224 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [ CHAP. X.- 
We sailed on till it was dark, and then pitched our tents ina 
quiet creek. The greatest luxury was to find for our beds a 
beach of pebbles, for they were dry and yielded to the body. 
Peaty soil is damp; rock is uneven and hard; sand gets intc 
one’s meat, when cooked and eaten boat-fashion ; but when lying 
in our blanket-bags, on a good bed of smooth pebbles, we passed 
most comfortable nights. 
It was my watch till one o’clock. There is something very 
solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousness in 
what a remote corner of the world you are then standing, come 
so strongly before the mind. Everything tends to this effect; 
_ the stillness of the night is interrupted only by the heavy breath- 
ing of the seamen bencath the tents, and sometimes by the cry of 
a night-bird. The occasional barking of a dog, heard in the dis- 
tance, reminds one that it is the land of the savage. 
January 29th.—Early in the morning we arrived at the point 
where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms; and we en- 
tered the northern one. The scenery here becomes even grander 
than before. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the 
granitic axis, or backbone of the country, and boldly rise to a 
height of between three and four thousand feet, with one peak 
above six thousand feet. They are covered by a wide mantle 
of perpetual snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters, 
through the woods, into the narrow channel below. In many 
parts, magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to 
the water’s edge. It is scarcely possible to imagine any thing 
more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and 
especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse 
ofsnow. ‘The fragments which had fallen from the glacier into 
the water, were floating away, and the channel with its icebergs 
presented, for the space ofa mile, a miniature likeness of the Polar 
Sea. The boats being hauled on shore at our dinner-hour, we 
were admiring from the distance of half a mile a perpendicular 
cliff of ice, and were wishing that some more fragments would fall. 
At last, down came a mass with a roaring noise, and immediately 
we saw the smooth outline of a wave travelling towards us. The 
men ran down as quickly as they could to the boats ; for the chance 
of their being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the seamen 
just caught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker reached it: 
