48 THE BEAGLE TAKEN UP THE VICTORIA. 



we moved the ship three miles further up into a 

 bight on the east side from which Endeavour Hill 

 bore W. 13 S. two miles and a half. 



The Beagle was now nearly fifty miles up the 

 Victoria, and might have gone seven miles further, 

 but a valley holding out a hope that we might find 

 water by digging, and the distance at which the 

 river was fresh being too great for us to think of 

 completing our stock from it, we anchored abreast 

 of it. Whilst on shore getting observations for 

 the errors of the chronometers in the afternoon, I 

 could not avoid soliloquising as I gazed on the 

 ship lying surrounded by lofty rocky heights, that 

 towered above her masts till they appeared mere 

 sticks. The contrast forcibly presented itself be- 

 tween the comparative insignificance to which she 

 was reduced by the elevation of the hills around, 

 and the majestic appearance she was accustomed 

 to bear when among the low lands of which 

 we had seen so much. The sight reminded me of 

 early years of wandering within the narrow arms 

 of the sea in Tierra del Fuego, save and except 

 there were not the forests of ages to hide the naked- 

 ness of the land, which even there was clothed to 

 the water's edge. 



My companion reporting the instruments in the 

 boat broke the reverie I was indulging in ; and on 

 returning on board I found every one busily pre- 

 paring for the expedition up the river. 



