THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 311 



a variety of low shrubs. Behind this stretches an extensive 

 tract of elevated and boggy land, abounding in patches and 

 tarns of fresh water, certain of which are united in chains 

 by rapidly-flowing streams, and are large enough to merit 

 the designation of small lakes ; and this is in its turn suc- 

 ceeded by a range of steep, rugged, gray hills, with sharply- 

 defined summits. We found that the whole surface of the 

 country was drenched with moisture, a circumstance that 

 made a strong impression on us at the time, but which we 

 subsequently learned was the normal condition of the whole 

 of the land bounding the western part of the Strait and 

 Channels. In the course of a fatiguing scramble through 

 the bushes and over the boggy ground, now and then sinking 

 up to our knees in holes, we found that the vegetation was 

 much the same as that at Playa Parda. On the shrub- 

 covered ground Desfontainea and Philesia abounded, to- 

 gether with a variety of plants of humbler growth, includ- 

 ing the two species of Hymenophyllum previously procured, 

 Callixene marginata, AccBna pumila, GauUheria antarctica, 

 Myrtiis nummularia, Festuca Fuegiana, etc. ; while the surface 

 of the bogs was covered with a dense coating of Gaimardia, 

 Caltha dionecefolia, and Astelia, together with species of 

 Sphagnum and other mosses. The Astelia, a plant referred 

 by some botanists to the Juncacem, and by others regarded as 

 the type of a distinct order, is extremely abundant through- 

 out the boggy country of the Channels and the western portion 

 of the Strait. The flowers are white, about half-an-inch in 

 diameter, and have a very pretty appearance when viewed 

 en masse. In the pools of water a Juncaceous plant {Rostkovia) 

 was abundant, and attracted our attention by its curious 

 habit of growth, the leaves arising at regular intervals in 

 single file from the creeping soboles, which intersect the pools 



