Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. Fitzroy Robert

33

So named by Bougainville.

34

It belongs to the group which M. Temminck has lately named Hylobates, without attending to the name long since conferred upon it by Dr. Fleming. I designated it Oidemia Patachonica, from its large dimensions, in my communication upon the Ornithology of the Straits. Zoological Journal, vol. iv. p. 100. On my return to England, I found that M. de Freycinet had figured this bird, in the account of his last voyage in l'Uranie, where it is described by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard under the name of Micropterus brachypterus.

35

Cook's Second Voyage, 4to. p. 570.

36

On the shores of Eagle Bay we procured a large collection of shells, among which were Margarita violacea (Nob. in Zool. Journ. v. 346, No. 53), a beautiful Modiola (M. trapesina, Lam.^k), a new Pecten (P. vitreus Nob. in Zool. Jour. v. 337, No. 17), and a delicate transparent-shelled Patella, answering the description of P. cymbularia. These four species were found attached to floating leaves of the kelp (Fucus giganteus), and afford food to the steamer-duck. We also collected good specimens of Murex Magellanicus, Lam.^k, of Fissurella picta, Lam.^k, and a great number of the common patella of the Strait, which forms a considerable article of food for the Natives.

37

Byron's Voyage round the World, 4to. p. 38.

38

l. c.

39

Psittacus smaragdinus, Gmel. I have no doubt that the bird we saw is the same as Bougainville procured, and from which a description has been given in the Ency. Méth., art. Ornith. 139; although a material error is made, for they are not splendidé viridis, nor is the uropygium red, in other points, however, the description is correct. See Buffon's Hist. Nat. des Oiseaux, vi. 262. Pl. enl. n. 85, Perruche des Terres Magellaniques.

40

Bougainville says, "we have likewise perceived some perrokeets: the latter are not afraid of the cold." To which the English translator, T. R. Forster, who is incredulous of the correctness of Bougainville's assertion, appends the following note: "Perruches, probably sea-parrots, or auks." Buffon also doubted the fact, and the author of Histoire Naturelle, art. Oiseaux, tom. ii. p. 322, suggests the possibility of a specimen having been obtained in some other part of the world, and put, by mistake, amongst those collected in the Strait.

41

So named because Mr. Tarn, the surgeon of the Adventure, was the first person who reached its summit.

42

The height of this place, as shown by the barometer, on the ascent, was 941 feet, and, on the descent, 973 feet.

43

On this table-land the barometer stood at 27,767. Temperature of the air 46°,5, and of the mercury 47°,5, which gave the elevation 1,327 feet.

44

The result of the barometric observation for the height of Mount Tarn is as follows:

By angular measurement from Observation Cove, Port Famine, with theodolite, allowing 1⁄12 of the intercepted arc for terrestrial refraction, the height is 2,850 feet.

Another observation, with the sextant, made it 2,855 feet. The mean 2,852 I consider more correct, from the difficulty of obtaining a correct reading of the barometer on the summit.

45

By Daniell's hygrometer, used in this sheltered spot, I found the temperature of the air to be 48°; dew point 41°: but upon exposing the instrument to the wind, the air was 39½°, and the dew point 36°: the difference in the former being 7°; and the latter 3½°; from which the following results are obtained:

The above being the difference in the short space of three feet apart; the instrument, in the first case, being just under the lee of the rocky summit of the mountain, and in the last, above it, exposed to the wind.

46

The air was so dry this afternoon that I failed to procure a deposit of dew upon Daniell's hygrometer, although the internal temperature was lowered from 61° to 37°. One of Jones's portable hygrometers was also tried, and the temperature was lowered to 31°½ without a deposit; so that, the difference being more than thirty degrees, the expansive force of the air must have been less than 212, the dryness, on the thermometric scale, less than 367, and the weight of vapour, in a cubic foot of air, less than 2,355 grains.

47

Fires made to attract attention, and invite strangers to land.

48

This fern we found at the island of Juan Fernandez also.

49

After the lieutenant of the Adventure.

50

At Mr. Tarn's request.

51

King's 'Australia,' vol. i. p. 70; also vol. ii. pp. 573, 582, and 613.

52

At high tide the sea-water undermines, by thawing, large masses of ice, which, when the tide falls, want support, and, consequently, break off, bringing after them huge fragments of the glacier, and falling into the still basin with a noise like thunder.

53

"En los dias 24, y 25, oimos un ruido sordo, y de corta duracion, que, por el pronto, nos pareció trueno; pero habiendo reflexîonado, nos inclinamos à creer que fué efecto de alguna explosion subterranea, formado en el seno de alguna de las montañas inmediatas, en que parece haber algunos minerales, y aun volcanes, que están del todo ó casi apagados, movièndonos a hacer este juicio, el haberse encontrado, en la cima de una de ellas, porcion de materia compuesta de tierra y metal, que en su peso, color, y demas caracteres, tenia impreso el sello del fuego activo en que habia tomado aquel estado, pues era una perfecta imagèn de las escorias del hierro que se ven en nuestras ferrerías. —Apendice al Viage de Cordova al Magallanes, p. 65.

54

No canvas could withstand some of these squalls, which carry spray, leaves, and dirt before them, in a dense cloud, reaching from the water to the height of a ship's lower yards, or even lower mast-heads. Happily their duration is so short, that the cable of a vessel, at anchor, is scarcely strained to the utmost, before the furious blast is over. Persons who have been some time in Tierra del Fuego, but fortunate enough not to have experienced the extreme violence of such squalls, may incline to think their force exaggerated in this description: but it ought to be considered, that their utmost fury is only felt during unusually heavy gales, and in particular situations; so that a ship might pass through the Strait of Magalhaens many times, without encountering one such blast as has occasionally been witnessed there. – R. F.

55

56

Mount Boqueron.

57

Including the master, there were on board, when cast away, twenty-two persons.

58

Bougainville Harbour, better known to Sealers by the name of 'Jack's Harbour.'

59

While the 'current' runs eastward for many days in mid-channel, or along one shore, it often happens that the 'stream of tide' either sets in a contrary direction, along each side of the Strait, or that it follows only the shore opposite to that washed by the 'current.' – R. F.

60

"Voyage autour du Monde." 1767.

61

One of the feathered tribe, which a naturalist would not expect to find here, a 'humming bird,' was shot near the beach by a young midshipman. – Stokes MS.

62

Hawkesworth's Coll. of Voyages, vol. i. p. 76.

63

It was here that Commodore Wallis and Captain Carteret separated, the Dolphin going round the world; the Swallow returning to England. Sarmiento's name