THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 349 



while skinning the Fteroptochos obtained on the previous day, 

 I found a number of small scarlet mites around and within 

 the external aperture of the ear. The afternoon was directed 

 to rambling about the neighbourhood of Halt Bay. I again 

 observed a pinnate-leaved creeper seen at Port Otway and 

 Island Harbour, forming cords, sometimes as much as twenty 

 feet long, depending from the branches of the trees, and 

 sought eagerly for flowering specimens, but in vain. Heavy 

 rain set in between three and four p.m., and continued to fall 

 in torrents until the afternoon of the 23d, when the clouds 

 cleared off, and next day (24th) was splendidly clear and 

 frosty. A party of us devoted the afternoon to cruising about 

 from place to place in the dingy, two of our number ascending 

 a hill, from the top of which we had a fine view of the Messier 

 Channel, with its various islands and inlets. The only ad- 

 ditional plants procured were a handsome lichen and the little 

 Pinguicula antardica, which had evidently long before passed 

 out of flower. We saw several humming-birds ; and in the 

 bay we shot a steamer-duck, and attempted to secure two 

 others, which, however, foiled us, by steaming off at a 

 tremendous rate (I should think not less than seven or eight 

 knots an hour), making a noise like that of a paddle-wheel 

 steamer in the distance, and leaving a wake of foam which 

 extended for several hundred yards behind them. On our 

 return to the ship, between five and six p.m., we learned that 

 a party of Indians had been on board and had bartered some 

 otter and deer skins for tobacco. Judging from the dimensions 

 of a deer's foot, which was shown to me, the animal must 

 have been of considerable size. 



The 25th was another day of great beauty, the frost still 

 lasting, and we left Halt Bay in the forenoon, and passing 

 through the English Narrows, anchored in Eden Harbour. 



