TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



to our Jul}", and in the latitude of Durham I I was anxious to 

 reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants ; for 

 flowers of an\- kind in the lower parts are few in number. We 

 follow^ed the same \\"atcrcourse as on the pre\"ious day, till it 

 dwindled a«-a}-, and we «-ere then compelled to crawl blindly 

 among the trees. These, from the effects of the ele\-ation and 

 of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked. At 

 length we reached that which from a distance appeared like a 

 carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out 

 to be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or fi\-e 

 feet high. The)- were as thick together as box in the border 

 of a garden, and we were obliged to struggle o\'er the flat but 



CAFE HORN. 



treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained the 

 peat, and then the bare slate rock. 



A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles, 

 and more loft}-, so that patches of snow were l}"ing on it. As 

 the da}- was not far ad\"anced, I determined to walk there and 

 collect plants along the road. It would have been very hard 

 work, had it not been for a well-beaten and straight path made 

 b}- the guanacos ; for these animals, like sheep, alwa}-s follow- 

 thc same line. "When w^e reached the hill wc found it the 

 liighest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters flowed 

 to the sea in opposite directions. Wc obtained a wide view 

 o\'er the surrcauiding cciuntr}- : to the north a swamp}- moorland 

 extended, but to the south wc had a scene of sa\'agc magni- 



