66 Cordova's Voyage of Discovery 



other difference than only the addition of some small stones. 

 It appears also, that this soil contains a quantity of very acrid 

 salts, which oppose the vegetation of plants and trees ; there 

 being on it but very few of the former, and not the smallest 

 vestige of the latter. 



As we had no occasion of visiting any part of the Tierra del 

 Fuego, we can only say what appeared to our view at a distance; 

 which is, that it seemed to be in all respects similar to the con- 

 tinent, with this difference only, that it is more broken and 

 uneven ; so that, in that point, it has more resemblance to the 

 Falkland Islands, and that, on that account, it is but probable 

 that the productions of both should be much alike. 



So different from this plain country is the aspect and appear- 

 ance of the mountainous track to the westward, that it seems 

 impossible that nature, which, in her changes, generally preserves 

 a certain gradation, should here make so sudden an alteration. 



It is but natural to suppose, that the lofty mountains which 

 occupy this tract are all of the same qualities ; but it is difficult 

 to ascertain the nature of the soil of which their sides, and the 

 narrow levels at their feet, are composed ; for these parts are 

 dither entirely clothed vTith uncommonly thick forests, whose 

 dead trunks and branches, with other decayed vegetables and 

 shrubs, have formed a surface much raised above the true 

 ground, or they are covered with a kind of plant resembling 

 esparto, (a species of rush, greatly resembling bents, very com- 

 mon in Spain,) but much more brittle, from a palm to half a 

 yard in height; and its colour, when grown up, is like that of 

 esparto when dried, or dead. 



The mountains are covered, in general, with trees, for two- 

 thirds of their height, and the remainder is nothing but a mass 

 of naked, baiTen, and rugged pinnacles, of a reddish colour ; 

 although there are some parts of a different nature, — that is, of ' 

 common granite, called by naturalists saxum, which they con- 

 sider to be the heart, or primitive rock, of all mountains. The 

 upper parts of these ridges are commonly overspread with snow 

 and ice ; vhich, on account of the extreme humidity of the 

 other parts, is dissolved soon after it falls. We observed no- 

 thing particular on the summits of such mountains as we exa- 

 mined, and they appeared in all respects to correspond to the 

 description given by Don A. de Uiloa of the Cordilleras, of 

 ■which these are a part. 



Betw^een Cape Redondo or San Isidro, and Cape Forward, 

 there is a hill very steep, and cut down perpendicularly over the 

 sea, with a depth of water upwards of fifty feet close to the 

 fobt of it, clothed with fair green trees all over the summit, 

 '^vhich seem to be entirely composed of shells and other petri- 



