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

Feb. 1827. SEDGER KIVEB. 37 rough pole, eight or ten feet long, split crosswise at one end, and opened so as to form four prongs, kept apart by two small pieces of wood. Although rudely made, it was excellently ada})ted for a shell-gatherer, and is used by the Indians for collecting sea-eggs, which are found in the Strait of very large size, and are doubtless, to them, a great delicacy. During our excursion we ascertained the best place to ascend the snowy mountain, since named ' Tarn ;"" and the surgeon, whose name it bears, set ofr with a party of officers to make the attempt, in which he succeeded, and obtained such an extensive view as induced me to decide upon ascending it, a few days afterwards, to procure bearings from the svunmit, and for the purpose of measuring its height with a barometer. In the meantime I visited the Sedger river (Sarmiento's ' Rio de San Juan de Posesion'), and found some difficulty in entering it, because of several banks which are dry at low water. Between them, however, the stream keeps a small chan- nel open, by which we effected our purpose. Every gale of wind causes the banks to shift, and between the times of our first, and last, visit to Port Famine, the river's mouth under- went many changes. The bed of the river is so full of fallen trees, that we could not go, with the boat, more than three miles and a half above the entrance ; there it was about fifteen yards wide, bounded on each side by thickly wooded banks, of moderate height. The trees on these banks are large, chiefly the two species of Beech before-mentioned, and Winter's-bark ; there are besides many shrubs, and an impenetrable underwood of Arbutus, Berberis, and currant bushes. The largest Beech- tree that we saw could not have been more than thirty or forty inches in diameter, which was insignificant compared with those noticed by Commodore Byron. In describing his excur- sion up this river, he mentions " trees that would supply the British navy with the best masts in the world."* " Some of them are of a great height, and more than eight feet in diame- ter, which is proportionably more than eight yards in circum- * Byron's Voyage round the World, 4to, p. 3S. •