i834.] SARMIENTO. 243 



it to our view. This mountain, which is one of the highest 

 in Tierra del Fuego, has an altitude of 6800 feet. Its base, 

 for about an eighth of its total height, is clothed by dusky 

 woods, and above this a field 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 descended 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 tihese 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 10th. — In the morning we made the best of our way 

 into the open Pacific. The western coast generally consists 

 of low, rounded, quite barren 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 East and 

 West Furies ; and a little farther northward there are so 

 many breakers that the sea is called the Milky Way. One 

 sight of such a coast is enough to make a landsman dream 

 for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death ; and with 

 this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego. 



The following discussion on the climate of the southern 

 parts of the continent with relation to its productions, on the 

 snow-line, on the extraordinarily low descent of the glaciers, 

 and on the zone of perpetual congelation in the antarctic 

 islands, may be passed over by any one not interested in 

 these curious subjects, or the final recapitulation alone may 

 be read. I shall, however, here give only an abstract, and 

 must refer for details to the thirteenth chapter and the 

 appendix of tb*» former edition of this work. 



