 

 exception of their tail-fins. As they fell down sideways, they splashed the 

 water high up, and the sound reverberated like a distant broadside. 



