CHAPTER VI. 



TERRA DEL FUEGO. 

 1839. 



Orange Harbour is on the western side of Nassau Bay, separated 

 and protected from it by Burnt Island. It is nearly land-locked, and 

 is the safest harbour on the coast. The hills on each side, after 

 several undulations, rise into conical peaks, and the naked rock is 

 every where broken into a jagged outline, with no creeping plants to 

 soften or take off its harshness. Every thing has a bleak and wintry 

 appearance, and is in excellent keeping with the climate ; yet the 

 scenery about it is pleasing to the eye, bounded on all sides by 

 undulating hills, which are covered with evergreen foliage. Distant 

 mountains, some of which are capped with snow, shooting up in a 

 variety of forms, seen beyond the extensive bays, form a fine back- 

 ground. From the vessels, the hills look like smooth downs, and if it 

 were not for the inclemency and fitfulness of the weather, they might 

 be contemplated with some pleasure. 



The hills are covered with dense forests of beech, birch, willow, 

 and winter-bark. Some of the former trees are forty or fifty feet high, 

 having all 'their tops bent to the northeast by the prevailing south- 

 west winds. They are remarkably even as to height, having more 

 the look, at a distance, of heath, than of forest trees. 



The whole coast has the appearance of being of recent volcanic 

 rocks, but all our investigations tended to prove the contrary. We 

 nowhere found any cellular lava, pumice, or obsidian, nor was there 

 any granite, or other primitive rock seen, though reported by Captain 

 King as existing. The rock was trachytic, or of trap formation, 

 apparently having undergone more or less action by fire. 



Immediately on our arrival at Orange Harbour, active preparations 

 were made for a short cruise to the Antarctic. Although the season 



(U9) 



