SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS 



according to Captain King, in the Strait of Magellan descends 

 to between 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 every- 

 where 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 

 crawl along : but the bed of the stream soon became a little 

 more open, from the floods having swept the sides. I continued 

 slowly to advance for an hour along the broken and rocky 

 banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of the scene. 

 The gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded with the universal 

 signs of violence. On every side were lying irregular masses 

 of rock and torn-up trees ; other trees, though still erect, were 

 decayed to the heart and ready to fall. The entangled mass 

 of the thriving and the fallen reminded me of the forests within 

 the tropics — yet there was a difference : for in these still 

 solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the predominant spirit. 

 I followed the watercourse till I came to a spot where a great 

 slip had cleared a straight space down the mountain side. By 

 this road I ascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained 

 a good view of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong 

 to one kind, the Fagus betuloides ; for the number of the other 

 species of Fagus and of the Winter's Bark is quite inconsider- 

 able. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year ; but 

 its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, with a tinge 

 of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured, it has a 

 sombre, dull appearance ; nor is it often enlivened by the rays 

 of the sun. 



December 20th. — One side of the harbour is formed by a 

 hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called 

 after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous excursion 

 which proved fatal to two men of his party, and nearly so to 

 Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which was the cause of their 

 misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding 



