XI 
GREAT SEAWEED 
255 
to be of a white colour. We find exquisitely delicate structures, 
some inhabited by simple hydra-like polypi, others by more 
organised kinds, and beautiful compound Ascidiae. On the 
leaves, also, various patelliform shells, Trochi, uncovered mol¬ 
luscs, and some bivalves are attached. Innumerable Crustacea 
frequent every part of the plant. On shaking the great 
entangled roots, a pile of small fish, shells, cuttlefish, crabs of 
all orders, sea-eggs, starfish, beautiful Holuthuriae, Planarise, 
and crawling nereidous animals of a multitude of forms, all 
fall out together. Often as I recurred to a branch of the kelp, 
I never failed to discover animals of new and curious structures. 
In Chiloe, where the kelp does not thrive very well, the numerous 
shells, corallines, and Crustacea are absent; but there yet remain 
a few of the Flustraceae, and some compound Ascidiae ; the 
latter, however, are of different species from those in Tierra del 
Fuego ; we here see the fucus possessing a wider range than 
the animals which use it as an abode. I can only compare 
these great aquatic forests of the southern hemisphere with 
the terrestrial ones in the intertropical regions. Yet if in any 
country a forest was destroyed, I do not believe nearly so 
many species of animals would perish as would here, from 
the destruction of the kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant 
numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else could find 
food or shelter ; with- their destruction the many cormorants 
and other fishing birds, the otters, seals, and porpoises, would 
soon perish also ; and lastly, the Fuegian savage, the miserable 
lord of this miserable land, would redouble his cannibal feast, 
decrease in numbers, and perhaps cease to exist. 
June 8 th .—-We weighed anchor early in the morning and left 
Port Famine. Captain Fitz Roy determined to leave the Strait 
of Magellan by the Magdalen Channel, which had not long 
been discovered. Our course lay due south, down that gloomy 
passage which I have before alluded to, as appearing to lead to 
another and worse world. The wind was fair, but the atmo¬ 
sphere was very thick ; so that we missed much curious scenery. 
The dark ragged clouds were rapidly driven over the mountains, 
from their summits nearly down to their bases. The glimpses 
which we caught through the dusky mass were highly interest- 
ing ; jagged points, cones of snow, blue glaciers, strong outlines, 
marked on a lurid sky, were seen at different distances and 
