A DANGEROUS CHANNEL 185 



the current is so strong that it is necessary to pro- 

 ceed at full speed. Blowing our steam whistle, 

 to warn any ship that might be coming in an 

 opposite direction, we steamed through. On 

 either side of us the mountains towered so high 

 and so close that one almost imagined they were 

 within a stone's throw. Exactly in the centre of 

 the narrows there lay the remains of a steamer 

 which had been wrecked some time before, and 

 we seemed to be carried straight for this by the 

 current, but when close to it we swept aside 

 and steamed safely through. 



Early in the afternoon we anchored in Gray's 

 Harbour, our last anchorage in Smythe's Channel, 

 and here a most delightful afternoon was spent. 

 Birds were more abundant, and examples of 

 several species were shot. A grebe,* much 

 resembling our little grebe, or " dabchick," in 

 appearance, was shot by Lord Crawford. This 

 was the only time we saw a grebe in either the 

 Straits of Magellan or Smythe's Channel. 

 Cormorants of the three species mentioned pre- 

 viously were seen in large numbers. Steamer- 

 ducks were also fairly common, and one, the finest 

 we had yet shot, was obtained by Lord Crawford. 

 I landed alone on a projecting arm of the 

 harbour, and forced my way through the forest. 

 The undergrowth was composed entirely of prickly 

 berberis bushes, while the ground was strewn 



* Podiceps americanus. 



