' THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 347 



which clothed the banks, contributed a fine variety of tints to 

 the land in our immediate neighbourhood ; while, by gazing 

 out of the entrance of the harbour, a fine view was gained of 

 some distant mountain-tops freshly whitened with snow that 

 had fallen during the night. 



The morning of the 20th was clear and frosty, and leaving 

 Island Harbour we proceeded southwards through the Messier 

 Channel, anchoring in Halt Bay between five and six p.m. 

 The weather next day was glorious ; calm, bright, clear, 

 and frosty ; and the snow, which was gradually accumulating 

 with the advancing season on the mountains, appeared ex- 

 quisite in its dazzling purity ; in some places sprinkled over 

 the jagged black peaks, and in others forming great wreaths, 

 exhibiting the most smooth and delicate curves, contrasting 

 finely with the lower forest-clad slopes. As the vessel re- 

 mained at anchor to allow the surveyors to carry on their 

 work, a party of the non-surveying officers, myself among the 

 number, borrowed the dingy, and spent the day most agree- 

 ably in pulling about a large bay communicating with our 

 anchorage, and landing at different points. Everywhere the 

 ground was soaking wet, with a covering several feet deep of 

 moss and decaying plants, and, as usual, we had to scramble 

 along, over and under rotting trunks, a rather fatiguing style of 

 progression. At one place, in ascending a low hill, the summit 

 of which commanded a good view of the bay (which was dis- 

 covered to have a fine port, since named, in honour of one of 

 the officers. Gray Harbour, opening into it), we observed the 

 recent tracks of a deer ; and at another spot, a specimen 

 of a very curious bird, the " Guid-guid " or " Barking bird," 

 {Pteroptochos Tamil), was shot while sitting on a bough giving 

 vent to its extraordinary cries. It is common in Chiloe and 

 in the Chonos Archipelago, but we did not expect to meet 



