THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 67 



numerous animals imbedded in the common matrix were a 

 Kght yellow. Attached to the base were two species of 

 Algae, a hydroid Polyp, and a portion of an Annelid tube, 

 formed of fragments of shells cemented together. We re- 

 tired to rest, well pleased to be at anchor again, and looking 

 forward with curiosity to the doings of the following day. 



Next morning before breakfast, while the anchor was 

 being got up, a jackass penguin {Spheniscus Magellanicus) 

 paid us a visit, and was gazed at with much interest as the 

 first specimen of that singular tribe of birds which we had 

 beheld. The day was fine, though cold, and we pursued our 

 way prosperously along the Strait, our course lying nearer the 

 Patagonian than the Fuegian coast, and noticed many places, 

 the names of which, in the course of time, became " familiar 

 in our mouths as household words." Our attention was 

 arrested by the smoke of some Fuegian fires on the coast 

 opposite us, and looking southward we descried some noble 

 snow-crowned peaks, one of which was believed to be Mount 

 Sarmiento, a mountain in Fuegia, nearly 7000 feet high, and 

 designated in honour of the famous Spanish navigator Pedro 

 Sarmiento. After clearing the Second JSTarrows, we passed 

 not far from Elizabeth Island (named after " the bright occi- 

 dental star "), and our sportsmen were much excited by the 

 numbers of geese to be seen upon it. Many other birds were 

 also noticed swimming in the water or flying about, including 

 a few albatrosses, a number of gulls, and great quantities 

 of cormorants with black and white plumage. 



As we neared Cape Negro a change in the aspect of the 

 country took place, for from the entrance of the Strait up to 

 that point low-lying undulating plains, covered with yellow 

 grass and entirely destitute of trees, occurred on both sides 

 of the Strait ; while from the Cape, south-westward, on the 



