38 



LARGE TREES— -WOOD. 



Feb. 18£7. 



ferencc."^ The Commodore may have been pleased by the 

 appearance of these trees, but must have fancied their quality 

 and dimensions such as he describes. The largest are generally 

 rotten at the heart, and all are more or less defective. Their 

 wood is heavy, and far too brittle for masts : we could not 

 use it even for boat-hook staves. It makes, however, tolerable 

 plank for boat-building, and, when seasoned, might be used in 

 ships. For common purposes, such as houses, or fences, it is 

 very serviceable. 



We wandered about to examine the country ; but, except- 

 ing the track of some quadruped, whose foot was small and 

 cloven, rather like a pig's, we saw nothing new. The traces 

 of foxes were numerous every where. We found no fish of 

 any description in the river. Geese and wild ducks were 

 numerous, whose young were at this time scarcely fledged, and 

 an easy prey. We also observed here, for the first time, the 

 parroquet, which Bougainville described to be common in the 

 Strait. He carried specimens home with him; but some 

 naturalists of those days decided that there must have been a 

 mistake, because, as they averred, parroquets did not exist in 

 so high a latitude. Bougainville, however, made no mistake, 

 for the species-f- is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Port 

 Famine, and has been seen by us in all parts of the Strait, It 

 feeds principally upon the seeds of the WinterVbark. The 

 existence of this bird in Tierra del Fuego is also mentioned by 

 Cook and Narborough.=* 



* I. c. 



t Psitiacus smm'agdinus, Grael. I have no doubt that the bird we 

 saw is the same as Boug-ainville procured, and from which a description 

 has been given in the Ency. Meth., art. Ornith. 139 ; although a material 

 error is made, for they are not splendidc viridis, nor is the uropygium red ; 

 in other points, however, the description is correct. See Buifon's Hist. 

 Nat. des Oiseaux, vi. 262. PI. enl. n. 85, Perruche des Terres Magel- 

 laniques. 



• Bougainville says, " we have likewise perceived some perrokeets : 

 the latter are not afraid of the cold." To which the English translator, 

 T. R. Forster, who is incredulous of the correctness of Bougainville's 

 assertion, appends the following note : " Perruches, probably sea-parrots, 



or 



