140 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
long walk with him to the summit of the central hill 
of the island. How beautiful it was when we reached 
it! On one side were Cape Vincent, Martha, and Mar- 
guerita Islands, flooded with the sunset light, their 
yellowish clay cliffs turned to golden, and on the 
other the quiet waters of Pechet Harbor enclosed in 
ranges of hills that grew purple and blue in the dis- 
tance, while on the far horizon were the snow moun- 
tains with a broad field of snow looking dim and 
almost incredible to me. I could not believe that I 
was getting my first glimpse of glaciers in the Straits 
of Magellan. I cannot express to you how quiet it 
seemed on that lonely island. As I sat on the hillside 
a wild goose walked about within a few feet of me as 
tranquilly as if no human being were near. Poor fel- 
low, he learned his mistake too soon, for the men from 
the boat came up and after a little chase captured 
him alive. Pourtalés found a deserted Fuegian settle- 
ment on this island, the places where their huts or 
tents, or whatever shelter they live under, had been 
marked by square spots some three feet in diameter 
dug into the ground to a depth of two feet, and in 
front of each such place a pile of shells, the débris of 
their food with stones and flints cut roughly to sharp 
points and used to open the mussels on which they 
chiefly live. We returned to dinner at about five 
o'clock and went to bed early meaning to be up 
with sunrise. At about six o’clock this morning 
we left our anchorage and kept on to Marguerita 
Island where we passed several hours. As we neared 
the island, which is very picturesque in outline with 
