April 1827. HOPE’S CRUIZE. 81 
point I afterwards took angles, among which the most impor- 
tant gave Mount Sarmiento bearing S. 14° W. (true). Its 
distance must have been (by recent observations) ninety-four 
miles. 
Elizabeth Island is a long, low strip of land, lying parallel 
to the shores of the Strait, which here take a N.N.E. direction. 
Compared with the land to the southward it is very low, no 
part being more than two or three hundred feet high. It is 
composed of narrow ranges of hills, extending in ridges in the 
direction of its length, over which are strewed boulders of the 
various rocks, which have been noticed before as forming the 
shingle beaches of Point St. Mary and Point St. Anna; two 
kinds of rock, greenstone and hornblende, being the most 
common. The vallies which divide the hilly ridges were well 
clothed with grass, and in many places were seen hollows, that 
had contained fresh water, but now were entirely dried up. 
These spots were marked by a white crust, apparently caused 
by the saline quality of the soil. 
Geese and wild ducks, and the red-bill (Hematopus), seem 
to be the only inhabitants of this island. The Indians some- 
times visit it, for at the S.W. end we found remains of wig- 
wams and shell-fish. Perhaps it is a place whence they com- 
municate with the Patagonian natives, or they may in the 
season frequent it for eggs. 
We anchored in Laredo Bay, and visited a lake about a 
mile from the beach, distinguished on the chart by the name 
of Duck Lagoon: it is very extensive, and covered with large 
flights of gulls, ducks, and widgeons. We shot one widgeon, 
which was a most beautiful bird, and of a species we had not 
before seen.* 
Here the country begins to be clothed with the deciduous 
leaved Beech tree (Fagus Antarctica), which is stunted in 
growth, but very convenient for fuel. ‘Though the hardiest 
tree of this region, it is never found of large size, the larger 
trees being the evergreen Beech (Fagus betuloides). We also 
met with several small plants common to Cape Gregory. One 
* “Anas Rafflesii,’ Zool. Journ., vol. iv., and Tab. Supp., xxix. 
VOL. I. G 
