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. 1837. PARROftUETS — FISH. * 39 All accounts of Port Famine informed us of its abounding in fish, but as yet we bad taken none excepting with hook and line, although the seine had been frequently shot. At last, however, in the first week of February, we had a successful haul of mullet and smelts, many of the former weighing eight pounds, and the latter measuring fifteen inches in length. After this we were often very fortunate, and on one occasion caught, at one haul of the seine, sixteen hundred-weight of smelts, some weighing two pounds, and measuring twenty inches in length. A few days previously we had a draught of mullet, which served the crews of both Adventure and Beagle for three days. Geese, wild ducks and teal, snipe, and now and then woodcocks, were to be found by taking a short walk ; there were, however, no quadrupeds fit for food which we could take. Foxes and wild cats were occasionally seen, and a foot-mark of some large animal of the feline race, probably a puma, was once observed upon the beach. We found many traces of horses, which showed that the Patagonian Indians sometimes come thus far south. Had we been so fortunate as to meet them here, we might have procured, perhaps, a regular supply of guanaco meat. On the 9th of February, as the weather seemed favourable for ascending Mount Tarn,* Lieutenant Cooke, the Surgeon, and Anderson, the botanical collector, set oft' in advance to select a convenient place for passing the night, carrying with them a tent and provisions. I followed later in the day, and, while the boat's crew were arranging their loads, made some observations with a barometer on the beach. Our way led through thick underwood, and then, with a gradual ascent, among fallen trees, covered with so thick a coating of moss, that at every step we sunk up to the knees or auks." Buffon also doubted the fact, and the author of Histoire Naturelle, art. Oiseaux, torn. ii. p. 322, suggests the possibility of a specimen hav-ing been obtained in some other part of the world, and put, by mistake, amongst those collected in the Strait. • So named because Mr. Tarn, the sur<;eon of the Adventure, was the first person who reached its summit.