200 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. x. 



for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the pre- 

 dominant spirit. I followed the watercourse 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 Fagus betuloides ; for the number of the 

 other species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark, is quite incon- 

 siderable. 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 ZQtk. One side of the harbour is formed by a hill about 

 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Koy 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 moun- 

 tain 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 compelled 

 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 baro 

 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 straight path made by the guanacos; 

 for these animals, like sheep, always follow the same line. When 

 we reached the hill we found it the highest in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, and the waters flowed to the sea in opposite direc- 

 tions. We obtained a wide view over the surrounding country : to 

 the north a swampy moorland extended, but to the south we had a 



