Dec. 1826. 



SEA-WEED OR KELP. 



13 



the peculiar tides of which former navigators have written. 

 During the first half of the flood^' or westward tide, the depth 

 decreased, and then, after a short interval, increased until three 

 hours after the stream of tide had begun to run to the eastward. 



The following morning (21st) we gained a little ground. 

 Our glasses were directed to the shore in search of inhabitants, 

 for it was hereabouts that Byron, and Wallis, and some of the 

 Spanish navigators held communication with the Patagonian 

 Indians ; but we saw none. Masses of large sea-v/eed,*j" drift- 

 ing with the tide, floated past the ship. A description of this 

 remarkable plant, although it has often been given before, may 

 not be irrelevant here. It is rooted upon rocks or stones at 

 the bottom of the sea, and rises to the surface, even from great 

 depths. We have found it firmly fixed to the ground more 

 than twenty fathoms under water, yet trailing along the sur- 

 face for forty or fifty feet. When firmly rooted it shows the 

 set of the tide or current. It has also the advantage of indi- 

 cating rocky ground : for wherever there are rocks under 

 water, their situation is, as it were, buoyed by a mass of sea- 

 weed I on the surface of the sea, of larger extent than that of 

 the danger below. In many instances perhaps it causes un- 

 necessary alarm, since it often grows in deep water ; but it 

 should not be entered without its vicinity having been sounded, 

 especially if seen in masses, with the extremities of the stems 

 trailing along the surface. If there be no tide, or if the wind 

 and tide are the same way, the plant lies smoothly upon the 

 water, but if the wind be against the tide, the leaves curl up 

 and are visible at a distance, giving a rough, rippling appear- 

 ance to the surface of the water. 



During the last two days the dredge had furnished us with 

 a few specimens of Infimdihulum of Sowerby (Patella 

 trochi-formis, Lin.), and some dead shells {Mure.v Mcigellani- 

 cus) were brought up by the sounding-lead. 



We made another attempt next morning, but again lost 



* Flowing- into the strait from the east towt»'ds the west. 



t Fucus giganteus. 



X Usually called by seamen * kelp.' 



