FIRST PASSINCx THROUGH HELLGATE 273 



How we managed to get her off it is impossible to describe ; 

 we did it somehow. The next morning was still wind}', but we 

 steamed along the Canal de los Tempanos under Mount lUienos 



f.l.Ai ll.k I)i; LOS TKMI'A.NOS 



Aires, and there it was that a fire broke out on the launch. This 

 was an accident we always dreaded, for, having no room elsewhere. 

 we were obliged to pile the fuel round her engine, with the result 

 that it occasionally became dangerously heated. 



Landing at the end of the Canal de los Tempanos we found 

 ourselves in forests of mai^nificent timber. The veijetation was 

 rank and luxuriant, a mass of decay under a lorcst oi lite. hrom 

 the swampy dank ground tall stems sprang up straight and branch- 

 less as palms, while at their feet grew a carpet of ferns. 



We had some marvellous days of fine weather in the Cordillera, 

 where on the mountain slopes, as winter drew on, the crimson 

 shades crept deeper to mingle with antl finalK change the green. 

 In due time we reached the South Fjord b)- water. The account 

 of a [)revious visit on horseback has alread\- been told. 1 hen we 

 turned homewards, and on the w<i\ 1 secured some good pholt:)s 



