192 
FROM VALPARAISO TO PORTSMOUTH. 
visible, containing numerous shells, and bones belonging to different animals. It was 
evident, almost at the first glance, that we had before us an object not unfamiliar to the 
man of science—an accumulation of the remains of animals which had served as food to 
human beings who at one time inhabited this 
spot, or resorted to it in search of nourish¬ 
ment. The following will best illustrate the 
arrangement and relative depths of the strata 
composing this bank: —a, Present surface- 
layer, about one foot deep; b, alluvial soil 
and gravel, about two and a-half feet deep; 
c, former grassy surface, carbonised, about 
six inches deep ; d, old layer of alluvial 
sand and gravel, about two feet deep; e, 
kitchen-midden, a conglomerate of shells, 
bones of birds, seals, sea-lions, &c., with 
arrow-heads, cores of flint, &c., varying in depth from a few inches to five feet; f, hill 
from which the alluvial stuff has been washed down. 
The different layers of sand and gravel and of vegetable soil which had been formed 
above the kitchen-midden showed that the latter could not be of recent date. Also, the 
manner in which it had been exposed by the erosive action of the waves proved that this 
deposit must have extended at one time further to seaward. Perhaps, at a period when 
Elizabeth Island was still joined to the mainland, this spot may have been inhabited by 
generations of Patagonians or Fuegians, attracted hither by the abundant supplies offered 
by the sea. The shallow soundings found in the eastern entrance of Magellan Strait, 
moreover, point to a former connection between Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, so that 
the site upon which this accumulation of refuse was found was probably situated at the 
head of an inlet now constituting the western portion of the Strait. 
While savants and sailors were busily searching about for bones and other scientific 
treasures, a mail-steamer passed close to the island. The passengers who crowded the deck 
seemed at a loss to discover with what intent a number of men were engaged in scraping 
the earth of a lonely and deserted island which did not produce a single tree or shrub— 
possibly they took us for a party of diggers “ prospecting.” 
Having collected a large number of bones, flints, a human implement in the shape of a 
bone sharpened to a point so as to form a kind of dagger, a small piece of obsidian, &c., we 
proceeded on our way towards the Falkland Islands. We had now left the mountains—which a 
traveller coming from the east sees for the first time on approaching Punta Arenas—far behind 
us. The Strait was bounded on the one side by the plains of eastern Patagonia, on the other 
by those of Tierra del Fuego, here and there relieved by low hills. Shortly after noon on the 
20th, the Challenger passed Cape Virgins, and re-entered the Atlantic after an absence of two 
years. The weather on the following days was stormy, with mist and showers of rain. About 
SECTION OF KITCHEN-MIDDEN. 
