XIII 
SAN PEDRO 
299 
In the evening we reached the island of San Pedro, where 
we found the Beagle at anchor. In doubling the point, two of 
the officers landed to take a round of angles with the theodolite. 
A fox (Canis fulvipes), of a kind said to be peculiar to the island, 
and very rare in it, and which is a new species, was sitting on 
the rocks. He was so intently absorbed in watching the work 
of the officers, that I was able, by quietly walking up behind, to 
knock him on the head with my geological hammer. This fox, 
more curious or more scientific, but less wise, than the generality 
of his brethren, is now mounted in the museum of the Zoological 
Society. 
We stayed three days in this harbour, on one of which 
Captain Fitz Roy, with a party, attempted to ascend to the 
summit of San Pedro. The woods here had rather a different 
appearance from those on the northern part of the island. The 
rock, also, being micaceous slate, there was no beach, but the 
steep sides dipped directly beneath the water. The general 
aspect in consequence was more like that of Tierra del Fuego 
than of Chiloe. In vain we tried to gain the summit: the 
forest was so impenetrable that no one who has not beheld it 
can imagine so entangled a mass of dying and dead trunks. I 
am sure that often, for more than ten minutes together, our feet 
never touched the ground, and we were frequently ten or fifteen 
feet above it, so that the seamen as a joke called out the sound¬ 
ings. At other times we crept one after another, on our hands 
and knees, under the rotten trunks. In the lower part of the 
mountain, noble trees of the Winter’s Bark, and a laurel like the 
sassafras with fragrant leaves, and others, the names of which I 
do not know, were matted together by a trailing bamboo or cane. 
Here we were more like fishes struggling in a net than any other 
animal. On the higher parts, brushwood takes the place of larger 
trees, with here and there a red cedar or an alerce pine. I was 
also pleased to see, at an elevation of a little less than 1000 
feet, our old friend the southern beech. They were, however, 
poor stunted trees ; and I should think that this must be nearly 
their northern limit. We ultimately gave up the attempt in 
despair. 
December 10 th .—The yawl and whale-boat, with Mr. Sulivan, 
proceeded on their survey, but I remained on board the Beagle , 
which the next day left San Pedro for the southward. On the 
