CHAPTER VI. 



SOUTHERN AND WESTERN SHORES OF THE CONTINENT. 



DEL FUEGO appears as if a mountain region 

 had been partly submerged in the ocean, so that 

 deep inlets and bays occupy the place where val- 

 leys would have existed had its base still been above the sea. 

 The greater portion of the mountain-sides are covered, from 

 the water's edge upwards to the elevation of 1500 feet, by 

 one wide-extending forest of ever-green beeches. Scarcely a 

 level spot is to be found throughout the whole country; and 

 so dense is the wood, and encumbered by the trunks of fallen 

 trees and waterfalls, that it is scarcely possible to penetrate 

 it. Here and there on the western side, and in the Strait of 

 Magellan, the forest disappears, and magnificent glaciers ex- 

 tend down to the very water's edge. The mountains on the 

 north side rise to the height of 4000 feet, with one peak above 

 CO 00 feet high, covered with a mantle of perpetual snow; 

 while numerous cascades pour their waters through the woods 

 into the narrow channel below. It is scarcely possible to 

 imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of 

 these glaciers, especially contrasted with the dead white of 

 the upper expanse of snow. 



