WESTERN PATAGONtA. 



569 



spears. Among others there is one, the wood of which being ex- 

 tremely hard and weighty, answers better than the rest for fuel : 

 the sealers call it * the red wood/ from its colour. From the 

 great quantity of timber which grows here it would be naturally 

 supposed probably that spars for masts could be easily obtained^ 

 or at least wood useful for less important purposes ; but although 

 many trees were found that were sufficiently large at the base, they 

 grew to no great height ; and, in consequence of the moisture of 

 the climate, and the crowded state of the forests preventing the 

 admission of the sun's rays, the wood generally proved to be 

 decayed in the heart ; besides being very apt, even after a long 

 seasoning, to warp and split when exposed to a dry air. 



Ten miles beyond White-kelp Cove, which is fifty miles within 

 the entrance, the character of the Mesier Channel changes entirely ; 

 the shore on either side being formed of mountainous and preci- 

 pitous ridges rising abruptly from the water. After this, at Halt 

 Bay, twenty-three miles beyond White-kelp Cove, the channel 

 narrows for a considerable distance, and in three particular places 

 is not more than four hundred yards wide. This part of the 

 channel is called in the chart the English Narrow. It is long 

 and intricate, with many islands strewed throughout; and preserves 

 its tortuous and frequently narrow course to its junction with the 

 Wide Channel, in which the breadth increases to two miles and 

 a half; and then, running thirty-four miles with a direct and unim- 

 peded course, falls into the Concepcion Strait as above stated. 



At the point wdiere the Mesier and the Wide Channels unite, a 

 deep sound extends to the N. N. E. for forty-six miles. It was 

 named Sir George Eyre Sound. An extensive glacier sloping 

 into the sea from the summit of a range of high snowy mountains, 

 that are visible from many parts of the Mesier Channel, terminates 

 this sound ; and near the head of it several large icebergs, contain- 

 ing no inconsiderable blocks of granite, were found aground.* 



* Near Falcon Inlet, seven miles up the eastern side of Sir George 

 Eyre Sound, are some large ' rookeries,' or breeding-haunts, of fur- 

 seal. Many thousands of these animals were congregated together, 

 which probably had been driven from the sea-coast by the activity of the 

 seal-fishers ; and perhaps, for many years, if not ages, have been breeding 

 undisturbed in this hitherto unknown, and therefore safe and quiet recess. 

 Two seals that were killed appeared to be of the same description as the 

 species which frequents the sea-coasts. 



