X 
GLACIERS ENTERING THE SEA 
2 37 
in our blanket-bags, on a good bed of smooth pebbles, we passed 
most comfortable nights. 
It was my watch till one o’clock. There is something very 
solemn in these scenes. At no time does the consciousness in 
what a remote corner of the world you are then 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 29 th .—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 thousand 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 narrow channel below. In many 
parts, magnificent glaciers extend 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 contrasted 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 firearms. I had previously observed that some 
large fragments of rock on the beach had been lately displaced ; 
