in a quarter of the Antarctic Seas that had not been visited by Sir James Ross, attained the 73rd parallel, but no more recent expedition has been fitted out to prosecute his discoveries, and no man after him has seen Mount Erebus vomiting forth its torrents of flame, or traced the stupendous barrier which stopped his progress to the Pole.

Description of the Strait-Western Entrance-Point Dungeness-The NarrowsSaint Philip's Bay-Cape Froward-Grand Scenery-Port Famine-The Sedger River-Darwin's Ascent of Mount Tarn-The Bachelor River - English Reach-Sea Reach-South Desolation-Harbour of Mercy-Williwaws-Dis covery of the Strait by Magellan (October 20, 1521)-Drake-SarmientoCavendish -Schouten and Le Maire-Byron-Bougainville - Wallis and Carteret-King and Fitzroy-Settlement at Punta Arenas-Increasing Passage through the Strait-A future Highway of Commerce.

THE

1

HE celebrated strait which bears the name of Magellan, is generally pictured as the scene of a wild and dreary desolation; but though its climate is far from being genial, and its skies are often veiled with mists and rain, yet nature can smile even here.

A glance at the map shows us the extreme irregularity of its formation, as it is constantly changing in width and direction; now swelling almost to the magnitude of a Medi

FORMATION OF MAGELLAN'S STRAIT.

491

terranean Sea, and then again contracting to a narrow passage; sometimes taking a rapid turn to the north, and at others as suddenly deviating to the south. Islands and islets of every form-some mere naked rocks, others clothed with umbrageous woods-are scattered over its surface; promontories without number, from the Patagonian mainland or the Fuegian archipelago, protrude their bold fronts into its bosom, as if with the intention of closing it altogether; and countless bays and havens are scooped into its rocky shores, as if the sea in a thousand different places had striven to open a new passage to her waters.

The western entrance of this remarkable strait is formed by Queen Catherine's Foreland (Cape Virgins) and Point Dungeness, the latter having been thus named from its resemblance to the well known Kentish promontory at the eastern mouth of the channel. Although it rises at most nine feet above low-water mark, the snow-white breakers which the tides are constantly dashing over its sides, render it visible from a great distance. It is generally the resort of a number of sea-lions. When the wind comes blowing from the north-east, the passing mariner-who, from the shallow nature of the shore, is obliged to keep at some distance from the Ness-hears their hoarse bellowing, which harmonises Iwell with the wild and desolate character of the scene. Albatrosses and petrels hover about them, while rows of grave-looking penguins seem to contemplate their doings with philosophic indifference.

Beyond these promontories, the strait widens into Possession Bay, which at Punta Delgada and Cape Orange contracts to a narrow passage. This leads into a wide basin, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Saint Philip's Bay, and which again terminates in a second narrow passage or channel, a formation resembling on a small scale the Sea of Marmora, which, as we all know, has likewise the semblance of a lake, receiving and discharging its waters through the Dardanelles and the Strait of Constantinople. During the rising of the flood, a strong current flows through all these bays and narrows from the west, so as to allow ships an easy passage, even against the wind; but during

ocean.

ebb tide, the current turns to the east, so that at this time a vessel, even when favoured by the wind, makes but little progress, or is even obliged to anchor to avoid losing ground. When Magellan, after sailing round Cape Virgins, penetrated into the strait, this circumstance at once convinced that great navigator that he was not in an enclosed bay, but in an open channel, which would lead him into another Thus far the country on both sides of the strait consists of nearly level plains, like those of Patagonia; but beyond the second Narrows, the land begins to assume the more bold and picturesque appearance which is characteristic of Tierra del Fuego. Mountains rise above mountains with deep intervening valleys, all covered by one thick, dusky mass of forest; while further to the east, scarcely a bush clothes the naked soil. The trees reach to an elevation of between 1,000 and 1,500 feet, and are succeeded by a band of peat, with minute Alpine plants, and this again is succeeded by the line of perpetual snow, which, according to Captain King, descends to between 3,000 and 4,000 feet.

The finest scenery about the Strait of Magellan is undoubtedly to the east of Cape Froward, the most southerly point of the mainland of South America. This promontory, which consists of a steep mass of rock about 800 feet high, abutting from a mountain chain of about 2,000 or 3,000 feet in height, forms the boundary between two very different climates, for to the east the weather is finer and more agreeable than to the west, where wind and rain are almost perpetual.

On the Patagonian plains, the drought and the want of protection against the piercing winds almost entirely impede vegetation; but the country between Cape Negro-a little within the second Narrows-and Cape Froward, or the eastern shore of Brunswick peninsula, is shielded by its situation against the almost perpetual storms from the west, and enjoys, moreover, a sufficiency of rain, and now and then serene weather. As, moreover, the soil in this central part of the strait consists of disintegrated clay-slate, which is most favourable to the growth of trees, the forests, from all these causes, are finer here than anywhere else.

The country about Port Famine is particularly distin

guished for the richness of its vegetation, and both for this reason, and from its central situation, this harbour has become a kind of chief station for the ships that pass through the strait. Several unfortunate attempts at colonisation have been made at Port Famine; here many a naturalist has tarried, and thus no part of the strait has been oftener described, or more accurately observed.

"The anchorage,' says Dumont d'Urville, who, in December, 1837, spent several days at Port Famine, is excellent, and landing everywhere easy. A fine rivulet gives us excellent water, and the neighbouring forests might furnish whole fleets with the necessary fuel. The cliffs along the shore are literally covered with mussels, limpets, and whelks, which afford a delicious variety of fare to a crew tired of salt beef and peas. Among the plants I noticed with pleasure a species of celery, which, with another herb resembling our corn flower in form and taste, gives promise of an excellent salad.

'I made use of my first leisure to visit the romantic banks of the Sedger River, which discharges its waters on the western side of the port. At its mouth the swampy strand is completely covered with enormous trees heaped upon the ground. These naked giants, stripped of their branches, afford a remarkable spectacle: they might be taken for huge bones bleached by time. No doubt they are transported from the neighbouring forest by the waters of the river, which, when it overflows its banks, after a deluge of rain, tears along with it the trees it meets with in its course. Arrested by the bar at the mouth of the stream, they are cast out upon its banks, where they remain when the waters sink to their usual level.

'Having crossed the river, I entered the large and fine forest with which it is bordered. The chief tree is the Antarctic beech (Fagus betuloides) which is often from 60 to 90 feet high, and about 3 feet in diameter. Along with this are two other trees, the winter's bark (Winteria aromatica) and a species of berberis, with a very solid wood; but they are much less abundant, and of a much smaller size. With the exception of mosses, lichens, and other plants of this order, these forests afford but little that is interesting to the naturalist—no quadrupeds, no reptiles, no land-snails; a few