[1] This substance, when dry, is tolerably compact, and of little
specific gravity: Professor Ehrenberg has examined it: he states (Konig
Akad. der Wissen: Berlin, Feb. 1845) that it is composed of infusoria,
including fourteen polygastrica, and four phytolitharia. He says that
they are all inhabitants of fresh-water; this is a beautiful example of
the results obtainable through Professor Ehrenberg's microscopic
researches; for Jemmy Button told me that it is always collected at the
bottoms of mountain-brooks. It is, moreover, a striking fact that in
the geographical distribution of the infusoria, which are well known to
have very wide ranges, that all the species in this substance, although
brought from the extreme southern point of Tierra del Fuego, are old,
known forms.
[2] One day, off the East coast of Tierra del Fuego, we saw a grand
sight in several spermaceti whales jumping upright quite out of the
water, with the exception of their tail-fins. As they fell down
sideways, they splashed the water high up, and the sound reverberated
like a distant broadside.
[3] Captain Sulivan, who, since his voyage in the Beagle, has been
employed on the survey of the Falkland Islands, heard from a sealer in
(1842?), that when in the western part of the Strait of Magellan, he
was astonished by a native woman coming on board, who could talk some
English. Without doubt this was Fuega Basket. She lived (I fear the
term probably bears a double interpretation) some days on board.
CHAPTER XI
STRAIT OF MAGELLAN.--CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN COASTS
Strait of Magellan--Port Famine--Ascent of Mount Tarn--Forests--Edible
Fungus--Zoology--Great Sea-weed--Leave Tierra del
Fuego--Climate--Fruit-trees and Productions of the Southern
Coasts--Height of Snow-line on the Cordillera--Descent of Glaciers to
the Sea--Icebergs formed--Transportal of Boulders--Climate and
Productions of the Antarctic Islands--Preservation of Frozen
Carcasses--Recapitulation.
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