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. PORT waterfall. 51 having made such an opening, the wind frequently sweeping through prevents the growth of vegetation. Confused masses of up-rooted trees lie at the lower ends of these bared tracks, and show plainly what power has been exerted. The southern shore of the channel is formed by the base of that range of hills, which extends, from the eastern side of the Magdalen Channel, towards the E.S.E. It is the highest part of Tierra del Fuego, and on it are several remarkable moun- tains, besides Sarmiento, towering over all. Close to the east end of the Gabriel Channel is Mount Buck- land, a tall obelisk-like hill, terminating in a sharp needle- point, and hfting its head above a chaotic mass of ' reliquiae diluvianae,' covered with jierpetual snow, by the melting of which an enormous glacier on the leeward, or north-eastern side, has been gradually formed. This icy domain is twelve or fourteen miles long, and extends from near the end of the chan- nel to Port Waterfall, feeding, in the intermediate space, many magnificent cascades, which, for number andheight, are not perhaps to be exceeded in an equal space of any part of the world. Within an extent of nine or ten miles, there are upwards of a hundred and fifty waterfalls, dashing into the channel from a height of fifteen hundred, or two thousand feet. The course of many is concealed, at first, by intervening trees, and, when half-way down the descent, they burst upon the view, leaping, as it were, out of the wood. Some unite as they fall, and toge- ther are precipitated into the sea, in a cloud of foam ; so varied, indeed, are the forms of these cascades, and so great their contrast with the dark foliage of the trees, which thickly cover the sides of the mountain, that it is impossible adequately to describe the scene. I have met with nothing exceeding the picturesque grandeur of this part of the Strait. There are several coves on the south shore, but opposite to them there is no shelter until you reach a deep bay in which are several islets ; and where, I think, there is a communication with Brenton Sound, but we did not enter it. Port Waterfall may easily be known by a large flat-topped bare rock, lying across the summit of the eastern head, and E 2