358 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



semi-alpine in its character, the snow-line descending in many 

 parts as low as 3000 feet or less. As a rule, the summits 

 of these mountains, which are not so high as this, are com- 

 posed of bare rock, either worn smooth by the constant flow 

 of water over them, or sharp and jagged like the teeth of a 

 saw. Nearly the only plants noticed on this occasion were a 

 few stunted bushes of Zibocedrus, Berberis ilicifolia, and the 

 evergreen and antarctic beeches, together with a Lyco;podmm, 

 which occurs abundantly in the Strait and Channels, trailing 

 over the damp ground. 



After resting for a short time on the summit, I began the 

 descent, soon finding that the only practicable method of 

 procedure was to sit down and slide, checking my velocity 

 as I best could by catching at the occasional stunted shrubs. 

 I had safely accomplished the greater portion of the way in this 

 manner at an express rate of speed, when I suddenly found 

 myself arrived at the top of a precipice whose height I could 

 not estimate. I therefore grasped a rotten stump at one 

 side, to enable me, if possible, to avoid my apparent fate, 

 but it treacherously snapped in my hand, and the next 

 sensation of which I was conscious was that of lying 

 extended on a bed of soft moss, with a somewhat bewildered 

 idea as to where I was, and blood flowing from my nose and 

 mouth. In a few minutes I collected my senses and got up, 

 feeling considerably bruised, and then found that I had 

 fallen over a cliff about fourteen feet in height. After this 

 the descent was much more gradual, and, having recovered 

 my implements, I joined my companion in course of time, 

 and we retraced our steps together during the rest of 

 the way. In one of the wooded valleys near the foot of the 

 hill I was much delighted by at last finding the pinnate- 

 leaved, and, as I rightly judged, Bignoniaceous creeper, 



