MOUNTAINS. 



175 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



of animals would perish as would here from the destruction 

 of the kelp. Amidst 

 the leaves of this 

 plant numerous spe- 

 cies of fish live 

 which nowhere else 

 could find food or 

 shelter ; with their 

 destruction the 

 many cormorants 

 and other fishing 

 birds, the otters, 

 seals and porpoises 

 would soon perish 

 also; and lastly, the 

 Fuegian savage, the miserable lord of this miserable land, 

 would redouble his cannibal feast, decrease in numbers, and 

 perhaps cease to exist. 



8TAK-F1S1I. 



MOUNTAINS. 



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 sum- 

 mit to the water's edge, is generally in full view. I remem- 

 ber 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 sue- 



