to the Strait of Magellan, 



fied substances ; on which account M. de Bougainville called it 

 Cape Remarkable. 



The sole difference between these mountains and those' of the 

 Tierra del Fuego, is, that they are not so well covered with 

 wood; nor are the trees there so large or vigorous, being also in 

 general much more loaded witli snow. 



Our utter unacquaintance with minerals may perhaps have 

 been the cause of our meeting with no traces of them in these 

 parts; yet the natives (Indians) often brought to us pieces of a 

 stone with which they light their fires, which they said were 

 found in the mountains ; which stones must, no doubt, con- 

 tain some kind of metal, as we imagined, from the specks 

 of a substance more hard and brilhant than the rest of 

 the stone. When it is struck with the steel, it gives fire, 

 and -smells like sulphur ; from which circumstance it is pro- 

 bable, that minerals of different kinds might be found in the 

 bowels of these mountains,* and that these vestiges indicate 

 the existence of volcanos, in former times, in this part of the 

 globe. 



Although little rain fell during the fifteen days of our resi- 

 dence in the plain part of the strait, yet the dryness which we 

 noticed, seemed to be occasioned more by the sandy, and con- 

 sequently uncompact, nature of the soil, than by the want of 

 rain or dew, which, w^hen they fell, penetrated through it so 

 speedily, that, soon after a shower, it could not be perceived to 

 have rained at all; to which must be added, that the prevailing 

 winds in that quarter are in themselves dry and violent, as might 

 be perceived from the plants, which are all laid over in the di- 

 rection of these winds: on which account, the soil does not 

 appear proper for the cultivation of any European grain, as has 

 been, after many trials, found to be the case in our settlements 

 in the Falkland Islands, of which the soil is of the same kind. 



In all this plain tract of country, we found no river or brook 

 deserving notice, only some tritiing channel, almost without 

 water: but, on the other hand, there are several ponds, or 

 small lakes of fresh water, which serve to supply the inhabit- 

 ants. Of its qualities we can say nothing, as we never used 

 any on-board, on account of the difficulty of procurirg it in 

 any useful quantity. 



It is not easy to ascertain the temperature of the climate of 

 this part of the strait, from the short stay we made in it; for, as 



* Note of the Original. — Pedro Saimiento pretends that this stone is tise ore 

 of silver or of gold de Veta^ as it entirely resembles the curiquixo de porco del Peru : 

 These are his proper term.'}, 



K 2 



