Dec. 1832. 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



231 



The next day I attempted to penetrate some way into the 

 country. Tierra del Fuego may be described as a moun- 

 tainous country^ partly submerged in the sea^ so that deep 

 islets and bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. 

 The mountain sides (except on the exposed western coast) 

 are covered from the water^s edge upwards by one great 

 forest. The trees reach to an elevation of between 1000 and 

 1500 feet ; and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute 

 alpine plants ; and this again is succeeded by the line of per- 

 petual snow, which, according to Captain King, in the Strait 

 of Magellan descends to between 3000 and 4000 feet. To 

 find an acre of level land in any part of the country is most 

 rare. I recollect only one little flat near Port Famine, and 

 another of rather larger extent near Goeree Road. In both 

 these cases, and in all others, the surface was covered by a 

 thick bed of swampy peat. Even within the forest the ground 

 is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable matter, 

 which, from being soaked with water, yields to the foot. 



Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the 

 wood, I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At 

 first, from the waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could 

 hardly crawl along ; but the bed of the stream soon became 

 a little more open, from the floods having swept the sides. I 

 continued slowly to advance for an hour along the broken 

 and rocky banks ; and was amply repaid by the grandeur 

 of the scene. The gloomy depth of the ravine well ac- 

 corded with the universal signs of violence. On every 

 side were lying irregular masses of rock and up-torn trees ; 

 other trees, though still erect, were decayed to the heart and 

 ready to faU. The entangled mass of the thriving and the 

 fallen reminded me of the forests within the tropics ; — yet 

 there was a difi'erence ; for in these still solitudes. Death, in- 

 stead of Life, seemed the predominant spirit. I followed the 

 watercourse till I came to a spot where a great slip had cleared 

 a straight space down the mountain side. By this road I 

 ascended to a considerable elevation, and obtained a good view 

 of the surrounding woods. The trees all belong to one kind. 



