Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

354 LAST HOPE INLET — swAXs — COOTS. April 1830. by high land far to the nortliward of Worsley Bay. Many deer were seen on the plains eastward of the inlet, and some were shot at, but escaped. Swans, ducks, and coots had been killed in such numbers, that on their return all the schooner's crew were plentifully supplied. Of this place Mr. Kirke says ' At the commencement of the N.E. sound there is low land, which extends about thirteen miles up its shores. The entrance is three or four miles vdde ; but five miles up, the inlet is con- tracted to about half a mile in width, by a shoal connecting three islets with the western shore. These islets were literally surrounded by black-necked swans, mixed with a few which had black-tipped wings : the male of the latter has a pecuHar note, which sounds like ' ken kank,' but the female only sounds ' kank.' ^' ' A few coots were shot in this neighbourhood, out of an immense quantity seen. In each of two flocks, I tliink, there must have been upwards of a thousand. " ' From these islets the sound trends nearly north for seven or eight miles, when it is again narrowed by an island, on each side of which there is a narrow passage for a vessel ; but the eastern one is the best. The few bays near here are fit for small vessels only. " ' Beyond this island the face of the country begins to alter from low to mountainous land, with long flats in the valleys, and the sound also changes its course more to the N.W. Near a high bluff" on tlie eastern shore, eight miles further up the sound, the land becomes higher and covered with snow ; yet there are still a few level patches between the mountains. From this bluff" the sound trends about a point more westerly for five or six miles, to a place where there is a small inlet, on the left, between two snow-covered, mountainous ridges. The water there was changed to a clayey-colour, and had a brackish taste. Continuing our course for two miles, I found a large expanse of water, the north end of which was limited by low land, backed by high snowy mountains in the distance ; its southern extreme terminated at the foot of high mountains, also covered with snow ; and had a large run of water from a