240 



CHARLES DARWIN 



standing, come so strongly before the mind. Everything 

 tends to this effect; the stillness of the night is interrupted 

 only by the heavy breathing of the seamen beneath the tents, 

 and sometimes by the cry of a night-bird. The occasional 

 barking of a dog, heard in the distance, reminds one that it 

 is the land of the savage. 



January 29th. — Early in the morning we arrived at the 

 point where the Beagle Channel divides into two arms; and 

 we entered the northern one. The scenery here becomes 

 even grander than before. The lofty mountains on the north 

 side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country, 

 and boldly rise to a height of between three and four thou- 

 sand feet, with one peak above six thousand feet. They are 

 covered by a wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous 

 cascades pour their waters, through the woods, into the nar- 

 row channel below. In many parts, magnificent glaciers ex- 

 tend from the mountain side to the water's edge. It is 

 scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than 

 the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as con- 

 trasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow. 

 The fragments which had fallen from the glacier into the 

 water were floating away, and the channel with its icebergs 

 presented, for the space of a mile, a miniature likeness of 

 the Polar Sea. The boats being hauled on shore at our 

 dinner-hour, we were admiring from the distance of half a 

 mile a perpendicular cliff of ice, and were wishing that some 

 more fragments would fall. At last, down came a mass with 

 a roaring noise, and immediately we saw the smooth outline 

 of a wave travelling towards us. The men ran down as 

 quickly as they could to the boats; for the chance of their 

 being dashed to pieces was evident. One of the seamen just 

 caught hold of the bows, as the curling breaker reached it: 

 he was knocked over and over, but not hurt; and the boats, 

 though thrice lifted on high and let fall again, received no 

 damage. This was most fortunate for us, for we were a 

 hundred miles distant from the ship, and we should have 

 been left without provisions or fire-arms. I had previously 

 observed that some large fragments of rock on the beach had 

 been lately displaced; but until seeing this wave, I did no: 

 understand the cause. One side of the creek was formed 



