ANCON SIN SALIDA. 



573 



ascertained. The eastern shores of the interior channels were 

 found to be low plains^, with no hills or mountains visible in the 

 distance ; and such being characteristic also of the northern shores 

 of the Otway and Skyring Waters, it is probable that all the coun- 

 try to the east of the sounds is a continued plain. 



Recent traces of Indians were seen in some places ; but at the 

 time our party was there, they were either absent or had concealed 

 themselves. I should not think that these interior sounds are 

 much frequented by them ; a family was, however, met in the 

 passage between the Otway and the Skyring Water, clothed with 

 guanaco skins, like the Patagonian tribes, but in manners and 

 disposition resembling the wandering inhabitants of the Strait and 

 Tierra del Fuego ; and they had canoes, which the Patagonians 

 do not use. They had probably come thus far for the purpose of 

 communicating with the latter tribes, with whom they frequently 

 have friendly intercourse. No guanacoes were seen either on the 

 shores of the inland waters or of the sounds within the ' Ancon 

 sin salida,' although the country, being open and covered with 

 luxuriant grass, was peculiarly suited to their habits; but as 

 several large herds of deer were observed feeding near the sea- 

 shore of Obstruction Sound, and the neighbouring country, the 

 presence of these latter animals may probably be the cause ; for 

 on the eastern coast, where the guanacoes are every where abun- 

 dant, the deer do not make their appearance. Sea-otters were the 

 only other animals that we met with ; but they were only occasion- 

 ally noticed, swimming about the kelp. The shores of the sounds 

 were in many places crowded with the black-necked swan {Anas 

 nigricollis, Linn.), and there were a few seen, but only one cap- 

 tured, whose plumage, excepting the tips of the wings, which 

 were black, was of a dazzling white colour. I have described it 

 in the first part of the Proceedings of the Zoological Society as a 

 new species {Cyg7ius anatoides.) 



The Strait of Magalhaens, being a transverse section of the 

 continent, exhibits a view of its geological structure. The Strait 

 may be divided into three portions ; the western, the central, and 

 the eastern. The western and central are of primitive character, 

 rugged and very mountainous ; but the eastern portion is of recent 

 formation and low. The western tract is composed of a succession 

 of stratified rocks, a difference at once distinguishable by the form 



VOL. I. 2 p 



