322 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



being the prevailing forms among the last mentioned) ; and the 

 trees frequently grow so thickly together that we often, when 

 on shore, walked considerable distances on the low branches 

 and prostrate trunks at a height of several feet from the 

 ground— an experience likewise recorded by the old navigator 

 Sarmiento in his account of these parts. 



On the beach of this island I picked up some dead valves 

 of a large Peden which I had not seen before, and which 

 made me hope to procure live specimens in the dredge, but 

 in this I was disappointed. We intended to have moved 

 onwards on the l7th, but rain fell in torrents throughout the 

 day, concealing the land from view to such an extent as 

 would have rendered it very difficult, if not impossible, for us 

 to thread our way through the various intricate passages 

 which lay before us, and we accordingly remained at anchor. 

 On the 18th the weather had greatly improved, rain falling 

 but slightly ; and though there was a very cloudy sky over- 

 head, the sun occasionally shone out brightly for a few 

 minutes, and we began to hope that the climate was not quite 

 so bad as we had at first supposed. We left the Otter 

 Islands in the morning, and passed northwards, entering the 

 Sarmiento Channel, where, after a prolonged but unavailing 

 search for a suitable anchorage, we halted in a small cove 

 in Piazzi Island at six p.m., and there remained for the night. 

 We passed through some very fine rugged scenery this 

 day, noticing many remarkable mountain-peaks, and gain- 

 ing a view for a short time of a magnificent glacier of great 

 extent. Next morning we continued our northerly course, 

 rain descending in floods without intermission during most 

 of the day ; and about five p.m. we anchored in Puerto 

 Bueno, a fine harbour on the coast of the mainland in the 

 northern part of the Sarmiento Channel. Here there were 



