THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 197 



On rejoining the ship, early in the forenoon, we found that a 

 few newspapers had been procured from one of the ships 

 which we had seen the day before, and we read with interest 

 the account of the proposed Fenian attack on Chester, with 

 many other details of events occurring at home. 



On the 12th, a very fine day, after spending some time in 

 the second Narrows, we anchored in Gregory Bay, where we 

 remained for the next two days, as it was blowing too much 

 to permit of work being accomplished. On the 15th the 

 wind was again down, which allowed me to pay a second 

 visit to the Fuegian coast with the officer who had been 

 my companion on the former excursion. We started in the 

 morning, taking with us the fox which we had had on board 

 for some time, and which it was considered advisable to set 

 at liberty, as it had been suffering for a considerable period 

 from a form of skin-disease. Landing first at San Isidro 

 Point, we let loose our four-footed friend, which at first 

 appeared rather to experience "blank misgivings of a crea- 

 ture moving about in worlds not realised ;" but by-and-by 

 trotted off without manifesting any parting tokens of grief 

 or affection. Here I found some specimens of a small green 

 Aphis on the leaves of Senecio candidans ; and after a flag 

 which had been torn by the wind from a staff erected by us 

 on our previous excursion had been replaced by a new one, 

 we embarked and coasted along the edge of Philip Bay, 

 landing now and then for the purpose of construct- 

 ing beacons. We were agreed in thinking that we had 

 never beheld a more uninteresting or monotonous piece of 

 coast, the beach being steep and shelving, composed of 

 innumerable small flattened stones, and presenting no promi- 

 . nent points ; while the country beyond it, to all appearance, 

 stretched inwards for a distance of nine or ten miles nearly 



