cuar, X.] SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS. 209 
all wore our untrimmed beards. They examined the colour of 
his skin, and compared it with ours. One of our arms being 
bared, they expressed the liveliest surprise and admiration at its 
whiteness, just in the same way in which I have seen the ourang- 
outang do at the Zoological Gardens. We thought that they 
mistook two or three of the officers, who were rather shorter and 
fairer, though adorned with large beards, for the ladies of our 
party. The tallest amongst the Fuegians was evidently much 
pleased at his height being noticed. When placed back to back 
with the tallest of the boat’s crew, he tried his best to edge on 
higher ground, and to stand on tiptoe. He opened his mouth to 
show his teeth, and turned his face for a side view; and all this 
was done with such alacrity, that I dare say he thought himself 
the handsomest man in Tierra del Fuego. After our first feel- 
ing of grave astonishment was over, nothing could be more 
ludicrous than the odd mixture of surprise and imitation which 
these savages every moment exhibited. ' 
The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the 
country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous 
land, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets and 
bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. The moun- 
tain sides, except on the exposed western coast, are covered from 
the water’s edge upwards by one great forest. ‘The trees reach 
to an elevation of between 1000 and 1500 feet, and are suc- 
ceeded by a band of peat, with minute alpine plants; and this 
again is succeeded by the line of perpetual snow, which, accord- 
ing to Captain King, in the Strait of Magellan descends to be- 
tween 3000 and 4000 feet. To find an acre of level land in any 
part of the country is most rare. I recollect only one little flat 
piece near Port Famine, and another of rather larger extent near 
Goeree Road. In both places, and everywhere else, the surface 
is covered by a thick bed of swampy peat. Even within the 
forest, the ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying 
vegetable matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields 
to the foot. 
Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the wood, 
I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first, from the 
waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardly crawlalong ; 
