263 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Strait of Magellan — Port Famine — Geology — Deep water in channels — 

 Erratic boulders — Climate — Limit of fruit trees — Mean temperature — 

 Luxuriant forests — Rigour of antarctic islands — Contrast with the 

 north — Snow-line, great flexure of — Glaciers — Icebergs transport 

 fragments of rock — Glacier in low latitude — Absence of erratic 

 blocks in intertropical regions — Glaciers and tropical vegetation 

 — Comparison with northern hemisphere — Siberian animals in ice — 

 Embedded in cold mud — Edible fungus — Zoology — Fucus giganteus — 

 Leave Tierra del Fuego. 



STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 



In the end of May, 1834, we entered for the second time 

 the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan. Having beat 

 our way against wind and wave we anchored at Gregory 

 Bay, and had an interview with the so-called gigantic 

 Patagonians ; of whom Captain FitzRoy has given so good an 

 account. The country on both sides of the strait, in this 

 part, consists of level plains, like those of the rest of Pata- 

 gonia. Cape Negro, a little past the second narrow, may 

 be considered as the point where the land begins to assume 

 the marked features of Tierra del Fuegb. On the east coast, 

 south of the Strait, broken park-like scenery in a like man- 

 ner connects these two countries, which are oj^posed to each 

 other in almost every point. It is truly surprising to find in 

 a space of twenty miles such a change in the landscape. If 

 we take rather a greater distance, as between Port Famine 

 and Gregory Bay, that is about sixty miles, the difference is 

 still more wonderful. At the former place we have rounded 

 mountains concealed by impervious forests, which are 

 drenched with the rain, brought by an endless succession of 

 gales ; while at Cape Gregory there is a clear and bright blue 

 sky over the dry and sterile plains. The atmospheric cur- 



