222 TIERRA DEL FUEGO chap. 



to our July, and in the latitude of Durham ! I was anxious to 

 reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants ; for 

 flowers of any kind in the lower parts are few in number. We 

 followed the same watercourse as on the previous day, till it 

 dwindled away, and we were then compelled to crawl blindly 

 among the trees. These, from the effects of the elevation and 

 of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked. At 

 length we reached that which from a distance appeared like a 

 carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out 

 to be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five 

 feet high. They were as thick together as box in the border 

 of a garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but 



CAPE HORN, 



treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained the 

 peat, and then the bare slate rock. 



A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles, 

 and more lofty, so that patches of snow were lying on it. As 

 the day was not far advanced, I determined to walk there and 

 collect plants along the road. It would have been very hard 

 work, had it not been for a well-beaten and straight path made 

 by the guanacos ; for these animals, like sheep, always follow 

 the same line. When we reached the hill we found it the 

 highest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters flowed 

 to the sea in opposite directions. We obtained a wide view 

 over the surrounding country : to the north a swampy moorland 

 extended, but to the south we had a scene of savage magni- 



