distinguished: hence the mass stood out in the boldest relief. Several
glaciers descended in a winding course from the upper great expanse of
snow to the sea-coast: they may be likened to great frozen Niagaras;
and perhaps these cataracts of blue ice are full as beautiful as the
moving ones of water. By night we reached the western part of the
channel; but the water was so deep that no anchorage could be found. We
were in consequence obliged to stand off and on in this narrow arm of
the sea, during a pitch-dark night of fourteen hours long.
June 10th.--In the morning we made the best of our way into the open
Pacific. The western coast generally consists of low, rounded, quite
barren hills of granite and greenstone. Sir J. Narborough called one
part South Desolation, because it is "so desolate a land to behold:"
and well indeed might he say so. Outside the main islands, there are
numberless scattered rocks on which the long swell of the open ocean
incessantly rages. We passed out between the East and West Furies; and
a little farther northward there are so many breakers that the sea is
called the Milky Way. One sight of such a coast is enough to make a
landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death; and with
this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego.
The following discussion on the climate of the southern parts of the
continent with relation to its productions, on the snow-line, on the
extraordinarily low descent of the glaciers, and on the zone of
perpetual congelation in the antarctic islands, may be passed over by
any one not interested in these curious subjects, or the final
recapitulation alone may be read. I shall, however, here give only an
abstract, and must refer for details to the Thirteenth Chapter and the
Appendix of the former edition of this work.
On the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fuego and of the
South-west Coast.--The following table gives the mean temperature of
Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and, for comparison, that of
Dublin:--
Summer Winter Mean of Summer
Latitude Temp. Temp. and Winter
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tierra del Fuego 53 38' S. 50 33.08 41.54
Falkland Islands 51 38' S. 51 -- --
227