222 
TIERRA DEL FUEGO 
CHAP. 
to our July, and in the latitude of Durham ! I was anxious to 
reach the summit of this mountain to collect alpine plants ; for 
flowers of any kind in the lower parts are few in number. We 
followed the same watercourse as on the previous day, till it 
dwindled away, and we were then compelled to crawl blindly 
among the trees. These, from the effects of the elevation and 
of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked. At 
length we reached that which from a distance appeared like a 
carpet of fine green turf, but which, to our vexation, turned out 
to be a compact mass of little beech-trees about four or five 
feet high. They were as thick together as box in the border 
of a garden, and we were obliged to struggle over the flat but 
CAPE HORN. 
treacherous surface. After a little more trouble we gained the 
peat, and then the bare slate rock. 
A ridge connected this hill with another, distant some miles, 
and more lofty, so that patches of snow w T ere lying on it. As 
the day was not far advanced, I determined to walk there and 
collect plants along the road. It would have been very hard 
work, had it not been for a well-beaten and straight path made 
by the guanacos ; for these animals, like sheep, always follow 
the same line. When we reached the hill we found it the 
highest in the immediate neighbourhood, and the waters flowed 
to the sea in opposite directions. We obtained a wide view 
over the surrounding country : to the north a swampy moorland 
extended, but to the south we had a scene of savage magni- 
