568 



WESTERN PATAGOKIA. 



of Magalhaens.* This channel is also noticed in one of the two 

 missionary voyages above mentioned ; but the object of these 

 expeditions being for the purpose of converting the Indians to 

 Christianity,! and not for the extension of geographical know- 

 ledge^, little information of that nature could be obtained from 

 their journal : the entrance of the Mesier, however, is described 

 by them ; and on one occasion they were obliged to take refuge 

 in it for fifteen days.J With this exception I cannot find that it 

 had ever been entered before our visit. 



The length of the channel is one hundred and sixty miles, and 

 it joins the Concepcion Strait behind the Madre de Dios archipe- 

 lago, at the Brazo Ancho of Sarmiento. Lieutenant Skyring, 

 who superintended this particular part of the survey, called the 

 land which it insulates, Wellington Island ; the seaward coast of 

 which is fronted by several islands. Fallos Channel, which sepa- 

 rates the Campana and Wellington Islands, was examined, from its 

 northern entrance, for thirty-three miles, and was conjectured, 

 after communicating with the sea at Dynely Sound, to extend to 

 the southward, and fall into the Gulf of Trinidad by one of the 

 deep sounds which were noticed on the north shore. 



About thirty miles within the Mesier Channel, from the northern 

 extremity, the west side appears to be formed by a succession of 

 large islands, many of which are separated by wide channels lead- 

 ing to the south-west, and probably communicating with the Fallos 

 Channel. On the eastern shore the openings were found to be 

 either narrow inlets or abruptly terminating sounds. 



On both sides of the channel the coast is hilly, but not very high, 

 and in many places there is much low and generally thickly wooded 

 land. This character distinguishes the Mesier from other channels 

 in these regions. 



The trees here are nearly of the same description as those which 

 are found in all parts between Cape Tres Montes and the Strait 

 of Magalhaens. Of these the most common are an evergreen 

 beech (Fagus betuloides), a birch-like beech (Fagus antarctica), the 

 Winter's bark {Winterana aromatica^), and a tree with all the 

 appearance and habit of a cypress, of which the Indians make their 



* Agueros, p. 205, et seq. f Ibid. p. 181, et seq. X Ibid. p. 237. 



§ Living plants of the above trees, and other vegetable productions 

 from the Strait of Magalhaens, were introduced into England upon the 

 return of the expedition, and have since thriven exceedingly well. 



