X 
SCENERY OF THE MOUNTAINS 
221 
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 piece near Port Famine, and another of rather 
larger extent near Goeree Road. In both places, and every¬ 
where else, the surface is 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 sw r ept 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 accorded with the universal 
signs of violence. On every side were lying irregular masses 
of rock and torn-up trees ; other trees, though still erect, were 
decayed to the heart and ready to fall. The entangled mass 
of the thriving and the fallen reminded me of the forests within 
the tropics—yet there was a difference: for in these still 
solitudes, Death, instead 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, the Fagus betuloides ; for the number of the other 
species of Fagus and of the Winter’s Bark is quite inconsider¬ 
able. This beech keeps its leaves throughout the year ; but 
its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green colour, with a tinge 
of yellow. As the whole landscape is thus coloured, it has a 
sombre, dull appearance ; nor is it often enlivened by the rays 
of the sun. 
December 20th .—One side of the harbour is formed by a 
hill about 1500 feet high, which Captain Fitz Roy has called 
after Sir J. Banks, in commemoration of his disastrous excursion 
which proved fatal to two men of his party, and nearly so to 
Dr. Solander. The snow-storm, which was the cause of their 
misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding 
