172 WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



~ TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



THE BEECH. 



THE central part of Tierra del Fuego, where the clay-slate 

 formation occurs, is most favorable to the growth of trees ; on 

 the outer coast the poorer granitic soil, and a situation more 

 exposed to the violent w T inds, do not allow of their attaining 

 any great size. Near Port Famine I have seen more large 

 trees than anywhere else: I measured a winterVbark which 

 was four feet six inches in girth, and several of the beech 

 were as much as thirteen feet. Captain King also mentions 

 a beech which was seven feet in diameter seventeen feet 

 above the roots. 



THE KELP. 



THEEE is one marine production which, from its impor- 

 tance, is worthy of a particular history; it is the kelp (or 

 Macrocystis pyrifera). This plant grows on every rock, from 

 low r -water mark to a great depth, both on the outer coast of 

 Tierra del Fuego and within the channels. I believe, during 

 the voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, not one rock near 

 the surface was discovered which was not buoyed by this 

 floating weed. The good service it thus affords to vessels 

 navigating near this stormy land is evident ; and it certainly 

 has saved many a one from being wrecked. I know few things 

 more surprising than to see this plant growing and flourish- 

 ing amidst those great breakers of the western ocean, which 

 no mass of rock, let it be ever so hard, can long resist. The 

 stem is round, slimy, and smooth, and seldom has a diameter 



