222 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. xr. 



showing the extraordinarily rapid multiplication of horses in South 

 America. The horse was first landed at Buenos Ayres in 1537, 

 and the colony being then for a time deserted, the horse ran wild ; * 

 in 1580, only forty-three years afterwards, we hear of them at the 

 Strait of Magellan! Mr. Low informs me, that a neighbouring 

 tribe of foot-Indians is now changing into horse-Indians : the tribe 

 at Gregory Bay giving them their worn-out horses, and sending in 

 winter a few of their best skilled men to hunt for them. 



June 1st. We anchored in the fine bay of Port Famine. It was 

 now the beginning of winter, and I never saw a more cheerless 

 prospect ; the dusky woods, piebald with snow, could be only seen 

 indistinctly through a drizzling hazy atmosphere. We were, 

 however, lucky in getting two fine days. On one of these, Mount 

 Sarmiento, a distant mountain 6800 feet high, presented a very 

 noble spectacle. I was frequently surprised, in the scenery of 

 Tierra del Fuego, at the little apparent elevation of mountains 

 really lofty. I suspect it is owing to a cause which would not at 

 first be imagined, namely, that the whole mass, from the summit 

 to the water's edge, is generally in full view. I remember having 

 seen a mountain, first from the Beagle Channel, where the whole 

 sweep from the summit to the base was full in view, and then from 

 Ponsonby Sound across several successive ridges ; and it was 

 curious to observe in the latter case, as each fresh ridge afforded 

 fresh means of judging of the distance, how the mountain rose in 

 height. 



Before reaching Port Famine, two men were seen running along 

 the shore and hailing the ship. A boat was sent for them. They 

 turned out to be two sailors who had run away from a sealing- 

 vessel, and had joined the Patagonians. These Indians had 

 treated them with their usual disinterested hospitality. They had 

 parted company through accident, and were then proceeding to 

 Port Famine in hopes of finding some ship. I dare say they were 

 worthless vagabonds, but I never saw more miserable-looking ones. 

 They had been living for some days on mussel-shells and berrie?, 

 and their tattered clothes had been burnt by sleeping so near their 

 fires. They had been exposed night and day, without any shelter, 

 to the late incessant gales, with rain, sleet, and snow, and yet they 

 were in good health. 



During our stay at Port Famine, the Fuegians twice came and 

 * Rengger, Natur. de Saeugetliiere von Paraguay. S. 334. 



