438 KATURAL HISTORY OF 



the officers in a small lake of brackish water from which the 

 port derives its name. 



On the 26th we got under way at an early hour, and 

 having parted with our pilot, who joined a wooding party 

 from Quehuy^ we passed into the Darwin Channel, the 

 scenery of which is of a very bold, striking nature, and 

 passed into open water about noon. There was a very 

 heavy sea on when we cleared the land, but fortunately a 

 strong wind in our favour, so that, though the style of our 

 progression was far from agreeable, we made good way 

 through the night, rounding Cape Tres Montes next morning, 

 and then crossing the Gulf of Pefias to the Messier Channel, 

 which we entered early in the afternoon, finding heavy rain 

 descending as usual. We anchored in Connor Cove between 

 six and seven p.m., and it rained hard all night and through- 

 out the greater part of next day, with occasional furious 

 squalls, which made us feel thankful that we were lying in a 

 comfortable berth, instead of being out at sea. As the rain 

 cleared off in the evening, a few of us pulled up the stream 

 opening into the head of the cove, and landed in various spots, 

 finding everything drenched with moisture. I noticed some 

 fine flowering specimens of the Campsidium, but they occurred 

 too high up on the trees to be attainable ; and I found for 

 the first time specimens in bloom of a pretty heath-like plant 

 common in the Straits and Channels, and ascending the stems 

 of the trees to a height of ten feet or more. This was the 

 Lebetanthus Americanus, the sole South American representa- 

 tive, I believe, of the order Epacridacese. The flowers are 

 small, of a pretty pink colour, and deliciously fragrant. 



On the morning of the 29th we got under way, and 

 moved onwards to a new port. Gray Harbour, immediately to 

 the south of Halt Bay. Many heavy showers fell throughout 



