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

Dec. 1896. sea-weed or kelp, 13 the peculiar tides of which former navigators have written. During the first half of the flood* or westward tide, the depth decreased, and then, after a short interval, increased until three hours after the stream of tide had begun to run to the eastward. The following morning (21st) we gained a little ground. Our glasses were directed to the shore in search of inhabitants^ for it was hereabouts that Byron, and Wallis, and some of the Spanish navigators held communication with the Patagonian Indians ; but we saw none. Masses of large sea-weed,-|- drift- ing with the tide, floated past the ship. A description of this remarkable plant, although it has often been given before, may not be irrelevant here. It is rooted upon rocks or stones at the bottom of the sea, and rises to the surface, even from great depths. We have found it firmly fixed to the ground more than twenty fathoms under water, yet trailing along the sur- face for forty or fifty feet. When firmly rooted it shows the set of the tide or current. It has also the advantage of indi- cating rocky ground : for wherever there are rocks under water, their situation is, as it were, buoyed by a mass of sea- weed I on the surface of the sea, of larger extent than that of the danger below. In many instances perhaps it causes un- necessary alarm, since it often grows in deep water ; but it should not be entered without its vicinity having been sovmded, especially if seen in masses, with the extremities of the stems trailing along the surface. If there be no tide, or if the wind and tide are the same way, the plant lies smoothly upon the water, but if the wind be against the tide, the leaves curl up and are visible at a distance, giving a rough, rippling appear- ance to the surface of the water. During the last two days the dredge had furnished us with a few specimens of Infundibulum of Sowerby {Patella trochi-formis, Lin.), and some dead shells {Murex Magellani- ciis) were brought up by the sounding-lead. We made another attempt next morning, but again lost * Flowing into the strait from the east towards the west. + Fucus giganteus. X Usually called by seamen ' kelp.'