THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 101 



a supply of provisions calculated to last for about ten days, 

 were despatched to the opposite Fuegian coast ; and some hours 

 later two other boats, in one of which was Captain Mayne 

 and an officer who acted as his assistant, left the ship for the 

 neighbouring Patagonian shore ; the arrangement being, that 

 Captain Mayne was to undertake the triangulation of the 

 coast, while the officer in command of the second boat, which 

 was the steam-cutter, was to be employed in taking soundings. 

 Leaving the ship in the steam-cutter about one P.M., I joined 

 the shore party. On my way to the land I noticed a con- 

 siderable number of penguins and cormorants on the water. 

 The latter swim with almost the whole of the body be- 

 neath the surface, the head and neck in general alone 

 being visible ; and when in this position they are difficult to 

 shoot, as they dive at the flash of the gun. When on the 

 wing, they are, on the contrary, very readily knocked over, as 

 they commonly fly very close to a boat, apparently possessed 

 of a spirit of great curiosity as to the strange animals 

 on board. In flying they generally keep low down in the air, 

 and flap their wings very rapidly, producing a sound some- 

 what resembling a distant locomotive. 



Many terns were flying about over the water, and a por- 

 tion of the beach was whitened by a great flock of gulls. 

 Immediately above high-water mark, where the shingle and 

 the turf met, a broad light-blue belt, extending for many 

 hundred yards, formed a prominent object, presenting the 

 appearance of a bed of blue flowers ; but a nearer view of it 

 showed that it was composed of a thick bank of dead mussel- 

 sheUs. On landing I met Captain Mayne and his companion, 

 and set out with them on a walk to Direction Hills, a few 

 miles distant. Close to the beach two plants that I had not 

 previously observed were growing plentifully. One of these 



