THE COLDER TEMPERATE ZONE. 69 



island, and the adjacent one of Staten Land, seem hardly 

 so bad as Lord Anson described them ; or rather, the ap- 

 pearance of the country was no doubt very different as he 

 saw it, in autumn, to that which it showed in the middle of 

 summer, when the two naturalists, Sir Joseph Banks and 

 Dr. Solander, visited it (in the year 1769), in company with 

 Captain Cook. Lord Anson speaks of " high craggy hills 

 towering above each other, mostly covered with snow " of 

 " deep horrid valleys ; some few scattered trees ; no plains ; 

 nor one cheerful green through all the dismal prospect ;" 

 and he considered the inhabitants of that " land of desola- 

 tion" to be " the most miserable of human beings." 



In Staten Land, the " horror and wildness" with which 

 Lord Anson depicted it " were not discernible by Banks ;" 

 on the contrary, the land was neither destitute of wood or 

 verdure, nor covered with snow. Tierra del Fuego also is 

 described by Captain Cook as having "the sea-coast and 

 the sides of the hills clothed with an agreeable verdure, 

 with a brook at the foot of almost every hill." This account 

 is confirmed by Dr. Hooker, who speaks of the "wild wood- 

 land scenery, secluded bays, precipitous mountains, and in- 

 teresting vegetation of Tierra del Fuego " though something 

 of the "horror and wildness" is implied in the words which 



