'the strait of MAGELLAN. 305 



carried out in the settlement, under the superintendence of 

 the recently appointed governor ; and the noise of the axes of 

 the emigrants was to be heard breaking the silence of the 

 woods. A few parrots and one or two other birds were shot, 

 and I obtained specimens of a viscid yellow-flowered Composite, 

 a species of Madia, found in the previous season in Fuegia. 

 The following day, which was very fine, a party of us, consisting 

 of Captain Mayne and three of the officers, with myself, 

 landed early, and after breakfasting with the governor, rode 

 out with him to look at the deposit of coal. The woods 

 through which we passed were in great beauty, the foliage of 

 the greater number of the trees appearing of a vivid green in 

 the bright sunlight ; while here and there, where the river had 

 lately overflowed its banks, groups of trees, the base of whose 

 trunks was buried in a deposit of sand and clay, had assumed 

 prematurely autumnal tints of yellow, brown, and red. 



We remained at Sandy Point till early on the morning of 

 the 2d of March, when we returned to Sta. Magdalena to pick 

 up the boats left there. The officers, on coming on board, 

 brought me a fine specimen of a sheathbill {Chionis alba), and 

 one of a skua gull {Zestris antarctica). We anchored off the 

 island that evening, and as next morning it was raining 

 heavily, we did not get under way till nearly eleven A.M., 

 when we went slowly over to Laredo Bay to pick up the boat 

 left at Peckett Harbour. The 4th was a magnificent day. 

 The ship was employed in sounding on the Fuegian coast, and 

 between five and six p.m. she anchored at the entrance of 

 Gente Grande Bay, inside Quartermaster Island. Immedi- 

 ately thereafter a large party landed on the low spit, which, 

 as I have earlier mentioned, occurs at the northern extremity 

 of the island. As we stepped on shore we noticed the onl} 

 specimen of a kelp-goose {CUoe^phaga antarctica) ever seen by 

 us in the eastern part of the Strait ; and I found the steep 



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